Cal Poly Softball to Retire Lisa Modglin’s No. 22 Jersey Saturday Afternoon
4/15/2026 3:52:00 PM | Softball
It’s hard to think about it, to put it into context ... I’m just really proud. I’m proud to be part of Cal Poly. I’ll brag about Cal Poly. It’s just such a special place to me and to be memorialized there is unique.-- Lisa Modglin
SAN LUIS OBISPO – April 15 marks the conclusion of tax season and, for NFCA All-America selection, Cal Poly Athletics Hall of Famer and certified public accountant Lisa Modglin, the date completes a busy stretch.
So busy, in fact, she elected to postpone her own jersey retirement ceremony with the Cal Poly softball program.
Nineteen seasons ago, Modglin completed one of the greatest careers in Cal Poly softball history with one of the most statistically dominant seasons from any Mustang student-athlete in any sport. Ever.
Modglin’s .476 batting average during the 2007 campaign still stands – nearly two decades removed – as the Big West single season record. Her 81 hits that spring remains the Cal Poly single season standard, as do the 16 homers, 56 runs, 157 total bases, 37 extra-base hits and .924 slugging percentage.
On Saturday, April 18 prior to the 1 p.m. doubleheader against Long Beach State, the Cal Poly softball team retires just its second jersey number in program history with Modglin’s No. 22 enshrined alongside All-America pitcher Desarie Knipfer’s No. 8. Offered three prospective dates for the retirement ceremony from 22nd-year head coach Jenny Condon, Modglin chose the final option.
“I figured she’d pick a date after tax day,” Condon said with a smile. “We’re thrilled to retire Lisa's jersey. Her impact on this program and to me was incredible. Her numbers speak for themselves, but there’s so much more to Lisa than numbers. Her speed and instinct made her an excellent center fielder and baserunner. She’s one of the best leadoff hitters we’ve had in our program, setting the tone for every game and her teammates followed.”
“I wanted to play softball in college. I wasn’t super highly recruited. I was really small – particularly in high school – so didn’t get a ton of attention,” said the 5-4 Modglin, a standout performer at Simi Valley (Calif.) HS. “I had it in my head I wanted to go to school by the beach and to a school that put an emphasis on academics. I hadn’t heard of Cal Poly before. I told my dad my (priorities) and he said ‘you should go to Cal Poly.’”
Lisa Boyer, Cal Poly’s head coach from 1989 to 2004, was the first to reach out and after Modglin did some additional research regarding the university, she made her first and only recruiting visit before arriving in San Luis Obispo in September 2003.
An immediate starter in Cal Poly’s lineup, Modglin finished her 2004 freshman season with a .272 batting average in 48 appearances. An injury, however, forced Boyer’s retirement at the conclusion of the year and Condon – then Oregon State’s associate head coach – took over the Cal Poly program that fall.
“As a young adult, you’re thinking, ‘everything is going to change.’ The unknown was scary. But, we got the announcement that Jenny was going to be named head coach and we did our research,” Modglin said. “She’d been at a big program in Oregon State. We’re getting this amazing coach with all this experience and she’s bringing that knowledge to Cal Poly? I’m in. I’m going to buy in and we’re going to kick butt. Culturally, we needed a little bit more life brought into the program and – being in that younger group – we wanted to force a different way to do things.”
Results were immediate. Condon’s initial 2005 team finished 35-16 – a 13-win improvement from the previous spring – and Modglin hit .360 while stealing a (then) program record 18 bases [editor’s note: current Mustang freshman Karina Choi broke the mark with her 19th steal of 2026 April 12 at UC San Diego]. The 2006 Mustangs finished with another winning mark, a second straight third-place finish in the Big West standings and Modglin earned NFCA All-West Region and All-Big West first team honors after batting .343.
The best was yet to come.
Join us Saturday, April 18 as we honor one of the legends of Mustang softball and retire the No. 22 jersey of NFCA All-American and Cal Poly Hall of Famer Lisa Modglin!#RideHigh
— Cal Poly Softball (@CalPolySoftball) April 15, 2026
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(Lisa's) impact on this program and to me was incredible. Her numbers speak for themselves, but there’s so much more to Lisa than numbers. Her speed and instinct made her an excellent center fielder and baserunner. She’s one of the best leadoff hitters we’ve had in our program, setting the tone for every game and her teammates followed-- Jenny Condon, Cal Poly Head Coach
“We didn’t make the NCAA Tournament (as an at-large selection) during my sophomore and junior seasons and that was difficult. Part of the problem was just not understanding something like RPI and how the (selection process) worked,” Modglin said. “Before my senior season, everyone was like, ‘no one is going to stop us.’ We’re going to win our conference. That way they had to give us a bid.
“The prep before that season was intense. We didn’t leave campus during the summer before my senior season. We worked out every day. We just did more and the class that came in during my junior year was really talented and pushed us.”
The 2007 Mustangs lost their opening game at home to eventual Women’s College World Series participant Washington before winning 12 of their next 14. Cal Poly was 24-7 when hosting UCLA for a March 25 doubleheader in front of a capacity crowd of 1,532 fans at Bob Janssen Field and Modglin – by that weekend – was batting above .500 and had already broken career program records for hits, runs, RBI and stolen bases.
Cal Poly then won its first eight Big West games before closing an April 14-15 series at CSUN with a 7-6 loss. Batting primarily from the leadoff spot that season, Modglin went 3-for-3 in the opener against the Matadors to regain the NCAA Division I batting lead and drew 10 walks during the series. CSUN starter Sam Schroder began the April 15 series finale by intentionally walking Modglin, choosing to hand Cal Poly a free baserunner to start the game than face the record-breaking center fielder.
By the time Cal Poly arrived at UC Davis for an April 21-22 series, Modglin’s 1.063 slugging percentage was nearly 100 points higher than the second place player in the nation and well on pace to break UCLA legend Stacy Nuveman’s all-time NCAA record (1.045) set five years prior. She led the Big West in 10 different offensive categories and the nation with a .516 batting average.
Modglin’s stat line was so attention-grabbing that USA Softball was forced to change its policy for National Player of the Year finalists. Previously, only players on the preseason Watch List were eligible for the midseason listing of 25 finalists. Modglin’s forced inclusion made the 2007 ballot a list of 26 finalists and, in future seasons, allowed freshmen to compete for the honor.
“I certainly didn’t have any expectations (my senior year) would be that good. Now I can look back and be like, ‘wow, that was a good season,’” Modglin said. While I was in the season, I knew it was going well, but tried not to think about it. Every game was do what you can do that day to be successful and win the game.”
Cal Poly clinched its first Big West title and first automatic NCAA Division I Tournament berth with a May 11 home doubleheader sweep of Pacific. Finishing with a 39-15 regular season mark, Cal Poly enjoyed its highest win total in 15 years.
“Off the field, Lisa was a big part of my success at Cal Poly,” said Condon, who earned the second of her four Big West Coach of the Year honors in 2007. “She and her teammates bought into me and my vision for the program. They were trusting and patient with me as I grew as a first-time head coach. As I challenged them, Lisa and her teammates challenged me and we got better together. Her love for Cal Poly helped us recruit great players that continued to make us better.”
A five-time Big West Player of the Week honoree during the regular season, Modglin was named – to no one’s surprise – as the Big West Field Player of the Year and to a second successive All-Big West first team. In the coming weeks, she would add NFCA All-America first team and NFCA All-West Region first team honors.
As Cal Poly softball retires NFCA All-American Lisa Modglin's No. 22 jersey on Saturday, April 18, we could only fit so many of her accomplishments on to one graphic!#RideHigh
— Cal Poly Softball (@CalPolySoftball) April 15, 2026
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Selected for the NCAA Tournament Provo Regional at BYU, however, Cal Poly’s historic season came to a quick close with back-to-back defeats to the host Cougars and Southern Utah.
“We were a top 25 team (that year), we challenged for the Big West title and were able to compete nationally,” Modglin said. “It takes years to build a program up. It doesn’t happen overnight. That’s what happened with us. When Jenny came, for two years we didn’t win the conference. And we were a very good team. But, all the pieces have to come together. Things have to align. You have to have experience. My senior year, when we went to the regional, we didn’t know what we didn’t know. We weren’t prepared. But, you have to go through that to be able to be successful in the future.”
Six of Cal Poly’s 2007 starters returned in 2008 and Cal Poly finished 24-22 and third in the Big West standings.
Carrying that experience one year further, Cal Poly’s 2009 squad still ranks as one of the finest teams in any sport in university history, finishing 41-12 overall and securing a second Big West title with an 18-3 mark. Climbing as high as No. 21 in the NFCA Top 25 Coaches poll, the 2009 Mustangs defeated seven ranked programs, won 14 straight Big West games en route to the title and reached the final round of the NCAA Tournament Stanford Regional.
Those women who were part of those years – that was our goal. We set a precedent that Cal Poly can compete, knock on the door of a top 25 ranked team and be a successful mid-major program.-- Lisa Modglin
Modglin’s collegiate playing days came to a close in 2007, but not her softball career.
“During my senior season, Jenny called me and said, ‘hey, the pro league, there’s a team that’s calling about you. Are you interested?’
“It was National Pro Fastpitch at the time and the best players in the world played. When I had the opportunity to play, it was like, ‘yeah, I want to compete against that level.’”
That team calling was the New England Riptide and Modglin joined during the summer after graduating from Cal Poly in June with a degree in business administration. She returned to Cal Poly in the fall to complete her senior project as a volunteer income tax assistant while serving as an assistant coach at nearby two-year Cuesta College under head coach and fellow Mustang standout Sara Clarin.
She rejoined the Riptide for 2008, passed her CPA exam in the offseason and then signed for the Akron Racers ahead of the 2009 season. That fall, Modglin started a career with Caliber Accounting & Tax in Pismo Beach.
At that point, “I figured my softball career was over. During tax season that spring (2010), I thought, ‘oh man, I can’t be done playing. I’m not ready. I can’t do it.’ I went into my boss’s office and said I wanted to play softball that summer.
“He’s a good guy. Whether or not it was important to him, he knew it was important to me. He said, ‘OK. Tell me what you need.’ I said that, after tax season, I needed to leave. I’ll be back at the beginning of September. With taxes, that (schedule) kind of works when you’re a staff accountant. It’s slow in the summer.”
For the next three National Pro Fastpitch campaigns, Modglin maintained the same schedule: finish accounting duties ahead of tax season, compete for the Akron Racers, return for the upcoming tax season.
Mustangs back home to host Long Beach State April 18-19! Join us Saturday as we retire the jersey of Cal Poly softball legend and NFCA All-American Lisa Modglin!#RideHigh
— Cal Poly Softball (@CalPolySoftball) April 14, 2026
4?/1?8? Doubleheader at 1 p.m.
4?/1?9? Single Game at 1 p.m. pic.twitter.com/IkWJPS0YDv
“(Caliber) would have let me continue to do it but, by the end, physically, I wasn’t there anymore,” Modglin said. “The amount of preparation it takes to play at the highest level is a lot and a few years out, going through a busy tax season, ending April 15 and then hitting against someone like Monica Abbott or Cat Osterman in the middle of May … you’re just setting yourself up for failure. I did a lot of mental work (in the offseason), but I just didn’t have the resources and time to physically prepare. I was playing at about 80 percent and it just wasn’t enough.”
Modglin now resides in the Denver suburb of Arvada with her wife, Nicole, and their three-year-old daughter, Remi. She relocated to Colorado in 2012 while working remotely for Caliber where’s she’s now a partner in the firm.
“It’s hard to think about it, to put it into context,” Modglin said of seeing her jersey retired. “I’m really proud and I was proud when I went into the Hall of Fame (in 2015). When I got to Cal Poly, I never thought I would be in the Hall of Fame. You don’t think like that. You think, ‘I’m going to work hard and be successful and have a good experience.’
“All the things that have happened since, I’m just really proud. I’m proud to be part of Cal Poly. I’ll brag about Cal Poly. It’s just such a special place to me and to be memorialized there is unique.”
