Tori Raby-Gentry has made her mark in her first three years of directing the Lady Cavaliers' softball program. Her teams have claimed three Appalachian Athletic Conference crowns, two NAIA Region XII titles and the first two UVa-Wise trips to the NAIA national championships all while posting a 105-65 mark for a .618 winning percentage.

In what was to be a retooling season, the Lady Cavs' coach molded a young team into an AAC and NAIA Region XII championship one. The team (32-27) rebounded from a disappointing runner-up finish in the AAC tournament to sweep the region title and second trip to the NAIA national championships.

For the 2006 campaign, the Lady Cavs produced another solid year under Raby-Gentry. UVa-Wise (35-16) swept through the AAC tournament to claim their first tournament title, tied for the AAC regular season crown and advanced in the NAIA Region XII playoffs before falling in the loser's bracket final.

In her first year in 2005, the talented softball general guided the UVa-Wise team to the first NAIA national championship appearance in program history. The Lady Cavs finished 38-22 on the season while picking up both the AAC regular season and first NAIA Region XII titles.

Raby-Gentry came to UVa-Wise after spending the 2004 campaign as an assistant coach for the pitchers and catchers at the highly-successful NCAA Division II Presbyterian (SC) College program. She helped the Blue Hose pitching staff to an impressive 1.80 ERA.

Before coaching at Presbyterian, she led St. Catherine College (Ky.) to its first winning season and a school-best 26-18 mark.

Raby-Gentry served a two-year stint as an assistant coach at Motlow State Community College in Lynchburg, Tenn. before going to St. Catherine College.

The Fayetteville, Tenn. native recently was named the new UVa-Wise assistant athletic director. The third-year coach is also an instructor in the college's physical education department.

She is a 2000 graduate of Tennessee Wesleyan College where she was an all-conference and all-region performer. The head coach earned her master's degree in physical education at Middle Tennessee State University in 2001. Coach Raby-Gentry is married to Chad Gentry, the college's director of bookstore operations.

For the third season, Chuck Banner will be the top assistant for the UVa-Wise Lady Cavaliers softball squad. He will work heavily with the team's infielders.

Banner brings a wealth of baseball experience to the UVa-Wise softball coaching staff. He played for the Cavalier baseball team under the direction of then head coach and current athletic director Ray Spenilla. The assistant coach later served in the same capacity for the Cavs' baseball program.

Over the past 20 years, he has coached at various levels with back to back appearances in the state little league softball championships in 2005 and 2006. During the summer he currently coaches the Blue Devils local travel team which competes in the 14U and 12U levels. Banner also was an assistant baseball coach at Castlewood High School during the mid-1980s.

He has been part of the UVa-Wise family for the past 20 years and currently is the college's comptroller.

Banner earned his bachelor's degree from UVa-Wise in 1986 and received his master's of education degree from the University of Virginia in 1999.

Banner lives in Castlewood with his wife, Paula Yorke, and their daughters, Jordan, 15, and Taylor, 12.