Our Instructors

Our Instructors in Signal Hills/Long Beach, California

Our Instructors in Signal Hills/Long Beach, California

Diane Lewis

Born and raised in Long Beach, California, Diane Lewis started playing softball for a local league when she was 9 years old. She fell in love with pitching her second year playing softball. Her Millikan High School softball team won the CIF Championship her junior year of high school and made it to the finals her senior year. Diane has built a career in the sport and has 30 years of experience in the industry.
Accomplishments
  • CIF Player of the Year, Junior & Senior Years in High School
  • Softball Scholarship, Cal State Long Beach
  • Liberal Studies Degree & Single-Subject Credential in Mathematics, Cal State Long Beach
  • Women's Open Division All-American
  • Played National Fastpitch Association League Exhibition Games Across United States to Promote Softball
  • Inducted into the Long Beach Baseball & Softball Hall of Fame, 2006
Coaching Experience
  • Head Varsity Softball Coach, Millikan High School, 6 Years
  • Head Softball Coach, Orange Coast College, 1 Year
  • Head Varsity Softball Coach, Cypress High School, 3 Years
  • Trained with Ernie Parker as a Personal Pitching Instructor
  • Private Softball Pitching Lessons with Rod Carew's Baseball School, 2 Years
  • Opened Diane Lewis School Of Softball And Baseball, 1994

Rick Dent Hitting Instructor


Rick Dent has coached both of his sons Ryan and Riley Dent and many baseball teams throughout his career. Riley Dent received a baseball scholarship to Valparaiso University and Ryan Dent was drafted with the Red Sox right out of high school.  Rick is known as our Doctor of hitting.  He is an expert of breaking down mechanics and strengthening his athletes.

Jamee Gregg's Accomplishments & Coaching Experience
Jamee Gregg has taught pitching lessons for over 15 years.  She pitched at Millikan High School and was MVP.  She played Collegiate level and Long Beach City College.  Jamee has trained pitchers all the way up to their collegiate level.  Her experience and expertise about pitching and the mental game is very detailed.  She has been an important part of our success at the softball/baseball school. 

  • Diane Lewis School Of Softball 15 Years
  • Millikan High School Graduate, 2002
  • 4-Year Varsity Softball Player
  • Athlete of the Year
  • High School MVP
  • Best Defensive Player
  • Played Softball at Long Beach City College
  • Millikan JV Softball Coach, 2 years
  • Coached ASA Travel Ball
  • Professional pitching instructor for over 15 years

Matt Nuez


Matt played baseball for Lakewood High School and was part of the Lancers first CIF Title in 1987.   He continued to coach for Lakewood High under the direction of Spud O'Neal.  In 2011 Matt took over the head baseball job at Los Alamitos High school and has turned the program around to be a top team in Orange County.  He has coached great players like JP Crawford and Tyler Schulz.  Matt has taught batting lessons for over 15 years and is excellent at perfecting a swing while enforcing great drills and mechanics.
Matt Nuez—Instructors in Signal Hill, CA

Loren Stavrou

Loren Stavrou was born and raised in Long Beach,California where she graduated from Wilson High School in 2012. After graduating from Wilson, she played 4 years of D1 softball at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey. Loren currently plays for the Greek National Team and has been a member for the past 9 years. After graduating college she came back to Wilson HS to start her coaching career. She has been coaching now for 5 years working with pitchers and players of all levels and ages. 

Accomplishments 

  • Moore League Pitcher of the Year 2012
  • Press Telegram Pitcher of the Year 2012
  • Century Club Softball Player of the Year 2012
  • Moore League Champion 2012
  • 1st Team All Moore League x3 
  • European Pitcher of the Year 2014 
  • Current Starter for the Greek National Softball Team
  • Team Captain of FDU Softball Team 2016
  • Team Knight Award 2016 (hardest working player)
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Sophie Slagle

Sophie Slagle is coming to us from her most recent coaching experience at Division II Barry University in Miami, Florida. During her time as the Pitching coach, she worked with the pitching staff daily to create workouts and lessons designed for each individual pitcher. 

Before that she worked one season each at South Dakota and Eastern New Mexico as the pitching coach. She had an outstanding college playing career at NCAA Division I UC Riverside and Idaho State.

Slagle, who grew up in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., played two seasons at Idaho State. She was named Big Sky Conference Co-Newcomer of the Year in 2015 after going 18-8 in the circle with 16 complete games and 89 strikeouts. She added 14 more wins in 2016 with 14 complete games, four shutouts and 84 punch outs. Slagle earned all-conference accolades at the end of both seasons in Pocatello, and led the Bengals to a conference title in 2015.

Slagle pitched two years at UC Riverside before moving to Idaho State. She won nine games in two seasons with the Highlanders, making 29 starts and 52 appearances.

Slagle was a three-year letter winner at Palos Verdes High School. She helped the Seakings to the league championship in 2010 and to two other top-three finishes. She pitched in the championship game of the Colorado Sparkler Tournament in 2009.

Slagle earned her bachelor's degree in physical education and kinesiology from Idaho State in 2016. She completed her master's degree in sports administration at South Dakota in 2018.
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Teah Thies

Teah Thies grew up in Laguna Hills, CA where she started playing softball at the age of 5. She caught for the UCSB Gauchos from 2018 to 2022 where she earned her bachelor’s degree in Statistics and Data Science. She played her extra year of eligibility at Cal State Long Beach won Big West Conference Championship in 2023. She is perusing her master’s in Applied Statistics. 


Accolades:



  • High School: 4x Varsity
  • High School: 4x All League 
  • UCSB - All Freshman Team 2019
  • UCSB - Big West Conference Commissioner’s Honor Roll 2020
  • UCSB - 2nd Team all Conference 2021
  • UCSB - Team Captain 2022
  • CSULB - Big West Champions 2023 
  • CSULB - Honor Roll 2023
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Marc Guzman

Played baseball for all go ur years at Lakewood High School class of ‘09. Was a Utility infielder and played all 4 infield positions. Went on to play at Los Angeles Harbor college in the South Bay where he played Short Stop and 2nd base. Following he played 3 summers with the East Los Angeles Dodgers collegiate team. He went back and coached at Lakewood high School as the infield coach for the program and coached for 7 seasons. 

  • Marc Guzman

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Jamie Garvey

Jamie Garvey was born and raised in Wilmington, California.  She pitched at Bishop Montgomery High School in Torrance where she was a 4 year letter. After high school she played at El Camino College and transferred to Whittier College where she earned her Bachelors degree in Kinesiology and Nutrition Science. She returned to Diane Lewis school of softball to share her love of the game and inspire the next generation of pitchers.

  • 2022 SCIAC 1st team all conference 
  • 2023 3x SCIAC pitcher of the week 
  • 2023 whittier college defensive player of the year 
  • 2023 SCIAC strikeout leader 
  • 2023 single season strikeout record - whittier college 
  • 2022-23 NFCA/Easton All-American Scholar-Athlete 
  • 4 year varsity - Bishop Montgomery High School
  • 2x First Team All League - Bishop Montgomery High School
  • Rookie of the Year - Bishop Montgomery High School
  • Jamie Garvey

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Jocylyn Vidal

  • recent student athlete graduate from Long Beach State University (w/ a business degree) 
  • I’ve played softball for 18yrs 
  • Spent 4 years at San Jose State University where I accomplished Freshman of the Year and three time All-Mountain West Scholar Athlete 
  • 1 year at Long Beach State where I earned Big West 1st Team and 2x player of the week 
  • 4 years working alongside with @Vidalshittinglab 
  • 2024-2025 Long Beach State Graduate Assistant ! 
  • Jamie Garvey

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Bailey Taylor

Bailey Taylor grew up pitching at the Diane Lewis School of Softball since she was eight years old. She played at Los Alamitos High School where she earned the NFCA All-American Scholar Athlete Award and the Academic Award of Excellence. Taylor continued on to play Division 1 softball at Fairfield University in Connecticut. She finished her pitching career as the top pitcher on her team with a career ERA of 3.28 and ranked in the top 10 pitchers in the MAAC conference. She also was a part of the MAAC All-Academic Team for all four years. 
Taylor earned both athletic and academic scholarships from Fairfield University. In the classroom, she earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing with a Spanish Minor and is now a Registered Nurse. Her academic achievements include graduating Cum Laude, Dean's List, Sigma Theta Tau Nursing Honor Society, and Alpha Mu Gamma Spanish Honor Society.  
Learning from Diane Lewis and Jamee Gregg for over 13 years, Taylor applies her training and experience into her role as a pitching coach. She has been giving lessons for the past three years to youth and college level pitchers.
Awards:
  • MAAC All-Academic Team 2021-2024
  • NFCA Scholar Athletes Award 2020-2024
  • CSC Academic All-District Team 2024
  • MAAC Pitcher of the Week 2024
  • NFCA All-American Scholar Athlete Award 2016-2020
  • Academic Award of Excellence 2016-2020
  • Sunset All-Academic Award 2016-2020
  • Korean Junior National Team 2020
  • PGF All-Tournament Team 2019
  • Sunset All League Second Team 2018
  • Bailey taylor is the pitcher of the week

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  • Bailey taylor is on the cover of the complete game

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Contact us at 562-492-6055 to learn more about our softball and baseball instruction programs or to schedule a lesson.
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