Amanda Knopf is in her seventh season as pitching coach with the Linfield softball program.
Under Knopf's tutelage, Linfield pitcher Tayah Kelley earned back-to-back NFCA first team All-America citations in 2023 and 2024. Kelley was honored as the Division III Pitcher of the Year as a senior while leading the nation in strikeouts and victories. In the same season, Wildcats rookie Tyler McNeley went 18-0 in the circle on her way to earning NFCA Freshman of the Year honors and third team All-America recognition. McNeley went on to record another 32 wins while earning Northwest Conference Pitcher of the Year during just her second season in the program.
A native of Boulder, Colorado, Knopf was a four-year starting pitcher at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, where she graduated from in 2012. She holds Macalester records for career strikeouts (371) and for single-season strikeouts (111). In 2012, she led the Scots to their first and only winning season since 1997.
Knopf represented the United States as part of USA Athletes International and traveled to the Caribbean in 2011 to play on a team with college players from around the U.S.
She previously served as an assistant pitching coach at Macalester (2012-14), and was head coach of the 14U Developmental softball team operated by the Saints Sports Academy, an affiliate of the minor league St. Paul Saints (2012-14). She also spent three years as a private pitching coach with the Colorado Softball and Baseball Academy (2014-16).
Prior to starting at Linfield, she spent the summer of 2019 as an assistant coach/pitching coach for Salem-Keizer Stars’ 14U team.
A two-time NFCA All-America Scholar-Athlete, Knopf completed a master’s degree in English Literature from the University of Colorado, Boulder. When not coaching softball, she is a writing professor at Chemeketa Community College in Salem.