Kayla Watkins enters her sixth season at the helm of the SEU softball program in 2025.

In 2025, Watkins led the Fire once again to the NAIA National Tournament and returned to the Sun Conference Tournament. An explosive offense, and a dominant pitching rotation resulted in a 42-11 overall record and 14 wins over ranked opponents. Southeastern went a whopping 20-2 at home, and featured a pitching staff with a 1.58 ERA. The Fire secured the programs first wins over #6 Georgia Gwinnett in a series sweep, and handed the #17 St. Thomas Bobcats their first two home losses of the season. The second place finish at the Sun Conference Tournament resulted in an At-Large bid to the NAIA National Opening Round. At the end of the regular season, the Fire had nine selected as SUN All-Conference. Chapel Cunningham was the Sun Conference Player of the Year, Maria Zelenka was the Sun Conference Pitcher of the Year, and Hailey Bradley was the Sun Conference Freshman of Year. National Opening Round play saw the Fire off to Klamath Falls, Ore. where the second-seeded Fire went 2-2, falling twice to third-seeded Midland University to conclude the season. Following the season, Zelenka and Cunningham were named NAIA Third-Team All-American's and Cunningham was named CSC Academic All-America. In the 3-2 win over RV Grand View University, Watkins claimed her 200th career win as a Head Coach.

Behind Watkins, the Fire claimed an at-large bid to the 2024 NAIA National Tournament. Southeastern turned in a 40 win season for just the second time in Watkins' tenure, and finished the season ranked #25 with four ranked wins in the regular season. They concluded their season as Sun Conference Tournament Runner-Up, and with an NAIA Opening Round appearance, falling in an elimination game to top-seeded Eastern Oregon. Chapel Cunningham claimed several accolades, and was named NAIA Second-Team All-American and CSC Academic All-America, and NFCA NAIA Second-Team All-American. The Fire topped off the season 40-19, with a 14-7 Sun Conference record.

The Fire secured an at-large bid into the NAIA National Tournament during the 2023 season after concluding the regular season 31-14. Southeastern earned the title of the Sun Conference Tournament Runner-Up and was sent to the NAIA Opening Round Ashland Bracket in Ashland, Oregon with the eventual NAIA National Champions, Southern Oregon where they went 0-2 to conclude the season with a 33-18 and 19-5 SUN record.

Southeastern made a return to the NAIA Softball World Series for the first time in six years under her direction during the 2022 season and won The Sun Conference regular season championship and the Lawrenceville Bracket of the NAIA National Championship Opening Round. The Fire also set program records for wins in a season and stolen bases. Watkins was named Sun Conference Coach of the Year with eight athletes landing on the All-Sun Conference Teams. Jamie Mead was the league's player of the year and Riley Sanders was selected as The Sun Conference and NFCA's Freshman of the Year. 

Coach Watkins guided the Fire to eight wins over NAIA Top-20 opponents during the 2021 season. Britt Robinson, Erica Stahl, and Katie Atkins were named First Team All-Sun Conference selections, while Megan Froehlich was voted the TSC Champion of Character. Additionally, SEU landed seven individuals on the Academic All-Sun Conference Team.

Watkins spent two seasons as the top assistant coach at the University of Southern Mississippi, where she oversaw the pitching staff. The Golden Eagles led Conference USA in earned run average at 2.34 and featured C-USA Pitcher of the Year, Abby Trahan, who topped the individual leaderboard with a 1.95 ERA.
 
Watkins spent a season as the head coach at Bryan College before heading to Hattiesburg, guiding the Lions to a 15-5 record in the Appalachian Athletic Conference, and a league co-championship.
 
Away from the diamond, Watkins has been a Bible study leader for college girls, young adults, and high school girls in the past, and has been an FCA sponsor.
 
As a player, Watkins posted a career .330 batting average and was 38-14 with a 1.54 ERA pitching during her time at Samford and Mississippi College. She ranks third all-time in Mississippi College history with a 1.54 career ERA and also posted 30 doubles at the plate. Watkins was a two-time all-conference selection, conference newcomer of the year, and CoSIDA Academic All-American. 

 

Year	Institution	Record	Result
2017	Bryan	23-24	AAC Regular Season Co-Champions
2020	SEU	12-11	Season shortened due to COVID-19
2021	SEU	29-22	Sun Conference 7th Place
2022	SEU	52-13	Sun Tournament Champions - World Series 4th Place
2023	SEU	33-18	Sun Conference Tournament Runner Up / NAIA Opening Round Appearance
2024	SEU	40-19	Sun Conference Tournament Runner Up / NAIA Opening Round Appearance
	Total:	189-107 (.638)