Assistant Coach Shilah (Snead) Minerva (3rd season)
High School: Delsea Regional
College: Rowan University (2017)
Major: Health and Education
One of the greatest softball players in the history of the New Jersey Athletic Conference, All-American Shilah (Snead) Minerva captured numerous honors during her four-year career as the shortstop at Rowan University (2013-16).
The former Rowan team captain switched NJAC programs in 2018 when she joined the Scarlet Raptors’ staff as an assistant coach. She was reunited with first-year Rutgers-Camden Head Coach Meredith McCarthy, who served as Rowan’s assistant coach during her brilliant playing career as Shilah Snead.
A four-year NJAC First Team player, Snead was named the conference’s Co-Rookie of the Year in 2013 and was the NJAC Player of the Year the rest of her career. Over the course of 198 career games, all starts, she fashioned a stellar .410 batting average (222-for-651), scored 222 runs and drove home 116. She had 42 career doubles, 11 triples and 24 home runs for the Profs, while stealing 123 bases, walking 72 times and being hit by a pitch on 14 occasions. She had a .619 slugging percentage and a .475 on-base percentage.
As a freshman in 2013, Snead hit .340 on her way to earning NJAC Co-Rookie of the Year, NJAC First Team and ECAC Rookie of the Year honors. She also was named to the ECAC Metro Region First Team and the NFCA All-Region First Team, while earning honors on March 31 as the NJAC Rookie of the Week.
While her freshman season would have been a career year for most players, it was only the beginning of a career that improved every season. She hit .370 as a sophomore, .439 as a junior and .480 as a senior, while earning NJAC First Team and Player of the Year honors every season.
During her sophomore season she added berths on the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) East All-Region First Team, the NCAA Ithaca Regional All-Tournament Team and the NCAA Rochester Super Regional All-Tournament Team. As a junior, she was named to the NFCA All-America First Team and the East All-Region First Team, while also being selected to the NCAA Alfred Regional All-Tournament Team. She added honors as the ECAC Metro Region Player of the Year and a berth on the ECAC All-Star Team, while also receiving Rowan’s Joy Solomen Leadership Award.
Snead capped her career in 2016 when she was named the NJAC Female Athlete of the Year, notched her second straight NFCA All-America First Team honor, added NFCA East All-Region First Team recognition and was named to the NCAA Championship All-Tournament Team. She was named the Most Outstanding Player at the Ithaca Super Regional, earned the Dr. Shirley O’Day Athletic Award, was one of three finalists for the Schutt Sports/NFCA Player of the Year and captured honors as the NJAC Player of the Week and the Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division III National Player of the Week.
Snead’s collegiate career was equally impressive in the classroom. A Health and Physical Education major who graduated Rowan in 2017, Snead was a Rowan Scholar-Athlete during all four years of her collegiate career. As a sophomore, she earned NJAC Academic Honorable Mention, was chosen to the CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) Academic All-District II Team and earned a berth on the Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area Softball Team.
During her junior season, Snead earned NJAC Academic Second Team honors, was selected to the COSIDA Academic All-District II Team and the CoSIDA Academic All-America Third Team and was recognized as the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Academic All-Area Performer of the Year, headlining the newspaper’s Academic All-Area Softball Team. During her senior season she captured NJAC Academic First Team honors, repeated on the CoSIDA Academic All-District II team and was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America Second Team. She added another berth on the Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area Softball Team.
Snead also was a member of the Chi Alpha Sigma National College Athlete Honor Society.
