River Bluff High School announced that it was heading in a new direction with its softball team last week, as Tony Ferreira was named the school’s new head varsity coach.

“Tony has a wealth of knowledge and experience that will be essential to the development of our softball program. His passion and commitment to the fundamentals of the game, academics and the well-being of our student-athletes make him an outstanding fit at RBHS,” athletic director Andrew Peckham said. “I look forward to some great years ahead for Gator softball under Coach Ferreira.”

The decision to change course came after the Gators struggled in their most recent season, garnering a 0-14 overall record and a 0-8 mark in 5A Region 4 play. River Bluff allowed double-digit runs in 10 of those losses.

Even though the Gators have not earned a record above .500 since 2019, Ferreira said he believes he can help the team return to winning ways.

“The program has been down the last few years, and I felt that I could bring it back up to where it used to be when it first started,” Ferreira said.

Ferreira most recently served in a coaching role from 2019 to 2021, when he was both the assistant varsity and head junior varsity softball coach at Mid-Carolina High School in Newberry County.

Before that, he was the head baseball coach at Fairfield Central High School from 2015 to 2018 and taught at the school until 2021.

Ferreira also spent three years as a minor league infielder in the Boston Red Sox organization and said he wants to mirror that setup at River Bluff by emphasizing player development.

“I kind of want to treat it like a farm system, like the minor leagues, and build it from the bottom up. We have some really good athletes here at the school,” he said. “That’s my plan – it’s to teach them at the college level and pro level so they are ready for that next level.”

Ferreira has shown dedication to helping students achieve success off the field as well. While employed as the Firefighting Program Instructor at the Lexington Technology Center, he was named the school’s Teacher of the Year during the 2022-23 academic year.

Ferreira said he wants to have a similar positive impact on his players’ lives.

“This past year alone, I put seven kids straight out of high school into a fire department with a full-time job,” Ferreira said. “I just want to keep continuing that with the ladies on this program and getting them to the next level in college.”