Ex-UC Berkeley Softball Coach Accused of Pressuring Player Into Sexual Relationship
The former player claims that Chelsea Spencer would cut her time on the field when she would try to distance herself from the coach.
A former softball player at the University of California, Berkeley, is suing both the school and the former head softball coach, Chelsea Spencer, accusing Spencer of pressuring her into a sexual relationship and then decreasing her time on the field after she tried to separate from the coach.
The complaint, which was filed in a California court on August 24, said the university, coach, and others were responsible for what the player, who is identified as Jane Doe in the lawsuit, alleges was sexual assault and battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress, The Athletic reports.
The suit describes the sexual relationship as “mutual,” but there was an unequal power dynamic caused and sustained by Spencer, according to Berkleyside, a local news outlet that first reported the complaint.
In the legal challenge, the player also accuses the university of negligence, alleging that it also investigated Spencer and found her in violation of campus policy. She also says that other coaching staff and Spencer’s then-wife were aware of the relationship from the year it began.
The player alleges that Spencer started reaching out to them outside of the normal coach-player relationship in 2023. She claims that Spencer would say things like “you’re so beautiful” and “your girlfriend is so lucky.”
She also alleges in the complaint that when she was not available to Spencer, the coach got upset and would decrease the time the player played.
“(The player) began to recognize, even before the relationship became sexual, that Spencer’s personal demands and Spencer’s authority as head coach were intertwined,” the complaint states, according to The Athletic. The relationship became sexual during a softball trip in 2024, after the player says Spencer invited her to her hotel room.
The player alleges that when she would try to end the relationship, the coach would threaten to kill herself.
Other players then reportedly complained about the relationship to the university’s associate athletic director Gordon Bayne, saying that Spencer gave the player “special privileges.”
The player was allegedly removed from the softball program once Spencer told Bayne of the relationship in 2025. That same year Spencer resigned from the team after having become head coach in 2020.
“Our client came to UC Berkeley to pursue her lifelong dream of playing softball at the highest level, in an environment where she could focus on her sport and her education. Instead, she was placed in an impossible position by a coach who held power over her future and by a university that failed to enforce its own policies,” Michael Carney of Slater Slater Schulman, which is the law firm representing the player, the Athletic reports. “No student-athlete should have to choose between resisting exploitation and protecting the career she worked her whole life to build. We look forward to holding UC Berkeley and coach Spencer accountable.”
Spencer was contacted by Berkeleyside about the suit. “If this is pending litigation, then the claims will be addressed in the appropriate legal processes,” Spencer wrote to the outlet before she stopped responding.
The player is seeking unspecified damages from the university and Spencer.
This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988.
