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Softball
Coaching Staff
last updated
05/18/2009 Head Coach
Judy Lawes
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coach Lawes
Judy Lawes completed her 22nd season as head softball
coach at Kutztown University after winning the 2009 PSAC East
regular season title.
She has now led the Golden Bears to three consecutive
PSAC East titles, as well as three straight 40-win seasons.
KU finished 46-12-1 in 2009 with a 15-1 PSAC East
record. The Golden Bears finished third in the PSAC tournament and
second in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Region. The Golden Bears won
the NCAA Division II Atlantic Region-2 tournament, hosted by KU, but
fell in the best-of-three series against Lock Haven in the NCAA
Division II Atlantic Super Regionals.
Lawes'
four seniors in 2009 finished in the top 10 in many offensive
categories in school history. Her 2006 recruit, Steph Denlinger, set
the NCAA Division II career record for home runs with 79 and walks
with 159. Denlinger won the PSAC East Player of the Year award, and
Katlin Arbogast won the PSAC East Pitcher award.
Lawes was named the 2009
PSAC East Coach of the Year, the fifth time in her career she has
been awarded that title (1989, 1994, 2000, 2007 and 2009).
Lawes, who
has had a winning record in every one of
her 22 seasons at KU, is
641-364-2 overall, which ranks among the top 25 active Division II
coaches. She
recorded her 500th victory in a 7-6 win over Millersville in 2006.
Lawes recorded her 600th win in the 2009
season during a 14-0 win against Lake Erie, a no-hitter pitched by
Monica Glomb.
Among her wins, 293 have come against PSAC East foes. Lawes is KU’s winningest coach in school history,
regardless of sport. Since the 2000 season alone, KU has
recorded 340 victories. Lawes has won 137 games in the last three
seasons.
The 2008 season was a
record-setting year for the Golden Bears as they set the school
record for wins in a season with 48. KU went 21-3 in the PSAC East
to win the divisional crown, finished third at the PSAC tournament
and hosted the NCAA Division II Mid-Atlantic Regional tournament for
the second time, where the Golden Bears finished third.
In 2007, as KU set a then-school record for overall
with 43
and set a school record for wins in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division
with 22. KU won the regular-season PSAC East crown, and hosted
both the PSAC and NCAA Mid-Atlantic regional tournaments for the
first time. The Bears finished second and fifth, respectively, in
the tournaments. KU set single-season PSAC records in four team and
seven individual categories, as well as program records in 17 team
and 18 individual categories. Lawes was named the PSAC East Coach of
the Year.
Lawes has led the Golden Bears to
all 12 of their appearances in the NCAA Division II Tournament in
the school’s history. She guided them to three-straight appearances
in 1994-96 and then every year from 2000-09. Lawes has also guided
KU to 14 PSAC playoff appearances, including four runner-up
finishes (1988, 1989, 1996, 2007).
Many honors have been bestowed
upon Lawes for her coaching accomplishments. She was named PSAC East
Coach of the Year in 1989, 1994, 2000, 2007 and 2009. Lawes also garnered
the Dr. Dorothy Moyer Award in 1994, 1995, 2000 and 2007, which is
presented to the KU Coach of the Year for women’s athletics. Other
accomplishments include setting the school record for overall wins
(48) in 2008 and wins in the Eastern Division (22) in 2007.
Additionally, her team won a share of the PSAC East title in 1994
and won the title outright in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
Lawes came to KU in 1987 as head
softball and women’s tennis coach and assistant women’s basketball
coach. She held the basketball position until 1990 and the tennis
position until 1991.
Lawes also serves as the director
of the Judy O’Connell softball camp for girls, one of the top youth
camps in the area.
A graduate of Shippensburg
University, Lawes received her bachelor’s degree in communications
in 1984 and her master’s degree in counseling/student personnel from
Shippensburg in 1987. In October 2001, she was inducted into
Shippensburg’s Athletic Hall of Fame for her record-setting
accomplishments as a softball and tennis player.
Lawes and her husband, Robert, have a
daughter, Rachel (14), and a son, Ryan (8).
 Assistant
Coach Jodie Swavely
Jodie Swavely completed her second year with the
Golden Bears. Swavely was a standout pitcher at Indiana University
of Pennsylvania from 2003-06. She set the school’s career record for
strikeouts (643) and shares the program record for wins (62). She
was a four-time All-PSAC West selection. Swavely graduated from IUP
in 2006 with a degree in health administration.
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