Softball Adds Three to Coaching Staff
10/11/2011 4:40:00 PM | Softball
NEW YORK - Columbia head softball coach Kayla Noonan has announced a number of additions to her coaching staff for the upcoming 2012 season. Melissa Bieman, a former assistant coach at Stony Brook University, has been named Noonan's top assistant, while Marisa Hanson and Amanda Hyne will also serve as coaches.
"These three women will add a tremendous amount to my staff," Noonan said. "They are committed, enthusiastic and very knowledgeable individuals. Our student-athletes will really benefit from their experience."
Bieman served as pitching coach for the Seawolves from 2007-11, and helped the staff to unprecedented success during her tenure. Over her five years with the team, Stony Brook's pitchers garnered a 2.38 earned run average and a .626 winning percentage.
Under her guidance, the pitchers broke team records for ERA in a season (2.05), wins in a season (36) and also had the school's first America East Pitcher of the Year, Alyssa Struzenberg. The Seawolves won the America East Championship and advanced to the NCAA Regionals for the first time in program history in 2008, and won a regular-season title the following year.
Prior to Stony Brook, Bieman was an assistant coach at Binghamton University, where she worked with the pitching staff and hitters. Before Binghamton, she helped lead Briarcliffe College in Bethpage, N.Y., to a pair of National Junior College Athletic Association World Series' in 2003 and 2004.
As a player, Bieman starred at Florida Community College at Jacksonville, where she went 23-4 with a 0.26 ERA en route to all-state and all-conference honors as a first-year. After two seasons at F.C.C.J., the Wingham, Ontario native moved on to Syracuse University where she recorded the first home run, hit and shutout in program history. She also won two Canadian Senior Women's National Championships as a member of the Kitchener Krush in 2006 and 2009.
A consumer studies major, Bieman graduated with her bachelor's degree from Syracuse in 2001.
Hanson is a graduate of Penn State University, where she played softball for the Nittany Lions for four seasons. One of the top pitchers to ever don a Penn State uniform, Hanson participated in the NCAA Tournament three times and recorded 48 victories in the circle from 2001-04. She concluded her career one win shy of the then-school record of 49 wins set by Jaci Kalp.
Hyne comes to Morningside Heights after spending four years at Hamilton College in upstate New York. While there, Hyne pitched and played outfield for the Continentals and was named to the All-New England Small College Athletic Conference Academic team in the spring of 2010. She graduated with a degree in psychology in 2011 and is enrolled in Columbia's School of Social Work.
