Softball Coaching Staff
Head Coach
Stacy Pondo
Stacy
Pondo is set to start her sixth season as the head coach of the Behrend Lions softball program.
Last spring was another special year for the blue and white as the
program won its second AMCC title in three years while posting a
33-14 overall mark and advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the
second time in three years. The program set new marks for singles,
doubles, and hits in a season.
Pondo is the all-time leader in softball victories at Penn State Behrend and has a 118-91 coaching record.
The 2007 campaign was an excellent season that featured a 29-16 overall record that tied for the second most wins in school history. Behrend advanced all the way to the AMCC championship game for the second straight season, but fell 9-7 to La Roche in the finals. The blue and white then went on to post a 2-2 mark in the ECAC Tournament. Three players were named to the AMCC All-Conference First-Team.
In 2006 Pondo led the Behrend Lions to an AMCC Championship with a 34-10 record, and the softball program’s first ever NCAA Tournament appearance. The blue and white went 16-2 in conference competition and had five players named to the all-conference team. Pondo was also honored as AMCC Coach of the Year.
In 2005, Pondo’s second season in
charge of the Behrend Lions, she guided the squad into the AMCC semifinals
on her way to being named AMCC Co-Coach of the Year.
As a player she competed for two seasons at Mercyhurst North East Junior College and starred
as a pitcher and shortstop. She carries a .419 career average and in 1997-98
served as an assistant to the 15-5 team because of an injury. She bounced
back to play first base for the Mercyhurst Lakers a year later and earned
the Mercyhurst Athletic Award.
Pondo earned a dual major in sports management and marketing from Mercyhurst
in 1999. In addition to her coaching duties, Pondo is also the assistant to
the director of athletics.
E-mail Head Coach Stacy Pondo:
slp15@psu.edu
Assistant Coach
Brian Kirsch
Brian Kirsch
begins his first season as an assistant coach with the Behrend Lions softball program.
Kirsch has a lengthy softball
background that includes 18 years of playing the game. Most recently he was
an assistant varsity coach at Villa Maria Academy. The Victors posted an
impressive 20-0 regular season mark last spring and won the District 10
Championship. Prior to that stop, Kirsch was an assistant at Fairview High
School for a season after completing four years as the head coach at
Mercyhurst Prep. As the leader of the Lakers program from 2000 to 2004, he
guided them to a pair of District 10 titles in 2003 and 2004, and all the
way to the Western Semi-Finals in 2003.
Kirsch is currently a special education Job Coach at McDowell
Intermediate High School.