Kutztown University of Pennsylvania Women's Softball

Judy Lawes begins her 39th season as head softball coach at Kutztown University in 2026. Lawes has had a winning record in 36 of her 38 seasons at KU and holds an overall record of 1,175-664-2 (.639), second among active Division II coaches in victories. All-time, Lawes ranks eighth in victories entering the 2026 season. The Golden Bears had another strong season in 2025, finishing with 43 victories, their most since 2012. They were NCAA Regional champions for the second straight season and third in the last four, advancing to Super Regionals.  In 2024, Kutztown won at least 30 games for the fifth consecutive season and earned spots in the PSAC and NCAA DII Tournaments. KU advanced out of the Atlantic Regionals to the Super Regional for the second time in three seasons and was within one win of making it to NCAA Championships. The Golden Bears won 30 games in 2023 and qualified for both the PSAC and NCAA Tournaments. They went 22-10 in conference and won a game in both tournaments. The 2022 season was one of the best for KU in the last decade. The Golden Bears won their second PSAC championship in program history and advanced to the NCAA Atlantic Regional final, finishing with a 40-15 (.724) overall record, the seventh time in program history they reached 40 wins in a season. Lawes won her 1,000th career game in a 12-1 victory at Bloomsburg on March 21, 2021. Her 2021 Golden Bears won the PSAC East Division title and qualified for the NCAA Atlantic Region Tournament, winning 33 games along the way. Lawes has led the Golden Bears to all 23 of their appearances in the NCAA Division II Tournament, including in each of the last five seasons. She guided them to three-straight appearances in 1994-96 and then every year from 2000-13. Lawes has also directed KU to 24 PSAC playoff appearances. Lawes is a nine-time PSAC East Coach of the Year (1989, 1994, 2000, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2017, 2021, 2022). She has won the PSAC East title nine times – a share of the title in 1994, 2010 and 2017, and an outright title in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2021 and 2022, winning the program's first-ever PSAC Championship in 2013 and bringing home the second in 2022.   On the regional level, Kutztown has won three Atlantic Region titles under Lawes, whose staff was named the 2012 Regional Staff of the Year after winning a school-record 52 games and 22 in the PSAC East. KU appeared at the NCAA National Championships in 2012 and 2013, including an appearance in the national title game in 2013.   Lawes also garnered the KU Female Coach of the Year award in 1994, 1995, 2000, 2007, 2009, 2012 and 2022 - presented to the KU Coach of the Year for women's athletics.   Academically, Lawes' Golden Bears set a program-record in 2021 with 18 PSAC Scholar-Athletes. In 2013, Kutztown won its first-ever PSAC Championship and its second consecutive Atlantic Region Championship. It carried a 14-game winning streak and a perfect 12-0 mark in the postseason to the national championship game. It was KU's 11th straight NCAA Tournament appearance and the first time KU softball competed in the national title game. Lawes won her 800th career game on May 1, 2013, in the opening game of the PSAC Championship Tournament. As of the 2013 season, Lawes was the 19th NCAA Division II coach to reach the 800-win mark.  Lawes led the Golden Bears to six consecutive 40-win seasons from 2007-12, and set a program-record with 52 wins and a 33-game winning streak in 2012. The Golden Bears were ranked second in the NFCA top 25 poll, the highest mark in school history, before finishing the season ranked third in the final NFCA poll. KU won both the Atlantic Regional and Atlantic Super Regional. At the NCAA National Championships, Kutztown advanced all the way to the national semifinals, before falling to the eventual national champions. Coach Lawes and her staff were awarded the Atlantic Region Coaching Staff of the Year by the NFCA. The Golden Bears completed their 2012 season with a 52-7 overall record that included a 19-1 mark in conference action. Kutztown won the PSAC East and also captured the Atlantic Regional title. Lawes was named the 2012 PSAC East Coach of the Year. Lawes also notched her 750th career win on March 17, 2012, in a 7-0 victory over the University of the Sciences. Stand-Out Players Recruited by Coach Lawes: 2022 PSAC Tournament MVP - Kate Ostaszewski 2022 East Pitcher of the Year - Bridget Bailey 2021 East Freshman of the Year - Brianna Hughes 2019 East Athlete of the Year -  Sara Keeny 2019 East Freshman of the Year - Bridget Bailey 2017 East Pitcher of Year - Savannah Nierintz 2016 East Freshman of Year - Sara Keeny 2013 East Athlete of Year - Brianna Knipe 2012 Division II Ron Lentz Pitcher of the Year – Sam Derr 2012 East Pitcher of Year – Sam Derr 2012 East Freshman of Year – Mary Kocienski 2011 East Athlete of Year – Nicole Henninger 2010 East Pitcher of Year – Kait Arbogast 2010 East Freshman of Year – Katie Lynch 2009 East Athlete of Year – Stephanie Denlinger 2009 East Pitcher of Year – Kait Arbogast 2008 East Athlete of Year – Ashley Fitzgerald 2007 East Pitcher of Year – Kait Arbogast 2007 East Athlete of Year – Stephanie Denlinger 2007 East Rookie of Year – Kait Arbogast 2006 East Rookie of Year – Stephanie Denlinger 2000 East Rookie of Year – Kellie Evans 1998 East Rookie of Year – Tara White NCAA Statistical Leaders 2014 Colleen Smith - NCAA Division II Consecutive Walks Record 2009 Stephanie Denlinger – Holds Division II Career HR Record 1994 Lorie Erie – Division II Statistical Champion – Stolen Bases 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. 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, a 2016 KU graduate and alumna of the softball program, and a son, Ryan.   All Games PSAC Games Year School W L T Pct W L T Pct. 1988 Kutztown 20 11 .645 8 4 .667 1989 Kutztown 24 16 .600 9 3 .750 1990 Kutztown 25 12 .676 9 3 .750 1991 Kutztown 22 18 .550 4 7 .364 1992 Kutztown 23 12 .657 7 5 .583 1993 Kutztown 18 17 .514 7 5 .583 1994 Kutztown 24 11 .686 10 2 .833 1995 Kutztown 39 18 .684 18 6 .750 1996 Kutztown 35 18 .660 18 6 .750 1997 Kutztown 22 18 .550 16 8 .667 1998 Kutztown 25 22 .532 13 11 .542 1999 Kutztown 24 23 .511 14 10 .583 2000 Kutztown 34 15 1 .690 19 4 1 .813 2001 Kutztown 28 21 .571 16 8 .667 2002 Kutztown 28 18 .609 13 11 .542 2003 Kutztown 23 18 .561 14 10 .583 2004* Kutztown 28 17 .622 15 9 .625 2005 Kutztown 27 24 .529 13 11 .542 2006 Kutztown 32 19 .627 16 8 .667 2007 Kutztown 43 18 .705 22 2 .917 2008 Kutztown 48 14 .774 21 3 .875 2009 Kutztown 46 12 1 .788 15 1 .938 2010 Kutztown 43 18 .705 12 4 .750 2011 Kutztown 41 16 .719 10 6 .625 2012 Kutztown 52 7 .881 19 1 .950 2013 Kutztown 37 22 .627 9 7 .563 2014 Kutztown 20 29 .408 11 17 .393 2015 Kutztown 30 18 .625 16 12 .571 2016 Kutztown 33 17 .660 10 6 .625 2017 Kutztown 31 17 .646 13 3 .813 2018 Kutztown 16 21 .432 4 12 .250 2019 Kutztown 36 20 .643 9 7 .562 2020 Kutztown 15 7 .682 0 0 .000 2021 Kutztown 33 15 .688 23 9 .719 2022 Kutztown 40 15 .727 12 4 .750 2023 Kutztown 30 26 .536 22 10 .688 2024 Kutztown 37 25 .597 19 13 .594 2025 Kutztown 43 19 .694 21 11 .656 Totals 1175 664 2 .639 507 259 1 .661 * Record adjusted due to vacated games  

Justus will begin his third season and third stint with Kutztown entering the 2026 season. After four years up in the northeast, Don Justus returned to Kutztown as an assistant softball coach for the 2024 season. This will be his third stint with the Golden Bears, having served in the same role for 10 seasons under head coach Judy Lawes from 2010-19 and during the 2004-05 season. Justus departed Kutztown following the 2019 season to become an assistant at then Division I Hartford University. He helped the Hawks to a 6-4 pandemic-shortened 2020 season and held the same role for the 2021 season before being named interim head coach in June. In October 2021, Justus was named the new head coach at Division II University of New Haven. In two seasons at the helm of the Chargers, Justus posted a 34-53 record, with back-to-back 17-win seasons in 2022 and 2023, and led a trio of players to All-Northeast-10 Conference honors. Working alongside Lawes, one of the winningest coaches in NCAA Division II history, Justus helped the Golden Bears win the 2013 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) championship, qualify for six NCAA tournaments and finish as national runners-up in 2013. Justus was instrumental in developing the pitchers and outfielders, recruiting, coordinating camps and clinics, fundraising, and assisting with scheduling and travel during his first stint with the Maroon and Gold. He also held an advisory role with KU's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), which he will resume with his reappointment to the staff. Kutztown totaled 339 victories with Justus on staff, including a school record 52 wins (52-7) in 2012, 40-win seasons in 2010 and 2011, and eight winning seasons overall. Kutztown advanced out of regional play to the NCAA Division II Championship in 2012 and 2013. Justus, who spent the 2004-05 academic year as an assistant to Lawes at KU, returned to the Golden Bears following two seasons as an assistant at Division I Iona College in 2008 and 2009. He oversaw a pitching staff that featured 2009 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Rookie of the Year Sarah Jackson, who compiled a 1.62 earned run average. Justus is a member of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) as a Three Star Master Coach, Connecticut High School Coaches Association, and the PONY Softball National Tournament Staff. Justus earned a bachelor's degree in business sports management at Columbia Southern University in 1993.  

Bob Bertoni returns to the Kutztown University softball coaching staff as a volunteer assistant in 2024. Bertoni brings nearly four decades of coaching experience back to the Golden Bears and is coming off a successful five-year run as the head coach at Hazleton Area High School. His Lady Cougar teams went 66-26, won three District 2/4 Class 6A championships and reached the state championship game in 2019. Bertoni mentored Gatorade Pennsylvania Player of the Year Marissa Trivelpiece and coached 2024 KU newcomer Makenna Balay while at Hazleton. Bertoni previously served in the same role at Kutztown during the 2018 season. His other coaching stops include Luzerne County Community College and Crestwood High School. Bertoni also spent time as the head baseball coach at Greater Nanticoke High School. Updated 1/22/24