ETOBICOKE, Ont. - Former NCAA pitcher and Canadian junior women's national team member Lauren Spohn has been named as the new head coach of the Humber College Hawks women's fastball team. She, along with her coaching staff of Lisa Kingsmore and Duaine Bowles, will lead a Hawks squad that has captured the last two Ontario Colleges Athletic Association provincial championships.

"I am looking forward to the opportunity presented to me, confident that my experience as a player and a coach has prepared me well for this role," said Spohn. "Humber has already established a culture of winning and I, along with our coaching staff, will challenge them to maintain and possibly exceed this level of play."

Lauren brings a rich heritage of both playing and coaching with her to Humber. As a player she grew up in the Brampton Blazers softball program before earning the right to represent Canada as an athlete in the Canadian junior national team pool. She competed for Canada at the first Pan American championship in Hermosillo, Mexico in 2002. In the same year, Lauren earned a scholarship to attend Iona College in New Rochelle, N.Y., an NCAA Division I softball program.

Her coaching skills, once again established within the nationally recognized Brampton Blazer organization, are very strong especially in the development of young pitchers. Most recently, she was an assistant coach for the Blazers 18U team, an underage team comprised of many players eligible for the 16U division, to a provincial bronze and Canadian national top five finish. In fact, her pitching staff featured a trio of young 16 year old pitchers which she has fostered over the past two years.

"Lauren brings many fine attributes to the Hawks, with two that just jump, and that is that she is well-immersed in the women's fastball culture by way of her work with the Blazers, and that she is so strong in the development of pitchers," said Humber director of athletics Ray Chateau. "This combination will certainly put the Hawks fastball program in a good position for many years to come."

The challenges of putting a competitive team on the field will have to come sooner than later as Lauren will now lead the Hawks into a 10-game swing in South Carolina in February, as part of a planned trip that will include games against NCAA Division I and II, and NAIA teams.

Source: Humber College