Northern Lehigh hires new softball coach; Muhlenberg hires Emmaus alum

FROM KEITH GROLLER

Jon DeFrain has been announced as the new softball coach at Northern Lehigh.

DeFrain, who had been a varsity assistant and is a social studies teacher at the high school, replaces Brian Schell who resigned after the 2011 season.

DeFrain is a 1998 Northern Lehigh graduate. His sister, Missy, was a standout player for the Bulldogs and also at Muhlenberg College. She was also a member of the coaching staff last season.

Schell resigned after going 57-33 over four seasons in his second stint as coach. He was 180-112 in 14 seasons overall and was best known for coaching the team that won the PIAA 2A title in 1988.

In his most recent stint, Schell won the Colonial League title in 2010.

***Also on Monday, Muhlenberg announced former Emmaus volleyball standout Kate Yoder would be joining the program as an assistant volleyball coach.

Muhlenberg College hired former Emmaus High School standout Kate Yoder as an assistant volleyball coach.

Yoder returns to the Lehigh Valley after an outstanding four-year playing career at Gettysburg -- the first three of those years under current Mule head coach Alexa Keckler.

Yoder earned All-Centennial Conference recognition all four years, including first-team accolades as a sophomore. She closed her career near the top of several career lists, ranking 14th in kills with 950 and eighth in blocks with 287. As a senior, the 5-10 middle hit .309 in CC matches and recorded a triple-double against Elizabethtown.

Yoder, who graduated from Gettysburg in 2011 with a degree in health sciences, received all-Lehigh Valley Conference honorable mention as a senior at Emmaus after helping the team to a 21-3 record and a runner-up finish in the conference.

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