Monday, March 08, 1999

Johnson City, Tenn. -- East Tennessee State University announced the appointment of Stephanie DeFeo as the school's first Softball Coach. ETSU will begin play in the spring of 2001.

DeFeo, a 1997 graduate of the University of Southwestern Louisiana, comes to ETSU from the University of Buffalo where she was an Assistant Coach. While at Buffalo, she was primarily responsible for recruiting, academic progress and team travel in addition to on-field coaching. Prior to Buffalo, DeFeo was an Assistant Coach at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

DeFeo also brings extensive collegiate and professional playing experience to ETSU. While at the University of Southwestern Louisiana, she was a three-time All-American and a four-time All-Region Honoree. She finished her career with the Lady Cajuns Career Record for home runs (43), Career Slugging Percentage (.676) and Runs Batted In (187). She was a four-year starter at first base and designated hitter and set a season record for Home Runs with 15 in 1997. DeFeo also excelled in the classroom and was a three-time GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-American.

For the past three years, DeFeo has played professional softball for the Women's Professional Softball League and was a member of the Orlando Wahoo's team which won the first WPSL Championship in 1997.

"We are thrilled to have Stephanie DeFeo join our staff and become the first softball coach at ETSU," said Pergolizzi. "Stephanie's tremendous accomplishments as a collegiate and professional softball player and her significant Division I coaching experience brought her to the top of our list. In addition she has the confidence, energy, passion, and enthusiasm to build a successful program from the ground up."