Amanda Lehotak enters her seventh season at the helm of Penn State softball in 2020.
In 2019, Lehotak and her Nittany Lions totaled 24 wins, the most since the 2016 season, and continued its increase in offensive production. The Penn State offense hit 49 home runs, a program record, with senior Toni Polk and freshman Chelsea Bisi accounting for 13 each. The pitching staff showed steady improvement combined with the defense to shut out six opponents, the most shutouts since the 2011 season, while registering 310 strikeouts.
Lehotak led the 2017 Nittany Lions to two wins over ranked opponents, beating then-No. 4 LSU and then-No. 25 Ohio State. She guided first-team All-Big Ten selection Tori Dubois to a .457 batting average in Big Ten play for third in the conference. Senior Shelby Miller closed out her career ranking second in the Penn State record book with 118 RBI while senior Kristina Brackpool moved to No. 7 all-time with 106 RBI and No. 9 all-time with 19 home runs.
In the circle, pitcher Marlaina Laubach started a team-best 25 games and threw 14 complete games en route to 12 wins as a senior. The right-handed hurler closed her career as Penn State’s all-time leader with 139 appearances in the circle with 611.1 innings of work for fifth and 46 career victories for sixth.
Penn State’s 2016 season was its most successful since the 2011 campaign as Lehotak and the Nittany Lions posted 30 wins and had a fourth-place 14-8 Big Ten record. The Nittany Lions registered a record-breaking .314 batting average with 468 hits which included 75 doubles and rewrote both the team and individual record book.
The Blue & White got off to its best start in conference action in the history of the program with an 11-3 record before winning a program-best five conference series, sweeping three. The 2016 Nittany Lion offense had 23 games with 10 or more hits and scored 10 or more runs on nine occasions.
Penn State advanced to the 2016 Big Ten Tournament semifinals for just the third time in program history with three student-athletes earning first-team All-Big Ten accolades. Seniors Macy Jones and Lexi Knief and sophomore Alyssa VanDerveer earned the honors, marking the first time since 2013 Penn State had a first-team honoree and the second time in program history that the Nittany Lions had three first-team nods.
VanDerveer and Shelby Miller captured Big Ten All-Tournament team honors with VanDerveer knocking a grand slam in the quarterfinal and Miller having a solid effort on both sides of the ball. Jones capped off her career as a NFCA All-Great Lakes Region First-Team honoree and Knief earned third-team honors for the second-straight season.
In 2016, Jones broke the Penn State career RBI record and walk record with 137 career RBI and 100 career walks and ranks in the top 10 in six single-season batting categories and nine career batting categories. Knief closed her career in the top 10 of seven career batting categories. VanDerveer tied the single-game RBI record, driving in seven against Fordham, while breaking the single-season RBI record with 50.
The Nittany Lions captured another record, an NCAA mark, when they hit two grand slams in one inning against Wisconsin on April 3, 2015. The Blue & White’s two grand slams came from Shelby Miller and Reina Furuya who both launched hits over the fence in the fourth inning, earning them a featured spot in Sports Illustrated. VanDerveer hit three grand slams during the 2015 season, which tied her for third in NCAA history. As a team, Penn State hit seven grand slams in the 2015 campaign while also posting a 12-game streak with 10 or more hits and 11-straight games with at least one home run.
Lehotak guided Texas-San Antonio to a 27-26 overall record in 2013 to give the program just its second winning record in the last seven years. She led the Roadrunners to a fifth-place finish and a berth in the WAC Tournament in UTSA’s first season in the conference while Darian Blake was named to the All-WAC first team.
In her first season at UTSA, Lehotak posted 24 wins and a 12-8 mark in Southland Conference play en route to a third-place finish, the program’s highest finish since 2009. Five players earned All-Southland honors in 2012, including Freshman of the Year.
Lehotak spent six seasons at Jacksonville University, including five as head coach. The Dolphins improved their win total each of Lehotak’s five seasons at the helm, culminating in a 44-16 overall record and a 18-2 conference mark in 2011. She left Jacksonville with a school-record 137 wins.
That season, Jacksonville won the Atlantic Sun regular-season and tournament titles on its way to the first NCAA Tournament appearance in school history. Lehotak was named the 2011 Atlantic Sun Coach of the Year as her squad set program records for home runs, ERA, shutouts and fielding percentage.
A native of Omaha, Nebraska, Lehotak finished her collegiate career at Nebraska-Omaha (2002-03) after two seasons at Mississippi. In her rookie season at Ole Miss, she set the single-season hits record which stood for more than a decade. At UNO, she was a third-team All-American with a pair of first-team All-North Central Conference selections.
Lehotak earned her bachelor’s degree in family science from Nebraska-Omaha in 2003.
Lehotak and her daughter, Dylan, reside in State College.
In 2019, Lehotak and her Nittany Lions totaled 24 wins, the most since the 2016 season, and continued its increase in offensive production. The Penn State offense hit 49 home runs, a program record, with senior Toni Polk and freshman Chelsea Bisi accounting for 13 each. The pitching staff showed steady improvement combined with the defense to shut out six opponents, the most shutouts since the 2011 season, while registering 310 strikeouts.
Lehotak led the 2017 Nittany Lions to two wins over ranked opponents, beating then-No. 4 LSU and then-No. 25 Ohio State. She guided first-team All-Big Ten selection Tori Dubois to a .457 batting average in Big Ten play for third in the conference. Senior Shelby Miller closed out her career ranking second in the Penn State record book with 118 RBI while senior Kristina Brackpool moved to No. 7 all-time with 106 RBI and No. 9 all-time with 19 home runs.
In the circle, pitcher Marlaina Laubach started a team-best 25 games and threw 14 complete games en route to 12 wins as a senior. The right-handed hurler closed her career as Penn State’s all-time leader with 139 appearances in the circle with 611.1 innings of work for fifth and 46 career victories for sixth.
Penn State’s 2016 season was its most successful since the 2011 campaign as Lehotak and the Nittany Lions posted 30 wins and had a fourth-place 14-8 Big Ten record. The Nittany Lions registered a record-breaking .314 batting average with 468 hits which included 75 doubles and rewrote both the team and individual record book.
The Blue & White got off to its best start in conference action in the history of the program with an 11-3 record before winning a program-best five conference series, sweeping three. The 2016 Nittany Lion offense had 23 games with 10 or more hits and scored 10 or more runs on nine occasions.
Penn State advanced to the 2016 Big Ten Tournament semifinals for just the third time in program history with three student-athletes earning first-team All-Big Ten accolades. Seniors Macy Jones and Lexi Knief and sophomore Alyssa VanDerveer earned the honors, marking the first time since 2013 Penn State had a first-team honoree and the second time in program history that the Nittany Lions had three first-team nods.
VanDerveer and Shelby Miller captured Big Ten All-Tournament team honors with VanDerveer knocking a grand slam in the quarterfinal and Miller having a solid effort on both sides of the ball. Jones capped off her career as a NFCA All-Great Lakes Region First-Team honoree and Knief earned third-team honors for the second-straight season.
In 2016, Jones broke the Penn State career RBI record and walk record with 137 career RBI and 100 career walks and ranks in the top 10 in six single-season batting categories and nine career batting categories. Knief closed her career in the top 10 of seven career batting categories. VanDerveer tied the single-game RBI record, driving in seven against Fordham, while breaking the single-season RBI record with 50.
The Nittany Lions captured another record, an NCAA mark, when they hit two grand slams in one inning against Wisconsin on April 3, 2015. The Blue & White’s two grand slams came from Shelby Miller and Reina Furuya who both launched hits over the fence in the fourth inning, earning them a featured spot in Sports Illustrated. VanDerveer hit three grand slams during the 2015 season, which tied her for third in NCAA history. As a team, Penn State hit seven grand slams in the 2015 campaign while also posting a 12-game streak with 10 or more hits and 11-straight games with at least one home run.
Lehotak guided Texas-San Antonio to a 27-26 overall record in 2013 to give the program just its second winning record in the last seven years. She led the Roadrunners to a fifth-place finish and a berth in the WAC Tournament in UTSA’s first season in the conference while Darian Blake was named to the All-WAC first team.
In her first season at UTSA, Lehotak posted 24 wins and a 12-8 mark in Southland Conference play en route to a third-place finish, the program’s highest finish since 2009. Five players earned All-Southland honors in 2012, including Freshman of the Year.
Lehotak spent six seasons at Jacksonville University, including five as head coach. The Dolphins improved their win total each of Lehotak’s five seasons at the helm, culminating in a 44-16 overall record and a 18-2 conference mark in 2011. She left Jacksonville with a school-record 137 wins.
That season, Jacksonville won the Atlantic Sun regular-season and tournament titles on its way to the first NCAA Tournament appearance in school history. Lehotak was named the 2011 Atlantic Sun Coach of the Year as her squad set program records for home runs, ERA, shutouts and fielding percentage.
A native of Omaha, Nebraska, Lehotak finished her collegiate career at Nebraska-Omaha (2002-03) after two seasons at Mississippi. In her rookie season at Ole Miss, she set the single-season hits record which stood for more than a decade. At UNO, she was a third-team All-American with a pair of first-team All-North Central Conference selections.
Lehotak earned her bachelor’s degree in family science from Nebraska-Omaha in 2003.
Lehotak and her daughter, Dylan, reside in State College.