The softball team was left with a void when top assistant coach Karen Hohs took a teaching job in elementary education.

Coach Margo Jonker decided make the top assisstant someone who was already with the team.

Sami Baugh, who coached the catchers and called the pitchers the past two seasons, is now Jonker’s top assistant.

“Sammi showed in the last couple of years the qualities I believe are critical for a top-notch assistant coach,” Jonker said. “She basically put in a two-year interview and passed that interview with outstanding colors.”

In Baugh’s playing career at the University of Iowa, she started 171 games at catcher. But Jonker said it was Baugh’s mentality about the game that helped her get the job.

“She does a great job of working with catchers,” Jonker said. “But not only that, it’s her enthusiasm, her paying attention to detail and the loyalty she showed to her student athletes.”

Jonker also said part of what helped Baugh is Jonker saw Baugh coach the past two years and she knew what kind of coach she was getting.

The softball team also added Colleen Powers as an assistant coach.

“Her references were extremely positive and then we did phone interviews with four different candidates,” Jonker said. “The committee and myself were impressed with her answers. Then we brought her up on a campus interview, which went well.”

Powers played at the University of Minnesota from 2005-08, where she was a two-time captain.

Last year, Powers was an assistant coach at West Texas A&M University. She helped the Buffalos hit a conference-leading .339 and place third in the Lone Star Conference South Division.

Jonker said Powers’ personality was a main reason she was added to the coaching staff.

“She was very positive and outgoing,” she said. “You need that positive outlook with the student athletes as well as our recruiting situation.”

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