Head Softball Coach
Email: jhuebner@tusculum.edu
Direct Line: 423-636-7300 ext. 5131
Campus Phone: 5131
Campus Mail: P.O. 5060
Office: Rankin 101
Department: Athletics
Campus or Site Location: Greeneville
Julie Huebner was named head softball coach at Tusculum on July 27, 2012 after serving as assistant coach for the previous two seasons.
She enters her 11th season with a 243-212 career record with the Pioneers, which ranks her second all-time in career wins behind the legendary J.C. “Red” Edmonds, who had 460 victories in his 14 seasons on the Tusculum bench. Huebner’s .534 winning percentage puts her third among TU softball mentors.
The 2022 squad finished 27-21 with a 13-11 SAC record, earning the No. 7 seed in the league tournament. Four were named to the SAC preseason second team as the Pioneers were picked to finish sixth once again. Program records were reset and tied throughout 2022. Anna Alloway now owns the career home run (30) and total bases (370) record, while Emily Sappington broke the season strikeout (173) and single-game (14) marks. The pitching staff in 2022 now holds the season strikeout record with 292. Hayley Lazo tied the single-season hit by pitch record of 12 as Mya Maddox tied the steals in a game ceiling with four. Maddox’s 36 stolen bases were good for second in a TU season as the team’s 80 steals were third-highest as a program. Tusculum earned a doubleheader split at nationally-ranked Lincoln Memorial on March 17 behind five RBI by catcher Chloe Freischmidt. Sappington (Feb. 8) and Alloway (Mar. 29) earned SAC Pitcher and Player of the Week, respectively. Sappington and Maddox (twice) were tabbed as Zaxby’s Female Athletes of the Week, while Ireland Cavanaugh was the Applebee’s Female Athlete of the Month for April. Alloway and Sappington collected second team all-conference honors, joined by Maddox on the third team. In the classroom, Huebner had 15 named to the SAC Commissioner’s Honor Roll, 14 earn the D2ADA Academic Achievement Award, 13 tabbed as Easton/NFCA All-America Scholar-Athletes, and 20 listed on the TU Athletic Director’s Honor Roll. Individually, Alloway was nominated for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award and was named a CoSIDA Academic All-America (and all-district) for a third-straight year, finishing as a first-teamer.
2021 was a banner year for the Tusculum program and Huebner herself. The 29-13 (13-11 SAC) squad defied expectations as the Pioneers were picked to finish 10th in the conference with Anna Alloway, Alexis Grampp, and Brittney Franse voted to the second team. TU hosted the league’s postseason event, highlighted by capturing softball’s first SAC Tournament Championship. Five were elected to the SAC All-Tournament Team (MVP – Emily Sappington, Chloe Freischmidt, Alloway, Grampp, and Claire Smeltzer). The program also appeared in its first NCAA DII regional, earning a win over Emmanuel. Huebner picked up her 200th career win as a collegiate head coach (all at Tusculum) in the doubleheader versus Catawba (Mar. 17) at Red Edmonds Field. As a dual-threat pitcher, Sappington racked up SAC Pitcher of the Week (the first since 2018) and Zaxby’s Female Athlete of the Week. She also tossed two no-hitters, becoming only the second in program history to record multiple no-hitters in a season or career (Erin Searcy, 2011). Grampp also tied the single-season home run record with 11. Numerous program records were rewritten after the doubleheader sweep at Queens on Apr. 11. Alloway tied the at bats (6), hits (5), runs (4), and total bases (12) records, while Hayley Lazo met the mark in home runs (3) and total bases (12). As a team, the nine home runs hit crushed the previous high of five and the 49 total bases topped the next best by 14. Regionally, Sappington and Alloway tallied D2CAA second team honors, while the former also added NFCA second team laurels. Alloway tacked on SAC honorable mention in the all-conference release. Academically, TU had 16 named Easton/NFCA All-America Scholar-Athletes, 13 with a D2ADA Academic Achievement Award, 19 on the SAC Commissioner’s Honor Roll, and 25 on the TU Athletic Director’s fall Honor Roll (23 on the spring edition). Both Alloway and Franse both earned CoSIDA Academic All-District, while Alloway repeated as a CoSIDA Academic All-American (second team). She also garnered SAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year for softball and Keylon Reynolds collected TU Freshman of the Year Academic Award (Female) at the athletic banquet.
The 2020 Tusculum squad rocketed off to the program’s best start (13-2), including a five-game win streak to begin the year, before COVID-19 shortened the season, ending at 15-7 (1-3 SAC). The Pioneers swept doubleheaders over Converse, Claflin, Cedarville, Davis & Elkins, and Southern Wesleyan, while splitting the meetings with future SAC foe Limestone, UVa-Wise, and North Greenville. Sophomore Chloe Freischmidt claimed the program’s first Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division II Player of the Week honor after a .545.583/1.273 slashline with 11 RBI, six hits, five runs scored, two doubles, and a pair of grand slams in a four-win weekend. To open the season, junior Anna Alloway became the first position player to collect SAC AstroTurf Player of the Week honors for TU since 2013, and Freischmidt followed suit three weeks later. Alloway excelled off the field as well, earning CoSIDA Academic All-District and CoSIDA Academic All-America third team laurels.
Tusculum battled to a 22-20 overall record and an 8-12 record in the South Atlantic Conference in 2019, just four games behind league champion Lincoln Memorial. The Pioneers went 6-4 against the top five teams in the conference standings, including sweeps of nationally-ranked Wingate and Newberry and an eight-run rule win against eventual SAC Tournament champion Anderson.
In 2018, the Pioneers faced a tough conference schedule and ended up just a game under .500 overall with a 24-25 record. Among the highlights were a 3-2 win over 23rd-ranked North Greenville on Feb. 22, and a doubleheader split with eventual SAC Tournament champion Carson-Newman on April 11. The Pioneers led the SAC with 16 triples and turned a league-high 23 double plays on defense. Sophomore Delaney Guerrero became the fourth Pioneer to earn NFCA All-Region honors since the Pioneers joined Division II in 1999 after hitting .421 with two home runs and 28 runs batted in.
The 2017 club finished with a 28-25 record and finished seventh in the final league standings to qualify for the South Atlantic Conference Tournament. TC dropped a 5-4 hear-breaker to No. 2 seed and 13th-ranked Lenoir-Rhyne in nine innings. Tusculum bounced back by rallying with an eight-run, sixth inning to knock off Wingate, 9-4. The 2017 club had a record-breaking season as the Pioneers clubbed a school-record 40 home runs and also established a season-best with 18 sacrifice flies. The All-Conference duo of Emily Hester and Sammie West paced the way for Tusculum.
It was a magical campaign for Huebner as Tusculum skipper in 2013, leading the Pioneers to the program’s first South Atlantic Conference championship and first league title of any kind in 20 years. She was honored for the team’s success by earning the SAC Coach of the Year award along with the Art Argauer Award as the Coach of the Year at Tusculum.
Tusculum rallied from a sluggish 6-11 start to the season and won 24 of its next 30 regular season contests, including a 13-5 mark in the conference to claim the SAC title. The Pioneers did it in dramatic fashion, sweeping a doubleheader over then first-place Anderson on the final day of league play, including a walk-off 4-3 victory in the title clincher.
Three Pioneers earned All-SAC accolades, including first baseman Kaytlin Stroinski, shortstop Lindsey Umberger and outfielder Miranda Beeler. Stroinski was later tabbed to the Daktronics NCAA Division II All-Southeast Region second team.
In her second year as head coach, Huebner guided the Pioneers to a fourth-place finish as her team posted a 31-24 overall record for the program’s fourth consecutive 30-win campaign. Sophomore outfielder Carolyn Williamson garnered All-SAC second team honors, while senior pitcher Kelly King established a school single-season record with eight shutouts as she earned All-SAC honorable mention recognition.
In 2014, Tusculum’s 2.07 team earned run average was the second lowest in the SAC and the fourth-best in program history. Tusculum also boasted the third-best team fielding percentage in the league at .969, which was 20th in the country and second highest in school history. The Pioneers’ 0.31 triples per game are second in the SAC and 26th in NCAA II.
In Huebner’s first two seasons at Tusculum, she served as assistant coach and pitching coach. She has been instrumental in the development of Johnson, Stroinski and 2013 SAC All-Tournament honoree Kelly King.
In her first year on the Tusculum staff, the Pioneers posted an impressive 32-17 record that represented the highest win total since 1995. Along the way, Tusculum knocked off three nationally-ranked opponents, including second-ranked North Georgia, snapping the Saints’ 40-game home winning streak and eventual NCAA II national runner-up Alabama-Huntsville, the Chargers’ lone loss in its first 42 games of the season.
One year prior to her arrival, the Tusculum pitching staff had a team earned run average of 3.08. In her first season guiding the Pioneer pitching fortunes, Huebner’s hurlers lowered their ERA to 1.95. Johnson dropped her ERA by over a full run from 2.20 to a South Atlantic Conference-best 1.16. Erin Searcy posted dramatic improvement as well going from a 4.10 to 2.49 ERA including a pair of no-hitters, while Johnson tossed the first recorded perfect game in program history.
In 2012, the Pioneers followed with another 32-win campaign and finished fourth at the South Atlantic Conference Tournament, hosted by Tusculum College.
Since Huebner’s arrival in Greeneville, nine players have garnered All-Conference recognition, including Taylor MacDonald (2011), Elizabeth Johnson (2012), Kaitlyn Stroinski (2012, 2013, 2015), Lindsey Umberger (2013), Carolyn Williamson (2014, 2015, 2016), Miranda Beeler (2013, 2016), Kelly King (2014), Emily Hester (2017), Sammie West (2017), Delaney Guerrero (2018) and Taylor Battle (2018, 2019).
Huebner came to Tusculum in 2010 after serving as an assistant coach at East Stroudsburg University in East Stroudsburg, Pa. During her three seasons with the Warriors, Huebner was the pitching coach, while mentoring the outfielders in the defensive aspects of the game.
Huebner earned her bachelor’s degree from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2006, graduating with honors after majoring in Hospitality Management with a minor in Psychology. She was an outfielder and two-year captain on the softball team during her time at IUP, while earning All-PSAC West Second Team honors in 2005.
The Indiana University of Pennsylvania graduate began her coaching career as an assistant at North Penn High School in Lansdale, Pa., serving one year on the Knights’ coaching staff prior to her appointment at East Stroudsburg. Her coaching experience also includes three years at the NFCA Pennsbury Recruiting Camp, as well as four years as a lead instructor at the IUP summer camps. Huebner also served as the tournament site manager for the NSA World Series Qualifier held at IUP.
Along with working softball camps at her alma mater, Huebner has also served as an instructor at the University of Tennessee, Kutztown University and East Stroudsburg.
Huebner earned her Masters of Arts degree in human resource management from Tusculum in December 2016.