Lakeland Names Dreyer New Softball Coach

Courtesy of Lakeland College

Hailey Dreyer, a Wisconsin native with a solid background as a college softball player and coach, is Lakeland College's new head softball coach.

Dreyer comes to Lakeland from the University of Dubuque, where she was assistant coach and head pitching for two seasons and served four months as interim head coach. She helped guide the 2012 team to the most wins and best record in school history, and the 2011 team had the second-best season in school history.

"I'm very excited; being a head coach has been a goal since I've been playing college softball," said Dreyer, a native of Twin Lakes, Wis. "I've learned a lot through my various coaching roles, and I know I'm ready to lead my own program."

She developed Dubuque's pitching staff and worked with the outfield. She started a new fundraiser and has experience in recruiting, managing camp operations, the team's budget, travel and tournament arrangements and community involvement and service.

Dreyer inherits a program that finished 20-19 last season, 14-10 in the Northern Athletics Conference. The Muskies have won at least 20 games in four of the last six seasons, including a school-record 30 wins in 2009.

This year's team returns a strong nucleus that includes seniors Heather Haeflinger (Shawano), a first team all-NAC selection who was among the nation's leaders in triples, and pitcher Erin Henk (Hoopeston, Ill.)

"We have good talent, we just need to add some additional younger talent because having depth is important," Dreyer said. "There's no reason why we shouldn't content for the conference championship this spring. I know about the family feel at Lakeland, and I want prospective college softball players to discover what we have at Lakeland."

Dreyer said aggressive small ball will be the cornerstone of her teams.

"I'm very competitive and we will always be working to get that extra run," Dreyer said. "You're going to see our teams do a lot of stealing and bunting. You've also got to have strong pitching. The pitcher needs to be the most upbeat, positive, composed person on the mound that everyone knows will get the job done. I've watched Erin the last couple of years – she is a great person to have young pitchers working behind.

Dreyer graduated in May with a master of business administration from Dubuque. She earned a bachelor's in psychology from William Penn University in Oskaloosa, Iowa, in 2010.

She played college softball for four years, two years at Dubuque before finishing her career at William Penn. Hailey was a captain at each school, earned academic all-Midwest Collegiate Conference honors twice and all-MCC in 2010 at William Penn and was Player of the Week and Player of the Month at Dubuque.

She has experience in personal training, conducting summer fitness and speed classes to help athletes and adults get stronger and physically fit.