LeMaire hired as softball coach at Fort Hays State

Julie LeMaire, a 2000 graduate of Warsaw High School, was hired as the new head softball coach at Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas.

LeMaire is the sixth coach in the program's history since it was restarted in 1999. She replaces coach Tonja Hadley. She began her position on July 20. She is also teaching at Fort Hays.

LeMaire comes to the program from Lynn Universaity in Boca Raton, Fla., where she served as the assistant coach for two years. She worked primarily with the pitching staff, outfielders, and hitting. In her first year at Lynn in 2007, the pitching staff had a 5.83 ERA. The staff's ERA went down to 2.69 in LeMaire's second season.

LeMaire was a graduate assistant at the University of North Dakota for two years, working with pitchers, outfielders and hitters. She also assisted in recruiting, budget management, and fundraising. She taught physical education courses while working towards completion of her master's degree.

LeMaire played collegiate softball at Quincy University, an NCAA Division II program. She was named the team's Most Valuable Offensive Player in 2004 as a senior. She set the single-season school record for home runs. She earned Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division II All-Region Second Team honors and All-Great Lakes Valley Conference Second Team honors.

As a pitcher, she won 29 games in her career.

She received the Brother Clete Van Ackeren Award for Academic and Athletic Achievement in 2004.

She is the daugheter of Louis and Diane LeMaire of Basco.

She holds a bachelor's degree in physcial education from Quincy University (2004) and a master's degree in kinesiology from the University of North Dakota (2007).

Fort Hays State University is an NCAA Division II program in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association with an enrollment of more than 9,000 students.