D'Youville University

Head Coach Shelly Hoerner enters her third season as Head Coach of the D'Youville Softball program for the 2026-27 school year after being named head coach in July 2024. Hoerner holds an overall record of 45-40 with a conference record of 19-21. 

In her second season leading the Saints, D'Youville held a 22-20 overall record, entering postseason as the #3 seed in the East Coast Conference tournament. The Saints closed out the year with a loss to St. Thomas Aquinas in the Championship game. Senior, Summer Clark was named ECC Pitcher of the Year and Sophomore, Frankie Morris was named ECC Player of the Year with four Saints being named ECC First Team All-Conference. 

In her first season at the helm of the D'Youville Softball program, Hoerner led the team to their first ever East Coast Conference Championship title along with the program's first NCAA Division II Regional Appearance. 

Hoerner comes to D'Youville after seven years as the Head Coach at Appalachian State University with a 161-172 overall record there. Hoerner got her coaching start at the Division II level at Barry University as an assistant coach in 1996. During her time at Barry, she also worked as an assistant coach in Nice, France in 1998 for the Professional Fast Pitch League. Hoerner got her first Head Coaching position in 1999 at Valdosta State University. As her career continued, Shelly Hoerner also took the head coaching role at Barry University, College of Charleston, and the Georgia Institute of Technology along with an assistant coaching position at North Caroline State. In her tenure caching, Hoerner has an overall winning record of 699-623.

During her time as a player, Hoerner was named All-SSC Player at Barry University and All-MAAC Player at Canisius College. Following her career, she has been inducted into the New York State Softball Hall of Fame, the Western New York Hall of Fame, and the North Tonawanda High School Athletic Wall of Fame. 

Hoerner graduated with a bachelors degree in physical education from Canisius in 1996 and went on to obtain her masters in sports management from Barry University in 1999.