Lake Forest College Softball Coaching Staff Career Highlights Seventh year as Head Coach at Lake Forest (1997-present) Led 2002 team to program's first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament, where the Foresters placed second in the country 1998, 2001, and 2002 MWC South Division Coach of the Year and headed th 2002 National Coaching Staff of the Year Has improved the team's record each of the past four seasons Her student-athletes have garnered 14 Academic All-Conference and 19 All-Conference distinctions, including three MWC Players of the Year Head Coach Diane Kanney   Diane Kanney is in her seventh season (1997-present) as Head Softball Coach for the Foresters and is the school's all-time leader in coaching victories. Kanney, a three-time Midwest Conference South Division Coach of the Year honoree (1998, 2001, and 2002), has built Lake Forest into a contender for the NCAA Division III National Championship.   In 2002, Kanney led the Foresters to their third Midwest Conference South Division first-place finish in the last four years, first MWC Championship since 1988, first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance, and a second-place finish at the NCAA Finals. The team won a school record 34 games against just 12 losses and was 10-3 in Midwest Conference play. The Foresters also set school records as a team with 23 home runs and a 1.03 earned run average. Ten individual school records were also broken by seven different players. The team had three MWC South Division Players of the Week, four All-MWC South Division players, the Division's Player of the Year (Alissa Mildebrath), five National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-Great Lakes Region players, an NFCA All-American, five members of the NCAA Regional All-Tournament Team, and four members of the NCAA National All-Tournament Team.   During her six seasons, Kanney has coached the MWC South Division Player of the Year on three separate occasions (Melissa Schneider in 1998, Kim Magee in 2000, and Alissa Mildebrath in 2002). Fifteen different Foresters have earned First Team All-Conference honors, including two multiple year winners and at least two honorees each year.   During Kanney's inaugural season in 1997, the Foresters finished with a 12-19 overall record, but closed out the year by winning six of their final eight games. The Foresters were 5-5 in the MWC in 1997.   In 1998, Lake Forest finished 10-18-1 overall. The team was 3-5 in the MWC and was eliminated from conference tournament contention on the final weekend of the regular season. The Foresters swept the MWC South Division's glamour awards with Kanney garnering Coach of the Year honors and Melissa Schneider was named MWC tri-Player of the Year.   The 1999 season saw Lake Forest finish in a tie for first place in the division with a 5-3 record, but the team was edged out of the conference tournament by way of the tie-breaker, again getting eliminated on the regular season's final weekend. The Foresters were 11-17 overall.    The Foresters started Kanney's fourth season (2000) by posting the school's best-ever Spring Break trip record (5-3), including a 2-0 win over 1999 NCAA Division III College World Series participant Ithaca College. Lake Forest finished the season with a 15-19 overall record, the school's best mark since 1997, and broke through in the MWC with the school's first MWC Championship Tournament appearance since the 1991 season. The Foresters finished in second place in the division with a 5-3 record. At the 2000 MWC Championship Tournament, LF dropped the first game, 5-4 in eight innings, to Ripon and fell to the eventual champion, Carroll, 7-2 in their second game. At the end of the season, junior outfielder Kim Magee was named MWC South Division Player of the Year.   In 2001, Lake Forest recorded the program's best record and first winning season since 1996 with an 18-17-1 record. The 18 wins also tied a school record for wins in a single season and was the most since 1989. After winning the MWC South for the second time in the past three years and the first time outright since 1985, Lake Forest placed third at the MWC Tournament. It was the school's highest finish since 1991 and marked just the second time in school history that a team had made back-to-back appearances. At the 2001 Tournament, the Foresters fell, 5-2, to St. Norbert College in the opening game before rebounding with a 4-3, eight-inning win over Monmouth College. Lake Forest was elimated by St. Norbert with a 3-1 loss on the tournament's second day.   Prior to accepting her first head coaching position at Lake Forest, Kanney was an assistant softball and soccer coach at her alma mater, Bluffton College in Bluffton, Ohio.    She received her undergraduate degree in Health and Physical Education from Bluffton in 1993 and her Masters Degree in Developmental Kinesiology from Bowling Green University.   While an undergraduate at Bluffton, Kanney was a four-year varsity letter winner in softball and a three-year letter winner in soccer. She was named an All-Conference catcher twice in her career.    During the Fall, Kanney serves as the Foresters' assistant women's soccer coach. In the summer, Kanney directs the Nike Softball Camp, which is hosted at Lake Forest College. Kanney's Year-by-Year Coaching Record at Lake Forest Year Overall Record Winning Percentage MWC Record MWC Reg. Season Finish MWC Tourn. Record/Finish NCAA Tourn. Record/Finish 1997 12-19 .387 5-5 t-3rd (North) 1998 10-18-1 .362 3-5 t-4th (South) 1999 11-17 .393 5-3 t-1st (South) 2000 15-19 .441 5-3 2nd (South) 0-2 / 4th 2001 18-17-1 .514 9-3-1 1st (South) 1-2 / 3rd 2002 34-12 .739 10-3 1st (South) 3-0 / 1st 8-2 / 2nd 6-Year Totals 100-102-2 .495 37-20-1 (.647) <----- Click to e-mail Head Coach Diane Kanney.   Assistant Coach Chris Pier News & Notes  | Schedule/Results  | Stats  |  Roster/Profiles  |  Coaching Staff ---- Select a varsity sport ... FootballVolleyball Cross Country Men's Soccer Women's Soccer Women's Tennis Men's Basketball Women's Basketball Men's Hockey Women's Hockey Handball Swimming & Diving Softball Men's Tennis History/Records  |  Links  |  F.A.N. Club  |  Recruit Info.  | Athletics Home   This site is designed and maintained by the Lake Forest College Sports Information Department. Please direct all comments or questions pertaining to the site to Sports Information Director Mike Wajerski.