600 wins and counting

By Bruce Morgan

With any championship victory, head coaches are fair game.

It behooves them to stay alert. Somewhere, their players are surely lurking, just waiting for the right time to empty a water cooler on top of them.

Janelle Breneman handled that very act after Ephrata's softball team clinched the PIAA State Class 3A title in 1988.

There is photo proof of it on the pages of The Ephrata Review in the coverage of their 9-0 clinching win over State College, with coach Rick Donmoyer on the receiving end.

Yes, for that band of Mountaineer players, those were giddy times.

“Oh my gosh, it was a heck of a run,” Breneman said while looking back nearly four decades. “We wanted to continue playing as long as we could.”

600 WINS, continued on B3

Photo courtesy of UNCG Athletics

Ephrata grad Janelle Breneman (second from right) and her UNCG assistant softball coaches celebrate the Spartans’ SoCon championship in May.

From page B1

A senior shortstop, Breneman was one of Ephrata’s leaders. For goodness sake, she even coached the Mounts from the third base box in their 1-0 win over Dallas High in the state quarterfinals when Donmoyer had a work con- flict.

“I can kind of replay the scenario ... I can bring it back, even though sometimes I can’t remember my store list,” Breneman said with a laugh. “Oh man, I’ll tell you, that was something, for sure.”

As Breneman reflected, she was at home in North Carolina, where she is now the head softball coach at Division-One UNC Greensboro.

Over the course of guiding the Spartans to four Southern Conference championships and seven regular season crowns to date in her 14 years at UNCG, the tables have no doubt been turned a few times on Breneman.

Surely, she too has gotten a celebratory water dousing.

In fact, the perfect time for one would have been on April 25, when UNCG swept a doubleheader from Chattanooga to give Breneman her 600th career win.

Including her previous head coaching stops at Bucknell and East Stroudsburg, she currently has 606 NCAA victories to date. With a 475-279 overall record at the helm of the Spartans — giving her an extraordinary winning percentage of .630 — she is the program’s all-time leader in wins.

“I didn’t even really know (the milestone) was happening,” Breneman said. “I truly am not counting, I didn’t know, so I was totally surprised ... I think that it’s a reflection of the environment that I’m in here and the people around me.”

Breneman’s modesty is genuine. But make no mistake, the culture which exists at UNC Greensboro is certainly a reflection on her.

When she was hired in mid-July of 2012, the Spartans had just endured a 12th consecutive losing season.

Admittedly, she made some tweaks with practices and preparation. Mostly, though, Breneman began molding the mental state of her players. She made it a point of telling her players to get at least one percent better every day.

Obviously, the Spartans bought in.

They finished 19 games over .500 (38-19) in Breneman’s debut season in Greensboro, and UNCG has won at least 25 games every year since — with the exception of COVIDshortened 2020.

“I think I just really had to change the outlook and mindset of the collective team to that, ‘We are going to do some good things, we are going to make good things happen and we are going to relax and play ball,’” Breneman said. “I’ve really adopted that focus.

“We’re focused on more of the process and more of the mentality than results, really,” she added. “I think your results take care of themselves when you’re getting after it to get better every day.”

That process helped UNCG win its first-ever NCAA Tour nament game in program history on May 15, as pitcher Brooklyn Shroyer struck out six in a five-hitter to lead the Spartans to a 1-0 shutout of Clemson.

UNCG was making its fifth NCAA Tournament appearance — and fourth under the watch of Breneman.

“We had a really good group of young ladies,” she said. “We were really driven to play for each other, with each other and we just really had a tremendous season, probably one of my top in coaching.”

The idea of coaching for a living didn’t happen by accident. Growing up in Ephrata playing Little League baseball, and then becoming a three-sport athlete for the Mounts in field hockey, basketball and softball, Breneman found that she had a passion for the game and breaking it down and learning.

"I don't know, it just fit my personality, I think,” Breneman recalled.

Playing shortstop and being in the middle of the field car ries a leadership role with it, and she was indeed developing those characteristics.

Breneman eventually went off to play softball at Bloomsburg University, and with legendary coach Jan Hutchinson guiding the Huskies, the former Ephrata star was a fouryear letter winner and earned All-America honors as a senior.

“I mean, Jan Hutchinson is an amazing person and an amazing coach and she was just so instrumental in my four years of college,” Breneman said. “She was so impactful.”

Turns out, Hutchinson’s impact didn’t stop with Breneman’s college years.

Following graduation, Breneman was back home coaching at her high school alma mater when she got a phone call.

On the other end was Hutchinson — an East Stroudsburg University alum — suggesting that she apply for the Warrior softball team’s head coach’s job, which was open at the time.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Breneman coached at ESU for five years (1996-2000), then led the Bucknell Bison for four more (2001-04) — earning Patriot League Coach of the Year honors — before spending eight years in the prestigious SEC and ACC as an assistant at South Carolina and North Carolina.

Asked how her experiences at previous coaching stops helped to shape her, Breneman talked about Hutchinson being one of her biggest mentors. Former Tar Heels’ boss Donna Papa is another. She also describes Beverly Smith as a “tremendous coach” at South Carolina.

“Each experience, each different location, I matured,” Breneman said. “I’ve tweaked some things and I’ve always kind of really been a student of the game.”

Just as relationships with her mentors are important to Breneman, so too are the connections that she builds with those in her program.

Breneman considers it her biggest role as the Spartans’ head coach to make sure everyone is on the same page.

In fact, that goal of being aligned is something which permeates the overall culture at UNCG. It’s a reason that Breneman has established roots in Greensboro and turned down offers to coach at bigger univer sities.

She appreciates the administrative support from the chancellor on down to the athletic director and support staff.

Plus, the Spartans’ facilities — including the softball stadium and the school’s newlyrenovated weight room and academic center — are described by Breneman as “top notch,” which allow her to recruit well.

"I think I'm going to finish my career here at UNCG,” she said, “and keep winning some championships. That’s the plan, but I really am fortunate. I’m doing something I really cherish and love.

“... And I really like the community feel,” she added. “It’s a little bit larger of a town than Ephrata. It’s not a big city, but it’s not a small city. I like the size of it. There are a lot of things that you can do in Greensboro.”

Ephrata, though, will always hold a special place in Breneman’s heart. The memories of winning State gold in 1988 will always be cherished.

She is still good friends with star pitcher Laurie Gibble and speedy right fielder Donna (Becker) Stauffer.

Even though nearly 40 years have passed, Breneman still recalls the seniors wearing their softball shirts underneath graduation gowns. She thinks back to her and a few players leaving the beach early during Senior Week to continue their march in the postseason.

“We were really driven to do some great things,” Breneman said. “Ephrata wasn’t really on the road map and we were like, ‘Let’s do this.’” When the Mounts did finally do it — beating State College 9-0 in the State finals at Ship pensburg University’s Rob Field — the players were treated to a ride on the fire trucks as they paraded back into town.

“Man, it was really a cool moment for our team,” Breneman said. “Just to have that parade was one of the things I’ll never forget. That was really cool.”

As cool no doubt as an icy water cooler shower.

Photo courtesy of UNCG Athletics

Janelle Breneman receivers a water cooler dousing from her UNCG players after the Spartans beat Samford 4-0 to win the Southern Conference Tournament title on May 10.