Following a chaotic yet successful season where the head and assistant coaches resigned mid-season, the high school’s administration hired a new softball coach.

Having an excessive amount of coaching experience at Dallastown High School and the travel-tournament team PA Ballhawks, Jeff Deardorff was most fit for the head coaching position at Susquehannock. His daughter, Holly Long, who is a family consumer science teacher at Southern Middle School, was hired as the assistant coach.

  Deardorff has had an exceptional amount of success while coaching at Dallastown. Recently, he collected his 100th win in the 2015 season, won the 2014 YAIAA county championship, and his team was the Division I champions in 2014. Deardorff has coached many girls who have continued their softball careers at the collegiate level, including his daughters.

  Athletic director Chuck Abbott believes that Deardorff will have an impact on the softball team this upcoming season.

  “He will be a big impact because he brings a lot of experience and a lot of success,” Abbott said.

  Senior Lily Yoakum, who has been a starter since her freshman year, is excited to see what Deardorff will bring to the team this year.

  “It’ll be different, a good different…with dedication and willingness to work from the team, I’m hoping that he’ll be able to produce the same outcomes that he’s had with his other teams in the past,” Yoakum said.

  On Tuesday night at 7 p.m., Deardorff and Long held a meeting for the players and parents so that they could introduce themselves and reveal what they believe this season has in store.

  “There’s no reason that we can’t do what my previous teams have done…there’s a lot of talent here, and I’m ready for the season to start,” Deardorff said.

  There will be open gyms on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s in the auxiliary gymnasium from 3-5 p.m. Tryouts will be held on March 7, 8, and 9.