Nike Softball Camp University of Hartford

• Three America East All-Conference Selections: One Second Team, Two All-Rookie Team, One All-Academic Team
• One CoSIDA Academic All-District Selection: Madison Hilimire
• Two America East Weekly Award Winners: One America East Player of the Week, One America East Rookie of the Week

Churchill earned her first win as head coach of the Hawks against St. Bonaventure (9-8) on February 24, 2018. She finished her first season with 10 wins, the most since the 2013 season.
In addition to two years at Wagner, Churchill served as head coach at Division II Georgian Court University and Division III D’Youville College. A former captain for the University of Michigan as a player, Churchill also served as an assistant at the Division I level for the University at Buffalo and Ohio University.
In her two years with Wagner, the squad won 42 games after just nine victories the season before her arrival. In her final campaign, the Seahawks advanced to the Northeast Conference Championship game before falling to top-seeded St. Francis.
The Seahawks went 10-6 in league play in 2017, tying for second place in the NEC, with four players taking home All-NEC honors and two garnering National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Region honors. The squad also picked up three NEC All-Tournament selections in addition to the 2017 NEC Student-Athlete of the Year Brianna Tredway.
In her first season at Georgian Court, the Lions advanced to the NCAA Regionals for the first time since 2010, compiling a record of 33-24 and a second-place finish in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CAAC). In her two years, she mentored five All-Conference performers, including the 2015 CAAC Player of the Year.
Prior to her two-year tenure at Georgian Court, the Mokena, Ill., native spent three seasons as the head coach at D’Youville, guiding the Spartans to a 56-41 record. Taking over a team that posted an 8-27 record the year prior to her arrival, Churchill completely transformed the program. In 2011, her first season at the helm, she led D’Youville to a 21-10 record, leading the Spartans to the first Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) championship and NCAA regional berth in program history.
Before embarking on her head coaching career, Churchill spent six seasons as a Division I assistant, spending the 2005 campaign at Ohio before moving on to a five-year tenure with Buffalo, where she served three seasons as recruiting coordinator. In 2009, the Bulls won 25 games, which at the time tied for the most single-season wins in UB's Division I softball era.
Churchill was a four-year member of the University of Michigan softball team where she helped lead the Wolverines to a 191-57-1 record. A stellar defensive player for Michigan, Churchill was also a versatile performer who finished her career with a .957 fielding percentage. She saw playing time at all eight field positions, the bulk of which came at third base. A 2004 graduate, she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Sports Management and Communication.
Prior to attending Michigan, Churchill was an All-Illinois selection in 2000 at Lincoln-Way High School after leading her team to the Illinois High School Association Sectional championship in 1999. In addition to being a softball standout, Churchill also competed on her high school’s basketball and tennis teams.

In his first season at the helm of the Blue and Gold, Justus led New Haven to a 17-23 overall record and an 11-15 record in the Northeast-10. Among the highlights for Justus was a pair of Northeast-10 All-Conference selections in middle infielders Mya Case (second team) and Nhatli Simpson (third team).

Justus has more than a decade of collegiate coaching experience under his belt, including a stint in Division II as an assistant coach at Kutztown University. Prior to that he also spent two seasons at Iona where he oversaw a pitching staff that featured the 2009 Metro Atlantic Conference Rookie of the Year and a conference leading 1.62 ERA.

Justus joined the Hawks coaching staff as an assistant prior to the 2020 campaign as Hartford got off to a 6-4 start before the season was curtailed by the COVID-19 pandemic. During the 2021 campaign, the Hawks finished with a 6-13 overall record before Justus was asked to take over the helm of the program following the season.

At Kutztown, Justus worked alongside one of the winningest coaches in Division II history, Judy Lawes, for 10 seasons from 2010-19 during which time the Golden Bears racked up 332 victories, including a program record 52 wins (52-7) in 2012. During his time at Kutztown, the Golden Bears advanced to the NCAA Division II regionals six times.

A member of the Connecticut High School Coaches Association, the PONY Softball National Tournament's Staff and the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) as a Three Star Master Coach, Justus graduated from Columbia Southern University '93 with a bachelor's degree in business sports management.

Ford comes to Hartford after a solid collegiate career at Sacred Heart. A four-year outfielder from 2015-18, she played in 149 games and was a three-time NSCA Academic All-American Scholar Athlete. Ford compiled 49 hits for the Pioneers, 19 of which went for extra bases on 16 doubles and three homers.
Outside of her collegiate career, Ford brings a wealth of coaching experience to the Hawks. She served as the head softball coach for the New Fairfield Rebels 14U Travel Team and summer camp counselor/private instructor for USA Elite Training in Cheshire, Conn. In addition, the New Fairfield, Conn., native was a camp counselor for Sacred Hearts summer softball training camp in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
A psychology major who minored in management, Ford graduated from Sacred Heart in 2018.