HIRAM, Ohio - May 23, 2022 – Hiram College Director of Athletics Scott Pohlman announced on Monday that he would step down from his position as head softball coach following the conclusion of the 2022 season and that Summer Collins would be named the interim head coach. Collins joined Hiram in 2020 as a graduate assistant softball coach and has helped lead the Terriers to tremendous success over the last two years.
 
Pohlman will remain in his position as Hiram College's Director of Athletics a position he's held since being promoted to the full-time role on Dec. 3, 2021, after being named the interim on Sept. 9, 2021.
 
"I would like to thank Ellen Dempsey for giving me the opportunity to take over the Hiram College Softball program in 2016," Pohlman said. "It has been a labor of love for the last six years. We achieved a tremendous level of success on the field the past two years, and I will look back fondly on all the players I have had the honor to coach here at Hiram. Each of the players and teams holds a special place in my heart."
 
Pohlman joined the Terriers following the second of two stints as an assistant softball coach at Denison University in Granville, Ohio, and steps down after six seasons with the Hiram softball program, during which he helped return the Terriers to one of the top programs in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC), culminating with an NCAC Tournament Championship and NCAA Tournament berth in 2022.
 
Under Pohlman's tutelage, 17 Terriers earned All-NCAC honors, including eight first-team honorees and the 2022 player and newcomer of the year, four earned National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Region honors, and six student-athletes were named NCAC Softball Player or Pitcher of the Week.
 
The Terriers also saw great success in the classroom under Pohlman, with a CoSIDA Academic All-Region® selection, 12 NFCA All-America Scholar-Athlete honorees, 15 NCAC Academic Honor Roll selections and four Chi Alpha Sigma inductees.
 
"I look forward to watching Summer grow and mature as a coach and continue to grow the Hiram softball brand," Pohlman said. "I believe that Summer is the right fit at this time. She has been an integral part of our success the last two years."
 
Over her two years with the Terriers, Collins has helped the Terriers to unprecedented success on and off the field, helping guide the Terriers to back-to-back NCAC Tournament appearances, their first NCAC Tournament Championship and NCAA Tournament berth since 2011, the third-most wins in program history in 2022 and numerous team and individual records.
 
"It is an honor to become the next head coach of Hiram Softball," Collins said. "I'd like to thank Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Liz Okuma, Ph.D. and Director of Athletics Scott Pohlman for this opportunity. Coach Pohlman brought this program back to prominence, and I look forward to building on the success that we have achieved thus far, and working to create the next dominant program in Division III."
 
Collins joined the Terriers from Kentucky Christian University in Grayson, Ky., where she spent a year as a student-assistant coach with the Lady Knights. Previously, Collins also spent the summer of 2019 as a hitting/fielding instructor and 10u Head Coach with Championship Fastpitch in Ashland, Ky.
 
A 2020 graduate of Kentucky Christian, Collins was a three-time All-American, earning NFCA First-Team honors, National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) First-Team honors, and Second-Team NAIA All-American her senior year, as well as a First-Team All-Mid-South Conference selection.
 
Throughout her collegiate career, Collins also spent her summers on the diamond, serving as a hitting and fielding instructor in Logan, W.Va. from 2016-17 and in Greenbrier, W. Va. from June to Aug. 2018.
 
Collins earned her bachelor's degree in university studies from Kentucky Christian in 2020 and her master's degree in interdisciplinary studies from Hiram College in 2022.