Softball Coaches
Paula U'Ren
Head Coach
Alma Mater: Augustana, 1995
Hometown: Mapleton, MN
Phone: 320-308-2900
E-mail: pjuren@stcloudstate.edu
Erin Dickhausen
Graduate Assistant Coach
Erin Dickhausen joins the Husky softball coaching staff for the first time in 2009-10 as a graduate assistant coach. A native of Watertown, Minn., Dickhausen finished her playing career last spring as one of the best softball players in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference history, twice earning NSIC Player of the Year honors and being named First Team All-NSIC all four years while at Southwest Minnesota State University. Her name decorates the SMSU Mustang record books with career records for hits, runs scored, triples, total bases and stolen bases, among numerous single season and single game records. She was also a member of three NSIC regular season championship teams and played in three different NCAA regional tournaments.
Dickhausen graduated from SMSU in the fall of 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in sports management and a minor in coaching. She plans to pursue her master's degree in sports management at St. Cloud State.
Meghan Ward
Graduate Assistant Coach
A former All-American, Meghan Ward joins the St. Cloud State University coaching staff for the 2009-2010 season. A two-time All-Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference second baseman and the 2008 NSIC Pre-season Co-Player of the Year for the University of Mary Marauders, Ward brings knowledge, experience, and leadership to the Husky field.
A native of Escondido, CA, Ward finished her career by earning All-NSIC honors at second base for the second consecutive season.
During her tenure at the University of Mary, Ward earned numerous honors. She was named to the Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-America Third Team, the Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division II North Central Region First Team, and earned All-NSIC First Team honors. In her senior season she ranked sixth nationally for “Toughest to Strikeout.”
Additionally, Ward was a finalist for the North Dakota Sportswoman of the Year and Bismarck Quarterback Club Female College Athlete of the Year.
Ward became an assistant coach at the University of Mary in the 2008-2009 season and has experience coaching ASA softball in her home state of California. Ward graduated with her bachelor’s degree in exercise science and is pursuing her master’s in cardiac rehabilitation at St. Cloud State.
Jen Williams
Volunteer Assistant Coach
Originally from Norfolk, Neb., Jen Williams (formally Jen Redlinger) is back at St. Cloud State as a volunteer assistant coach in 2009-10 after serving as a graduate assistant coach under Husky head coach Paula U’Ren from 2002-2004.
Williams attended the University of Nebraska-Omaha and played softball under Coach Mary Yori from 1998-1999 and coach Jeanne Tostenson-Scarpello from 2000-2001. Williams was the starting centerfielder all four of her years at UNO and tallied All-North Central Conference honors and All-Region honors in 1999, 2000, and 2001.
Williams gained All-American status in 2001 while helping her team to a 2001 National Championship season, finishing 54-6 overall. From 2005-2007 Williams was an assistant girls’ softball coach at St. Cloud Tech High School. In 2008 and 2009 she was the head coach at Foley High School, guiding the team from a 3-17 record in 2008 to a 13-10 record in 2009.
A 2002 graduate from UNO with a bachelor’s of science degree in broadcasting, Williams has been the manager at the SCSU University Bookstore located in front of Halenbeck Hall for the past five years. She currently resides in Sauk Rapids, Minn., with her husband Josh and son Caleb.
Kelli Niess
Volunteer Student Assistant Coach
Kelli Niess joined the Husky softball staff as a volunteer student coach in 2007-08. Niess is a 2007 product of Concordia College in Moorhead where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with degrees in political science and history. Niess was named the softball Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Rookie of the Year in 2004. She was also named All-Conference that spring, the first of three she would attain in her tenure. As a junior in 2006, she won her second All-Conference honor and was named third team Academic All-District by ESPN The Magazine. As a 2007 senior this past spring Niess captained the Cobbers while earning her third All-Conference, and third team All-Midwest Region honors by the NFCA. ESPN The Magazine again named her Academic All-District, this time to the second team. While in college Niess spent her summers coaching youth softball at Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton, and at Sauk Rapids-Rice. A Rice, Minn. native, Niess currently resides in St. Cloud.
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