Geibel going from player to coach at SRU
SLIPPERY ROCK — Jenna Geibel’s softball career at Slippery Rock University may be over, but her academic career is not.
That’s going to make for a strange school year beginning this fall for the Butler graduate.
“It’s definitely going to be a change,” Geibel said. “I’m going to be there watching it, and I’m going to want to be out there.”
Geibel has an extra year of school because she changed her major twice, finally finding her calling as an athletic training major.
She still has two semesters to go before she earns her degree.
Geibel, though, doesn’t plan on completely leaving the softball program. She will be a volunteer coach with the team in the spring.
“They want alumni to help. (Assistant coach) Stacey (Rhoades) is all about that. So is (head coach Becky) Sciacca,” Geibel said. “I’m really excited. We have 12 freshmen coming in, so it will be nice to help them out a little bit.”
Geibel wants to be a softball coach after she earns her Master’s degree.
“This will be great on-the-job training,” she said. “It will look really good on my resume.”
As a player, the third baseman made an immediate impact, batting .385 with 11 home runs and 37 RBI as a freshman.
She started all 144 games in her career, smacked 33 home runs, drove in 130 and finished with a career batting average of .377.
Geibel, a four-year member of the all-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference team, finished in the top 10 all-time at the school in just about every offensive category, including doubles (24), hits (159) and at-bats (422).
She played most of her senior season this spring with a possible stress fracture in her ankle.
“It was a big accomplishment for me to play in every game,” Geibel said. “It was tough this year with my ankle. I got drilled last year against Gannon and then fouled a ball off the same spot early this year. That’s when I said I need to get this checked out.
“We were in offseason training and coach said, ‘Go run 3 miles,’ and I could only do one.”
As she looked back at her career, she said she was amazed that she made the impact that she did.
“I never thought I was going to start as a freshman,” Geibel said. “I was just looking for some place to play, and I got to play every game all four years.”
