Hannah Mercer enters her second season as an assistant coach for the IUP softball program in 2021.
As a volunteer assistant, she helped the coaching staff during the disappointingly short 2020 season, as IUP played just 14 games due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mercer graduated from IUP in 2017 and spent two seasons with Team Pennsylvania Fastpitch and assisted the staff at West Allegheny High School in Imperial, Pennsylvania.
Mercer started her coaching career as an assistant coach on the 15U staff with Team Pennsylvania during the 2017-18 season. Last year she took over as head coach for the 13U squad and has led them to an 18-6-2 record this summer with three finalist finishes in five tournaments.
Mercer was also on the staff at West Allegheny for the 2018 and 2019, helping the Indians to back-to-back WPIAL championships and a state runner-up finish in two seasons ago.
Mercer is one of the top athletes in IUP softball history, graduating in 2017 with program records of 221 hits, 135 runs scored and 343 total bases. She also finished in the top 10 at IUP with 45 doubles (second), 50 stolen bases (third), a .354 batting average (fifth), 103 runs batted in (sixth), a .553 slugging percentage (seventh) and 19 home runs (tied for seventh).
The versatile Mercer played the outfield, third base and shortstop and started 177 career games for the Crimson Hawks
She was a four-time All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) selection, earned All-Atlantic Region accolades in 2015, and was on the 2016 NFCA/Schutt Sports Division II Player of the Year Watchlist.
Mercer excelled in the classroom as an economics and marketing dual major, graduating with a 3.91 cumulative grade point average.
Updated November 6, 2020
