Hailey (Dreyer) Cavanagh is in her fifth year as the Lakeland University head softball coach.
Last year, Cavanagh led the Muskies to their most successful season yet in her tenure. Lakeland finished fifth in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference, qualifying for the conference tournament for the first time since 2012 after just missing out the year before. The Muskies lost a pair of close games in the tourney, but the team still finished with a 21-17 overall record and a 13-9 conference record. Lakeland featured a first team all-conference performer Calie Delisi, an honorable mention selection in Jocelyn Yeager plus a member of the all-freshman team in Rylee Garand. The Muskies also had a NACC weekly player of the week award winner in February when freshman Taylor Bush threw a no-hitter against UW-Superior, the program’s first no-hitter since 2009 and first complete game no-no since 2007.
The Muskies began to turn the corner in Cavanagh's third year, finishing with a 19-21 record, a five-win increase from the year before. Lakeland finished 10-12 in the NACC, placing seventh in the conference, and had an exciting season with a 12-game winning streak, battling down to the final day of the conference season for a spot in the NACC Tournament before falling just short. Lakeland ranked in the top three in the conference in numerous offensive categories and featured three all-conference performers including first team member Bella Wilkinson and second teamers Hailey Jester and Sami Jo Williams, plus three members of the all-freshman team. The team also featured a pair of NACC Player of the Week award winners, and freshman pitcher Savannah Stenlund was a finalist for the NFCA NCAA Division III National Player of the Week award after a week in which she went 7-0Â
In her second season, Cavanagh led the Muskies to a 14-22 overall record, a 1 1/2-game improvement over her first year. Lakeland finished 6-16 in the NACC as a young team wasn’t able to capitalize on a strong start in which the team went 7-3 on a spring break trip to Florida. In her first season as a collegiate head coach, Cavanagh’s Muskies finished 13-24, including 9-15 in the then-Northern Athletics Conference (now NACC). Lakeland tied for ninth in the conference in a season that wasn’t far from being much better, as the Muskies finished 2-7 in one-run games on the season.
Cavanagh took over the Muskies’ coaching job after two years at the University of Dubuque, where she was a graduate assistant coach and head pitching coach for two seasons and served four months as interim head coach. Cavanagh was a part of the Spartans’ 2012 team that set marks for the most wins and best record in school history, and the 2011 team had the second-best season in school history. Cavanagh developed Dubuque's pitching staff, worked with outfielders, and also was involved in a number of administrative roles, including fundraising, recruiting, and managing camp, budget, travel arrangements and community involvement.
Cavanagh played four years collegiately, including two years at Dubuque before finishing her career at William Penn University in Oskaloosa, Iowa. Cavanagh was a team captain at both schools, and earned All-Midwest Collegiate Conference honors once and academic all-conference honors twice at William Penn.
Cavanagh received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from William Penn in 2010 and a master’s in business administration from Dubuque in May 2012. In Oct. 2016, she married Lincoln Cavanagh, and the couple now resides in Sheboygan.
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| Hailey Cavanagh Coaching Record |
|
| Year |
Overall Record |
Conf. Record |
| 2013 |
13-24 |
9-15 |
| 2014 |
14-22 |
6-16 |
| 2015 |
19-21 |
10-12 |
| 2016 |
21-17 |
13-9 |
| Career |
67-84 |
38-52 |
