GREENVILLE, Pa. - Thiel College softball head coach Kelly Kirkpatrick announced the recent hiring of JoElla Neal as the program's assistant coach. 

A Harrisville, Pa. native, Neal served as a student assistant for the team starting in the fall of 2019 through this past May. As a student assistant, she helped implement drills for throwing, hitting, and fielding and ensured practices ran effectively. As a player, Neal was an infielder for the Tomcats in 2018 and 2019. She was also a four-year varsity infielder for Slippery Rock Area High School.

As a student, Neal graduated from Thiel in May with a bachelor's degree in psychology and sociology. She was named to the Dean's List six times and was a member of Chi Alpha Epsilon, a national honor society for academic achievement. Neal also served as a teacher's assistant and Pedas Fellow. 

Neal also currently serves as a behavioral health technician at Associates in Counseling & Child Guidance where she mitigates behaviors utilizing various techniques, records behavioral progress notes, and has complete Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI) training.