Thiel College Athletics

Barb Balestrino enters her first season on the Softball coaching staff in 2025.

Balestrino brings more than two decades of championship-level experience to the softball diamond as an assistant coach from 2002-25 with head coach Michael Kernan at Ursuline High School and Canfield High School in Ohio. Ursuline compiled a 395-154 record and had an Ohio Division III State Runner-Up finish in 2009 during her 20-year tenure with the team. She later joined the Canfield staff from 2023-25, helping guide the program to a 72-11-3 mark and the 2024 Ohio Division II State Championship and a Division II State Runner-Up finish in 2023. Across her career, she has been part of 11 district championship teams.

As a former standout at Youngstown State, Balestrino remains prominent in the program’s record books, ranking among the top 10 in single-season batting average, third in single-season slugging percentage (.730), fourth in career batting average (.359) and eighth in both career slugging percentage (.515) and career triples (7). She also led her team in multiple offensive categories during her collegiate career.

Balestrino has been inducted into the Ursuline High School Athletic Hall of Fame and the Youngstown State University Athletic Hall of Fame.