Stanton Announces Pair of Assistant Coaches

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana Softball head coach Shonda Stanton announced the addition of two assistant coaches on Monday with Kendall Fearn and Chanda Bell joining the Hoosier staff. Both Fearn and Bell were part of Stanton's staff at Marshall for four seasons.

"I am incredibly proud to bring Kendall and Chanda with me to Bloomington," said Stanton. "Our student-athletes are getting two of the best rising coaching stars in the business. They will be involved in every facet of IU Softball with Kendall's focus on our offensive system while Chanda's will be with our pitching staff."

The trio was recently named National Fastpitch Coaches Association's 2017 Mideast Region Coaching Staff of the Year. In 2017, Marshall set a program record with 42 victories and ended the year with a trip to the NCAA Tournament and a top 25 ranking in the USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll. Stanton was named Conference USA Coach of the Year, while Marshall also earned Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year accolades with Morgan Zerkle and Jordan Dixon also being named NFCA All-Americans.

In the four-year stretch that Fearn and Bell were with Stanton at Marshall, the team posted a winning percentage of .616, the second-best four-year run in program history.

"Both coaches will relate well to our players in building them into strong, confident Hoosiers," said Stanton. "We share the same passion to develop, train and mentor the young women we lead. We work well together and our familiarity will help us get out to a faster start in creating a culture of competitive excellence."

Fearn, who will work primarily with hitting and the outfield, was named as Marshall's associate head coach prior to the 2017 season. During her four seasons at Marshall, Fearn guided the Herd bats to a .313 average while posting three of the top four scoring seasons in program history. In addition, Marshall broke its own record for stolen bases three times under Fearn and twice led the nation in swiped bags. Under Fearn's leadership, Zerkle, who is a member of the USA National Team, left Marshall as the all-time leader in career batting average (.451), stolen bases (162) and triples (14).

This past season, Marshall led the country with 162 stolen bases and posted a .308 batting average, best in C-USA. In 2016, the Thundering Herd was second in the conference with a .310 average and had five hit over .300 on the year. During Fearn's second season with the team in 2015, Marshall set numerous offensive records, including a staggering .345 average, which was first in the conference and 11^th in the nation. Marshall saw seven hit .300 or better, while also setting records for runs per game (5.4), hits per game (9.28) and on-base percentage (.407).

Fearn came to the Thundering Herd after two seasons coaching at her alma mater, UNLV, and a year at Georgia Southern. During her playing career, Fearn was a two-time Mountain West All-Conference pick and started 227 games at first base and third base. Fearn guided UNLV to a NCAA Regional appearance in 2009 and finished her time at UNLV ranked in seven different categories in the record book.

"This is a very exciting opportunity to be a part of Indiana University and to compete with the Hoosier Softball program for a Big Ten Championship," said Fearn. "This university is rich in history and equipped with an incredibly dynamic athletic department. I am thrilled to be able to continue developing strong, confident young women in the classroom, community, and on the field with Shonda and Chanda. I believe that with the camaraderie our staff has built coaching together over the past four years, we will ignite a competitive, passionate and winning culture here at IU."

Bell, a native of Indianapolis, will work primarily with the pitchers and guided Dixon to 32 victories in the circle last season, good for third in the country. In addition, Dixon's 294 strikeouts ranked ninth nationally, marking the third time in her career she finished top 10 in the country in punchouts. Dixon tossed a pair of no-hitters in 2017, including against Western Kentucky in the C-USA Tournament. Other highlights of Dixon's career include a program-record 33 victories in 2016 and breaking nearly ever freshman record in 2014, including strikeouts (245), wins (20), games started (41) and appearances (54).

Dixon is just the second C-USA player to finish her career with at least 100 wins and 1,000 strikeouts. In her four years under Bell's tutelage, Dixon set nearly every Marshall pitching record and finished her career with the most wins, strikeouts, appearances, games started, complete games and innings pitched.

Setting records of her own in the circle during her playing career at Kentucky, Bell left the Wildcats as the all-time winningest pitcher and was the first in team history to record 200-plus strikeouts in all four seasons. Additionally, she was the first Wildcat to throw a no-hitter, as well as the first to toss a perfect game. Bell still sits atop the Kentucky record book with 910 career strikeouts and owns three of the top four single-season strikeout marks.

"First, I would like to thank Coach Stanton and the athletic department for the opportunity to return to the state of Indiana and become a part of the Hoosier Softball staff," said Bell. "Working with Shonda and Kendall the last four years has been an incredible adventure and I look forward to continuing that adventure here at Indiana. The amount of support shown by the athletic department already has been overwhelming. I look forward to working with this staff and university to help develop champions both on and off the field."

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