Sarah Piening was named head softball coach on September 10, 2025. Piening comes to John Jay after four years as head softball coach at Immaculate Conception / St. Mary in North Jersey, where she compiled a 71-36 overall record and coached over 20 players to All-State and All-Conference recognition while being recognized as Coach of the Year in 2023.
In addition to being a head coach at Immaculate Conception, Piening served as Club Softball Director and Coach for EC Bullets - National Softball Organization. There, she ran the training and conditioning programs better to prepare players for the highest level of competition, evaluated prospective players for academic standing, maximized individual and team athletic performance, and was responsible for all travel logistics.
This will be Piening's first collegiate head coaching job, as she served as an assistant coach for Saint Elizabeth University in 2023, where she was the pitching coach for the Eagles. Among her day-to-day responsibilities, she developed and implemented training programs to enhance pitching performances while assisting in the recruitment and mentorship of student-athletes.
Piening has a strong passion for the sport, as she played a year at Division II Rollins College before transferring to the University of Delaware for the next four years. Among her accomplishments at the University of Delaware are tossing the 16th no-hitter in program and first since 2014, leading the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) with 32 starts and 40 appearances while ranking fourth in the league with 98 strikeouts.
She was an accomplished high school pitcher at Immaculate Conception, where she was the first pitcher in New Jersey history to win four state championships and was recognized as an All-NJ State, Non-Public, All-North Jersey, and All-Bergen County honoree. Additionally, she was twice named North Jersey Interscholastic League Player of the Year.
Piening graduated from the University of Delaware in 2021 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice and Sociology. Following graduation, she worked as a Special Operations Investigator at Danbee Investigations.
She is also the co-owner of an indoor softball facility, Next Gen Softball Academy, where she oversees all aspects of business operations and has partnered with local schools, club teams, and coaches in developing innovative training plans.
