Hurley leaves as longest tenured and winningest coach in program history; Grenache takes over program after one year as an assistant with the program

RINDGE, N.H. (May 9, 2011) -- Franklin Pierce University Vice President/Director of Athletics Bruce Kirsh announced on Monday that Richard Hurley has resigned from his duties as head softball coach at the school. It was also announced that Christine Grenache will become the new head coach of the program, effective July 1.

"I want to thank Coach Hurley for everything that he did for the softball program during his nine years here at Franklin Pierce," Kirsh said. "The team achieved great success in the classroom and the program's student-athletes were great representatives of the University on the campus and in the community. Coach Hurley's leadership and guidance was the main reason for that success."

Hurley was the longest tenured coach in program history and leaves Rindge as the program's all-time leader in career wins. In the classroom, the softball team posted one of the highest team GPAs on campus, while Emily Griffin, Meaghan O'Neal and Kayla Johnson were all named to the 2010 CoSIDA Academic All-District I Third-Team. Griffin garnered a spot on the organization's All-District I team again in 2011, but this time jumped up to the second-team.

Griffin, along with Jayme Bilafer, became the first players in program history to garner a spot on one of the All-Northeast-10 teams during Hurley's tenure. Griffin, who will graduate this weekend, as the program's all-time leader in career hits and doubles, earned second-team All-NE-10 honors in 2008, while Bilafer earned third-team status this past season.

Grenache will take over the reigns of the program on July 1, but she is already familiar with the Franklin Pierce program as she served as an assistant coach with the squad this past season.

Grenache came to Rindge after four seasons as Head Coach at Newbury College. During her time with the Nighthawks, she revamped the program with an emphasis on recruiting and player development and helped usher Newbury into the New England Collegiate Conference, which it joined in 2009. In 2007, her first season at Newbury, Grenache took a team that went winless in 2006 and guided it to an 11-10 record, earning Division III Independent Co-Coach of the Year accolades along the way. In her final season with the program, 2010, the Nighthawks earned their first postseason berth as a member of the NECC and collected the conference's Sportsmanship Award at the end of the campaign.

"I'm very excited to be naming Christine Grenache as our next head coach here at Franklin Pierce," Kirsh said. "She has previous head coaching experience and did an outstanding job in that role at Newbury College. She is familiar with the team we have here at Franklin Pierce and I look forward to working with her as she continues to build the program."

As an undergrad, Grenache was a four-year starter at fellow Northeast-10 Conference member Stonehill College, where she served as a captain for her junior and senior seasons. She was also selected to represent United States Softball at the international level at the 2006 Friendship Series in Sydney, Australia and at the 2007 Goodwill Games in Lima, Peru.

Originally from Leominster, Mass., Grenache graduated from Stonehill in 2006 with a bachelor's degree in psychology.

For more information on Franklin Pierce softball, please visit the team's page at athletics.franklinpierce.edu(.) To follow the program even further, please visit Franklin Pierce Athletics on YouTube (www.youtube.com/FranklinPierceSports), Twitter (www.twitter.com/FPUathletics) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceAthletics).