Drexel University

Drexel University Athletics
Daskalakis Athletic Center - 3141 Chestnut St Philadelphia, PA 19104

Division 1 Pennsylvania Northeast

Private Large National competitor

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Coaches

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Katie Jansson

Katie Jansson, enters her second season at the helm of the Drexel Softball program. She was named Drexel's head coach in August of 2021, becoming the program's 10th head coach in the history of the program.

In her first season with the Dragons, Jansson developed four All-CAA athletes along with an All-Rookie team performer. The Dragons also were represented twice in the NFCA All-Region Honors.

In 2020, Jansson completed her third season as the head coach of the Iona College softball team. She led the Gaels to Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament appearances in each of the two seasons the tournament took place. Jansson coached the MAAC Player of the Year, the MAAC Pitcher of the Year and the MAAC Rookie of the Year during the 2021 season. In addition, 11 student-athletes were named to the MAAC All-Academic list.

Before her arrival at Iona, Jansson served as the head coach at Monroe College. She led the Mustangs to a 21-19 overall record and a 2018 NJCAA Region X tournament berth, the first appearance in program history at the NJCAA Division I level. She also coached Monroe's first-ever NJCAA DI All-American. Jansson was an assistant coach at Iona during the 2017 season and prior to that was a graduate assistant coach for Manhattanville College. The Valiants finished the 2016 campaign as Middle Atlantic Freedom Conference champions. The team also made an appearance in the NCAA Regional championships and the 2016 NCAA Super Regionals.

Jansson, a 2014 graduate of Iona, was a standout student-athlete for the Gaels from 2010 to 2014. A four-year starter at catcher, the Gaels won three MAAC softball championships (2011, 2012 and 2014) during her four years. Jansson was a 2014 MAAC All-Tournament Team selection. She ranks in the top 10 in program history with 199 career games played and 79 runs batted in. Jansson's 16 home runs are the second-most by a Gael catcher. In the classroom, Jansson was a three-time MAAC All-Academic Team honoree and NFCA Scholar-Athlete All-American. She graduated cum laude in 2014 with a Bachelor of Arts in speech language pathology and earned a Master of Science in sports business management at Manhattanville.

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Courtney Hankins

Courtney Hankins enters her second season as an assistant on Katie Jansson's staff at Drexel. Hankins was named Assistant Coach of the Drexel University softball program in September of 2021.

Primarily responsible for the Drexel batters, Hankins helped the Dragons to team average of .283 with 59 doubles and 36 home runs in 2021. The team's batting average was a conference best. Their doubles ranked third in the conference, while Drexel was tied for second in home runs.

Hankins comes to the program after assisting Jansson with the Iona softball program for the 2020 and 2021 season. While with the Gaels, Hankins worked with the infielders and hitters. She also helped the coaching staff with recruiting.

Prior to her coaching career, Hankins earned her bachelor's degree in 2019 from Fairfield University. As a student-athlete, she was a two-time captain, the 2018 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Player of the Year and was named all eight semesters to the Dean's List. In her senior campaign, Hankins assisted the Fairfield coaching staff in creating hitting and pitching charts and scouting reports after an injury caused her to miss half of the season. A career .350 hitter, Hankins boasted a .534 slugging percentage through 176 hits for the Stags. Hankins also helped the coaching staff during practices and coached first and third base, among other tasks to assist the team.

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Brielle Pietrafesa

Brielle Pietrafesa enters her first season as an assistant on Katie Jansson's staff at Drexel. Pietrafesa was named Assistant Coach of the Drexel University softball program in December of 2021.

Pietrafesa comes to the program after working for a year at Penn Hospital as a Patient Service Associate. She also was responsible for coaching the U18 South Jersey Mystics Softball team in Westhampton, N.J. During the 2019 and 2020 seasons, Pietrafesa worked as a volunteer assistant coach with the Villanova softball team where her main role was to provide extra help for athletes at practice, in-game and in the classroom.

Pietrafesa, a graduate of Hofstra University in 2018, was a reliable player on the Pride's softball team. She played in 198 games and started in 195 appearances, owning a batting average of .306 and a slugging percentage of .548. Pietrafesa also collected many accolades throughout her career, including Philadelphia Inquirer Softball Player of the Year in 2014, CAA All-Rookie team in 2015. In 2016, she was named to the All-CAA first team and was a third-team NFCA All-Northeast Region selection. In her junior and senior year of playing for Hofstra, Pietrafesa was named to the All-CAA second team twice and named as an NFCA All-Northeast Region first team recipient. In the classroom, she was named as an Academic All-American in 2016 and 2017.