Piedmont University Athletics

Jenni Deitz Shepard - 2003 Graduate - Softball (Bio at time of induction)

With both coaching and playing success as a Piedmont Lady Lion, Deitz will likely be remembered most for helping the Green and Gold softball program to its first-ever Great South Athletic Conference title leading PC to the crown as part of the 2005 coaching staff under Head Coach Terry Martin.
 
Deitz also spent her playing career for Martin on the field in Demorest earning back-to-back 1st Team GSAC All-Conference accolades in her last two seasons at Piedmont.  Perhaps more impressive was the way that Deitz earned the honors being named to the list as an outfielder in 2002 before repeating as a catcher in 2003.
 
Deitz was also a team captain in 2002 and 2003 being named GSAC Player of the Week twice in the 2002 campaign on the way to NCCAA South Region honors.  Also named a NCAA National Player of the Week in 2002, Deitz again earned NCCAA South Region accolades in 2003 while also being named an All-American Honorable Mention during her final season hitting .425 in ’03.
 
A member of Chi Alpha Sigma and a two-time NFCA All-Academic Team honoree, Deitz graduated Cum Laude from Piedmont College in 2003 as a double-major with a B.A. in Business and Spanish before continuing her education at Piedmont by completing her Master of Arts in Teaching in 2005.
 
Following her graduation in 2003, Deitz was a two-year graduate assistant coach with Piedmont Head Softball Coach Terry Martin helping to lead Piedmont to its first-ever GSAC title with a championship in 2005.  Deitz then completed her graduate study at Piedmont and was hired by Truett-McConnell College to start the Bears’ softball program in Cleveland, Georgia. 
 
Over her first ten years leading the Bears, Deitz helped Truett-McConnell grow from its inaugural team competing in the National Junior College Athletic Association to a four-year varsity program competing in the Appalachian Athletic Conference of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.  In 2010, the coach received the NAIA Coach of Character Award for the Association of Independent Institutions Conference while she led her 2012 team to the SSAC East Division Team Sportsmanship Award.
Coach Deitz has mentored one SSAC All-Division team member during her time leading Truett-McConnell’s softball program as well as 15 NFCA All-Academic honorees, three NCCAA Players of the Week, five NCCAA All-Region honorees, four SSAC All-Academic Team members, four AAC All-Academic Team members, and six NAIA Scholar-Athletes.