La Salle University Athletics

After a two-game improvement over La Salle's win total from the 2004 season, Head Coach Joe DiPietro has his squad poised to continue growing as the Explorers head into the 2006 campaign. DiPietro enters his fourth year at the helm of the La Salle softball program, which he guided to a 12-32-1 finish last season. In his first season as skipper, he led the Explorers to 15 wins, the most in five years.

DiPietro, the fifth head coach in program history, came to La Salle from Camden Catholic High School. He served 25 seasons as a coach at Camden Catholic, spending the last 15 as head coach. During his tenure as head coach, DiPietro amassed a 274-98 record, and led the Irish to three New Jersey State Championships. His 1991 and 1992 squads were voted the area's top-ranked team by both the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Courier-Post.

A graduate of both Gloucester County College and Camden Catholic, DiPietro has also coached the South Jersey Hurricanes Amateur Softball Association 18-and-under tournament team and the All-Star Trophies ASA Class A tournament team. He resides in Mount Laurel, NJ, with his wife, Terry, and their daughter, Katie.