Robert Morris University head softball coach Craig Coleman announced the addition of Wendy Beckemeyer as a volunteer assistant coach in March 2015. Beckemeyer aides with multiple facets of the program, but she works prominently with Colonial catchers.
Beckemeyer helped Robert Morris to the league’s outright regular-season title in her first season in 2015 after the Colonials finished in eighth place in the league the year prior. The Colonials finished with a 13-3 mark in league contests after starting conference play 11-0, the best such start in school history. RMU’s progression in 2015 stands as the best single-season turnaround for a conference champion in NEC history. As a result of this performance, Beckemeyer was named as part of the Northeast Conference Coaching Staff of the Year. Beckemeyer helped six Colonials claim All-NEC honors and five Colonial position players earn all-league accolades in 2015, both marks which tied school records.
Beckemeyer made her mark on the softball scene in southern California as both a player and a coach. The two years in which she served as head coach at California Lutheran are arguably the most successful in program history.
Upon taking the reins of her alma mater just two years after she graduated, Beckemeyer led the Regals to a then school record 34 wins and guided the squad to NAIA Nationals for the first time in program history, where the team competed at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City. As a result of her efforts, she was named NAIA District 3 Coach of the Year. She followed that up the next year by helping the Regals to a 35-18 record and a second straight appearance in NAIA Nationals. In her second season, she helped one of her players (Dee Andra Pilkington) to First Team All-America honors, one of only two Regals to claim this honor throughout the program’s history. To this day, Cal Lutheran’s two highest single-season win totals came in the two years Beckemeyer was at the helm. She was also the only coach to take a team to NAIA Nationals in the 12 years in which Cal Lutheran participated in that organization.
As a player, Beckemeyer helped transition Cal Lutheran from a fledging young program into a perennial contender. During her four years, the Regals posted a 21-win improvement, culminating in a 30-10 campaign in her senior season. She earned First Team All-District 3 honors at catcher in each of her four years and also served as a team captain in the latter half of her career. She led the team in hitting in both 1984 (.396) and 1985 (.406) and completed her sophomore season without striking out once. While she led the team in hitting, what she did on the defensive side was perhaps more impressive. She threw out 20-of-24 potential basestealers in 1984 and 22-of-25 in 1985.
Before enrolling at Cal Lutheran, Beckemeyer was a member of the California Raiders on the travel ball scene, a team that won the 1982 national championship.
Beckemeyer serves as the Vice President for Enrollment Management at Robert Morris, a position she has held since 2012.
A native of Newbury Park, California, Beckemeyer earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications from Cal Lutheran in 1986. She proceeded to earn a Master of Business Administration degree in marketing from Cal Lutheran in 1993.
Beckemeyer resides in the Pittsburgh, Pa. suburb of O’Hara Township with her husband Wayne. The couple has one son, Blake.
