Hamburg, NY: Hilbert College’s athletic department has announced the hiring of Peter Yuhas Jr. as the new women’s softball coach. Richard Walsh, director of intercollegiate athletics at Hilbert College said “I’m very impressed with Pete’s enthusiasm, passion and knowledge of the game. Our softball program will benefit from these attributes immediately, and I believe this Spring, we’ll have a well-disciplined, fundamental team that will compete at a high level.”
Yuhas has been involved in Western New York softball for over thirty years as a player and a coach. Prior to his hiring in January 2010, Yuhas assisted the Eden junior varsity girls softball team (22-2 record) during the 2009 season. Since 2002, Yuhas has been involved with the Eden Recreation softball league facilitating skill training clinics for scholastic level softball players helping the young athletes establish sound fundamentals which will ultimately make them better ball players.
Coaching travel softball has been as much a part of Yuhas’ life as his playing days competing in several WNY men’s fast pitch leagues. “I grew up watching and playing the game alongside my father and current member of the Buffalo softball hall of fame, Peter Yuhas Sr. My dad not only taught me the fundamentals of the game but a deep appreciation for the athletes who play it,” explained Yuhas. Since 2006 he has been the head coach of the Hamburg Breakers travel softball 14U and co-coach of the 16U team. The 14U Breakers won the Niagara Frontier Divisional Champions in 2008. In 2009 after moving up to the 16U division, the team won a PONY regional qualifier in Ithaca, NY enabling them to participate in the 2009 PONY National Tournament in Akron Ohio, where they faced some of the best competition in the country. The team finished in the top twenty out of the 125 teams invited. Their success continued as the 16U team took part in the NSA World Qualifier Tournament. Their second place finish qualified them for the NSA Eastern World Championship which will take place in the summer of 2010.
Yuhas’ experience as a coach and athlete goes beyond softball. As an undergraduate student, he was a member of the Plattsburg State and the University at Buffalo Division II hockey programs. His playing abilities twice secured him a spot on the Empire State Games collegiate hockey team in the early ‘80s with competition at Lake Placid, NY. After his playing years, he went on to coach a youth hockey team with the Buffalo Bisons hockey organization.
Yuhas transferred to the University of Buffalo to earn a degree in environmental design and planning (‘83). He currently is an Independent sales and marketing consultant. Yuhas resides with his family in Boston, NY.