Lehigh University Athletics
Photo by: Luke Eiles
Troyan Announces Coaching Staff Updates
10/9/2026 9:53:00 AM | Softball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Lehigh head coach Fran Troyan has announced two staffing updates ahead of the 2027 season. Julia Bilotti (Popovich) joins the staff as an assistant coach, while Jenn Shellhammer will serve as a coaching advisor.
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"Lehigh softball is excited to welcome Julia and Jenn to our program," Troyan said. "Both have tremendous playing and overall softball experience to pass on! We are thrilled and grateful to have them on board."
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Bilotti brings more than a decade of college coaching experience, including eight years as an assistant coach at Arcadia University, where she helped lead the Knight to a MAC Commonwealth Championship and NCAA Tournament berth in 2019. With Bilotti on staff, Arcadia won back-to-back ECAC titles in 2016 and 2017 and made three straight conference championship game appearances.
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Prior to her time at Arcadia, Bilotti spent three seasons coaching at Indiana (Pa.) with IUP winning a PSAC championship and making two NCAA Tournament appearances during that time.
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Bilotti spent the 2011 season as a volunteer assistant coach at Coastal Carolina. She began her coaching career as a student assistant at her alma mater, Lock Haven. In her coaching career, Bilotti has mentored one All-American, four NFCA All-Region honorees and seven All-PSAC selections.
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A standout on the softball field at Lock Haven, Bilotti was a four-year starter who won two Division II National Titles with the Bald Eagles. She was the MVP of the 2009 PSAC Tournament, a two-time All-PSAC West first team honoree and a NFCA All-Region selection in 2007.
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Bilotti graduated from Lock Haven in 2010 with a degree in business administration.
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A longtime member of the Lehigh Valley softball community, Shellhammer brings coaching experience at all levels of the game, including a recent stint as head coach at Lehigh Carbon Community College, where she led the Cougars to the program's first regional berth in 2017. She has also served as the pitching coach at Montgomery College in Rockville, Md., and at Northampton Area High School in the Lehigh Valley.
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A 1997 graduate of Allentown Central Catholic High School, Shellhammer pitched collegiately at Radford, where she was an All-Big South performer, before finishing her career at the University of Maryland. Shellhammer continued to compete at the highest levels of softball after graduation, playing professionally for the California Sunbirds and pitching for the PA Longstreth All-Star team that faced off against the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team.
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In 2011, Shellhammer founded Creating Aces, an organization that provides group and individual pitching instruction.
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Shellhammer graduated from Maryland with a degree in criminal justice and criminology and added a master's in clinical social work from the University of New England.
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Lehigh is in the midst of its fall season, which continues Oct. 17 with a home doubleheader against East Stroudsburg.
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"Lehigh softball is excited to welcome Julia and Jenn to our program," Troyan said. "Both have tremendous playing and overall softball experience to pass on! We are thrilled and grateful to have them on board."
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Bilotti brings more than a decade of college coaching experience, including eight years as an assistant coach at Arcadia University, where she helped lead the Knight to a MAC Commonwealth Championship and NCAA Tournament berth in 2019. With Bilotti on staff, Arcadia won back-to-back ECAC titles in 2016 and 2017 and made three straight conference championship game appearances.
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Prior to her time at Arcadia, Bilotti spent three seasons coaching at Indiana (Pa.) with IUP winning a PSAC championship and making two NCAA Tournament appearances during that time.
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Bilotti spent the 2011 season as a volunteer assistant coach at Coastal Carolina. She began her coaching career as a student assistant at her alma mater, Lock Haven. In her coaching career, Bilotti has mentored one All-American, four NFCA All-Region honorees and seven All-PSAC selections.
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A standout on the softball field at Lock Haven, Bilotti was a four-year starter who won two Division II National Titles with the Bald Eagles. She was the MVP of the 2009 PSAC Tournament, a two-time All-PSAC West first team honoree and a NFCA All-Region selection in 2007.
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Bilotti graduated from Lock Haven in 2010 with a degree in business administration.
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A longtime member of the Lehigh Valley softball community, Shellhammer brings coaching experience at all levels of the game, including a recent stint as head coach at Lehigh Carbon Community College, where she led the Cougars to the program's first regional berth in 2017. She has also served as the pitching coach at Montgomery College in Rockville, Md., and at Northampton Area High School in the Lehigh Valley.
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A 1997 graduate of Allentown Central Catholic High School, Shellhammer pitched collegiately at Radford, where she was an All-Big South performer, before finishing her career at the University of Maryland. Shellhammer continued to compete at the highest levels of softball after graduation, playing professionally for the California Sunbirds and pitching for the PA Longstreth All-Star team that faced off against the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team.
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In 2011, Shellhammer founded Creating Aces, an organization that provides group and individual pitching instruction.
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Shellhammer graduated from Maryland with a degree in criminal justice and criminology and added a master's in clinical social work from the University of New England.
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Lehigh is in the midst of its fall season, which continues Oct. 17 with a home doubleheader against East Stroudsburg.
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