Northern Colorado Bears Softball Camps

Head Coach Dedeann Pendleton-Helm

Dedeann Pendleton-Helm, a well-known name in the Northern Colorado area, was been named the UNC softball program's head coach in June of 2022. Pendleton-Helm makes her way to Greeley from Fort Collins where she has been an assistant coach for Colorado State for the past 17 seasons.

In her first season at UNC, Pendleton-Helm led the program to the Big Sky Conference championship and NCAA tournament. Both were program firsts for the Bears.

The team finished with a 26-23 overall record and a 9-6 mark in league play. The Bears earned non-conference wins over St. Mary's, New Mexico State, and Kansas City.

Pendleton-Helm oversaw the development of Colorado State's pitchers while in Fort Collins. She had plenty of success coaching the three winningest pitchers in school history and CSU's all-time saves leader. In addition, she tutored the 2012 Mountain West Pitcher of the Year, Kacie McCarthy.

Recently Pendleton-Helm was a part of Colorado State's 2019 campaign that saw the team return to the NCAA Tournament going 39-12 with a team ERA of 2.57. The 39 wins are the third-most in program history.

She interrupted her two stints in Fort Collins with a six-year stop at Ole Miss. In Oxford, she worked with the outfielders, pitchers, hitters, and all phases of recruiting. She tutored numerous Ole Miss players to All-Southeastern Conference honors and helped the Rebels to the program's first winning season since its inception in 1997.

During her first stop in Fort Collins, she helped lead the Rams to the most successful season in program history in 1997. Working with outfielders and pitchers, she helped the Rams to the Western Athletic Conference championship, the school's highest national ranking (ninth) and a berth in the NCAA regional tournament. She coached three All-Americans in Jennifer Buford, Sarah Fredstrom and Nikki Johnson.

The veteran coach has also made a significant impact on the sport of fastpitch softball, having worked for Triple Crown Sports from 1996-98. During that time, she successfully developed Triple Crown's fastpitch softball division, which currently hosts the largest fastpitch softball tournament in the world each June in Colorado.

She spent her collegiate playing career at Creighton from 1991-95, serving as a pitcher and utility player. She played every position except catcher. During her career, she led the Bluejays' offensive attack and ranked first in program history for hits, doubles, RBI and home runs in a season, as well as career home runs. She earned first-team All-Missouri Valley Conference honors in 1995 and second-team all-conference accolades in 1994. Pendleton-Helm also earned second-team all-region recognition in 1994 and 1995.

Pendleton-Helm graduated with a bachelor's degree in psychology in 1995 and earned her master's in adult education from CSU in 2016. She married Dr. Heather Pendleton-Helm, who is a UNC tenured faculty member, in 2013.