Crown Point High School
Angie Richwalski - Varsity Head Coach
Angie has been a high school softball coach since 2013. She spent 4 years as the head JV coach at Highland High School and then a year as asst Varsity coach before joining the Bulldog staff. Prior to her time at Highland, Angie spent a year (2010-2011) as a volunteer graduate asst at Indiana University Bloomington while earning a Master's degree in Accountancy at the IU Kelley School of Business. Angie played four years of collegiate softball at Loyola University Chicago from 2006-2010 while obtaining her undergraduate degree in Accounting. She was a defensive utility player and pitcher as well as a power hitter and base stealer for the Ramblers. As a jack of all trades, Angie set single season program records for both stolen bases and RBIs while also being the ace of the pitching staff her senior season. Angie's accolades include Horizon League All Conference 2nd Team and NFCA Scholar Athlete as well as being a Horizon League Conference Champion. Angie attended Lake Central High School and was a 4 year varsity letter winner in both softball and basketball. While at LC she was on the Indiana State Runner-Up softball team in 2003 and was a softball State Champion in 2004. Angie won multiple All State, All Conference and All Area awards. Angie is the newly appointed Senior Graduation Coach at CPHS.
Jessica Brannagan - Varsity Assistant
Jessica Brannagan has been a high school softball coach since 2013 as well. Angie and Jessica were together at Highland High School for 5 seasons before Jessica took over the program as head coach. She was the Head Coach at Highland High School for two years before joining the Bulldog staff. She also spent a year as the Head Coach of the Region Rumble 16U Travel Softball Team. Jessica played four years of collegiate softball at Purdue North Central from 2005-2009 while obtaining her Business Degree. She also followed her playing career as a Graduate Assistant at PNC. She was a utility player who saw a lot of innings in the outfield, as well as highly effective slapper. She was also inducted into the PNC Hall of Fame for her offensive prowess. Jessica played 4 years at Chesterton High School and currently works for KM Plant in Highland.
Leslie Malerich - Varsity Volunteer Assistant
Coach Malerich is in her first season as a Volunteer Assistant Coach at CP. Her softball resume is exceptionally impressive. Coach Malerich spent time on the Coaching Staff at Valparaiso University and Quinnipiac. She also spent 8 years playing professionally in Italy including playing in the Olympics with the Italian National team. She was a multi-year All-American at Florida State University. She was a high school softball player and swimmer at Merrillville High School. During her high school career, she was not only named to the All State Team, but also named the NWI Times Female Athlete of the Year, as well as Softball Player of the Year, and eventually was inducted into the IHSAA Softball Hall of Fame in 2005. And of course, she can do it ALL but she is most renowned for her pitching skills. Coach Malerich also works for the CPPD and is one of our Student Resource Officers at the High School.
Penny Bensinger - JV Head Coach
Coach Penny comes to the Bulldog staff this year for her second season at Crown Point. She was previously the Head Coach of the Morton Governor's Softball program for 12 seasons. Penny also coached Girls Basketball at Morton until leaving to join the Bulldog staff. She was a collegiate softball catcher at both South Suburban and Prairie State. Bensinger graduated from Morton High School in 2005.
Shelley Kurcz - JV Assistant Coach
Coach Shelley also comes to the Bulldog staff from the Morton Governor's Program. Shelley and Penny coached together at Morton for several seasons before joining CPHS Softball. Coach Shelley was a collegiate softball pitcher for Dominican University. Kurcz graduated from Crown Point High School in 2006.
Ric Funston - Varsity Volunteer Assistant
Coach Funston is a long time softball enthusiast and the father of Head Coach Angie Richwalski.
He was instrumental in her development as a player throughout her high school and collegiate softball career. He has been an assistant coach with multiple travel softball programs and was the head coach of the Lady Swooshers AAU Basketball program for 5 seasons. Coach Funston was also a multi-sport athlete during his high school career at Calumet where he participated in football and track.