LEWISTON — Bates College Director of Athletics Kevin McHugh on Tuesday announced the appointment of Bowdoin College assistant McKell Barnes as the fifth head coach of the Bobcat softball team.
Barnes replaces Gwen Lexow, Bates’ associate director of athletics and senior woman administrator, who has led the Bates softball program for 15 years. Lexow will relinquish her coaching duties at the end of the semester to focus completely on full-time administrative support for the department.
Barnes will begin her new post in January.
“ It is an honor to represent Bates College as the next head softball coach,” said Barnes. “Bates offers the chance to work with faculty and student-athletes who embrace the importance of community, camaraderie and excellence throughout academics and athletics, and I think that is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I look forward to maintaining important traditions established by Coach Lexow, and to creating new ones to sustain a winning program on a yearly basis.”
The 2009 North Atlantic Conference Player of the Year at UMaine- Farmington, as well as UMF’s Female Athlete of the Year in 2011, Barnes has been highly involved in coaching over the past two years, while also teaching mathematics at Brunswick High School, her alma mater.
Barnes has served as an assistant coach at Bowdoin since 2012, and she has coached with the Maine Thunder travel softball program as head coach of its 16U team since November 2011. At Bowdoin, under head coach Ryan Sullivan, Barnes helped the Polar Bears to back- to- back NESCAC softball championship appearances while compiling a 58- 28 overall record.
“ McKell’s experience as an assistant coach at Bowdoin, along with her head coaching role with the Maine Thunder, have prepared her to assume this leadership role for the Bobcats,” said McHugh. “As a former NAC Player of the Year and All-New England team member, McKell brings a passion for the sport and an energy that will serve the softball team well. We look forward to her taking the reins and advancing the Bates softball program.”
Barnes graduated from UMF with a bachelor’s degree in education in May 2011, and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in sports leadership from Northeastern University.
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