Christian softball coach loses her battle with cancer

Donna Newberry, center, topped 900 career wins in her 36th season as softball coach at Muskingum University in New Concord, Ohio. (Photo provided by Muskingum University)

In the December print edition of The Christian Chronicle, freelance writer Hamil Harris profiled Donna Newberry:

On the Tuesday last spring when Donna Newberry notched her 900th career win as a NCAA Division III softball coach, she was too weak to stand along the third-base line.
Instead, the coach of the Fighting Muskies of Muskingum University in New Concord, Ohio, sat in a chair next to the dugout and yelled orders to her team and assistant coach Kari Hoying.
“There is no greater competitor than Donna Newberry,” said Debbie Lazorik, retired head women’s basketball coach and athletic director for Marietta College, the Ohio Athletic Conference foe that Newberry’s Muskies defeated, 8-3, for the milestone win.
“She was every bit focused on that game, and she was still barking out commands and talking to the kids when they came off the field,” said Lazorik, who attended the game.

Harris, a Washington Post staff reporter and deacon for the University Park Church of Christ in Hyattsville, Md., called me today to let me know that Newberry lost her battle with cancer.
Click here to read a news report on Newberry’s death earlier today.