NEW ULM — Minnesota Valley Lutheran has hired two new head coaches for the upcoming spring sports season.

Katie Scherer is the new head softball coach for the Chargers, while Nick Doetkott is taking over the reigns of the baseball program.

Scherer, who replaces Tanya Paulsen, played four years of softball for MVL (2005-2008) before starting for four seasons at Martin Luther College. Scherer was an assistant softball coach at MVL in 2013 and then again from 2016-2018.

From 2014 and 2015, she was an assistant softball coach at Shoreland Lutheran High School.

“I have a passion for softball and coaching the kids in general,” Scherer said. “I was an assistant coach in volleyball at MVL, so I know the culture there and the atmosphere that they have there is exciting.”

As a first-year head coach, Scherer said that she wants to bring in a culture of a strong work ethic and integrity.

“Those are two big things for me and I hope I get the girls to embrace and use for the rest of their lives,” she said.

Scherer said she also wants to bring a culture of winning to the program.

“Right now I am at a softball clinic and I am trying to learn more from other coaches and from people who have coached and played at the DI college level so that I can expand my knowledge and bring that to the girls who play for me,” she said.

Scherer said she would like to see more of her girls get involved in summer softball programs.

“That experience helps,” she said. “We want to develop skills but we also want to have fun — it is not always serious — and we want to encourage those younger girls to play.”

Doetkott, who replaces Jim Buboltz, played four years at Sibley East High School and has played baseball for the Arlington A’s amateur baseball team since 2014.

Doetkott said that he got interested in the head baseball coaching job at MVL when he saw in the church bulletin that they were looking for a head baseball coach.

“I have always wanted to and had a desire to coach at a high school level, whether it be basketball or baseball,” he said. “So I saw the opportunity and said, ‘Why not?'”

Doetkott wants to bring a part of himself to the program.

“I am a singles hitter — I like to steal and run and be aggressive,” he said. “And I think that that translates well to high school baseball. I want the kids to hustle at all times, put the ball in play and play defense and if we do that, we can have a successful baseball program.”

He said that he will stress pitching and defense.

“If the other team does not score, than that makes the offenses job pretty easy,” he said. “And now [with the pitch count], you need to have more pitching depth than you used too. When it comes down to it, high school baseball is not about who hits the most home runs, but it is about who plays smart and who is the most fundamentally strong team. If you limit your errors — both mentally and physically — you will win most of your games.”