Lady Wolves Softball Camps

Coaching Staff

Emily Marino
Head Softball Coach

Emily Marino is in her fourth year as JJC’s Assistant Athletic Director and Head Softball Coach. Marino, a Joliet native, is a veteran athletics administrator with more than 17 years of experience at the NJCAA level.

Marino was the Women's Athletic Coordinator and Head Softball Coach at JJC from 2005-15. She spent 10 months as the Director of Lodging at Woodside Sports Complex in the Wisconsin Dells before being named the Director of Intercollegiate and Intramural Athletics at Malcolm X College in October 2016.

As JJC's softball coach, Marino has totaled more than 200 wins and received the North Central Community College Conference (N4C) Coach of the Year award in 2007. She coached 32 All-N4C players and 25 student-athletes who were selected to the All-Region IV team.

Marino played softball collegiately at the University of Florida from 1998-2001 and established herself as one of the top players in program history. Among the Gators' career leaders, Marino, a four-year starter who played catcher and first base, is ranked second all-time in stolen base percentage (.944) and intentional walks (9), third in games started (267), fourth in throwing out base stealers (34), fifth in walks (138) and games played (269), eighth in putouts (1,169) and 10th in doubles (41).

During her prep career at Joliet Catholic Academy, Marino excelled in softball, volleyball and basketball. The recipient of 10 varsity letters, she was inducted into the East Suburban Catholic Conference Hall of Fame in 2008 and the Joliet Catholic Academy Hall of Champions in 2017.

Marino earned a bachelor's degree in Recreational Science from the University of Florida, and a master's degree in Sport Management from Northwestern University. Upon graduation from Florida, she spent one summer playing professional softball in Italy. She also spent time as a softball instructor at Worth Club in Nashville, TN.

Mike Bednarz
Assistant Softball Coach

Mike Bednarz is in his second year as JJC's assistant softball coach.

A retired physical education teacher, Bednarz brings more than 35 years of coaching experience to the Wolves. He also serves as the lead instructor in the Xfinity Kids Zone area at Guaranteed Rate Field and helps to staff corporate and special on-field events at the ballpark. He has worked for the Chicago White Sox since 2005 when he was hired to provide youth instruction for the now defunct Chicago White Sox Training Academy.

Bednarz got his baseball coaching start at George Williams College in Downers Grove in 1985, coaching there for only one year before the campus closed in 1986. He then served as a hitting coach at North Park University for two years before being hired as the head coach at Evergreen Park High School. He coached the Mustangs from 1987 to 1991 before leaving to serve as an assistant coach at Hinsdale South High School from 1991 to 1995. He also coached high school girls’ basketball for 18 years, coaching at Evergreen Park, Oak Forest and Bremen high schools at various levels over his career.

A native Chicagoan, Bednarz played baseball at Weber High School then Greenville College (now Greenville University) in southern Illinois. Although he spent most of his playing time in the middle infield, he finished his career as a catcher.

Bednarz retired from Nathan Hale Middle School in Crestwood in 2020. He and his wife, Amy, live in Lockport and have three adult children.