Former women’s softball assistant coach at Foothill College Deanna Mauer was pronounced dead just before 6 p.m. on April 27 from injuries suffered in a multi-vehicle collision earlier that day off of the I-405 highway in Orange County.

Mauer was rear-ended after slowing to a stop for traffic congestion. A third driver failed to stop, crashing into her Hyundai and forcing it into the Porsche in front of her, pushing both cars onto the center divider. She was then taken to the UCI Medical Center where she died upon arriving.

Mauer pitched for the San Jose State Spartans during their 2008 and 2009 seasons before going on to assist head coach Collin Pregliasco with the Foothill Owls last year. At the end of the 2010 season, she left Foothill to go back to her hometown, Huntington Beach, in Southern California in pursuit of nursing degree. Up until her death, she was coaching the softball program at San Juan Hills high school.

“We’re still hurting,” Pregliasco said in an interview after the accident. “We are slightly in denial, it still feels like we can just pick up the phone and give her a call.”

The impression that she had left upon the girls she coached at foothill surpassed an athlete to coach relationship. It matured as a mentor bond that lasted even after her short stay with the Owls.

“She was so lively and had so much energy on the field,” said former Foothill softball player Natalie Warmbrodt who had played with and was close to Mauer. Whether it was softball related or not, “she was the person that everyone went to when we had problems”

“It was immediate that I wanted Mauer when we first interviewed her. Skillwise, she could do it all,” Pregliasco said.

Honored with the MVP title her senior year in high school and having set the San Jose State single-game strikeout record against Saint Mary’s College of California, her talent and charisma as a pitcher and team player were cut short.

“At her funeral, being around people that she coached and seeing how much she impacted those in the softball community, as well as those who she had touched in Huntington Beach, made me realize after her death that I wanted to continue playing softball,” Foothill softball player Kylie Crandall said. 

Mauer was, and continues to be, a role model for the girls at Foothill and anyone else that she was associated with from San Jose State. Her teammates, coaches, friends and family will miss her.

TEAM PICTURE – Deana Mauer (center) with members of the Foothill Owls Softball team. (Photo courtesy of Natalie Warmbrodt)