Kate Keller
Head Coach
(630) 829-6149
kkeller@ben.edu

Kate Keller, one of the most decorated pitchers in NCAA Division III history, took the reins of the Benedictine University softball program in 1998. Her teams have won four conference titles and made three NCAA Division III Tournament appearances.

Keller’s teams have posted a 211-158-2 (.571) record in her nine seasons on the bench, which includes seven years of at least 20 wins and six winning campaigns. The Eagles won Northern Illinois-Iowa Conference (NIIC) titles in 1998, 2000, 2001 and 2002, and made NCAA Tournament appearances three straight seasons from 2000-02. The Eagles have a record of 4-5 in NCAA Tournament play under Keller’s direction, including a regional runner-up finish in 2002. She ranks second on Benedictine’s career wins list behind Deb DiMatteo (331 wins), for whom Keller played for two seasons.

A coach who enjoys a solid rapport with her players, Keller has coached 44 all-conference honorees, including three “Player of the Year”
selections. In addition, she has mentored 15 National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Region honorees.

After serving as the head coach of Benet Academy’s softball team and leading that team to a conference championship in 1997, she took over the Benedictine softball program and had immediate success, guiding the Eagles to the NIIC title in 1998 while earning NIIC “Coach of the Year” honors. Two years later, the 2000 squad posted a 31-16 record and its first NCAA Tournament berth in five years, and Keller was again named the NIIC “Coach of the Year.”

Keller led the 2001 Eagles to a 34-14 record (which tied for the second-most wins in school history) and another NCAA berth, while the 2002 team went 29-16 and once again appeared in the NCAA’s. Keller missed the 2003 season after giving birth to her second child, but returned in 2004 to lead the Eagles to a 23-17-1 mark and a second-place finish in the NIIC standings.

In 2007, she guided the Eagles team into its new conference affiliation, the Northern Athletics Conference (NAC), and a conference tourney berth that very first campaign.

Formerly Kate Enochs, she starred in the circle for four seasons with the Eagles, helping them to four consecutive NIIC titles and NCAA Tournament appearances in 1993, 1994 and 1995. As a freshman, she went 22-2; her .917 winning percentage that season still ranks among the best ever in NCAA Division III history. Her 29-5 mark as a junior in 1995 continues to rank her among NCAA Division III’s single-season wins leaders.

Keller earned All-America honors each season with the Eagles, culminating with a first-team selection in 1996. She ranks among NCAA Division III’s career leaders in victories (80), winning percentage (.860), innings pitched (645.2), strikeouts (545), shutouts (41) and earned run average (0.73).

Keller was also a standout tennis player for four seasons at Benedictine, and served as the program’s coach for seven years (1997-2003).

Keller earned her bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Benedictine in 1996.

Bianca Severino
Assistant Coach

Bianca Severino, a former Benedictine University softball standout, rejoined the program in 2005 as an assistant coach.

Severino currently works as a special educator for the fourth, fifth and sixth grades at Christa McAuliffe Elementary School in Chicago, where she is a case manager responsible for special education staffings, schedules, annual reviews and re-evaluations. She also taught a six-week summer school program for students entering grades 3-7 in the summer of 2004, and has been a Golden Apple Scholar since 2001.

She had previously worked at Pulaski Fine Arts Academy in Chicago, where she instructed middle school students with special needs in all subject areas. Severino also coached the boys’ varsity and co-ed junior varsity basketball teams at the school, and directed the 14-and-under North Suburban Slammers fastpitch softball team in 2002 and 2003.

Severino played for the Eagles from 1999-2002, helping the team to four straight winning seasons and a 121-60 (.669) record during that span. The Eagles advanced to the NCAA Division III Tournament in each of her last three seasons. Severino was tabbed as an honorable mention All-Northern Illinois-Iowa Conference selection as a sophomore in 2000, and was also selected as her team’s Most Improved Player by her teammates that season. She wrapped up her career by hitting .255 with 16 RBI and 21 runs scored as a senior in 2002. She also received the Coach’s Award as a member of Benedictine’s basketball team in 2000.

A graduate of Resurrection High School in Chicago, Severino participated in cross country and basketball in addition to softball. She earned all-conference and all-division honors on the softball field. Severino earned her bachelor’s degree in special education from Benedictine in 2002, and resides in Park Ridge, Ill.


Keith Bunkenburg
Assistant Coach

Keith Bunkenburg joined the Eagles' softball staff in 2007. A former standout basketball and baseball player for the Eagles, he is also the men's basketball head coach.

Bunkenburg has averaged more than 17 wins per season as Benedictine’s head men's basketball coach and has guided the Eagles to either the NIIC regular-season or tournament title in five of the last ten seasons. The NIIC “Coach of the Year” for both the 1999-00 and 2000-01 campaigns, Bunkenburg was named Illinois’ NCAA Division III “Coach of the Year” in both 2000 and 2004. His .651 win percentage ranks him among the winningest active NCAA Division III coaches.

A native of Chicago, Ill., Bunkenburg attended St. Patrick High School where he was an all-conference baseball and basketball player, as well as each team’s MVP. He continued that two-sport success in college, as he started for two seasons as a catcher for the Eagle baseball team. As a junior, he was tabbed as both the baseball and basketball team MVPs, making him one of few athletes in school history to receive that honor from two teams in the same year. He also played golf for the school all four years.

A 1989 graduate of then-Illinois Benedictine College (now Benedictine University), Bunkenburg earned his degree in physical education. He has also served as the head men’s and women’s tennis coach and the head men’s and women’s golf coach during his tenure at Benedictine.

He resides in Naperville.