NEWS AND NOTES
- Eastern Illinois senior Haley Mitchell hit her 13th career home run on Saturday to take sole possession of first place in that category in the Panthers’ record book.
- Utah State head coach Steve Johnson earned his 300th career win.
- South Alabama head coach Becky Clark earned her 600th career win.
- Nebraska Hall of Fame head coach Rhonda Revelle earned her 1,000th career win.
- Arkansas head coach Courtney Deifel earned win #150 as the Razorbacks’ head coach. Deifel is in her 6th season as the Hogs’ program leader.
- Southeast Missouri head coach Mark Redburn earned his own 150th win as the head coach of the Redhawks. Redburn is in his seventh season leading SEMO.
- Indiana State infielder Leslie Sims recorded her 100th career stolen base. Sims already held the program record for swiped bags, and is the first Sycamore to reach triple-digits in the category.
- Florida State standout Sydney Sherrill set the Seminoles program’s career record for doubles with the 52nd two-bagger of her career.
- Wichita State slugger Madison Perrigan tied the Shockers’ career home run record with a pair of home runs against Creighton. Perrigan now has 39 roundtrippers in her career, and will take sole possession of first place with #40.
PROTOCOLS PAUSE PROGRAMS
Three programs are now on pause due to COVID-19 protocols.
- Long Beach State pulled out of their games this past weekend, though a school spokesperson noted that there was hope that week 3 would be the only games the team would have to bow out of.
- South Dakota had multiple players test positive, sources told JWOS, and had to cancel their series against Furman in Greenville.
- James Madison announced on Tuesday that they are on pause due to COVID-19 protocols. The Dukes played their first games of the season this weekend, going 2-0 against Virginia and George Washington.
Four teams that had been on pause due to COVID-19 protocols returned to or began action this week; Gardner-Webb, Florid A&M, Cal Poly, and North Florida all recorded official returns to the diamond in week 3.
UPSET ALERT
UConn over Baylor 7-3
Texas State over Mississippi State 4-3
Southeast Missouri over Texas Tech 5-3
Maryland over Minnesota 2-1
San Diego State over Washington 4-0
Ole Miss over Baylor 10-4
UTSA over Kansas 5-3
COACH GETS THE GAME BALL
Four rookie head coaches got their first taste of victory in week 3. Lacy Wood and Piper Ritter, who each started their inaugural seasons at Ball State and Minnesota, respectively, each earned their inaugural victories on their opening weekend. San Jose State head coach Tammy Lohmann earned her first wins as a full-time head coach, after gathering three victories as Cal’s interim head coach in 2020. Texas Southern interim head coach Raven Rodriguez, who took over in January for Worley Barker, also earned the first victory of her career at TSU.
AIR ALIYAH ON SPORTSCENTER
LSU super senior outfielder Aliyah Andrews is building quite a reputation for herself as a defensive wizard, and she underscored that reputation time and time again this weekend. Monikered Air Aliyah, Andrews made a number of diving catches during the week. Her defense garnered such rave reviews that the Tigers center fielder had a whole segment of SportsCenter dedicated to her prowess with the glove. Check out the full clip below:
Air Aliyah is not here for this nonsense #MakeItCount pic.twitter.com/uU0Cb8l0xJ
— LSU Softball (@LSUsoftball) February 28, 2021
OH WHAT A MOMENT
Ahead of her team’s game against Baylor, Lamar freshman Hannah Williams got to watch a video message from her brother, Seth, who is in the US Army. Williams was visibly in tears on the foul line as she watched the video, but the tears were just beginning. On the video, Seth asked his sister to “just do me one favor – look behind you.” When Hannah did, there stood her brother, live and in person. Watch the special moment, and keep the tissues handy!
WHAT A MOMENT! 😍😊
US Army specialist, Seth Williams returns home to surprise his sister Hannah Williams at today's Lone Star State Invitational match against @BaylorSoftball #WeAreLU@espnW @espn @NCAA @NCAAsoftball @LamarAthletics @USArmy pic.twitter.com/ifTLDyUOme
— Lamar Softball (@LamarSoftball) February 27, 2021
THE KNIGHTS HAVE ARRIVED
After the originally-scheduled season opener was cancelled, Renee Hicks and the Bellarmine Knights had to wait a little longer than planned to officially take the field as a Division 1 team. Once they hit the dirt, though, they wasted little time stepping into the win column. The Knights finished their opening weekend with a 2-2 record, taking a pair of games from Western Michigan. The Knights’ offense scored 16 runs, while the pitching staff gave up 20 in their D1 debut weekend.
HARPER HOMER TRACKER
After going without a home run for the first seven games of the season, Arizona super senior infielder Jessie Harper hit #s 77 and 78 of her career this weekend. Her first home run of the season came against Seattle, and she also hit one in the Wildcats’ very next game against BYU.
Harper now stands with 78 career home runs, 17 longballs away from tying Lauren Chamberlain atop the all-time leaderboard.
REDHAWK RACHEL CEMENTS HER RECORDS
Southeast Missouri ‘super senior’ Rachel Anderson returned for one final year at SEMO, and she’s cemented her already-sure legacy within the program. Anderson set a trio of new program records this weekend, including hits, RBIs, and walks. Anderson’s 133rd career run batted in garnered her the top spot in that category, while her 89th career free pass put her atop the walks category. A bunt single gave Anderson sole possession of the top spot in career hits, a record that had stood for more than two decades.
AGE IS JUST A NUMBER
Saint Francis’ 8-1 start to the season is their best start since 1989. As Red Flash pitching coach (& Syracuse alum) AnnaMarie Gatti so aptly pointed out on Twitter, she wasn’t even born yet the last time SFU started this hot.