Between Halloween-themed practices and workouts last week and extra dressing-up over the weekend, college softball players and coaches had some serious ingenuity and creativity on display this Halloween. We compiled some of our very favorites for your viewing enjoyment! The photo at the top is Saint Louis infielder Chloe Wendling – the Cat in the Hat fielding grounders was our favorite “action shot” of Halloween 2021. The Miami coaching staff pulled off a stellar recreation of a photo from popular show Ted Lasso. The costumes were so good, the show’s official Instagram reposted the effort. The LSU bullpen were Snow…
Author: jmcleod
After initially planning to spend the weekend at home and enjoy a little bit of “down time” before the college season begins, an invitation to the Top Tier Exposure Tournament in Monroe, Louisiana in my hometown was too good to pass up. The two-day tournament was small, but included some quality talent. Here are five players who had noteworthy performances. Maddie Nichols, D1vision 18U (2022) Nichols didn’t play on Saturday, but in her one day of action on the weekend, she looked sharp. Her team played three games on the day – in the first, she knocked a long home…
Marshall is officially joining the Sun Belt Conference, the school announced on social media on Friday afternoon. While an official press release has not yet been published, the Sun Belt also confirmed the addition on their own social media channels, noting the league’s expansion into West Virginia as its third new state this week. Marshall follows Southern Miss and Old Dominion, both of which joined the conference earlier this week. Southern Miss and Old Dominion are each slated to join the Sun Belt no later than July 1, 2023, and Marshall is likely to follow a similar timeline. Also on…
Who is she? Kelsey Hodgson, a former third baseman for the College of Charleston Cougars. What is she known for? During her playing career at CoC, Hodgson filled her trophy case. She was named to the SoCon All-Freshman team in 2011 and earned all-conference honors from the SoCon in 2013 and the Colonial Athletic Association in 2014 following the program’s realignment. She was named the Cougars’ Offensive Player of the Year in 2014 and finished her career as the program’s record holder in career home runs and in the all-time top ten in an additional ten offensive categories. Here’s something…
For the last five years, Mollie Paulick led the Eastern Kentucky Colonels from the pitching circle. Opponents never hit better than .240 against her in a single season, earned double-digit wins in all five seasons of her career – including her ‘super senior’ season – and recorded more than 650 career strikeouts. After completing her playing career, Paulick didn’t waste time in entering the coaching world and she didn’t have to go very far to take on the new title, either – in August, she was announced as the new assistant coach at Bellarmine. Recently, after she got the first…
Love’s Travel Stops, the truck stop chain headquartered in Oklahoma City, has made a lead gift to the Oklahoma softball stadium fundraising project, the school announced on Thursday. The pledge-gift of $9 million includes naming rights to the new facility, which will be monikered “Love’s Field”. The truck stop chain also pledged a dollar-for-dollar match of other donations, up to an additional $3 million. In total, the truck stop chain will contribute $12 million to the OU softball program. According to a Sooners press release, it is the largest philanthropic gift directed toward a women’s sport in OU athletics history.…
Six teams will take part in the 2022 Puerto Vallarta College Challenge, which also marks the return of the annual tournament after its cancellation during the 2021 season. Historically, the tournament hosted teams in both the first and second weeks of the regular season, there will be only one session during the 2022 Challenge which will take place February 10-13, opening week of the Division 1 season. Arkansas and Washington headline the 6-team field, which also includes 2021 Big West champions Long Beach State. The trio of NCAA tournament teams are joined by Rutgers of the Big Ten; Lamar of…
The worst-kept secret in conference realignment was made official on Tuesday afternoon when Southern Miss officially announced their new membership in the Sun Belt Conference. The Golden Eagles will become full-fledged Sun Belt members no later than July 1, 2023. Southern Miss’ move from Conference USA to the Sun Belt is the first of several widely-expected similar moves that will take place over the next couple of weeks. Old Dominion – which does not sponsor a softball program – and Marshall are also expected to leave the C-USA and join the Sun Belt. James Madison is said to be the…
Kathleen Rodriguez has been hired as head coach at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, the school announced on Monday. Rodriguez spent the last five seasons as head coach at Trinity Valley Community College in Athens, Texas, where she led the squad to an appearance in the NJCAA national tournament in 2021. Prior to her tenure at Trinity Valley, Rodriguez was the inaugural head coach at Division I UTEP. She spent ten years leading the Miners and holds the program career wins record. Her coaching resume also includes a stint as co-head coach – with her husband James – at Eastern New Mexico,…
Winthrop is hiring former Clemson player Ansley Gilstrap as an assistant coach, sources told JWOS. Gilstrap graduated from Clemson following the 2021 season after helping lead the Tigers to 44 wins and the ACC regular-season championship. Gilstrap was named to the All-ACC Third Team after batting .292 and starting 51 games. Prior to finishing her career at Clemson, Gilstrap played at USC Upstate from 2015-18. She earned First Team all-conference honors in the ASun in 2017 and second-team honors in 2018, and was also named Most Valuable Player of the ASun conference tournament during the 2017 campaign. In early September,…