Oregon pitcher Maddie MacGrandle has left the Ducks program, as first reported on Monday afternoon by The Oregonian in Eugene. MacGrandle joined the Ducks over the summer after leaving the Texas A&M program, one of three so-called “marquee” transfers signed by first-year head coach Melyssa Lombardi. Two of those transfers, including MacGrandle, were pitchers placed on scholarship at Oregon. In fifteen appearances this season, MacGrandle struggled heavily, posting a 3-7 record and a 7.81 ERA on the year. The latter mark ranks last in the PAC-12, as the sophomore pitcher allowed forty-eight earned runs, on fifty-eight hits in 43 innings…
Author: jmcleod
** Winners of Week Eight were crowned on our partner site, Extra Inning Softball. Check that out here. ** Now officially on the latter side of the season’s midway point, let’s take a look at some of the week’s top performances, including some that may have flown under the radar. South Florida Bulls After beginning their conference slate sluggishly, with a series loss to Tulsa, the Bulls went to Houston and made some noise, sweeping past the favored Cougars to head to the plus side of the .500 mark in league play. The Bulls got to all three of the…
Teams are now in the very heart of the regular season, just past the halfway point in the year, and a number of conferences boast of top-level matchups headlining their league play this week. Underscoring the sport’s popularity, an ESPN release earlier this week noted that more than 160 games will be available via the Worldwide Leader’s various media platforms this week alone. Catching 160 games in the span of just one weekend might be tough, and would even leave out some of the nation’s best teams who might be appearing on other networks or without a major set of…
We’ve reached the halfway mark in the 2019 season, and there’s been no shortage of headlines and happenings, with plenty of surprises; disappointments; and performances that won’t soon be forgotten. Conference play has begun in nearly every conference coast-to-coast, with leagues like the SEC and PAC-12 already deep into the throes of league play. With half of a season’s worth of games under our belts, it’s time to present our annual Mid-Season Awards. If the season ended today, based on what we’ve seen so far, who would take home the nation’s top trophies? Our staff came together and made our…
* Pull out the brooms and check out some teams who swept through their weekend; that’s featured on our partner site, Extra Inning Softball. Click here.* The Big Ten and Big 12 kicked off conference play this week, the last Power Five conferences to do so. Across the nation, conference series’ in the Big South, ASun, and Conference USA, among others, continued to set a trend of early conference matchups with big postseason implications. Here are our picks for the weekend’s players, teams, and performances that you don’t want to miss. Alyssa Denham, Arizona When celebrating their 21st birthday, some…
Auburn ace pitcher Makayla Martin has suffered an injury that will sideline her for an indefinite period of time. The Tigers’ senior pitching ace, Martin holds an 11-2 record on the season, posting a 1.31 ERA and eighty-six strikeouts in fifteen appearances in the circle. The fourth-year hurler has pitched nearly half of the Tigers’ innings this season, and owns victories over Oregon; Loyola Marymount; and Louisville this year. Martin was named to the Freshman of the Year Top 25 watch list in 2016, and earned a nomination to the Women’s College World Series All-Tournament team that same year. She…
Former Northern Illinois head coach Dee Abrahamson and ex-Kent State standout Pauline Maurice are among the inductees elected to the Mid-American Conference Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2019. Abrahamson spent more than thirty years as a part of the Northern Illinois athletic department, including fourteen years as the Huskies’ head coach. Abrahamson posted a 416-286-5 record during her tenure as head coach, and led the Huskies to the Women’s College World Series in 1988. During her tenure as head coach, Abrahamson was selected as the conference’s Coach of the Year three times and set the school’s…
Hi everyone! Sorry it has been a few weeks without a post, but I promise to catch y’all up by the end of this one. The St. Pete/Clearwater Elite Invitational in mid-February was a tournament to remember. Huge shoutout to Meg Aronowitz, Holly Rowe, Michele Smith, Beth Mowins, Amanda Scarborough, Danielle Lawrie, Kayla Braud, and many more that helped make that tournament happen. Softball on ESPN in February!? Without these women and everyone else dedicating their time to grow this sport, we softball athletes would not be in the position that we in are today. The competition was TOP…
Some of the best offensive players in Division I may be names you don’t even know! By Cassie Tysarczyk, JWOS Contributor If you’re a softball fan, then you probably know most of the nation’s top hitters; names like Alyssa DiCarlo, Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza, Rachel Garcia, and Amanda Sanchez come to mind. There are also some hitters that fly under the radar, but that can be game-changers and dangerous offensive weapons. We’ve spotlighted nine of them here. Whitney Walton, UT-Arlington > The Mavericks’ leadoff hitter is one of the toughest outs in the Sun Belt Conference. Walton has recorded a hit in…
UCLA and Arizona made headlines with impressive, dominating sweeps of Washington and Oregon, respectively. The Bruins and Wildcats earned their turn in the spotlight this week, but here are some other teams whose performances you don’t want to miss from the week’s slate of games. Kennesaw State > In a series that many thought might determine the ASun champion, even as the first league series between the teams, the Owls took on Liberty, playing their first conference games as ASun members. Kennesaw State, who lost their ace pitcher and top power hitter in the offseason, started their conference slate on…