Washington and head coach Heather Tarr have agreed to a contract extension, the school announced on Friday. According to the university press release, the new pact runs through the 2025 season. Tarr is one of nine active head coaches nationwide to have won a national championship, after leading the Huskies to the national title in 2009. In total, during Tarr’s tenure, the Huskies have reached the Women’s College World Series six times, most recently finishing as the national runners-up in 2018. The Huskies’ head coach since 2005, Tarr is the winningest head coach in any sport in Washington history, with…
Author: jmcleod
Wichita State pitcher Bailey Lange is out for the season with an ankle injury. Lange, who also is a regular part of the Shockers’ batting order, sustained the injury while running the bases in an early-season game. The senior super-utility player appeared in just eight games before sustaining the injury. A former Northern Iowa transfer now in her second season with the Shockers, Lange earned first-team all-American Athletic Conference honors in 2018 in her initial season in the league following her transfer. She finished the ’18 season with a 20-13 record in the circle, with a 2.90 ERA and 183…
PAC-12 teams begin conference play this weekend; in a league with an odd number of teams (nine), Stanford will sit out the opening weekend, while the remaining eight conference teams will go head-to-head to begin sorting out the conference fray. The week’s matchups are headlined by UCLA traveling to Seattle to take on the Huskies of Washington, while Oregon will play at Arizona; Oregon State travels to Arizona State; and Utah hosts California. Let’s take a look at some of the players to watch in the first week of PAC play. * Rankings referenced are the Extra Inning SB/JWOS…
Before the Grand Canyon Antelopes upset the #1 team in the nation last week, the program immortalized one of their own in program legend. Former Lopes star Randi Johns Riggs earlier this month became the first-ever softball player to be inducted into the school’s athletics Hall of Fame. She was also just the 21st individual inducted in the Hall of Fame’s history. Then known as Randi Johns, a hard-hitting infielder, Riggs began her career on the left side of the diamond before moving to first base midway through her career due to injuries. She hit over .400 in each season…
There were plenty of headlining-act performances across the nation in what was week five of the Division I season, including back-to-back no-hitters by Washington’s Gabbie Plain; a series sweep by Oklahoma State over Oregon; and a dominant series win by Tennessee in Gainesville. But in the midst of the hubbub, here are seven highlights and headlines that you might miss, but shouldn’t. 1. Sacramento State’s record-setters It was quite the weekend for Hornet fans. A 3-2 weekend showing included quite the highlight despite the pair of losses. Junior star Suzy Brookshire hit a solo home run in a win over…
One constant during Sam Houston State’s ups and downs over the past few years has been pitcher Lindsey McLeod. Now the senior ace of the Bearkats’ staff, McLeod leads the team from the pitching circle. McLeod saw her workload go up nearly every year of her career in Huntsville, to the tune of nearly 200 innings of work in 2018. As her inning count went up, McLeod’s effectiveness increased; her ERA has gone down more than a full run year-to-year in each season of her career to this point. The Bearkats’ fourth-year ace, McLeod boasts a 37-32 career record, with 456 career…
Cal State Fullerton has introduced program alum Christina Washington as the program’s interim pitching coach. Washington fills the role usually held by Dallas Escobedo, who is taking a leave of absence to play professionally overseas. Escobedo has signed a contract to play professionally for the Shokki team in Nagoya, Japan, and will spend three months overseas for the portion of the Japanese professional season from April 14 through May 28. Escobedo, who is in her second season as the Titans pitching coach, will return to her coaching duties upon her return to the US. In addition to her coaching duties…
McNeese State will retire the jersey of former program great Erika Piancastelli in a ceremony scheduled for Saturday. Piancastelli graduated following the 2018 season, but left an indelible mark on the Cowgirls’ program. During her career at McNeese, which stretched from 2015-18, Piancastelli was named the Southland Conference Player of the Year four times, earning the league’s top trophy in every year of her career. She was also named the conference’s Hitter of the Year each season. During her career, Piancastelli broke and set thirteen career records at McNeese and in the Southland Conference, including recording the program’s career-best numbers…
Former Texas A&M slugger Tori Vidales has joined the SEC Network as a softball analyst. Vidales announced the news on her personal Twitter account on Monday, saying “”Here I come @SECNetwork – Excited to join the SEC Now segment as a softball analyst!” In joining the ESPN-backed network, Vidales will contribute to coverage of a plethora of teams that she should be quite familiar with from her playing days at Texas A&M; Vidales’ playing career ended in 2018 after her senior season. Other analysts who regularly appear on SEC Now and in appearances on the SEC Network’s conference-wide coverage include…
Softball legend Jessica Mendoza has joined the front office for the New York Mets of Major League Baseball. Mendoza, who has worked for ESPN in various broadcasting roles since 2007, “will provide insight… her focus will be in the areas of player evaluation, roster construction, technological advancement and health and performance,” according to a team press release. In addition to her work with the Mets, Mendoza will continue in her role as a color commentator and analyst on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball, a role that she has held since 2016. In addition to her tenure on the Sunday Night Baseball…