When it became known that Shannon Saile would transfer from Florida International following her sophomore season of 2018, it put one of the nation’s top mid-major pitchers on the market. Following visits to four SEC schools and the University of Oklahoma, Saile last week announced her commitment to OU for the final two seasons of her career. She becomes the latest top-level pitcher to suit up for the Sooners. Earlier this week, she sat down with Justin’s World of Softball to share about the decision-making process and her future as a Sooner. Justin’s World of Softball: What sold you on…
Author: jmcleod
New UAB head coach Jimmy Kolaitis has wasted no time in making his presence known in Birmingham, finishing out his coaching staff and adding two former SEC players to the Blazers’ roster. Kolaitis’ coaching staff will consist of Joe Guthrie and Courtnay Foster. Guthrie will handle the defensive instruction, while Foster will serve as the pitching coach. A married couple, Guthrie and Foster both spent the 2018 season as a part of the coaching staff at Louisiana-Lafayette and have previously coached together at Spring Hill College and Bucknell. Foster is a Northwestern alum and also spent five years as the…
Formerly known as the World Cup of Softball, the USA Softball International Cup kicks off on Monday for a week chock full of international softball. This year’s Cup tournament will be held in Irvine, California. Who’s playing: Participating teams include a pair of Team USA squads, known as USA Red and USA Blue. Professional squad Scrap Yard Fastpitch – the former NPF champion-turned-independent franchise – will also take part in the tournament. Joining USA Red and Scrap Yard in Pool A for the tournament are Chinese Taipei; China; Puerto Rico; and Peru. Pool B consists of Japan; Canada; Mexico; Venezuela;…
Melyssa Lombardi is expected to be named the next head coach of Oregon, according to sources close to the situation. Lombardi has spent twenty-one seasons as the Sooners’ pitching coach and top assistant under Patty Gasso, and was a part of four National Championship-winning teams during her tenure, most recently in 2016 and 2017. In 2017, Lombardi was named the Division I Assistant Coach of the Year. During her tenure, Lombardi tutored numerous award-winning pitchers, including Keilani Ricketts; Paige Parker; Michelle Gascoigne; and Lauren Eckermann. She showed significant success with transfer pitchers, as well, shepherding Kelsey Stevens and Paige Lowary…
Pittsburgh head coach Holly Aprile will be named the next head coach at Louisville, sources with knowledge of the situation have confirmed to JWOS. Aprile had been the head coach at Pittsburgh since 2009 and was named the ACC’s Coach of the Year in 2018 after leading the Panthers to the Coastal Division championship and a runner-up finish in the conference tournament. During her time at the helm of the Panthers’ program, Aprile shepherded the squad to their first-ever NCAA tournament berth in 2015 and oversaw the program’s transition from Big East competition into the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Panthers…
Boise State has announced Maggie Livreri as the Broncos’ new head coach. Livreri replaces Cindy Ball, who accepted the head coaching position at Central Florida last week. Livreri had most recently been the associate head coach at Utah, spending seven seasons on the assistant coaching staff with the Utes. During her tenure, the Utes reached the NCAA tournament in three straight seasons, from 2015-17, and reached the Super Regional round in 2016 and 2017. Under Livreri’s tutelage, the Utes offense performed well in the 2017 season particularly, recording a .318 team batting average, a mark that ranked 16th in the…
Tracie Adix-Zins has been hired as the next head coach at DePaul. Adix-Zins had most recently been an assistant coach at North Carolina State under Shawn Rychcik for three seasons. She tutored the Wolfpack pitching staff during her time at NC State and led the staff to a 3.51 cumulative ERA and 230 strikeouts in the 2018 campaign. Prior to her tenure at North Carolina State, Adix-Zins had also been an assistant coach at Oklahoma State, Wisconsin, and South Dakota State, serving as the pitching coach in each stop. The DePaul position will be her first as a head coach. A…
Former Ole Miss volunteer assistant coach Katie Rietkovich has been named the hitting coach at Minnesota, the school announced on Tuesday. Rietkovich has served as a part of Mike Smith’s staff in Oxford for three seasons, assisting with the Rebels offense and acting as the team’s first base coach. She was a part of the Rebels’ coaching staff that led the squad to the SEC championship in 2017 and the first Super Regional berth in program history that same year. Before joining the Ole Miss staff, Rietkovich spent a single season as an assistant coach at Savannah State. As a…
Marshall head coach Jen Steele will not return as the Thundering Herd’s head coach in 2019, the school announced in a brief statement on Monday. Steele completed her first season as the Herd’s head coach with the conclusion of the 2018 season and led the squad to a 25-29-1 overall record in her lone season at the helm. The Herd posted a 13-9-1 record in conference play and ended their season in the C-USA conference tournament. A statement from Marshall athletics was released on Monday afternoon, stating “Head softball coach Jen Steele will not be returning to Marshall University. A…
Morehead State has hired former Miami (Ohio) assistant Samantha Jones as the Eagles’ new head coach. Jones spent three seasons as an assistant with the Miami Redhawks, assisting Chris Kuhlmeyer with the team’s offense and working with the program’s outfielding corps. While at Miami, Jones was part of a record-breaking 2017 campaign that saw the squad set second-best all-time marks in runs scored, runs per game, home runs, and RBIs, among other records. Prior to her tenure on the staff at Miami, Jones spent four seasons as the head coach at Asbury University, an NAIA school in Kentucky. She led…