Villanova has found their new head coach, and it’s a familiar face to Wildcat fans – Bridget Orchard, a program alum, will be the Wildcats’ next leader. Orchard had been the head coach at Fordham for seventeen seasons, earning eight NCAA tournament berths. Orchard built the Rams into a perennial powerhouse in the Atlantic 10 conference and was named A-10 coach of the year seven times during her tenure. Orchard owns a career record of 753-420-3 in twenty-one seasons as a head coach, including 624 during her tenure at Fordham. She led the Rams to six consecutive A-10 titles from 2013-18.…
Author: jmcleod
Saint Francis head coach Jennifer Patrick-Swift will be named the next head coach at North Carolina State, JWOS has learned. Patrick-Swift had been the head coach at Saint Francis for seven seasons, taking the Red Flash to the NCAA tournament in consecutive seasons in 2017 and 2018. The program ended their ‘18 conference slate with an active streak of thirty-two consecutive conference victories, after perfect 16-0 records in each of the last two seasons. The Red Flash led the nation in 2018 in at-bats per home run, posting eighty-three home runs in fifty-eight games. Boasting a career record of 226-152…
Virginia Tech has hired Pete D’Amour to be the Hokies’ head coach. D’Amour heads to Blacksburg after two seasons at Kennesaw State, where he compiled a 79-37 record and led the Owls to the Atlantic Sun conference championship and a berth in the NCAA tournament. In 2017, the Owls participated in the tournament finals of the NISC postseason tournament. Prior to joining Kennesaw State, D’Amour spent ten years as the top assistant at Missouri, where he helped lead the Tigers to the NCAA tournament in each year in his decade on staff. While at Missouri, D’Amour became known as one…
How they got here: As the #8 overall seed in the NCAA tournament, the Sun Devils were the last team to earn a national seed and played host to South Carolina for the Super regionals. The Devils swept the Gamecocks to advance to the Women’s College World Series. After beginning their season with a loss against Tennessee, the Sun Devils built a ten-game winning streak that included victories over Notre Dame, Indiana, Mississippi State, and Texas State. A three-game sweep over Minnesota was a highlight of the Devils’ pre-conference slate and a split over Iowa finished the team’s non-conference slate. The…
How they got here: UCLA was the first team to clinch their berth in the Women’s College World Series after sweeping Arizona in the Super Regionals. The Bruins started the regular season on a 25-game winning streak, sweeping through the entirety of the pre-conference part of the season. The streak included undefeated showings in both weeks of the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic, as well as victories over LSU, Minnesota, and Long Beach State. In PAC-12 play, the Bruins turned in a 20-4 conference showing. After dropping the first series of PAC-12 play to the Oregon Ducks, the squad dropped a single…
How they got here: The #1 seed in the NCAA tournament, the Ducks suffered a surprising, crushing loss to Kentucky in the first game of the Super Regional in Eugene before storming back to take the next two from the Wildcats, including a Super-clinching 11-1 run-rule victory in the winner-take-all game three. 47-7 during the regular season, the Ducks kicked off their 2018 campaign with a victory over fellow WCWS participant Georgia in the Kajikawa Classic. The squad won nine straight to start the year, before a nine-inning walk-off loss to Ole Miss in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. In addition to the…
How they got here: As the #6 national seed in the NCAA tournament, Florida State was another team that had to come from behind after losing the first game of the Super regional round. After dropping a 6-5 decision to the Tigers in the weekend’s inaugural matchup, the Seminoles rallied for an 8-5 win in eleven innings in game two and emerged victorious by a 3-1 advantage to take home the Super Regional championship and WCWS berth. The Noles began their regular season with four run-rule victories in their first six games. A few early losses came in, including to Michigan;…
How they got here: The Gators surely battled in the Super Regional round, going back-and-forth with Texas A&M before a walk-off home run in the winner-take-all third game of the series sent UF to Oklahoma City. The Gators began their season with a six-game winning streak, including a shutout win over Michigan and a run-rule win over South Florida. A series win over Louisiana-Lafayette in Cajunland provided an early-season test that proved fairly easy for the Gators. Ten straight wins followed, including a shutout over then-#8 Baylor at the Judi Garman Classic. Tim Walton’s squad lost just one conference series this…
Missouri has hired Larissa Anderson and will name her as the program’s new head coach, JWOS has learned exclusively. Sources confirmed that Anderson has signed a five-year deal to be the Tigers’ new leader. Anderson had been the head coach at Hofstra for the past four seasons, collecting an overall record of 130-73-1. In her first three years at the helm, she led the Pride to an NCAA tournament berth and two appearances in the Colonial Athletic Association championship. In 2018, Anderson led Hofstra to a 41-14 record, including a 17-4 mark in conference play. The Pride finished second in…
#1 Oregon vs. #16 Kentucky Eugene, OR Broadcast information: Mark Neely and Danielle Lawrie Thursday @ 9 pm ET, ESPN2 Friday @ 11 pm ET, ESPN2 Saturday @ 9 pm ET, ESPN (if necessary) How they got here: Oregon finished the regular season 47-7 and as regular-season PAC-12 champions. The Ducks were 21-3 in conference play and won every conference series. Selected as the NCAA tournament’s #1 overall seed, the squad went 3-0 in their regional in Eugene, besting Albany and Drake (twice) by a combined score of 12-0 to advance to the Super Regionals. Kentucky posted a 34-19 record during…