Oklahoma State’s Vanessa Shippy has been named the Justin’s World of Softball Player of the Week for the opening week of the Division I season. Shippy, playing with her team at the Kajikawa Classic in Arizona, recorded an .846 batting average on the weekend, reaching base in all but two plate appearances (11-13). Shippy hit a pair of home runs and added six RBI, scoring nine runs. In addition to her eleven base hits, she also earned five walks and recorded an .895 on-base percentage. The senior infielder contributed to each of her team’s four victories over the weekend and even went…
Author: jmcleod
When Jordan Fortel took the circle on Friday for the Lipscomb Bisons, it was the righty’s first pitching appearance for a Division I team since May 13th of 2016. An all-conference freshman team member in 2016 as a member of the Chattanooga Mocs, Fortel earned the honor as a pitcher/offensive dual threat. She threw 122 innings for the Mocs in her sole season in Chattanooga, and hit .326 on the year with eight home runs. She earned her way into the top ten in the league in doubles and home runs. After the season, deciding that Chattanooga was not for…
With the collegiate softball season officially under way, many teams kicked off their 2018 season on Thursday across the country. As the year’s first weekend of Division I softball continues, here are three takeaways from opening day of the 2018 season. 1. Meghan Gregg is still Meghan Gregg Entering 2018 as the defending SEC Player of the Year, Gregg is evidently and obviously one of the nation’s best. She continued to prove herself worthy of that distinction in her team’s first games of the year, going a perfect 3-3 with two home runs against Boise State and six RBI across…
San Diego State slugger Jenavee Peres will not play in the 2018 season. A school spokesman confirmed that Peres will take a medical redshirt for the year, but did not disclose the reason for the distinction. Peres, in what would be her true senior season, was a preseason favorite for the Mountain West conference’s Player of the Year award after winning the award in 2017, when she hit .454 and clubbed sixteen home runs. Peres was named an all-American (second team) after the 2017 year, the first such honor of her career. Through the first three seasons of her career,…
Sam Houston State head coach Bob Brock will retire after the 2018 season, the school announced on Tuesday. Brock will enter his seventeenth season with the Bearkats in 2018 and is the program’s all-time winningest coach, having earned 407 wins at the program’s helm. He was named the Southland Conference’s Coach of the Year in 2005 and led the Bearkats to the NCAA tournament in 2007. Formerly the head coach at Baylor and Texas A&M, Brock owns three national championships from his tenure with the A&M Aggies, coming in 1982, ’83, and ’87. He also served as an assistant coach…
First Team Randi Rupp, Texas State Vanessa Shippy, Oklahoma St. Elantra Cox, Ole Miss Erika Piancastelli, McNeese State Carley Hoover, LSU Jessie Warren, Florida State Aleah Craighton, Arizona Rachel Garcia, UCLA Kendyl Lindaman, Minnesota Meghan Gregg, Tennessee Jessie Harper, Arizona Kelly Barnhill, Florida Shay Knighten, Oklahoma Amanda Lorenz, Florida Paige Parker, Oklahoma Jazmyn Jackson, California Second Team Alexis Osorio, Alabama Caleigh Clifton, Oklahoma Alexis Mack, Oregon Ashley Walters, Texas A&M Shannon Saile, FIU Emily Lochten, Florida Atlantic Cortni Emanuel, Georgia Emily Watson, Tulsa Taylor Ellsworth, Texas Lilli Piper, Ohio State Jenavee Peres, San Diego St. Kaylee Carlson, Auburn Nikki Alden,…
Who is she? Elaine Heflin, a former pitcher for the Illinois-Chicago Flames. What is she known for? Heflin was named the Horizon League’s Pitcher of the Year three times (2015, ’16, ’17) during her career and earned a trio of all-conference and all-region selections. She helped the club to three regular season conference championships and an appearance in the NCAA tournament in 2017. Heflin ranks in the program’s top ten in seven different statistical career categories, including wins (47) and strikeouts (501). Here’s something interesting… In 2017, after her playing career ended, Heflin was nominated for the NCAA’s Woman of the Year award. Heflin…
Washington star catcher Morganne Flores will miss the 2018 season due to injury, the team announced on Tuesday. Flores was a breakout star for the Huskies in 2016 and continued her impressive numbers into 2017, as she hit .335 in her sophomore year and finished second on the team with thirteen home runs. She led the Huskies with seventy-four RBI and slugged .638. As good defensively as she was in the batter’s box, Flores became best known as one of the top defensive catchers in the game. She threw out nearly 50% of would-be base stealers during the regular season…
The Chicago Bandits have traded catcher Sahvanna Jaquish to the USSSA Pride in exchange for $3000 in cash considerations, the teams announced on Friday. Jaquish earned all-league honors as a rookie in the 2017 summer season, hitting .322 on the year with three home runs and twenty-nine RBIs. She led her team in RBIs after being drafted in the first round of the league’s college draft in April. At LSU, Jaquish was a four-time all-American selection, including a first-team honoree in 2017. She hit fifty-six home runs during her career and ended her collegiate career with a .333 batting average. Jaquish…
Justin’s World of Softball learned late Friday that the winds of change will be blowing through Akron, Ohio and will bring drastic changes to the Akron Racers of the National Pro Fastpitch league. Sources informed JWOS that members of the 2017 Racers roster were informed on Friday that, among other happenings, general manager Joey Arrietta was no longer a part of the franchise. In addition to her general manager duties, Arrietta is also a minority owner of the club; there was no immediate word on how her departure from the team would affect her percentage of ownership in the Racers.…