One look at Joe Guthrie’s resume is all you’d need to know what an interesting life the first-year Spring Hill College head coach has led. An Army officer. An Irag veteran. A former baseball scout. A championship-winning professional coach. Guthrie’s storied and incredible career spans continents, decades, and includes experience at numerous levels of both classic “stick and ball” sports. After an injury ended his playing career prematurely, Guthrie spent several years in the US Army, advancing to the rank of First Lieutenant in the infantry. Guthrie spent significant time in Iraq in the mid-2000s, an experience he says he…
Author: jmcleod
Longtime Illinois State volunteer assistant coach Bill Dickson has died. He was 85. Dickson had been the program’s volunteer assistant for nearly twenty years. An ISU alum, Dickson primarily coached the Redbirds’ corner infielders. Under his guidance, two of his students earned all-American honors, including Kara Nelson in 2007 and 2010 and Abby Olson in 2010. A veteran of the U.S. Army in the mid-1950s, Dickson spent thirty years as a school superintendent. He is a member of the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) Hall of Fame. Dickson passed away on October 19th of natural causes. He is survived by his…
Who is she? Annie Kinsey, a former infielder for the Penn Quakers. What is she known for? Kinsey (2005-08) was named to the first-team all-Ivy League in each of her four seasons as a Quaker. She was named the conference Player of the Year in 2007 by a unanimous vote and earned Easton all-American honors the same year. Kinsey was twice named to the all-Mid-Atlantic region squad in each of her latter two seasons. Here’s something interesting… Upon receiving the conference’s Player of the Year award in 2007, Kinsey became one of just two players in Penn program history to win the award.…
West Texas A&M head coach Kevin Blaskowski has resigned from his post at the helm of the Lady Buffs. Blaskowski recorded 467 victories in a dozen seasons as the WTAMU coach and led the program to the Division II national title in 2014. The Lady Buffs’ softball program restarted under Blaskowski’s watch in 2006, following more than two decades of sitting dormant. The program went 11-43 in their inaugural season, but worked their way to a 35-21 record just three seasons later. The Lady Buffs have not recorded fewer than thirty-five victories since the 2009 campaign. In addition to the 2014…
Former Arizona Wildcat great Taryne Mowatt has returned to her alma mater as the program’s new pitching coach, as announced by the school earlier this week. Mowatt received high praise during her two-year tenure as pitching coach at Ole Miss, where she shepherded a staff that lowered its cumulative team ERA by more than a full point year-to-year. Under her guidance, the Rebels posted a 2.10 team ERA in 2017, while breakout star and first-year SEC player Kaitlin Lee posted a 1.82 ERA and won 23 games on the year. Prior to Ole Miss, Mowatt’s sole coaching experience at the…
Melanie Meuchel has been named the new head coach at Montana, the school announced on Monday. Meuchel, who had been interim head coach following Jamie Pinkerton’s mid-summer departure for Iowa State, was long thought to be the favorite for the position. She spent the past four years as Pinkerton’s first assistant with the Grizzlies, having been hired to the coaching staff during the program’s early developmental stages. In charge of the Grizzy pitching staff, Meuchel helped lead guide then-freshman Michaela Hood to a team-leading 2.31 ERA in 2017 and 178 in just over 190 innings, en route to first-team all-conference…
In 2015, The Packaged Deal took the world of softball clinics by storm. Never before had a group of coaches gotten together to form a super-group of teachers covering every aspect of the game. Featuring Amanda Scarborough and Jen and Katie Schroeder on board, as well as former Washington star Morgan Stuart, the quartet became one of the hottest topics in the game. Two years later, the energy around the group has far from subsided. Young athletes still flock from surrounding states and travel hours to learn from the quartet, often soaking in as many of the tips and tricks of trade…
The Texas Charge, one of six teams that competed in the National Pro Fastpitch league in 2017, have folded and will not participate in the 2018 league summer season. Announced in January 2015, the Charge had been the league’s fourth-longest tenured franchise. In 2017, the squad finished in fifth place in the league standings and missed the postseason for the second straight season. Formerly the Dallas Charge, the 2017 season also saw the team move their base of operations to San Marcos, Texas, where their home games were played at Texas State’s Bobcat Softball Stadium. With the team’s dissolution this…
James Inzana has been hired as the new head coach at Norfolk State, the school announced late Thursday. Inzana joins the Spartans following an assistant coaching stint at Virginia Wesleyan, where the Marlins took home the 2017 Division III national championship and won a division-record fifty-four games en rout to the title. Virginia Wesleyan had been Inzana’s home for the past eight seasons, as he helped lead the program to five conference titles since 2011. Prior to his stint at VWU, Inzana coached for several years at the high school level and spent twenty years in the US Navy on…
Gerry Glasco has been announced as the new assistant coach for the Auburn softball program. Glasco, who spent six years at Georgia and three years most recently as Associate Head Coach at Texas A&M, will join his third Southeastern Conference club in a decade. At Georgia, Glasco more than tripled his team’s home run totals in just his first season in Athens and was part of the Bulldogs club that won the 2014 SEC tournament championship. After moving to Texas A&M in 2015, Glasco helped launch another offensive attack with the Aggies, helping guide an offense that hit 213 home…