Fall ball is officially in full swing, and some teams are even close to wrapping up their entire fall slates. Softball is back in full force across the country and the 2022 season will be here before we know it. Even as the fall continues, some schools are only just now filling and announcing coaching positions. Some have been on the open market longer than others, but all are filling up just in time to see what their teams are made of while they still can before the season dawns. Here’s a look at some recent and even some unannounced…
Author: jmcleod
“She is an awesome person that is well liked in our profession. Tonya is very knowledgeable of pitching and knows how to get the most out of her pitchers. We are very fortunate to have her here at Upstate!” USC Upstate head coach Chris Hawkins exuded praise for his new pitching coach when she was hired earlier this summer. Tonya Medders spent the last five years on staff at Georgia Gwinnett and helped guide the program to a pair of NAIA World Series berths during her tenure. She has coached at every level during her career, from junior college upward.…
Entering the 2021 season, there was only one direction that Texas A&M could go: Up. Picked to finish 13th out of thirteen SEC teams in the preseason coaches poll, the Aggies weren’t seen as a real threat in the conference race. After starting the season 3-2, the Aggies entered conference play sporting a 20-6 overall record. The team’s SEC slate kicked off in Baton Rouge, in a Saturday-Sunday-Monday series against LSU. In the series and conference opener, the Aggies only registered five hits but it was enough to upset the hosting Tigers. Though they dropped the remainder of the series…
Emmy-award-winning director Liz Patrick was announced last week as the new director of Saturday Night Live, just the fifth directory in the history of the ever-popular weekend staple. Patrick, who directed more than 2,000 episodes of Ellen DeGeneres’ talk show prior to taking the reins at SNL, is a former Boston University softball player. Wearing #21 during her playing career, Patrick suited up for the Terriers from 1990-93. During her freshman season, BU won just eight games. Over the next three years of her career, the program recorded 90 wins, winning the ECAC championship in 1992 and culminating in a…
On Thursday, USA Softball, USSSA, and Smash It Sports jointly announced a new professional softball league that is set to debut in June 2022. The new league will play a two-month season, from June to August 2022, and will be headquartered in Oklahoma City. Oklahoma Sooners legend and former pro player Lauren Chamberlain has been named the league’s inaugural commissioner. “I am deeply humbled and incredibly excited for my role as Commissioner of WPF,” Chamberlain said in a statement. “I have worked hard to build good standing with existing softball athletes, people of influence in our sport, and those outside…
Boise State reached the NCAA tournament in back-to-back seasons in 2018 and ’19, and a new coaching staff is in town for 2022 to try to continue the postseason trend that began under the last two head coaches. After Justin Shults’ hiring as the Broncos’ new head coach, the first addition to his new staff was Fran Strub. Strub spent the last four seasons on staff at Northwestern, serving as the volunteer assistant at her alma mater for the last three years. During her playing career, Strub appeared in 176 games as a Wildcat; during her senior year, she batted…
Texas A&M-Commerce will make the jump to Division I and join the Southland Conference next summer, the school and conference jointly announced on Tuesday. Here are Five Fast Facts about the newest D1 program. The school is located in the far northern part of the Southland’s geographical footprint. Commerce, Texas, where the school calls home, is located roughly sixty-five miles from the Southland headquarters in Frisco and is now the closest member school to the league offices. Every conference game will be a trip southward for the Lions. Founded in 1889, it is the third-oldest school in the Southland. Formerly…
Belmont is leaving the Ohio Valley Conference and will join the Missouri Valley Conference, it was announced on Tuesday. The MVC and Belmont made a joint announcement of the move on Tuesday morning; Matt Brown of Extra Points first reported the realignment late last week. Belmont will join the MVC beginning with the 2022-23 athletic season. Dissimilar to other realignments that have taken place this summer, this move is centered around the basketball court and not the football field – Belmont has a top-level basketball program, which aligns with the MVC’s emphasis on the hardcourt. The addition of Belmont will…
The American Athletic Conference has moved the location of the 2022 softball conference tournament. Originally set to be hosted by UCF, the AAC elected to move the tournament following UCF’s acceptance of an invitation to join the Big 12 Conference. Various reports confirmed on Monday that other championships set to be hosted by departing AAC members, have also seen those schools removed from hosting duties. That includes the AAC track and field and swimming & diving championships, which were set to be hosted by Houston. Houston track and field coach Leroy Burrell took to Twitter to voice his displeasure with…
Former Florida International head coach Chris Steiner has a new coaching role. Steiner has been hired as the head coach of Brewbaker Technology Magnet High School in Montgomery, Alabama, according to a Thursday announcement from social media accounts associated with the school. In mid-June, Steiner and FIU parted ways in a departure that was never formally announced by the school. She spent the 2020 and 2021 seasons as the Panthers’ head coach, collecting a 22-35 overall record during her tenure. Prior to FIU, Steiner spent five seasons as head coach at Alabama State and led the Hornets to a pair…