The Softball Rules Committee has recommended a change to the sport’s concussion protocol. Under the proposed change, a player who is removed from a game to be evaluated for a concussion may be allowed to return to the game if she is cleared by medical personnel. If officially ratified, the proposal would be effective for the 2021 season. The proposed change initially came from the Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports, and was supported by the softball rules committee. The proposal must be approved by the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel; that 12-member group includes three representatives…
Author: jmcleod
Former Emporia State catcher Jacie Stephens Cochran passed away on July 2 due to complications from childbirth. Stephens Cochran was a 2017 graduate of Emporia State, and played in 217 games for the Hornets’ softball team during her tenure with the program. She was a second-team all-conference selection as a senior, and earned all-conference honorable mention honors as a sophomore. After graduation, Stephens Cochran married former ESU football assistant Cale Cochran. She gave birth to thier son, Jaxon Jay, before passing away on Thursday. In a statement released by the school, head softball coach April Rosales said, “”Jacie was the…
With the surprising departure of Megan Bartlett after a successful 5-year stint leading the program, the Ball State Cardinals are now faced with the prospect of finding a new coach to continue leading the program on their recent upward trend. The Cardinals return a hearty senior class, thanks to the NCAA’s extended eligibility waiver, as well as slugger Stacy Payton and young pitching stars-in-the-making Deborah Jones and Tieghan Morio. The program has been a coaching factory over the last decade, turning out nearly a dozen assistants, many of whom immediately followed their stint in Muncie by joining a Power 5…
Kent State has promoted Emma Johnson to the title of Associate Head Coach, the school announced earlier in the week. Johnson spent the last three seasons as an assistant on the Golden Flashes’ staff, and works with the program’s pitchers. During her tenure as pitching coach, Johnson’s staff led the Mid-American Conference with 22 shutouts and she guided Andrea Scali to conference Pitcher of the Year honors during the 2019 season. Scali’s freshman campaign included All-Region honors, as well as three no-hitters, a program record. The then-freshman ranked in the top 10 nationally in three statistical categories, including strikeouts with 269.…
It took just five days following Bill Lajeunesse’s retirement for the Siena Saints to find their new head softball coach. The team promoted Casey Bump to the helm of the program, rewarding the assistant who spent seven years on Lajeunesse’s staff. With the 2021 season on the horizon, Bump takes over the program in the first head coaching role of her career. Bump’s pitching staff has performed in impressive fashion during her tenure with the program, including posting a 2.98 cumulative ERA in her first season with the program. Just a short time into her tenure as head coach, Bump…
Madi Shaw has joined the Boston College coaching staff as a volunteer assistant. A Fordham alum, Shaw finished her career with the Rams in the top three of a quartet of program statistical records, including on-base percentage; slugging percentage; RBIs and batting average. Her 39 career home runs ranked fourth all-time in the program’s laurels, and she holds the school’s single-season record for RBIs with 74. The Rams reached the NCAA tournament during each season of Shaw’s playing career, and she earned All-Region honors in 2016 and 2017, earning a nod to the second team in ’16 and a First-Team…
Kathy Riley’s retirement after 23 years of leading the Longwood program leaves a significant hole in mid-major softball. The Lancers have been one of the nation’s most consistent teams over the past decade, appearing in the NCAA tournament five times in that period. The Lancers were a talent factory under Riley’s leadership, and recently placed six players on the Big South’s All-Decade Team for the 2010s. As the Lancers look for their new leader, who could be the team’s next head coach? Here’s our list of potential candidates:
When the NCAA season is in session, Mario Hernandez wears a Jacksonville Dolphins cap. He serves as a volunteer assistant coach for the school that competes in the ASun Conference. This summer, though, he’s wearing a different hat. Hernandez is one of seven people serving as head coaches for the inaugural softball season of the Florida Gulf Coast League. Hernandez, along with his assistant coach Carsyn Gordon, leads the Manatee Squeeze. Now sporting a 9-3 record, the Squeeze are in second place in the league standings and are the only team to have beaten the 1st-place RiverMocs this season. After…
Michele “Micky” Gehringer, a former Nebraska-Omaha standout and Hall of Famer, passed away on June 25th at the age of 65. Gehringer played for the Mavericks from 1972-76, leaving an indelible mark on the program. She set the program’s single-season batting average record with a .430 mark, and held the program’s career record for runs scored. The team’s batting leader in 1973 and 1974, Gehringer helped lead the Mavericks to their first Women’s College World Series championship, under the previous AIAW tournament governance, in 1975. In 1990, Gehringer was inducted into the Omaha Athletics Hall of Fame, and currently is…
Jenne Greene has been named the JWOS Player of the Week for her efforts during week two of the FGCL summer season. Greene pitches for the Manatee Squeeze and posted an undefeated 2-0 record during the season’s second week of play. She recorded eighteen strikeouts in twelve innings of work, allowing just six hits and two earned runs. In a matchup against the Myakka City River Mocs, Greene threw a complete game, collecting nine strikeouts and holding the high-powered River Mocs offense to just two runs. She threw a first-pitch strike to 66% of the batters that she faced in…