Southern Utah announced on Tuesday the addition of three transfers, all of them coming from Power Five universities. Former Oregon State pitcher Payton Goodrich; ex-Minnesota utility player Josey White; and Gianna Carosone of Michigan will join the Thunderbirds for the 2021 campaign. Goodrich spent two seasons at Oregon State, appearing in one game for the Beavers in 2019 and ending the 2020 season without an appearance. She pitched an inning and a third against Arizona State last season, recording two strikeouts in her sole appearance. White spent two seasons at Minnesota, starting 20 games and batting an even .200 during…
Author: jmcleod
Southern Arkansas head coach Jason Anderson has been named to the Division II Softball Committee. Anderson, who has spent six seasons as the head coach in Magnolia, will begin his 4-year term on the committee in August. The committee oversees the selection of teams to the NCAA regional tournaments and sets the final field and seedings. When he begins his tenure, Anderson will take over for Emporia State Senior Woman Administrator Kristy Bayer as the Central Region representative on the committee. Bayer was also the most recent chairperson of the committee, though Anderson will not step into her shoes in…
The Bradenton Lynx on Tuesday became the fourth Florida Gulf Coast League team to announce their roster for the 2020 summer season. In the first year of sponsoring a softball summer league after previously beginning a similar baseball offering, the FGCL announced last week an amended summer schedule, with the season set to begin on June 18th due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The league is comprised of six teams, with players coming from active rosters on a variety of collegiate levels. Santa Fe College head coach Lindsay Fico serves as the Lynx’s head coach; Fico owns a 39-42 overall record…
The Mid-American Conference, one of the so-called Group of Five conferences, will make several changes to their athletic landscape due to financial hardships brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the changes adopted by the conference are the cancellations of conference tournaments in eight sports, including softball. The MAC softball tournament is traditionally held at Firestone Stadium in Akron, Ohio, the former home of the professional Akron Racers. In lieu of a tournament champion, the league’s automatic qualifier to the NCAA tournament will now go to the regular-season champion. In addition to the changes to their postseason arrangements, the MAC…
Chile’s national softball program has named Rafael Llames as the team’s new head coach. Llames was the head coach of the Peruvian women’s national team from 2013-19, leading that nation through a variety of international competitions, including the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru. During Llames’ tenure as head coach, the Peruvians competed in the WBSC Americas Softball Qualifier, finishing eighth. The next Pan American Games are set to take place in 2023, hosted in Santiago, Chile. As the host nation, Chile has an automatic qualifying spot for the Games, which will be their first-ever appearance on the Pan…
Every time James Madison has taken the field over the last several years, chances were good that Kate Gordon’s impact was going to be felt. Whether with her powerful bat or commanding presence around the diamond, rarely did a game go by that the energetic star wasn’t a factor. As a freshman in 2017, Gordon appeared in 34 games as a part-time starter, and joined the lineup as the catcher when she did start. For the following three years, though, she started every game that she played in and cemented a spot in the Dukes’ starting outfield. Gordon improved statistically…
The 2021 Women’s College World Series schedule has been announced. The NCAA announced plans for the ’21 tournament just weeks before the 2020 WCWS would have taken place. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the entire NCAA tournament and WCWS was cancelled by the NCAA in mid-March, along with all other spring sport championships. The WCWS is set to begin on June 3, 2021, the Thursday immediately following the Memorial Day holiday. The tournament schedule stretches through June 9th, when the “if necessary” winner-take-all championship game would take place. Following the Selection Show on Sunday evening, May 16th, the Regional round…
The 2020 season was shaping up to be one of the best in recent memory. When the NCAA’s initial RPI was released – weeks earlier than in the past – teams like UCF, Duke, and Fresno State were ranked in the top 12 nationally. Upsets were no longer a rarity, and good teams had already begun to prove themselves as truly great teams. Unfortunately, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ll never know for-sure how the full season would have played out or what the postseason would have looked like. However, using mathematical calculations, we have an opportunity to see what…
Softball legend Cat Osterman is stepping away from her assistant coaching role at Texas State, according to an announcement by the school on Monday morning. After being selected to the 2020 US Olympic team, Osterman took a leave of absence from Texas State for the 2020 season. The Tokyo Olympics have since been postponed to 2021, and the Team USA roster will remain the same without for the Games. Osterman’s departure from Texas State was noted as being “to pursue future personal endeavors.” Osterman spent six years on staff with the Bobcats, working with the program’s pitching staff and playing…
Former Texas Tech pitcher Gigi Wall is transferring to North Texas, sources confirmed to JWOS on Thursday. Wall spent just one season at Texas Tech, the shortened 2020 campaign, after four years at NAIA Oklahoma City University. Her tenure at OCU included a medical redshirt season, and she has a single season of eligibility remaining following the NCAA’s extended eligibility waiver due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In Wall’s freshman season of 2016, she led Oklahoma Christian to the NAIA national championship, assembling a 28-1 overall record, a 0.47 ERA, and collecting 169 strikeouts during the year. She was named the…