Former Kentucky Wildcats softball player Brynlee Bigelow was killed in a motor vehicle accident on Wednesday. The single-vehicle crash happened on Interstate 64 in Woodford County, Kentucky. Bigelow, 21, was apparently the only occupant of the vehicle, and was ejected onto the highway. Bigelow was on the UK softball roster in 2017, and was listed as a catcher. In a statement on Twitter, Kentucky Softball said, “We are shocked and deeply saddened by the death of Brynlee, our former teammate who has left us far too soon. Our heartfelt sympathies are with her family, friends and everyone affected by this…
Author: jmcleod
What a first weekend throughout Division I softball. Some major upsets happened across the nation, but I’m on the road in Florida to open the season, and I’ve got some observations and thoughts to share from Orlando and Clearwater.
Memphis great Lindsay Crowdus is returning to the program, announced on Tuesday as the Tigers’ volunteer assistant coach. Crowdus, who graduated in 2017, fills out the Tigers’ coaching staff and fills the volunteer role that was vacated by fellow program alum Jordan Richwood, who accepted the assistant coaching position at Bucknell late in the fall. The 2017 Co-American Athletic Conference Player of the Year, Crowdus posted a school-record .451 batting average that same year, with eighty-three hits and nine triples in her all-star season. She finished her career third in program history in both on-base percentage with a .403 mark…
The Clemson Tigers will play their home opener on Wednesday afternoon against Western Carolina, in a game that is set to kick off at 2:30 pm at Clemson Softball Stadium. The Tigers are five games into their inaugural season of competition, and the game against the Catamounts is sold out of tickets, the school announced on Tuesday. Here are six things to keep an eye on in the Tigers’ home opener and first-ever home game: 1. The fanbase That the game is sold out without even having to sell tickets at the gate speaks volumes to the kind of crowds…
The Minnesota Golden Gophers’ offense was one of the surprising bright spots of the 2019 season. Transfer Hope Brandner and then-freshman Natalie DenHartog helped anchor a solid Gophers batting order that ultimately led the Minnesota to the program’s first-ever berth in the Women’s College World Series. Holding the clipboard and at the helm of the offense was Katie Rietkovich Browder, a former collegiate player and the first-year hitting coach in Minneapolis. Now, with that stellar inaugural year under her team’s belt, Rietkovich Browder is tasked with shepherding the Gophers’ offensive attack in 2020, and piggybacking on that historic postseason run.…
Sierra Frazier wows for UAB in Atlanta The Blazers’ sophomore catcher batted *just* .563 on the weekend, recording nine hits and nine RBI in five games. She hit three home runs and added four doubles, working four walks, but perhaps most impressive was her individual performance in a game against top-ranked Washington. The second-year backstop posted a 3-4 performance against the Huskies, with two home runs and four RBIs as she led her team to a near-upset of the defending co-PAC 12 champions. Iowa State wins tournament title; Sami Williams’ hits four home runs Down in Hawaiian paradise…
The UT-Tyler Patriots have earned the distinction of being named the JWOS D2 Team of the Week for week 2 of the Division II regular season. After moving up from Division III prior to the season, the Patriots have started their D2 tenure an undefeated 10-0, and finished the weekend 5-0 at their hosted tournament with a pair of wins over ranked opponents. After beginning the weekend with an 8-6 victory over Texas A&M International in Tyler, the Patriots later recorded a 3-2 win over Arkansas-Monticello to close Friday’s doubleheader. An offensive slugfest led to a 17-15 win over #23…
Texas senior Miranda Elish has been named the JWOS Player of the Week for Week 1 of the regular season. Elish enjoyed a stellar weekend at the plate and in the circle, finishing the week with an .818 batting average at the dish. The Longhorns senior clubbed four home runs, including a grand slam in the weekend finale against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. She collected seventeen RBI over the course of the weekend, reaching base safely in each of her team’s six games. In the circle, Elish posted a perfect 2-0 record in ten innings of work, allowing six hits and…
Northern Iowa and head coach Ryan Jacobs have agreed to a contract extension, the school announced on Friday. The pact will keep Jacobs as the Panthers’ head coach through the 2024 season. “Ryan has done an outstanding job leading our softball program,” Northern Iowa Director of Athletics David Harris said in a statement. “Our student-athletes have excelled in the classroom, served the community and won championships in the field of play. Our department is fortunate to have someone with Ryan’s skills, experience and dedication leading our softball program and we look forward to having him at UNI for years to…
North Carolina A&T is departing the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, the school announced on Friday. The Aggies will join the Big South Conference on July 1, 2021 and become that conference’s 12th full-time member school. NC A&T will immediately be eligible for Big South conference championships upon entering the conference’s ranks. A founding member school in the MEAC, the Aggies have been part of the conference since 1970 and were one of four schools to have an uninterrupted tenure in conference membership since the league’s inception. “”We have been looking carefully at our opportunities in athletics for five years and more…