ACC Pod Set for Atlanta This Weekend

RTS will enter the Atlantic Coast Conference “Pod” in Atlanta tomorrow to start the second weekend of Division I action in 2021. Georgia Tech with host ACC foes Florida State, Virginia Tech, and Clemson as teams face off at one site in conference play. Follow RTS all four days on Twitter @Rounding3rdSB for real-time in game updates.

Schedule

Thursday 2/18

2 pm Georgia Tech vs. Florida State

4 pm Florida State vs. Georgia Tech

Friday 2/19

1 pm Georgia Tech vs. Florida State

Saturday 2/20

11 am Florida State vs. Virginia Tech

1 pm Virginia Tech vs. Florida State

4 pm Clemson vs. Georgia Tech

Sunday 2/21

11 am Florida State vs. Virginia Tech

1 pm Georgia Tech vs. Clemson

4 pm Clemson vs. Georgia Tech

NCAA Expected to Extend Dead Period

The NCAA Division I Council is meeting today and sources have confirmed to RTS are expected to take action today or in the next scheduled meeting in March to extend the current recruiting dead period through May 31. Football, men’s basketball and women’s oversight committees as well as the SAAC (Student-Athlete Advisory Committee) all support an extension. The current dead period which restricts DI institutes from recruiting off-campus, hosting recruits on-campus, or working camps, was set to expire on April 15. Division II and III are not restricted by this dead period and had all restrictions lifted last year.

Bryce Announces Retirement

Legendary Wayne State Coach Gary Bryce has announced he will retire at the conclusion of the 2021 season. Bryce has coached WSU for 40 seasons. The 2008 Hall of Fame inductee currently sits at seventh on the NCAA All-Time Wins list with 1,317 victories. During Bryce’s tenure the Warriors have made 23 appearances in the NCAA DII Championship tournament.

UCLA Remains No. 1 in Top 25

UCLA kept the top spot in this weeks USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll. The Bruins were only able to play one game last week starting the season 1-0. UCLA received 31 of the 32 first place votes to stay No. 1. No. 3 Oklahoma received the other vote after their record setting 4-0 opening weekend.

RankSchoolPointsRecordLast Week
1UCLA (31)7991-01
2Washington7495-02
3Oklahoma (1)7324-04
4Arizona7040-03
5Alabama6394-08
6Florida6202-07
7Texas6020-06
8LSU5592-15
9Louisiana5390-09
10Oregon5045-010
11Oklahoma State4842-011
12Kentucky4183-013
13Florida State4083-112
14Virginia Tech3513-015
15Arizona State3364-016
16Georgia2832-114
17Michigan2610-017
18Duke2234-025
19South Carolina2210-019
20Arkansas2120-118
21Missouri1813-123
22Mississippi State1742-020
23Baylor1270-022
24UCF1003-121
25Minnesota600-024

Receiving Votes: Utah (32) Tennessee (24), Stanford (22), Liberty (7), Northwestern (7), Oregon State (7), Texas Tech (7), Clemson (6), James Madison (1), Notre Dame (1).

LOTG: 1996 Olympics Softball Team

New staff contributor Kris Caldwell brings her Legends of the Game interview segment to RTS. She recently sat down with members of the first Olympic Softball Team. The squad captured Gold at the first games to feature softball in Atlanta in 1996.

LOTG presents the 1996 Olympic Softball TeamLegends of the Game (LOTG) host Kris Caldwell chats with the 1996 Olympic Softball Team – catch up with where they are now, there favorite memories, how they…youtu.be

Opening Weekend Takeaway: Georgia Tech could be a sleeper team in 2021

The Yellow Jackets had a perfect 5-0 opening weekend at their home event and was impressive in all facets of the game. The offense hit .421 as a team and looked like a squad that could not only work base-to-base in producing runs, but can play quick strike and the long ball having 10 homers through five games. Junior Kennedy Cowden stood out in a team full of offensive standouts hitting .545 on the weekend with a whopping 14 RBI and 3 home runs. The youngster, freshmen Emma Kauf, led the team hitting .692 and an equally impressive 4 doubles and 7 RBI. Even more impressive than the offense is the pitching staff.

Tech pitchers left the weekend with a 0.50 ERA and held opposing hitters to a meager .115 average. The staff was lead by what could be one of the best young pitchers in the country, Blake Neleman. The freshmen was 3-0 herself against the Buzz Classic Field with a 0.40 ERA and 29 strikeouts. New Georgia Tech pitching coach Marty McDaniel has his fingerprints all over this potential stud. The longtime Tennessee pitching coach seems to finally be doing (and being allowed) to do what he does best, making young pitchers into potential All-Americans. The Lady Vols loss seems to be the Yellow Jackets and Head Coach Aileen Morales’s gain and could prove to be a huge a factor on the programs upswing nationally.

Although the competition opening weekend can’t be a good long-term measurement on how a full season will go; the preseason pick of a ninth place finish in the ACC could prove to be a underwhelming prediction if this team continues to develop.

Ybarra Joins Staff at George Mason

Desiree Ybarra has joined the coaching staff at George Mason for the 2021 season. Ybarra most recently worked as the pitching coach at Bradley. After her playing days at Cal State Fullerton she played professionally in Australia and Italy and was also on the Venezuelan National Team.

Division I Opening Weekend Has Arrived

Division I Opening Weekend is upon us and RTS will kick off it’s 2021 coverage tomorrow in Atlanta at the Buzz Classic. We will be on-site as Georgia Tech hosts Boise State, Radford, and Georgia State through the weekend. We will have live in game coverage on Twitter. Follow RTS @Rounding3rdSB.

Miami University Hamilton: The Haves (Important) and Have Nots (Unimportant) of College Sports

Miami University Hamilton found out yesterday that they would be joining a growing list of softball programs canceling their 2021 season due to “safety” concerns of student-athletes due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. What’s puzzling however is while the Miami-Hamilton program seems to be shutdown, the same safety concerns don’t seem to be an issue at Miami University’s main campus in Oxford. The Flagship’s Division I Softball Squad opens their season this Saturday on the road in Starkville, Mississippi. University and Athletic Administrators either are oblivious on how to make one department and their COVID protocols/testing work while another does, or it is simply economics/want-to that has shut the softball program down at Miami-Hamilton for the 2021 season. While the small independent athletic department at Hamilton doesn’t hold the clout the large DI Department in Oxford does; can treatment of the athletes be dwindled down to simply the haves and have nots during this challenging time for athletics in general? Is safety of student-athletes at one campus so much more important than those at another in the same university system? Probably not. But it is more likely that financially one set of student-athletes are more important than another set.