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Former US National Team member Megan Kleist has joined the coaching staff at NAIA Bushnell University in Oregon. The two-time All-American and 2018 Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year spent three seasons at Oregon before finishing her last year of eligibility at Louisiana in the shortened 2020 season.

RTS is saddened to share the passing of Vern Stephens. One of the most well liked individuals and personalities in all of softball, Stephens was a club coach and recruiting specialist with the Lil’ Rebels Organization that helped train and place a plethora of Prospective Student-Athletes at collegiate programs throughout the country. The Las Vegas Native had a short but hard fought battle with cancer that was diagnosed early last fall.

Cal State Northridge has rounded out their coaching staff adding Greg Bergeron as an assistant coach. Bergeron has over 20 years experience in collegiate baseball as he makes his first incursion into the sport of softball. He has worked on staffs at Washington State, Long Beach State, UC Irvine, Cal State Fullerton, and Tennessee among the stops during his career.

Rounding Third Softball is pleased to announce the staff addition of longtime softball coach/instructor, philanthropist, and entrepreneur Kris Caldwell. Caldwell will join the RTS Staff as a correspondent, content contributor, and will also bring her “Legends of the Game” Podcast where she features interviews with the top names in the sport to the RTS platform.

RTS is saddened to report the passing of University of Mobile Softball Athlete Amberly Montgomery. Local news reports that Montgomery was involved in a fatal car accident Sunday morning. A junior outfielder from Satsuma, Alabama, she had appeared in two of three games played by the Rams to start their 2021 season. “Amberly was a great teammate and so much fun to coach. No matter the role she faced, she did it so well at 100% effort. She is going to be missed so much.” Mobile Head Coach Allison Sellers-Cook commented.

Purdue Fort Wayne completed their coaching staff for the 2021 season adding both assistant coach Heather Sanderson and graduate assistant coach Katey Hendershott. Sanderson joins the Mastodons after serving on the coaching staff at Alverno College, while Hendershott comes to PFW after finishing her playing time at Michigan State.

Former Fordham standout catcher Ally Vergona has joined the coaching staff at Fairleigh Dickinson. The appointment is the first for Vergona as a collegiate coach. She most recently coached the NJ Heist Gold club team and has assisted at both Emerson and Paramus Catholic High Schools.

Indiana State has named Nicole Fougerousse the programs new pitching coach. Fougerousse’s last collegiate position was on staff with Tennessee State in 2016. She has most recently been owner and operator of her own indoor training facility in Linton, Indiana.

Former James Madison three-time All-American pitcher Jailyn Ford has been invited to train with the U.S. National Team in their preparation for the upcoming Tokyo Summer Olympic Games. Although USA Softball has indicated Ford won’t be on the team and only joining in a training capacity, the move could indicate that might be a future consideration in adding a youthful arm to further solidify the pitching staff for the upcoming games.

East Texas Baptist was voted the No. 1 team in the 2021 NFCA Division III Top 25 Preseason Coaches Poll. The Tigers collected all eight first-place votes to start the season atop the rankings. ETBU also finished the 2020 season at No. 1 with a 15-0 record before the pandemic ended the season.

Rank	Team	2020 Record	Points
1	East Texas Baptist (8)	15-0	200
2	Texas Lutheran	19-1	192
3	Christopher Newport	12-1	184
4	Virginia Wesleyan	11-1	176
5	Salisbury	17-3	168
6	Linfield	12-2	160
7	Central (Iowa)	6-1	152
8	Kean	9-1	144
9	DePauw	6-3	136
10	Berry	12-2	128
11	St. John Fisher	7-3	100
12	Transylvania	9-1	96
13	Mary Hardin-Baylor	12-3	87
14	St. Olaf	7-1	79
15	Milwaukee School of Engineering	9-1	77
16	Eastern Connecticut State	2-0	69
17	Carthage	10-2	61
18	Birmingham-Southern	14-4	55
19	Moravian	9-1	52
20	Geneseo	4-1	44
21	Wisconsin-La Crosse	2-2	42
22	Trine	7-3	40
23	Randolph-Macon	8-3-1	29
24	Tufts	0-0	23
25	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	12-0	21

Others receiving votes: Maryville (Tenn.) 19, Illinois Wesleyan 17, Ferrum 12, Williams 11, St. Catherine 8, Wisconsin-Oshkosh 7, Manhattanville 6, Mount Union 3, Averett 2.