Bringing all the news and insider information on the collegiate, professional, and international levels
From the decaying PAC-12 to high-end ranks of Private Texas High School.
Former Oregon State Pitching Coach Jamie Southern-Wiggins is headed to take the Varsity Assistant/Pitching Coach position at Hyde Park High School in Austin, TX. The former four-time All-American and Olympic Gold Medal winner spent the 2023 season with the Beavers after coaching stops at Idaho State, Abilene Christian, and her alma mater Fresno State.
Ashley Ercolano has been promoted to Associate Head Coach at Charleston Southern. The pitching coach for the Buccaneers is in her third year with the program. Prior to her time at CSU she worked on staffs at University of Colorado-Colorado Springs and Cal State San Marcos.
Samantha Henderson has been tabbed the permanent head coach at Oakland. Named to the interim spot in September after the departure of former head coach Lauren Karn to Maryland, she had been on the Golden Grizzlies Staff as an assistant since 2020.
Chris Steiner-Leak has been named the new head coach at Southern Union State Community College. Steiner-Leak spent the past two seasons on the high school level in Alabama at Brewbaker Tech. She returns to the collegiate level after previously leading programs at Reinhardt, Auburn-Montgomery, Alabama State, and Florida International.
South Mountain Community College has hired Kelley Montalvo as their new head coach. The position will be the first leadership role for Montalvo after having assistant coaching stops at Bethune Cookman, Middle Tennessee State, and Barry. The former Alabama Crimson Tide All-American takes over a SMCC program that went 54-10 in 2023, while winning the ACCAC Championship and advancing to the NJCAA Division II World Series.
A Lone Star Legend will take her place in the state’s Hall of Fame.
Former Texas Longhorn and U.S. Olympian Christa Williams will be enshrined in the Texas Sports Hall of Fame next spring. Williams starred at UCLA on their National Runner-up squad in 1997 before transferring home to Texas for her final two seasons. She was an All-American for the Longhorns in the both 1998 and 1999. Williams would also play for USA Softball winning Gold Medals in 1996 in Atlanta and 2000 in Sydney.
The Texas Sports Hall of Fame Ceremony will be April 13 in Waco.
The NAIA has released their 2024 Preseason Top 25 Poll. Oregon Tech topped the poll with all 19 first-place votes. Defending National Champion Southern Oregon is surprisingly in the second spot garnering no votes for No. 1.
1. Oregon Tech [19] 54-10
2 Southern Oregon 50-12
3. Cumberlands (Ky.) 49-5-1
5. Marian (Ind.) 52-9
6. Science & Arts 42-15
7. Our Lady of the Lake 51-8
8. Central Methodist 42-12
9. Oklahoma City 48-11
10. Midland (Neb.) 41-15
11. Baker 47-12
12. Mobile 40-15
13. College of Idaho 49-10
14. Indiana Wesleyan 40-15
15. Northwestern (Iowa) 47-10
16. Middle Georgia State 43-14
17. Ottawa (Kan.) 42-11
18. Coastal Georgia 42-12
19. Hope International 41-16
20. Freed-Hardeman 27-15
21. Reinhardt 37-13
22. Southeastern 33-18
23. William Carey 39-14
24. (tie) Saint Xavier (Ill.) 37-14
24. (tie) Eastern Oregon 33-19
Receiving Votes: Campbellsville (Ky.) 96, Bellevue (Neb.) 60, Truett McConnell (Ga.) 60, Grand View (Iowa) 52, Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio) 43, Concordia (Mich.) 41, Friends (Kan.) 36, Indiana Southeast 22, Madonna (Mich.) 21, Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) 21, Arizona Christian 9, Indiana Tech 7, St. Francis (Ill.) 6, Mount Mercy (Iowa) 5
Softball could soon be coming to South Beach.
University of Miami Director of Athletics Dan Radakovich has acknowledged softball will be the next women’s sport added to the Hurricane Athletics offering. “Now the timing, as it relates to a lot of things, is a little bit up in the air still, but it’s part of our initiatives to kind of move that along as quickly as we can.” Radakovich stated.
Miami is a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), and the eventual addition of softball would bring the conference membership for softball to 16 (counting the future additions of California and Stanford).
“We have some folks who are very, very interested in being benefactors of the softball program, so we’re putting proposals in front of them to get some of the dollars necessary to build a stadium and start a program. I’ve kind of done that before, so I understand the timing of how that all works. Really excited about that opportunity.” Radakovich explained.
Softball is returning to the Olympic Games.
The Olympic Programme Commission (OPC) and Executive Board (EB) officially voted the return of the sport at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) meeting on Monday in Mumbai, India. Softball was last included in the 2020 Tokyo Games, and was excluded in the upcoming 2024 Games in Paris. Softball along with baseball, cricket, lacrosse, and flag football were all approved for inclusion in the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.
Abingdon High School Softball will be (Jelly) rolling their way to Florida for Spring Break.
The high school squad from Abingdon, Virginia was recently selling pizza to fundraise at the Country Thunder Music Festival in Bristol, Virginia when they got a little push to the Sunshine State. American rapper and multi-genre singer/songwriter Jelly Roll (Jason Bradley DeFord) not only bought the teams whole supply of pizza, but also contributed $6,000 to cover the teams flights to compete in their tournament next spring in Orlando, Florida.