Rounding Third Softball

Arizona has hired former U.S. Olympian and Stanford All-American Lauren Lappin to fill their open assistant coach position. Lappin joins new head coach Caitlin Lowe’s staff after serving the last five years as an assistant coach at DII Missouri-St. Louis, and two years as head coach of the Chicago Bandits professional team.

All-American and ACC Pitcher of the Year Keely Rochard has announced that she will return to play a fifth year for Virginia Tech next season. Having already played four seasons for the Hokies, she will use the extra year of eligibility granted to spring sport athletes after the 2020 season was cancelled by the pandemic. Rochard pitched 244 of the Hokies’ 339.2 innings in 2021 with 348 strikeouts and an ERA of 1.38. Virginia Tech made the Los Angeles Super Regional round forcing three games before falling to UCLA.

MidAmerica Nazarene University has named Jordon Jones their new head coach. Jones joins the Pioneers after four highly successful seasons at Central Baptist College. She compiled a record of 125-54 while also winning the 2018 NCCAA National Championship coaching CBC.

Tony Baldwin has been named the new head coach at Georgia. Baldwin has served the last seven seasons on the Bulldog Staff, being named associate head coach after the 2016 season. He also served on the staff previously as a volunteer assistant coach 2011-12.

Southwest Baptist University has named Carly Thomas their new head coach. The relatively young coach comes to the Bearcats after her first posting as an assistant at Bowling Green State. In her two seasons with the Falcons the program went 38-33 finishing 5th in the MAC in 2021. Thomas graduated from Illinois in 2018 after playing four seasons with the Illini.

Seton Hall has named Angie Churchill their new head coach. Churchill joins the Pirates after four seasons at Hartford where she compiled a record of 42-80. She also had head coaching stops at Wagner and D’Youville College. Churchill departs Hartford after an announcement that the athletic program would be dropping from Division I to Division III by 2025.

Chelsea Cohen will join new head coach Josh Taylor’s staff at Louisiana Tech. She will serve as pitching coach with the Lady Techsters. Cohen worked at Nevada as volunteer assistant from 2014-2015. The former Arkansas pitching standout is best known for her international playing and coaching experience having made stops in Argentina, Austria, South Africa, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Australia and Italy.

Rebecca Arbino will be named assistant coach at Rhodes College RTS has learned. Arbino, a standout pitcher in her playing days at Texas A&M and San Diego State, had collegiate coaching stops with UNLV and Minnesota-Crookston before landing in Memphis. The California Native has spent the last few years in private instruction and coaching on the club level. Arbino will head up the pitching and catching staff for the Lynx.

Penn State has named Kent State assistant coach Arika Roush their new Director of Softball Operations. Roush spent the last three seasons on the coaching staff of the Golden Flashes. The former KSU letterwinner also worked in an operations capacity in MLB for the Cleveland Indians.

The world was watching…

This year Women’s College World Series (WCWS) was the most-viewed ever, averaging 1,203,000 viewers, up 10 percent over the 2019 WCWS. The three-game Championship Series between Oklahoma and Florida State averaged 1,840,000 viewers, up 15 percent over the 2019 Championship Series.

The opening day of the tournament was the most-watched opening day since 2009, averaging 755,000 average viewers per game. The day’s lineup was highlighted by unseeded James Madison’s historic upset of No. 1 seed, No. 1 ranked, and eventual national champion Oklahoma. The game averaged 620,000 viewers, up 20 percent over 2019’s Game 1. The game between the Sooners and Dukes was the most-viewed Game 1 on record.