Rounding Third Softball

Christina Drumm of Oceanside, California has been included on the list of officials unveiled by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) for the Tokyo Olympic Games. She joins the staff of eleven officials from across the globe for the XXXII Olympic Summer Games softball competition. Drumm has extensive international umpiring experience along with being one of the top collegiate officials in the U.S.

RTS has now clarified a report it made earlier that Nicole “Sis” Bates was joining the coaching staff at Washington. Sources have now confirmed that Bates has joined the staff at UW, but in the position of Graduate Assistant. In such a role she would be restricted to a non-coaching position dealing with the operations side of the program. Per NCAA Rules programs are allowed three paid coaches and a volunteer assistant for on-field coaching roles.

The James Madison Dukes were honored last night by the Washington Nationals for their storied 2021 season and run in the WCWS. Senior Kate Gordon threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the game in D.C. between the Nationals and San Diego Padres.

Amanda Eberhart is departing Omaha to become the head coach at Valparaiso. Eberhart spent the past three seasons with the Mavericks and posted a 36-83 overall record. In 2021 the program made their first Summit League championship game appearance in program history.

Florida International has named Mike Larabee their new head coach. Larabee spent the past two seasons on the coaching staff at Maryland. He joined the Terrapins after four seasons as head coach at Central Washington. Prior to his time in the Pacific Northwest, Larabee spent six seasons in the SEC leading the program at Arkansas.

West Alabama has named Stephanie DeFeo their new head coach. DeFeo spent the past eight seasons leading the program at Mercer. She was the winningest coach in program history with a 217-195 record and was the only coach to win 200 games for the Bears.

After naming an assistant baseball coach with no prior experience to lead their softball program in the interim, SIU-Ewardsville seems to be less than forthcoming to share the list of head coaching applicants for the position. After RTS made an FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request to SIUE for the list of candidates, that request made under federal and state statues and guidelines has now been denied (after first being delayed under statutes 5 ILCS 140/ 5 (e) (v) of the FOIA) by the public institute. The applicant pool referenced publicly by Director of Athletics Tim Hall as not as “strong” as he would have liked, prompted him to name SIUE assistant baseball coach P.J. Finnegan to the interim position. SIUE’s refusal to share the list of applicants would indicate this move being more about the lack of due-diligence after the fact by their Athletic Administration, rather than a lack of qualified and suitable candidates for the position. RTS has been made aware through multiple sources that the applicant pool was made up of former and current head coaches from all levels and current assistant coaches. Some of those assistant coaches had worked at opposing programs within the same conference (OVC) as SIUE.

After the departure of longtime Coach Belinda Hendrix to East Tennessee State, RTS has confirmed that assistant Kelly Brookins will be named the new head coach at Chipola College. A program alum, Brookins has served as an assistant coach for the Lady Indians the past 10 seasons.

Chipola College Coach Belinda Hendrix has accepted the head coaching position at East Tennessee State. Hendrix spent 18 seasons at the junior college powerhouse. She lead the Lady Indians to three National Championships in 2007, 2015, and 2019 and runner-up finishes twice in 2016 and 2018.

Anthony Aresco has been named to the coaching staff at Lamar. He will direct the pitching and catching staff for the Cardinals. A decorated men’s softball player, Aresco spent the the past two seasons on staff at UNC-Charlotte. Prior to his time with the 49ers he was a graduate assistant at Ole Miss after spending four seasons as a manger with the Oregon program.