Rounding Third Softball

Notre Dame Head Coach Deanna Gumpf is retiring. Gumpf led the Fighting Irish amassing an 882-390 record. She won 11 conference championships and appeared in the NCAA Postseason 21 times. Gumpf coached 24 All-Americans, eight conference players of the year, four conference pitchers of the year and one defensive player of the year while in South Bend.

As RTS first reported yesterday, Victoria Hayward has now officially been hired as the new head coach at Nevada. Hayward spent the 2024 season as an assistant coach at her alma mater Washington helping the Huskies to their 30th consecutive NCAA Postseason appearance. The former Canadian National Team member has also had coaching stops at LSU, UMass, Maryland, UCF, and San Diego State.

Nevada announced that Marina Demore will not return at head coach. Demore led the Wolfpack as interim head coach this season and had an impressive record of 40-17 while finishing third in the Mountain West Conference. She worked as an assistant coach in the 2022 and 2023 seasons.

Sources have informed RTS that Washington Assistant Coach Victoria Hayward could be a top target for the now open position at Nevada.

In a surprisingly fast search by softball standards, Appalachian State has named Whitney Jones their new head coach.

Jones spent the past two seasons as associate head coach at Ohio State. Prior to her time in Columbus, she worked on staff at UCF where she helped the Knights to 49-14 record in 2022 and a No. 16 national seed in the NCAA Tournament and first-ever Super Regional appearance. Jones started her coaching career at her alma mater Washington as a volunteer assistant coach.

Jones replaces Shelly Hoerner who was released less than two weeks ago after seven seasons leading the Mountaineers.

UC San Diego has announced longtime head coach Patti Gerckens will not be retained. Gerckens led the Tritons for 32 years compiling an 858-726 record. She led the program through transitions from Division III, to Division II, and finally Division I in 2021. Gerckens coached UCSD to the DII National Title in 2011.

Concordia University Ann Arbor won the National Christian College Athletic Association National Championship this week defeating Southwestern Christian University 3-1. The back-to-back titles is the second time the Cardinals have repeated as NCCAA National Champions, doing so also in 1998 and 1999.

Kansas Associate Head Coach Rich Wieligman is retiring. A mainstay in the collegiate game, Wieligman coached for 25 seasons with stops at Baylor, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Oklahoma State, and UT Dallas before arriving in Lawrence. He is probably best known for leading OSU to an appearance at the 2011 Women’s College World Series.

RTS will be on-site starting tomorrow for the Athens Regional hosted at the University of Georgia. Team practices are on-tap for Thursday. Action gets going Friday as Liberty (36-23) faces Charlotte (38-16) at 3 pm ET. No. 11 national seed Georgia (39-16) hosts UNC Wilmington (33-21) at 5:30 pm ET. Check-in here and on all RTS Social Media Platforms powered by Dobbins Softball Consulting & Development for live in-game updates and onsite information as the NCAA Postseason starts from the Athens Regional.

Melanie Meuchel has resigned as head coach at Montana. Meuchel coached the Grizzlies for seven seasons amassing a record of 128-200. The 2024 UM squad was 17-33 and 1-14 in Big Sky Conference play.

Northern Illinois is not renewing the contract of head coach Christina Sutcliffe. She coached the Huskies for 12 seasons compiling 287 victories. Sutcliffe led NIU to the MAC West Division Title in 2016.