Rounding Third Softball

Europe has lost one of its most influential individuals in the continent’s history with the sport of softball. André Van Overbeek the former president of the European Softball Federation (now WBSC Europe) has passed at the age of 72. Van Overbeek played baseball and after his retirement became a softball coach in the Netherlands and Russia. He became associated with the Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softball Federation (KNBSB) in 2005. Van Overbeek was elected president of the ESF in 2009 and served two terms. He retired from softball in 2017.

College of Charleston announced Monday that it has parted ways with Head Coach Linda Kalafatis. The veteran coach spent eight seasons with the Cougars and had a record of 205-193. This season CofC was 6-35 and winless in CAA play at 0-18. Kalafatis indicated by Social Media Tuesday morning that she has now retired from collegiate coaching. She finishes with a career record of 1,013-668-2, and is best known for the 16 seasons she spent as head coach at Ohio State.

Oklahoma (39-1) doesn’t rent at No. 1, it seems they own. For the tenth straight week the Sooners unanimously hold the top spot in the USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Coaches Poll.

Rank	School	Points	Record	Last Week
1	Oklahoma (32)	800	39-1	1
2	UCLA	768	32-3	2
3	Alabama	718	39-7	4
4	Florida	705	37-8	3
5	Washington	673	35-9	5
6	Florida State	622	36-8-1	6
7	Arizona	569	33-8	9
8	Arkansas	558	39-7	10
9	Oklahoma State	536	39-6	11
10	Arizona State	518	31-12	12
11	Texas	462	35-9	7
12	Oregon	460	31-13	8
13	Clemson	418	37-4	13
14	Louisiana	387	38-9	14
15	Missouri	324	35-13	15
16	LSU	300	28-16	16
17	Tennessee	296	38-8	18
18	Kentucky	290	35-12	17
19	Michigan	229	28-5	19
20	Virginia Tech	162	32-12	20
21	Duke	159	34-10	22
22	Georgia	126	29-17	21
23	Minnesota	92	25-7	23
24	JMU	86	30-1	24
25	Wichita State	45	37-10-1	RV

New to Poll: No. 25 Wichita State

Dropped Out: No. 25 UCF

Receiving Votes: Liberty (32), Ole Miss (27), Notre Dame (13), Fresno State (6), UCF (5), Auburn (4), Miami University (4), Boston University (3), Cal State Fullerton (1), Texas State (1), USF (1).

Hendrix College Coach Amy Weaver will retire after 19 seasons with the program. The veteran coach compiled 315 victories during her tenure, and 397 overall as she also coached Mercyhurst for seven seasons before her run with the Warriors. Weaver will remain with Hendrix as Director of Athletics, a role she has held since 2011.

Seven seems to indeed be a lucky number as of late for some programs across the country. This was the case as Texas Lutheran won their seventh consecutive Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Softball Championship on Monday. The No. 1 nationally ranked Bulldogs defeated Centenary 2-1 in the SCAC Tournament Finals.

With their victory tonight in Baton Rouge, Arkansas has now clinched at least a share of their first SEC Championship in program history. The Razorbacks won two of three against LSU this weekend including the 4-1 victory in game three tonight. The Florida Gators can share the regular season championship and match the Hogs 19-5 conference record if they can manage a sweep of Texas A&M in Gainesville this weekend.

The National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) has announced the Top 30 for the 2021 Schutt Sports/NFCA Division II National Player and Pitcher of the Year. The award honors outstanding athletic achievement among softball student-athletes throughout NCAA Division II. The Top 10 finalists, consisting of players and pitchers, will be announced on May 18 with the 2021 Schutt Sports/NFCA Division II National Player and Pitcher of the Year revealed on June 3.

The Top 30 finalist list includes:

Tatum Brummitt, Sr., University of North Carolina at Pembroke

Bailey Byers, Sr., Malone University

Hannah Rose Corbin, So., Columbus State University

Kendall Cornick, Sr., Augustana University

Kali Crandall, So., Oklahoma Christian University

Tatum Dow, Jr., Western Washington University

Payton Foster, So., University of Texas at Tyler

Sydni Hawkins, Jr., Missouri Western State University

Alyssa Herrera, Fr., Georgian Court University

Teala Howard, Jr., University of West Florida

Anna Kasner, Sr., Western Washington University

Hannah Marsteller, So., Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania

Shanna McBroom, Grad., West Texas A&M University

Andrea Morales, Sr., Rogers State University

MaKray Odom, Grad., Trevecca Nazarene University

Nicole Pennington, Jr., Valdosta State University

Ashley Perez, Jr., University of Texas at Tyler

Morgan Perry, Sr., Saint Anselm College

Nicole Purtell, Jr., Shepherd University

Samantha Richards, So., Valdosta State University

Mahina Sauer, Sr., Southern Nazarene University

Ali Shenefield, Fr., Rollins College

Margaret Simmons, Jr., University of North Georgia

Ellie Smith, So., Colorado Mesa University

Kenzee Smith, Fr., University of Indianapolis

Kylee Smith, Sr., University of North Georgia

Izzy Starr, So., Humboldt State University

Mackenzie Ward, Jr., Minnesota State University, Mankato

Faith Willenbrock, Sr., Millersville University of Pennsylvania

Ashley Worrell, So., Rollins College

The U.S. Women’s National Team starts its fifth training camp of 2021 today at the Olympic Training Facility in Chula Vista, California. Team USA will take part in training sessions and three 10-inning collegiate exhibitions against San Diego (May 6), Loyola Marymount (May 10), and Cal State Northridge (May 16) in preparation for the Tokyo Olympic Games. The softball competition of the Tokyo Games opens on July 21.

North Georgia clinched the Peach Belt Conference Regular Season Championship on Sunday with a doubleheader sweep of Columbus State. The championship was the seventh consecutive for the No. 4 nationally ranked Nighthawks. They have won a total of 10 conference regular season titles, the most in conference history.

Webber International laid claim to The Sun Conference Regular Season Championship on Saturday in a double header split with Thomas University. The Warriors won game one against the Nighthawks 2-0, and dropped the second 3-2. WIU tied Coastal Georgia in the final conference standings with both squads having a 15-9 record. However, the Warriors won the title outright by sweeping CCG in a double header earlier in the season.