Rounding Third Softball

By virtue of sweeping Boise State and Nevada doing the same to rival UNLV on the weekend, Fresno State has clinched the Mountain West Conference Championship with one weekend of conference play still to go. The Bulldogs put the finishing touches on the championship with a 3-1 victory over the Broncos on Sunday at home on Margie Wright Diamond. With the title in hand Fresno State also punched their ticket to the NCAA Postseason by virtue of the MWC not holding a conference tournament.

Auburn University at Montgomery won the program’s first Gulf South Conference Championship on Saturday defeating Mississippi College 8-2. AUM went undefeated in the championship tournament with a 4-0 record. With the championship victory the Warhawks receive the GSC’s automatic bid to the NCAA DII South Regional.

New Mexico State has clinched the Western Athletic Conference Regular Season Championship with a 9-3 victory over California Baptist on Saturday. The victory coupled with a Seattle loss to Grand Canyon, gives the Aggies the outright championship and No. 1 seed heading into the WAC Tournament next week in Seattle.

North Texas won the Conference USA Regular Season Championship outright on Saturday with a 6-0 shutout victory over Louisiana Tech. The Mean Green had clinched at least a share of CUSA Title on Friday with a doubleheader sweep of the Lady Techsters. UNT will also enter next weeks Conference USA Tournament in Bowling Green, Kentucky as the No. 1 overall seed looking to punch their ticket to the NCAA Postseason.

Seattle’s Madison Cathcart set the record for most doubles in Western Athletic Conference (WAC) History on Friday in the Redhawks doubleheader sweep of Grand Canyon. Cathcart, the senior graduate, set the mark at 58 over her record breaking career at SU.

The Mid-American Conference Council of Presidents has voted to reinstate the conference’s postseason tournaments starting in the 2021-22 academic year. Eliminated this year due to the pandemic and as a cost cutting measure, it was expected the MAC Postseason Tournaments might not return for up to four years. Although the softball championship will now play again in 2022, it will be cut from the original eight team participation to four.

RTS has learned from sources close to the situation that head coach Linda Garza will not be returning to the program at Fresno State. Garza has been on “voluntary personal leave” for unspecified reasons since early April. The Fresno Native was in her fifth season coaching the Bulldogs. The squad is currently 31-9 on the season.

The University of Hartford Board of Regents has voted to transition the university’s athletic program from Division I to Division III. The move is expected to save the financially strapped institute $9 million annually cutting athlete athletic aid, coaches’ salaries and athletic department operating costs. The institute, a member of the American East Conference, is expected to petition the NCAA on the move in 2022 with the official reclassification coming in 2025. Hartford Softball is one of of the 15 intercollegiate sports that will be affected by the move.

University of California Riverside announced today in a statement from Chancellor Kim A. Wilcox that the institute would continue as a Division I athletic program. Last fall reports surfaced that the 17-sport program competing in the Big West Conference was in danger of ceasing their athletics program due to budget shortfalls at the institute. One of those programs, UCR Softball, now lives to fight another day. The Highlanders are currently 7-23 overall and 6-15 in Big West play on the 2021 season.

RTS will be returning to the Peach State tomorrow for the ASUN Quarterfinals Best-of-Three Series between North Alabama (19-17, 5-7) and Kennesaw State (22-23, 10-5). First pitch in Game 1 of the series at Bailey Park between the Lions and Owls is set for 2 pm EST. Game 2 will follow at 4:30 pm. Follow RTS on Twitter @Rounding3rdSB for real-time in-game updates.