Rounding Third Softball

Longtime University of St. Thomas Head Coach John Tschida will step down at the end of the 2021 season. Tschida will be taking over as head coach at his alma mater St. Mary’s University where he was the coach previously from 1994-2000. The NFCA Hall of Fame coach spent 21 seasons with the Tommies amassing 792 wins and leading the program to back-to-back DIII National Championships in 2004 and 2005. UST will be making the unprecedented move from Division III to Division I this summer and will begin a national search for their next head coach in the coming weeks.

USA Softball has announced the 25 Finalists for their Collegiate Player of the Year. The USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award recognizes the top player in all of Division I. The list will be narrowed to 10 and then three finalists. The 2021 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year will be revealed in Oklahoma City before the Women’s College World Series.

The finalist list includes:

Hannah Adams, Sr., INF, Florida

Jocelyn Alo, Sr., UTL, Oklahoma

Aliyah Andrews, Sr., OF, LSU

Sis Bates, Grad., INF, Washington

Sammey Bunch, RSSR., INF, Northern Iowa

Braxton Burnside, Grad., INF, Arkansas

Valerie Cagle, Fr., P, Clemson

Deja Davis, Jr., INF, Duke

Hailey Dolcini, Sr., P, Fresno State

Carrie Eberle, Sr., P, Oklahoma State

Megan Faraimo, RSSO., P, UCLA

Montana Fouts, Jr., P, Alabama

Rachel Garcia, RSSR., P/INF, UCLA

Mary Haff, RSJR., P, Arkansas

Bailey Hemphill, Grad., UTL, Alabama

Janae Jefferson, Jr., INF, Texas

Tiare Jennings, Fr., INF, Oklahoma

Kayla Kowalik, Jr., C, Kentucky

Haley Lee, Jr., C/UTL, Texas A&M

Dejah Mulipola, RSSR., C, Arizona

Gabbie Plain, Sr., P, Washington

Keely Rochard, Jr., P, Virginia Tech

Ashley Rogers, Jr., P Tennessee

Alex Storako, Jr., P, Michigan

Abby Sweet, Sr., OF, Notre Dame

Former San Jose State Softball Coach Pete Turner has filed a lawsuit citing wrongful termination and retaliation against the institution and Athletics Director Marie Tuite. Turner coached SJSU for 14 years until his contract was not renewed last July. He was 21-5 in the pandemic shortened season. The suite alleges the retaliation pertained from players’ exit interviews that were critical of the department, to Turner’s support for others within the athletics department that were also being retaliated against. The suit also mentions Turner was the target of two Title IX investigations initiated by Tuite, in which the investigations exonerated the former coach in both instances. The suit goes on to say Turner was let go on July 10, the day after he filed a grievance through the Cal State University system alleging discrimination, harassment, and retaliation.

San Diego State Head Coach Kathy Van Wyk picked up her 800th career coaching victory today in a 13-10 Mountain West Conference win against Utah State. Van Wyk is in her 25th season coaching the Aztecs and has a 800-554-1 record.

Due to the threat of inclement weather this weekend in Blacksburg, the schedule for the ACC Series between Notre Dame and No. 15 Virginia Tech has shifted.

-Friday doubleheader at 2 & 4 p.m.

-Saturday single game at 9 a.m.

-Sunday’s single game stays at noon

Check-in on Twitter @Rounding3rdSB all weekend for real-time in-game updates as RTS will be on-site at Tech Softball Park.

Multiple sources are reporting to RTS that the NCAA will announce a cap of 50% capacity for all championship events moving forward. This will include all Regional and Super Regional Softball sites and the Women’s College World Series coming up in June in Oklahoma City.

RTS will be in Blacksburg starting tomorrow for the ACC Series between Notre Dame and No. 15 ranked Virginia Tech. First pitch in Game 1 of the series between the Fighting Irish and Hokies is set for 6 pm EST at Tech Softball Park. Follow RTS on Twitter @Rounding3rdSB for real-time in-game updates.

Virginia Wesleyan (27-3-1) extended their winning streak to 10 games last weekend and followed it by holding on to the top spot in this week’s NFCA Division III Top 25 Coaches Poll. The Marlins once again made it unanimous picking up all eight first-place votes.

Rank	Team	2021 Record	Points	Previous
1	Virginia Wesleyan (8)	27-3-1	200	1
2	Texas Lutheran	25-4	192	2
3	Eastern Connecticut State	20-0	184	5
4	East Texas Baptist	22-3	176	4
5	Linfield	28-4	168	3
6	Birmingham-Southern	25-4	160	6
7	DePauw	21-2	152	9
8	Belhaven	25-7	144	7
9	Emory & Henry	21-3	136	17
T10	Berry	23-6	128	15
	Moravian	12-0	128	10
12	Salisbury	19-7	109	8
13	St. John Fisher	16-2	104	12
14	Christopher Newport	22-10	83	11
15	Mount Union	23-5	77	22
16	Wartburg	21-6	73	14
T17	Milwaukee School of Engineering	23-2	61	13
	Randolph-Macon	14-7-1	61	19
T19	St. Scholastica	23-3	44	RV
	The College of New Jersey	11-3	44	18
21	Rowan	19-5	41	NR
T22	Alvernia	17-5	24	NR
	St. Olaf	13-3	24	NR
24	Concordia (Wis.)	22-4	20	NR
T25	Aurora	25-3	14	NR
	Saint Benedict	17-5	14	16

Others receiving votes:  Cortland 10, Transylvania 8, Coe 7, Rochester 6, Kean 5, Misericordia 5, Alfred 3, Mount St. Joseph 2, Southern Maine 1.

Dropped out: Framingham State, Hope, Millikin and Stevenson.

After posting three doubleheader sweeps in conference play last weekend, Augustana (27-3) has stayed in the No. 1 spot in this weeks NFCA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll. The Vikings received 15 of 16 first-place votes. No. 5 ranked Indianapolis (31-2) picked up the other vote.

Rank	School	Points	2021 Record	Last Poll
1	Augustana (15)	399	27-3	1
2	Valdosta State	383	29-3	2
3	UT Tyler	358	27-5	t3
4	North Georgia	357	25-5	t3
5	Indianapolis (1)	338	31-2	5
6	Texas A&M-Commerce	317	25-10	6
7	Lincoln Memorial	303	34-5	7
8	Rollins	289	14-1	8
9	Young Harris	275	26-7	9
10	Oklahoma Christian	253	31-5	10
11	Concordia Irvine	224	19-8	11
12	West Texas A&M	223	26-10	12
13	UAH	213	25-9	13
14	Grand Valley State	183	26-6	14
15	Saint Anselm	173	15-3	15
16	Central Oklahoma	171	27-9	16
17	Colorado Mesa	135	26-2	19
18	Minnesota State	130	22-7	18
19	Auburn Montgomery	106	29-5	23
20	Winona State	100	23-6	21
21	Southern Arkansas	58	20-7	22
22	West Florida	56	26-11	20
23	Angelo State	51	26-10	NR
24	Texas A&M-Kingsville	34	24-11	17
25	Charleston	18	24-6	NR

New to Poll: No. 23 Angelo State, No. 25 Charleston

Dropped Out: No. 24 Rogers State, No. 25 Northwest Nazarene

Receiving Votes: Biola (15), Georgian Court (14), Northwest Nazarene (10), Southeastern Oklahoma State (7), Anderson (2), Saint Leo (2), Western Washington (2), Shepherd (1).

The NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions has found that the University of Texas at El Paso committed violations within its softball program. The violations occurred between 2016-2019 under former Head Coach Tobin Echo-Hawk. The violations included providing additional practice time or individual workouts to student-athlete exceeding daily and weekly hour limitations, not providing a weekly day off for student-athletes as required by NCAA guidelines, and graduate assistants providing skills instruction to student-athletes during extra workout sessions, regular practices and occasional competitions resulting in the program exceeding its maximum number of coaches allowed. Among the penalties for UTEP were a year of probation, a $5,000 fine, and a one-year show-cause order for Echo-Hawk. It was also announced that Echo-Hawk, now an assistant coach at New Mexico State, will receive a four-week suspension from all coaching activities and from 15% of regular-season contests at any school that employs her moving forward.