Rounding Third Softball

Sofia Akademichki have won their 12th Bulgarian softball title to wrap up their 2020 season. Sofia Akademichki swept the Dupnista Angels in the best-of-five Bulgarian National Women’s Softball Championship Series. Akademichki topped the defending champion Angels, 4-1, 11-4, and 12-11, to capture the 2020 championship.

The 2020 Croatian Softball season has come to an end as Princ Zagreb claimed their second consecutive women’s national softball title. Princ needed four games of the best-of-five series to repeat as champions prevailing over Medvednicom. Princ took the first two games of the series, 7-0 and 12-2, while Medvednicom grabbed the third game, 9-6. Princ clinched the title winning the fourth game, 9-1. Rita Despot from Medvednica was the best hitter of the championship, while best pitcher and MVP awards went to Michaela Haramini from Princ.

Chin-Ling Chang Chien, a former national team athlete for Chinese Taipei, has become the first player from her country to be inducted into the WBSC Softball Hall of Fame. Chang Chien played 15 years for Chinese Taipei, and after her retirement helped coach the team at the very first Olympic Games to feature softball in 1996 in Atlanta. She made her debut with the senior Chinese Taipei team at the age of 15, and was the teams ace in the WBSC Women’s Softball World Championship in 1982.

The NJCAA Board of Regents announced today that it has voted to provide eligibility relief for its student-athletes in the 2020-21 sports season due to the affects of the COVID-19 Pandemic. The move makes this years competition in any NJCAA sponsored sport as non-countable towards student-athlete eligibility for any sport seasons (fall, winter, spring) in 2020-21. In essence student-athletes could possibly have a combination of five years (or six if current sophomores played a partial season in spring 2020) of competition ability at the JUCO and NCAA or NAIA levels. Softball competing sophomores that were similarly not charged last season (spring 2020) with a year of eligibility, could compete this season and move on to four year institutes with four seasons of eligibility intact for those institutes. Similarly, freshmen could also compete this season and move on after the 2020-21 competition year and also have four seasons of eligibility remaining at four year institutes.

Rawlings Sporting Goods Inc. has announced it has agreed in principle to buy Easton Diamond Sports. The merger will bring together the countries top softball and baseball sporting goods companies. Easton has been the leading bat supplier in both sports, with the companies “Ghost” model line being the most popular bat with softball players in recent years.

The Dutch Golden League has decided not to crown a league champion for the 2020 season. No Holland Series was scheduled at the time when the competition was cut short on October 14 due to the ongoing pandemic. Teams Roef! and Sparks Haarlem were on top of the rankings with 34 points on 22 games (both with 17 wins). According to the regulations of the KNBSB, a decision-making series must be played to determine the Dutch National Champion.

Post University in Connecticut has announced it has canceled winter and spring sports due to safety concerns surrounding the COVID-19 Pandemic. This will include the 2021 season for the Post Softball program which was scheduled to start March 1. The Eagles, a Division II member of the Central Athletic Collegiate Conference, finished a pandemic shortened 2020 season 7-3.

North Central College has announced the retirement of Head Coach Jim Kulawiak after 32 seasons leading the Cardinals. Kulawiak never recorded a losing season during his tenure racking up 860 wins ranking him 11th all-time in DIII victories. His teams won seven College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin championships, while also claiming seven CCIW Tournament championships and qualified for the NCAA Regionals 12 times.

Emporia State has announced that former All-American Samantha Sheeley has been selected to the schools Athletic Hall of Honor. Sheeley pitched for the the Hornets in the 2007 and 2008 seasons leading them to a DII National Runner-up finish in 08. That year she was the MIAA Pitcher of the Year going 31-8 with a 1.24 ERA and 338 strikeouts in 271.2 innings. After leaving ESU she played professionally and has coached collegiately with stops at Winona State, Wichita State, Cal State Northridge, and Santa Monica College while also privately training pitchers in the Greater Los Angeles area.

RTS has learned that Xavier University of Louisiana will name former LSU standout Shemiah Sanchez assistant coach. She will join the Gold Nuggets as they prepare for the programs first season of competition in 2021. Sanchez has also competed for the Puerto Rican National Team.