Rounding Third Softball

Former James Madison three-time All-American pitcher Jailyn Ford has been invited to train with the U.S. National Team in their preparation for the upcoming Tokyo Summer Olympic Games. Although USA Softball has indicated Ford won’t be on the team and only joining in a training capacity, the move could indicate that might be a future consideration in adding a youthful arm to further solidify the pitching staff for the upcoming games.

East Texas Baptist was voted the No. 1 team in the 2021 NFCA Division III Top 25 Preseason Coaches Poll. The Tigers collected all eight first-place votes to start the season atop the rankings. ETBU also finished the 2020 season at No. 1 with a 15-0 record before the pandemic ended the season.

Rank	Team	2020 Record	Points
1	East Texas Baptist (8)	15-0	200
2	Texas Lutheran	19-1	192
3	Christopher Newport	12-1	184
4	Virginia Wesleyan	11-1	176
5	Salisbury	17-3	168
6	Linfield	12-2	160
7	Central (Iowa)	6-1	152
8	Kean	9-1	144
9	DePauw	6-3	136
10	Berry	12-2	128
11	St. John Fisher	7-3	100
12	Transylvania	9-1	96
13	Mary Hardin-Baylor	12-3	87
14	St. Olaf	7-1	79
15	Milwaukee School of Engineering	9-1	77
16	Eastern Connecticut State	2-0	69
17	Carthage	10-2	61
18	Birmingham-Southern	14-4	55
19	Moravian	9-1	52
20	Geneseo	4-1	44
21	Wisconsin-La Crosse	2-2	42
22	Trine	7-3	40
23	Randolph-Macon	8-3-1	29
24	Tufts	0-0	23
25	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	12-0	21

Others receiving votes: Maryville (Tenn.) 19, Illinois Wesleyan 17, Ferrum 12, Williams 11, St. Catherine 8, Wisconsin-Oshkosh 7, Manhattanville 6, Mount Union 3, Averett 2.

The Japanese Softball League (JSL) has announced it will start the 2021 season on April 3 and feature a 132 game schedule. The 12 JSL teams will play a double round-robin regular season, with the top five teams advancing to the league playoffs. The championship finals will be played November 6-7 at Fukushima Azuma Stadium, one of the venues of the rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games which will take place July 23-August 8 as the league pauses. The league features many international players, including Monica Abbott and Veronika Peckova (Toyota Red Terriers), Kaia Parnaby and Stacey Porter (SGH), Dallas Escobedo (Toyota Shokki Shining Vega), Keilani Rickets (Hitachi Sundiva), Ally Carda and Jailyn Ford (Honda Reverta), among others.

Former Texas Longhorns standout Stephanie Ceo has joined the coaching staff at DII Embry-Riddle in Florida. Ceo served last year as a graduate assistant at Texas Tech after coming over from the coaching staff at Saint Mary’s College in California.

The NCAA has sent an electronic survey to all regular event ticket holders of the Women’s College World Series to gauge their comfort level in attending this years event. The survey asks each ticket holder to choose whether they plan to use their 2021 reserved tickets, cancel them outright, cancel them but renew again for the 2022 event, or currently indicate they have yet to decide on attending the 2021 edition of the event. The email goes on to state, “At this time, we are not sure what the capacity will be at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium for the WCWS. As a reminder, all tickets for the championship will be mobile delivery and we expect that masks and other protective measures will be required.” The annual event being held June 3-9 in the Softball Mecca of Oklahoma City to crown a National Champion in Division I was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic.

USA Softball has released the Top 50 Watchlist for their Collegiate Player of the Year Award. The award for top collegiate player enters its 19th season and recognizes outstanding athletic achievement by NCAA Division I female collegiate softball players across the country.

The list includes:

Odicci Alexander – James Madison – Pitcher/Infield – RS Sr.

Jocelyn Alo – Oklahoma – Utility – Sr.

Aliyah Andrews – LSU – Outfield – Sr.

Sis Bates – Washington – Infield – Grad Student

Amber Bishop-Riley – Liberty – Infield – Sr.

Jenna Cone – George Washington – Infield – Grad Student

Georgina Corrick – USF – Pitcher – Jr.

Haley Cruse – Oregon – Outfield – Sr.

Mia Davidson – Mississippi State – Catcher/Infield – Sr.

Kalita Dennis – Howard – Infield – Jr.

Carrie Eberle – Oklahoma State – Pitcher – Grad Student

Charla Echols – Florida – Infield – Jr.

.Tristen Edwards – Nebraska – Outfield – Sr.

Summer Ellyson – Louisiana – Pitcher – Sr.

Megan Faraimo – UCLA – Pitcher – RS Sophomore

Morganne Flores – Washington – Catcher – Grad Student

Tatyana Forbes – NC State – Outfield – RS Sr.

Montana Fouts – Alabama – Pitcher – Jr.

.Rachel Garcia – UCLA – Pitcher/Infield – RS Sr.

Kelli Godin – UCLA – Outfield – RS Sophomore

Kate Gordon – James Madison – Outfield – RS Sr.

Kindra Hackbarth – Arizona State – Outfield – Fifth Year

Jessie Harper – Arizona – Infield – RS Sr.

Bailey Hemphill – Alabama – Utility – Grad Student

Mary Iakopo – Texas – Catcher/Utility – Jr.

Janae Jefferson – Texas – Infield – Jr.

Aaliyah Jordan – UCLA – Outfield – RS Jr.

Giselle “G” Juarez – Oklahoma – Pitcher – RS Sr.

Lexi Kilfoyl – Alabama – Pitcher – Sophomore

Baylee Klingler – Washington – Infield – Jr.

Fa Leilua – Mississippi State – Infield – Grad Student

Kendyl Lindaman – Florida – Infield – Fifth Year

Nicole Mendes – Oklahoma – Utility – RS Sr.

Dejah Mulipola – Arizona – Catcher – RS Sr.

Bubba Nickles – UCLA – Utility – RS Sr.

Shealyn O’Leary – Texas – Pitcher – Sophomore

Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza – Arizona – Outfield – Fifth Year

Briana Perez – UCLA – Infield – RS Jr.

Gabbie Plain – Washington – Pitcher – Sr.

Keely Rochard – Virginia Tech – Pitcher – Jr.

Linda Rush – Drexel – Infield – Sr.

Sydney Sherrill – Florida State – Infield – RS Jr.

KB Sides – Alabama – Outfield – Sr.

Makena Smith – Cal – Catcher/Infield – Sophomore

Bailey Vannoy – Charlotte – Catcher – Jr.

Kayla Wedl – UIC – Infield – Grad Student

Emily Williams – Mississippi State – Pitcher – Sr.

Danielle Williams – Northwestern – Pitcher/Utility – Jr.

Brooke Yanez – Oregon – Pitcher – Jr.

Samantha Yarbrough – Auburn – Pitcher – Jr.

Southern Arkansas was voted the No. 1 team in the 2021 NFCA Division II Top 25 Preseason Coaches Poll. The Muleriders collected all 16 first-place votes to start the season atop the rankings. SAU finished the pandemic shortened 2020 season ranked No. 1 and on a 16-game winning streak.

1	Southern Arkansas (16)	400	22-2	1
2	North Georgia	381	23-4	3
3	Augustana	358	16-3	4
4	UT Tyler	354	17-3	5
5	Angelo State	318	19-6	7
6	Young Harris	314	19-3	6
7	Saint Leo	312	23-7	8
8	Rollins	280	21-3	9
9	Texas A&M-Commerce	260	16-7	10
10	Trevecca Nazarene	258	15-3	11
11	Concordia Irvine	238	17-5	13
12	Valdosta State	196	18-5	15
13	Oklahoma Christian	179	21-5	16
14	Saint Anselm	168	16-4	12
15	Winona State	166	13-7	NR
16	Lenoir-Rhyne	164	20-4	21
17	Southern Indiana	141	15-4	19
18	Rogers State	136	21-8	17
19	Lubbock Christian	109	20-6	18
20	UAH	101	15-8	25
21	Indianapolis	86	14-5	RV
22	Lincoln Memorial	83	16-5	14
23	West Chester	66	12-3	NR
24	Tampa	38	19-9	RV
25	Grand Valley State	23	13-3	RV

Receiving Votes: Minnesota State (18), West Liberty (18), Francis Marion (9), Metropolitan State University of Denver (9), Biola (8), St. Cloud State (5), Central Oklahoma (2), Texas A&M University-Kingsville (2).

UCLA was voted the No. 1 team in the 2021 USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Preseason Coaches Poll. The Bruins placement in the top spot was unanimous receiving all 32 first-place votes. They enter the 2021 season where they finished a year ago at No. 1 when play was halted due to the pandemic.

1	UCLA (32)	800	25-1	1
2	Washington	748	23-2	2
3	Arizona	717	22-3	4
4	Oklahoma	708	20-4	6
5	LSU	644	21-3	5
6	Texas	611	24-3	3
7	Florida	605	23-4	7
8	Alabama	588	14-8	10
9	Louisiana	565	18-6	8
10	Oregon	481	22-2	9
11	Oklahoma State	476	19-5	12
12	Florida State	403	17-7	12
13	Kentucky	359	20-4	11
14	Georgia	352	23-5	14
15	Virginia Tech	317	21-4	16
16	Arizona State	295	22-7	17
17	Michigan	264	15-8	18
18	Arkansas	244	19-6	19
19	South Carolina	227	17-6	15
20	Mississippi State	180	25-3	20
21	UCF	159	21-5-1	21
22	Baylor	147	19-5	23
23	Missouri	117	19-7	25
24	Minnesota	114	15-9-1	22
25	Duke	64	23-4	RV

Receiving Votes: Fresno State (62), Tennessee (54), Stanford (33), Utah (13), Cal State Fullerton (12), Clemson (9), North Texas (8), Texas Tech (8), Northwestern (7), James Madison (6), Liberty (1), Notre Dame (1), San Diego State (1).

The College of Mount Saint Vincent’s has named Miguel Justiniano their new head coach. Justiniano comes to the Dolphins after being at Fayetteville Tech Community College where he started the program in 2018. He has also made stops at York College, Talladega College, University of Pikeville, Fayetteville State University and Methodist University.

RTS has learned the Big 10 plans to play part of their 2021 conference schedule in Florida. Sources have confirmed the Big 10 has reached an agreement with PFX Athletics and their annual event “THE Spring Games” to host the conference over two weekends in early March in Leesburg, Florida. The games will be set in a “bubble” for the safety of each squad requiring testing before the scheduled games/weekend and isolation onsite before and after contests for anyone in attendance for the event.