Rounding Third Softball

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.

Texas Tech has named Sami Ward their new head coach. Ward comes to Lubbock after five seasons as head coach at her alma mater Loyola Marymount. The three-time West Coast Conference Coach of the Year went 138-109 leading the Lions. She also has head coaching stops at Academy of Art University, University of North Dakota, and Dakota Wesleyan University.

New San Jose State Head Coach Tammy Lohmann seems to be wiping the slate clean, starting with the Spartan Coaching Staff. Assistant coaches Chase Turner and Casey Watt are no longer with the program San Jose State Officials confirmed. Turner had served as interim head coach this past summer before Lohmann’s hiring and is the son of former head coach Pete Turner.

RTS is saddened to report the passing of Chad and Andrea and Meredith Freeman, the parents and grandmother of College of Charleston Pitcher Katie Freeman. The three tragically lost their lives in a car accident on Sunday in Summerville, South Carolina. A crowd funding campaign has been established to support Katie and her sisters Hannah and Meredith in their future educational needs. https://gf.me/u/y4mnux

It came down to two Prague teams as SK Joudrs Praha defeated Eagles Praha 2-0 to secure their seventh Czech National Championship. Veteran 37 year old Eva Rendlová provided all of the Joudrs offense with an RBI single and a home run in the victory.

Bollate defeated Saronno, 4-2, in Game 4 of the best-of-five 2020 FIBS Italian Softball Series, marking Bollate’s 13th national softball championship in the team’s history. After splitting the first two games of the series, Bollate won Game 3, 8-0, to set the table for the title-clinching victory in Game 4. Italian National Team ace Greta Cecchetti was the winning pitcher in all three of Bollate’s wins and received series MVP honors.

Softball Australia has announced that Olympic Medalists Natalie Hodgskin (nee Shapiro) and Belinda Barnes (nee Wright) have been inducted into the Australian Softball Hall of Fame. Both players represented Australia at the Olympic Games, Hodgskin winning silver at the 2004 Athens Games, while Barnes was a member of the bronze medal winning Beijing 2008 squad.

The Wesseling Vermins swept the Freising Grizzlies in the best-of-five German Series to win the Deutschland National Championship. After winning games one and two by scores of 10-8 and 9-4, the Vermins clinched their eighth all-time title at home with a 7-3 win. German national team pitcher Claudia Volkmann (Wesseling) was named MVP of the final series, with Fiona Brosch (Freising) named best pitcher and Julia de Jong (Wesseling) best hitter.