Rounding Third Softball

UAB has announced the addition of Kendall Veach to their coaching staff. Veach joins the Blazers as volunteer assistant after competing at Auburn from 2016-2019. She earned SEC All-Tournament Team honors in 2017 and was named All-SEC Second Team in 2019.

New Louisiana Tech interim head coach Bianca Duran has added the first piece to her new coaching staff retaining and promoting Brooke Morris to full-time assistant coach. Morris spent the past two seasons at Tech as a graduate then volunteer assistant. She played collegiately at Nicholls State between 2014-2017.

After an internal review “to assess the overall culture and student-athlete well-being within the program”, Texas Tech Head Coach Adrian Gregory has stepped down effective immediately. USA Today first confirmed the now completed review in an open-records request to TTU. Gregory had completed her sixth season with the Red Raiders in 2020. She finished with a record of 157-147 while in Lubbock.

Söder Softball won the 2020 Swedish Softball Championship over the weekend defeating the Skövde Saints two straight games in the best-of-three series. Söder downed Skövde in game one 6-2, while they won game two by the mercy rule in five innings 19-7. The Swedish Championship final teams automatically qualified for the European Cups. Söder qualified for the Women’s European Cup in Dupnitsa, Bulgaria. Skövde will take part in the Women’s European Cup Winners Cup in Saronno, Italy

Georgia Tech Head Coach Aileen Morales has been elected to the 2020 Class of the institutes Sports Hall of Fame. Morales was a three-time All-Atlantic Coast Conference performer in the middle infield between 2005-2008 and holds numerous Yellowjacket team records including: all-time leader in games played (265), starts (265), at-bats (850) and stolen bases (154) and ranks among the program’s top 10 in runs (second – 216), hits (third – 261), doubles (t-fifth – 43) and triples (t-fifth – 10).

RTS has learned that former Barton College Softball Coach Sheryl Neff passed away on September 18 at the age of 64. Neff coached 21 seasons for the Bulldogs between 1995-2016. She also assisted in Basketball, Cross Country and Track & Field during her tenure there.

College of Central Florida has promoted Mike Lingle to lead their program as head coach. Lingle has been an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator with the Patriots the past eight seasons. Before his time at CCF he had a successful run as head coach at Ocala Forest High School.

Numbers are now emerging on the survey the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) sent to their Division I Head Coaches membership that gauged them on the extension or discontinuation of the Recruiting Dead Period. A slight majority of 133 coaches were in favor of the now extended Dead Period, while 123 coaches were not. 84% of Division I Coaches responded to the survey. The Dead Period was extended by the NCAA on Wednesday through January 1 and will not allow DI Coaches to recruit off-campus, host or participate in camps, or allow PSAs to their campuses for visits.

RTS has learned that Cheyenne Smith will be joining the coaching staff at California Baptist as volunteer assistant. Smith an up-and-comer instructor and coach in California, also spent the past year working with the College of the Southwest as an assistant with an emphasis on recruiting. She played collegiately at New Mexico and Bethune-Cookman.

Dayton has hired former Canadian National Team member Sara Plourde as the programs new pitching coach. Plourde was a member of Team Canada from 2013-2019. She also played professionally during that run with multiple pro franchises.