Rounding Third Softball

The NCAA Division III Championship Committee has recommended that the number of participants at spring championships be limited to 75% of their usual capacity due to health and financial concerns caused by the coronavirus pandemic. This indicates an unfortunate sign of things to come as Division I and II could consider similar proposals following suit. The move to cut postseason participation still nearly eight months off would mean fewer opportunities for softball teams in their respective Regional, Super Regional, and National Championship (World Series) play.

Former Nicholls State standout and Southern Miss All-American Courtney Blades-Rogers has been named to the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. Blades spent two seasons with the Colonels and two with the Golden Eagles between 1997-2000. Blades helped lead USM to consecutive appearances in the Women’s College World Series in the 1999 and 2000 seasons. The Baton Rouge native had a career record of 151-34 with 77 shutouts and an 0.97 ERA.

New Mexico has named Brandon Maurer to their coaching staff. Maurer comes to UNM after serving on staff at Fullerton College in the 2019 and 2020 seasons. The former Cal State Fullerton graduate assistant will head up the pitching staff for the Lobos.

Hsin Lin Han has been named head coach for the Chinese Taipei National Team. The former pitcher who appeared in three games at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, guided the Chinese Taipei Junior Team to a fifth place finish in the 2019 WBSC U19 Women’s World Cup.

Former San Diego Coach Larry Caudillo has passed away at the age of 67 the school announced Wednesday. Caudillo led the program for eight years helping transition the program from DII to DI. He is the second-winningest coach in Toreros History with 211 wins.

The NCAA Division I Council Coordination Committee has now extended the recruiting Dead Period for Division I through January 1. This latest extension keeps DI Softball Coaches on-campus and allows no in-person evaluations, visits, or camps. The move has now completely wiped out all recruiting during the allowable DI Softball Calendar for 2020. The current extended Dead Period was set to expire September 30.

RTS has learned that Fairleigh Dickinson Assistant Coach Bridget Rafter has accepted the head coaching position at Fairleigh Dickinson Florham. Rafter has spent the last three seasons helping rebuild the program at FDU’s DI Flagship and will now take charge at their DIII Campus.

Looks as if former Louisiana Tech Coach Maria Winn has returned to the junior college ranks joining the coaching staff at Galveston College as an assistant. Winn returns to JUCO where she experienced great runs at both Western Nebraska and Tyler as head coach. She spent one pandemic shortened season at La Tech where she went 8-16.

Sources with knowledge of the move have informed RTS that Saginaw Valley State Head Coach Todd Buckingham has stepped down to accept the top assistant position at DI Western Michigan. Buckingham spent the last eight seasons turning the Cardinals into a Top 25 caliber DII program. In 19 years as a head coach he combined for a 479-391 record. He also had coaching stops at Indiana University Southeast and Bluefield State.

In a very surprising move Louisiana Tech has gone the interim route naming program alum Bianca Duran head coach. The relatively young coach worked on both former coaches Maria Winn and Mark Montgomery’s Staffs since 2017. The move to fill the open position seemed to be close to its completion as multiple candidates had made their way to campus in the last week and a half. This move could indicate Tech Administration could either not find a fit, or were possibly rebuffed by those candidates. The move to only name Duran “interim” leader seemingly ties her hands in recruiting aspects with an unsure future after the 2021 season. It also brings in question staffing of assistant coaches that could take a leap of faith possibly being in Ruston just one year.