Rounding Third Softball

Softball could soon be coming to South Beach.

University of Miami Director of Athletics Dan Radakovich has acknowledged softball will be the next women’s sport added to the Hurricane Athletics offering. “Now the timing, as it relates to a lot of things, is a little bit up in the air still, but it’s part of our initiatives to kind of move that along as quickly as we can.” Radakovich stated.

Miami is a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), and the eventual addition of softball would bring the conference membership for softball to 16 (counting the future additions of California and Stanford).

“We have some folks who are very, very interested in being benefactors of the softball program, so we’re putting proposals in front of them to get some of the dollars necessary to build a stadium and start a program. I’ve kind of done that before, so I understand the timing of how that all works. Really excited about that opportunity.” Radakovich explained.

Softball is returning to the Olympic Games.

The Olympic Programme Commission (OPC) and Executive Board (EB) officially voted the return of the sport at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) meeting on Monday in Mumbai, India. Softball was last included in the 2020 Tokyo Games, and was excluded in the upcoming 2024 Games in Paris. Softball along with baseball, cricket, lacrosse, and flag football were all approved for inclusion in the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.

Abingdon High School Softball will be (Jelly) rolling their way to Florida for Spring Break.

The high school squad from Abingdon, Virginia was recently selling pizza to fundraise at the Country Thunder Music Festival in Bristol, Virginia when they got a little push to the Sunshine State. American rapper and multi-genre singer/songwriter Jelly Roll (Jason Bradley DeFord) not only bought the teams whole supply of pizza, but also contributed $6,000 to cover the teams flights to compete in their tournament next spring in Orlando, Florida.

Northwestern Coach Kate Drohan has signed a multi-year contract extension. Drohan has led the Wildcats since 2002 amassing 745 victories. Northwestern has made 16 NCAA Postseason appearances in her tenure, including a Super Regional appearance along with a Big 10 Championship last season.

University of Maryland Eastern Shore has named Aaron Robinson their new head coach. Robinson had recently joined the staff at University of Maryland Baltimore County as an assistant coach. He came on with the Retrievers after spending two years as associate head coach and recruiting coordinator at Notre Dame of Maryland University.

Team hopping just got a little tougher.

The NCAA Division I Council has approved legislation that will limit the time student-athletes can enter the Transfer Portal. The rules change will allow for 45 total days throughout the year moves to enter the portal can be made.

The exact windows for adding a student-athletes name to the Transfer Portal will be decided and divided up differently by each respective sport.

Maile Deutsch has been promoted to Associate Head Coach at Ottawa University in Kansas. Deutsch has been part of the Braves Coaching Staff since the fall of 2021. The move is the first step on her way to leading the program, as longtime Head Coach Jay Kahnt will be retiring at the conclusion of the 2024 season after 23 years leading the program.

The Oklahoma Sooners new facility is already getting an expansion. The $42 million Love’s Field project initially with a set seating capacity of 3,000, will now expand to 4,200. This will include 3,543 in fixed seating and an additional 657 in standing room. The state-of-the-art facility for the seven-time National Champion Sooners will open for the 2024 season.

After 25 years leading the program at West Liberty University, Herb Minch is stepping down. The longtime head coach guided the Hilltoppers to 564 victories during his time. Minch led WLU to conference titles in 1999, 2019, 2021 and 2022, while earning NCAA Division II Tournament bids in 2019 and 2021. Assistant coach Nikki Nuzum has been named interim head coach.

Shawnee State has named Kristen Bradshaw their new head coach. Bradshaw remains in her hometown of Portsmouth, Ohio after previous coaching stops at Wright State, University of Rio Grande, and the last eight years at Portsmouth High School.