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There is a new No. 1 in this week’s Softball America DI Top 25. The Longhorns of Texas.
RTS heads back to Georgia on Friday for the Columbus Classic hosted by the USMA. Army, Syracuse, Tennessee Tech and Long Island all travel to the Peach State for the second weekend of the season. Action gets started Friday at 10 am EST with Army facing LIU. Check back here and on all RTS Social Media platforms for live in-game updates from Columbus, Georgia.
Columbus Classic
Friday Schedule
Army vs. Long Island – 10am
Army vs. Tennessee Tech – 12:30pm
Syracuse vs. Long Island – 3pm
Syracuse vs. Tennessee Tech – 5:30pm
Softball America has released this week’s Division I Top 25. Florida remains on top at No. 1.
The Triangle Collegiate Softball Classic Foundation has announced that University of Lynchburg Head Coach Dawn Simmons and North Carolina Wesleyan University Head Coach John Brackett will be honored with their Inaugural Beyond the Spotlight Legacy Achievement Award. The annual award will recognize a coach’s exceptional contributions to the sport of softball, their institutes, and the lives of student-athletes in their programs.
Simmons is beginning her 27th season leading Lynchburg and holds a record of 719-368-2. She is the winningest coach in Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) history. She led her 2008 squad to an NCAA Championship appearance, while her 2019 team made it to the Super Regional Round.
Brackett enters his 34th season leading North Carolina Wesleyan, while also having served 20 seasons as the institute’s women’s basketball coach. He has led the softball program to seven conference championships and two appearances in the NCAA Postseason. In 2023 he notched his 600th career coaching win.
Simmons and Brackett will be presented the Beyond the Spotlight Legacy Achievement Award at the upcoming 18th Annual Triangle Collegiate Softball Classic March 7-9 at the Raleigh Sports Complex in Raleigh, North Carolina. The Triangle Collegiate Softball Classic featuring some of the top teams in Division III, is the largest NCAA single-weekend softball event in the country.
The 2025 Division I season gets rolling this weekend. RTS will be in Atlanta at the Buzz Classic as Western Kentucky, Belmont and Eastern Kentucky visit Georgia Tech. Action gets started Friday at 11 am EST with Belmont and Western Kentucky. Action continues through Sunday with 10 total games on tap. Check back here and on all RTS Social Media platforms for live in-game updates from the ATL.
The first On Deck of the 2025 season, RTS’s Lee Dobbins sits down with Campbell Head Coach Emily Carosone. The new head coach of the Fighting Camels comes to Buies Creek after spending a short stint as associate head coach at Troy University. She served on the coaching staff in various positions at her alma mater Auburn for seven seasons, including associate head coach. Carosone was a three-time All-American for the Tigers during her competition days. She also played in the U.S. National Team Program and on the professional level.
Dobbins: Coach Carosone you have spent all your young coaching career in the SEC at your alma mater Auburn. How has been the transition from going to a Power 4 program to a mid-major Division I program and in your first head coaching opportunity?
Carosone: It’s been a smooth transition. I’m lucky enough that Campbell prioritizes their sports and that they have an administration that wants to help continue a championship mind set in the softball program.
Dobbins: You take over a program at Campbell that has had some excellent success over the last several years winning conference championships and making NCAA appearances. Even with roster turnover that inevitably comes from coaching changes, what has been your approach to keep the program on track success wise while putting your stamp on it?
Carosone: Developing the talent that we have. As a staff, we were grandfathered all these players. They did not choose us, rather we chose them. Our goal is to develop each young woman we have on the team to become a better athlete and a better person.
Dobbins: Scheduling seems to always be at the heart of any program’s success on the conference level and eventually in the NCAA Postseason. Having coached at Auburn and a program that SOS is always near the top in the country just by conference affiliation, how will you approach scheduling at a mid-major like Campbell to strike that balance of success both regionally and on a national level?
Carosone: The end goal is to push these players that we have now to their utmost potential. The expectation is to win championships. As a coaching staff we need to schedule teams that can push us to be the best team out there. This year’s schedule was already set, but we have already started scheduling teams in the 2026 season that are top 25 teams.
Dobbins: We are living in the era of the Transfer Portal, NIL, and soon revenue sharing in collegiate athletics. Most coaches are seeing these topics as a major challenge, and could even lead to athletic departments cutting sports like softball and from an institutional standpoint possibly ceasing sports all-together. How are you maneuvering the new look of college athletics?
Carosone: There are a lot of people out there that love watching softball. NIL can be a positive for your athletes, especially in women’s sports. We want NIL to help an athlete in need and the fans that want to help should be able to.
Dobbins: Expanding on the Transfer Portal topic. It seems the recruitment of the portal is starting to trump recruiting athletes from the high school/club levels. What approach are you taking on recruiting? To a lot of frustrated young Prospective Student-Athletes, what advice would you give them?
Carosone: We want to take the talent we have and develop it. When we find holes in our team, that is when we look at the transfer portal. I am personally in favor of the transfer portal. With mental health issues and for a young athlete who may not be happy where they are at, it gives them the ability to find happiness somewhere else. To the younger athletes, it’s all about getting seen.
Dobbins: Having recruited PSAs to a Power 4 program like Auburn and all a program like that has to offer, how has your recruiting efforts changed now you are at a mid-major? Talk a bit about the differences and similarities you might still be employing.
Carosone: We still recruit the highest caliber athlete that hasn’t changed. There are a lot of softball players that get overlooked in the recruiting process. The difference between Campbell and Auburn is that Auburn has more outwardly to offer. I see Campbell having more inwardly to offer. With Campbell being a Christian University, athletes can come in and share their faiths openly. This is something I believe is huge and could be vital to an athlete’s success on and off the field. It is a smaller town, which allows us to have more personability with our players, staff, and community.
Dobbins: You played professionally here in the U.S. It seems professional softball in this country limps along each year with many leagues and teams coming and going and not sustaining long-term success. What are your thoughts on the professional game in this country and where do you believe it needs to go to maintain sustained success that it has been lacking?
Carosone: There are options for student athletes to continue their careers in softball after college if they wish. It is about what’s the best fit for you. I have seen growth in the professional leagues since my time playing in them. As long as they can continue to grow, softball will be in a good spot. For it to maintain success, it needs to be easily accessible for the fans that want to watch it- because people want to watch the sport.
ESPN has announced their network wide coverage schedule for the 2025 season. Over 3,200 games will be featured over their multiple platforms. 150 of those matchups will be featured on linear platforms ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SEC Network and ACC Network. The remaining 3,100+ games will be streamed on ESPN+, SECN+ and ACCNX. The complete schedule can be found at https://espnpressroom.com/…/homerun-espn-set-to…/
Lynn Curlo is out as head coach at the University of Illinois Chicago. The odd timing less than three days from opening the 2025 season was termed “Necessary for the long-term success of the program and is in the best interests of our student-athletes.” by UIC Administration. Curlo was about to start her ninth season leading the Flames.
Assistant coach Jamie Buksa had been named interim head coach. A national search for a replacement will begin this spring.
Oklahoma Coach Patty Gasso has been named head coach of the USA Softball Women’s National Team. She will lead the team through the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games. The softball competition of those games will take place in Oklahoma City. Gasso has been involved with USA Softball since 2018 coaching various teams and assisting at numerous competitions and training events. The Hall of Fame coach will start her 31st season leading the Sooners later this week.
The SEC has announced its preseason poll, and the Texas Longhorns have been picked by the 15 head coaches to finish atop the conference.
2025 SEC Softball Preseason Coaches’ Poll
(First-Place Votes in Parentheses)
1. Texas (7) 186
3. Oklahoma (2) 170
4. Tennessee 158
5. Texas A&M 153
6. LSU 115
7. Arkansas 104
8. Georgia 103
9. Missouri 100
10. Alabama 97
11. Kentucky 55
12. Mississippi State 54
13. Auburn 37
14. Ole Miss 34
15. South Carolina 28