Rounding Third Softball

Belinda Hendrix has been hired as the first head coach for the new program at JUCO Southeast Arkansas College. Hendrix spent 17 seasons leading the program at Chipola College, where the program won three National Championships. She spent the 2022 season at East Tennessee State before being terminated last November after complaints of a “unhealthy team culture”. Hendrix husband, Jimmy Hendrix, will also be joining her staff at Southeast Arkansas after resigning from Arkansas State Mid-South after being hired to start that new program in February.

Oklahoma (39-1) and UCLA (39-4) stay in the top spots in this week’s D1 Softball Top 25, while surging Central Arkansas (31-8) and South Carolina (30-12) enter for the first time.

Rank	Team	Overall Record	Record Last Week	Previous Rank
1	Oklahoma	39-1	3-0	1
2	UCLA	39-4	3-0	2
3	Tennessee	34-5	4-0	7
4	Oklahoma State	39-4	4-1	3
5	Florida State	35-8	3-1	4
6	Clemson	40-5	3-1	8
7	Georgia	33-10	2-2	6
8	Duke	36-8	6-0	13
9	Texas	36-9-1	3-1	9
10	Stanford	31-9	0-3	5
11	Arkansas	31-12	3-1	12
12	Washington	31-9	2-1	10
13	Alabama	32-12	4-0	15
14	LSU	34-10	1-3	11
15	Baylor	34-10	4-1	16
16	Northwestern	28-9	4-0	18
17	Utah	28-8	4-0	22
18	Florida	31-11	3-1	23
19	Oregon	28-11	3-0	17
20	Auburn	32-13	3-1	NR
21	Texas A&M	26-16	2-3	14
22	Wichita State	36-8	2-1	21
23	Kentucky	25-13-1	1-3	19
24	Central Arkansas	31-8	4-0	NR
25	South Carolina	30-12	3-1	NR
Dropped Out
	Virginia Tech	32-12	1-3	20
	Indiana	31-15	1-4	24
	Louisiana	33-12	3-2	25

On Sunday Jacksonville State honored their head coach Jana McGinnis for her 1,000th career victory with naming the field in which many of those wins came in honor of their leader. Jax State President Dr. Don Killingsworth announced as part of the festivities that the Gamecocks Facility would be dedicated as Jana McGinnis Field. McGinnis is in her 30th season leading JSU and holds a 1,009-568 career record. She became the 12th active coach in Division I with 1,000 career wins and just the 33rd coach in Division I history to reach the milestone.

Georgia Military College Head Coach Ashley Bunn picked up her 400th career coaching victory in a 6-2 win over Gordon State on Saturday. Bunn is in her 13th season coaching the Bulldogs and holds a 400-261 overall record.

Bovada, an online sports betting company, seems to now be offering numerous game lines and odds for collegiate softball. Four games appeared on their site today (three from the Pac 12 and one from the Big 12). This is believed to be the first opportunity for the general public to lay bets Vegas Style on softball.

USA Softball has announced their coaching staff and roster for the Women’s National Team. Washington Head Coach Heather Tarr returns to head the team, while she will be assisted by Central Florida Head Coach Cindy Ball-Malone, Georgia Head Coach Tony Baldwin, and Florida Head Coach Tim Walton. The roster consists of 15 veterans to the WNT and one newcomer representing six current and 10 former collegiate student-athletes. The team will compete in the WBSC World Cup-Group A event slated to take place July 11-15 in Fingal-Dublin, Ireland. The complete Women’s National Team Roster can be found at https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Softball/Team-USA/Women

RTS steps into the Ohio Valley Conference this weekend as Eastern Illinois (21-15, 9-2) travels to Tennessee Tech (3-34, 0-12). The Panthers and Golden Eagles get the three-game OVC Series started on Friday at 4 pm CST. Check-in on Twitter @Rounding3rdSB and on all RTS Social Media platforms for live in-game action and updates throughout the weekend.

For the second straight NJCAA DIII Poll, North Dakota State College of Science (10-9) is ranked No. 1.

Place		Team	Points	Record	First Place Votes	Previous Rank
	1		North Dakota SCS	70	10-9	7	1
	2		Brookdale	54	11-3	0	4
	3		Caldwell Tech	48	18-14	0	3
	4		Corning	42	12-7	0	5
	5		Surry	36	20-14	0	2
	6		RCSJ Gloucester	30	16-8	0	6
	7		St. Cloud Tech	24	19-4	0	7
	8		Patrick & Henry	18	17-9	0	10
	9		Anoka-Ramsey	12	21-9	0	9
	10		DuPage	4	13-3	0	RV

Receiving Votes: Onondaga, Suffolk County

RTS is saddened to report the passing of Kennah Orr Gervais. The former Florida International Panther succumbed to a rare cervical cancer at the young age of 30 on April 11. Gervais would go on to coach at Webber International after her playing days at FIU. She is survived by many loving family members and teammates, including her 4-year-old daughter Kylar.

Undefeated Murray State (38-0) sits atop this weeks NJCAA DII Rankings.

Place		Team	Record	Points	First Place Votes	Prev. Ranking
	1		Murray State	38-0	200	12	1
	2		Northwest Mississippi	24-2	190		2
	3		Parkland	34-8	180		3
	4		Louisburg	41-2	170		4
	5		South Mountain	36-7	160		6
	6		Phoenix	34-8	150		7
	7		Jones	27-6	140		9
	8		Northeast Mississippi	33-5	129		10
	9		Des Moines Area	29-7	119		5
	10		Copiah-Lincoln	24-8	101		8
	11		Pearl River	29-8	97		13
	12		LSU Eunice	28-15	92		12
	13		Kirkwood	32-9	79		11
	14		Catawba Valley	30-6	71		15
	15		Rock Valley	22-7	61		16
	16		St. Louis	23-3	49		17
	17		North Iowa Area	26-8	37		20
	18		Itawamba	21-10	24		18
	19		Spoon River	27-12-1	23		14
	20		Iowa Lakes	24-10	5		RV

Receiving Votes: Lake-Sumter State, Potomac State, Delaware Tech, Johnson County, Fort Scott, Danville Area