Rounding Third Softball

After one of the longest coaching searches this off-season, UNC-Wilmington has their new leader. Northern Illinois Associate Head Coach Ashley Wade has been named the Seahawks new head coach. Wade spent the past seven seasons on staff at NIU. During her coaching career Wade has mentored two All-American Selections, 13 All-Region honorees, and 45 All-Conference award winners. She inherits a UNCW program that went 32-15 in 2022 and earned the school’s first NCAA Regional berth.

Lance McMahon will be named the new pitching coach at Alabama. The news was first reported by Tommy Deas of the Tuscaloosa News on Monday based on his sources attached to the program. McMahon joins the Crimson Tide after spending the past six seasons on staff at Illinois. He replaces Stephanie VanBrakle Prothro who left Alabama last week to lead the program at Memphis.

Olympia Haarlem won the European Club Championship over the weekend defeating Forli at the Women’s Softball Premiere Cup held in Bollate, Italy. The team from the Netherlands outlasted the home team from Italy 4-3 in the championship game. The back-and-forth battle ended when the Dutch team walked it off in the bottom of the 8th as former Cal great Brit Vonk doubled to center field and later scored on a single by Van Der Zanden to secure the gold. The host Bollate 1969 took third winning the bronze medal game against Spanish Rivas.

University of Tennessee Southern has announced assistant Tyler Robb has been promoted to head coach. He replaces former head coach Brandie Paul who stepped down after 22 seasons to concentrate on her duties as Director of Athletics at UT Southern, a position she has held since 2021. During her career Paul amassed 682 wins making her as one of the top ten winningest coaches in the NAIA. Robb joined the Firehawks coaching staff last season after playing baseball at UT Southern.

Florida State has welcomed back a familiar face. The Seminoles announced that program alum Ellie Cooper is joining the staff as Player Performance Director. Cooper was a standout for FSU from 2014-2017. She previously served on staff as a student assistant in the National Championship year of 2018.

Memphis has finally made the move to fill their head coaching position naming Stephanie VanBrakle Prothro their new leader. VanBrakle Prothro spent 11 seasons as the pitching coach at national powerhouse Alabama. This will be the third head coaching venture for the Crimson Tide Alum having previously led programs at both Birmingham-Southern and Samford.

Sources have confirmed to RTS that longtime coaching veteran Lonny Sargent will join the coaching staff at Arizona State. Sargent’s career has spanned over 34 years at various levels of the sport. He spent the past 10 seasons as head coach at Western Oregon before announcing his retirement at the conclusion of the 2022 season. That retirement was short-lived as he now joins the Sun Devils in their volunteer assistant role.

Professional Softball’s new franchise the Oklahoma City Spark have found their first leader. Seminole State College Head Coach Amber Flores was named the Spark Skipper on Wednesday. Flores has spent the past nine seasons leading the Trojans and will continue that role for her 10th in 2023. During her run with SSC she has been named NJCAA Region 2 Coach of the Year five times in 2014, 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2022. The former Oklahoma Sooner standout is no stranger to the pro-level having played with the USSSA Pride after her time in Norman. The Spark begin their first season of competition in Women’s Professional Softball (WPF) next summer.

Howard University has announced that Odicci Alexander has joined their coaching staff. One of the top stories in the 2021 season, Alexander pitched her James Madison team through a historic run to the Women’s College World Series. Alexander has played on the professional level since finishing her collegiate career and also served as a volunteer assistant coach at North Carolina. She joins a Bison squad that won the MEAC Championship and advance to the NCAA Postseason in 2022.

RTS has confirmed through multiple sources that Texas A&M-Kingsville will name Doug Eastman their new head coach. Eastman spent the past eight seasons running the powerhouse JUCO program at Yavapai College. While coaching the Roughriders he earned 343 wins. The 2022 YC squad finished 57-6 with a fifth-place finish at the NJCAA DI National Championship. Eastman replaces Craig Nicholson who departed TAMUK for the head coaching position at Akron.