Rounding Third Softball

The National Junior College Athletic Association has announced a multi-year media rights agreement with ESPN to begin with the 2022-2023 sports season. Under the agreement multiple NJCAA National Championships and regular-season contests will be broadcast on the ESPN+ platform. This will include 20 regular-season softball games and the NJCAA DI National Championship Finals.

UCLA announced that Lisa Fernandez has been promoted to Associate Head Coach. Fernandez, a Bruin and World Softball Legend, has been part of the UCLA Coaching Staff the past 24 years. Heading up the Bruin Pitching Staff, she has been named to three National Coaching Staffs of the Year, and seven times been named as part of the Regional CSOY. UCLA last won a National Championship in 2019.

Southern Miss has announced Natalie Poole as their new head coach. Poole joins the Golden Eagles after stepping down at Memphis in June after 11 seasons.

RTS reported last month Poole had been engaged by Southern Miss. She also interviewed on July 25 and was a finalist for the head coaching job at Tennessee Tech, but ultimately was runner-up for that position. Sources also have confirmed that Jones College Coach Chris Robinson had orginally accepted the position to lead USM, but reversed course and stayed with the JUCO.

Poole, a well-connected political cog in the sport, compiled a 241-340 record while leading Memphis. The Tigers last season were 16-38.

Southern Miss is coming off a 29-23 season in 2022 under former head coach Brian Levin who departed the program in July. Levin has since joined the coaching staff at Iowa.

Goshen College has named Luke Wagner their new head coach. Wagner spent the last 11 seasons leading the program at DIII Rhodes College. He compiled a record of 217-172-2 with the Lynx. Wagner takes over an NAIA program at Goshen that finished the 2022 season 24-28.

Japan downed USA today in a deciding Game 3 of the Japan All-Star Series in Yokohama. The hosts shutout the USA Women’s National Team 1-0. Japan won the series opener 2-1 on August 6. USA responded August 7 with a Game 2 victory 3-2 to tie the series. Both contests took pace in Fukushima. The deciding Game 3 and series championship was then secured by No. 2 World Ranked Japan over the current No. 1 ranked USA.

RTS has confirmed that Mary Karen Wheat will be named the new assistant coach at Bryant University. Wheat has spent the last three seasons at University of Rochester. During her tenure UR appeared in the DIII World Series in 2021, leading to her being named National Assistant Coach of the Year after that season. Wheat will serve as the Bulldogs pitching coach.

UC Santa Barbara has named Hall of Fame Coach Jo Evans as the next Gauchos leader. RTS reported last month that Evans was the top target for UCSB.

Evans spent 26 seasons coaching the program at Texas A&M. In 37 seasons as a collegiate head coach she has compiled a record of 1,300-714-2. She is 11th in the NCAA for total career wins.

UC Santa Barbara finished the 2022 season 15-39 and 6-21 in Big West play.

Former Missouri assistant coach Michaela Transue has landed her next coaching job joining the staff at Binghamton. Long-thought as embedded in the Missouri Softball program having been with the Tigers in various positions since 2018 while also having competed for Head Coach Larissa Anderson at Hofstra, she spent just one year in a full-time assistant coach role in 2022 before moving on. Binghamton finished last season 22-23 and 7-8 in American East Conference play.

Arguably the greatest power hitter in the history of softball is coming to collegiate coaching.

Texas A&M-Commerce has announced that Olympic Gold Medal Winner Crystl Bustos will be joining their coaching staff. Bustos won Olympic Gold Medals in 2000 and 2004, and is a member of the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame and National Softball Hall of Fame.

Bustos has spent her time since retiring from active competition in the private training field, while also establishing her own national club organization Ruthless Softball.

“I’m so thankful for this opportunity and to be part of the Lion Family. It’s time to do what Lions do!” Bustos commented to RTS after her hiring Wednesday.

Bustos joins the staff of new Texas A&M-Commerce Head Coach Brittany Miller. The Lions compete in their first season of Division I in 2023.

UAB added the final pieces to their full-time staff Tuesday with the hiring of a pair of coaches. Sallie Beth Burch was brought on as associate head coach, while Mollie Hanson was added as the program pitching coach. Burch joins the Blazers after serving on the coaching staff at Jacksonville State the last three years. Hanson was the pitching coach at Florida Gulf Coast in 2022 after five years in a similar role at Mercer.