Rounding Third Softball

The Cassady Sisters are having a pretty good summer so far.

The two became the first sisters to be hired onto coaching staffs at two separate Division I programs within the same week. Paige, the eldest Cassady, was hired as the new pitching coach at Texas Tech on Tuesday. The younger Cassady, Chase, was hired as the new pitching coach at North Alabama on July 6. Paige had served in the same role with Liberty before heading to Lubbock. Chase, a 2019 Liberty grad, served the 2022 season on staff at Gardner-Webb.

Collegiate Coaching runs in the Cassady family, as Patriarch John is also a former coach having worked on staff at Liberty for six years.

Wednesday’s gold medal game between USA and Japan drew the highest attendance of any event at The World Games 2022. The Hoover Met held over 10,000 fans for Team USA’s 3-2 victory over Japan to lay claim to the World Championship.

Barton College has named Melisa Shock head coach. Shock joins the Bulldogs after spending the 2022 season as pitching coach at Valparaiso. Valpo went 14-33 this year with the pitching staff sporting a 4.96 ERA. She has also had coaching stops at Frostburg State, West Virginia Tech, and Wheeling Jesuit.

Bowling Green State has promoted assistant coach Candace Fenton-Bockbrader to head coach. Fenton-Bockbrader has been on the Falcons coaching staff the past two seasons through some of BGSU’s most successful runs in over a decade. The 2022 season saw Bowling Green finish with a 34-21 overall record while going 16-11 in MAC play and appearing in the conference tournament championship final.

Morehead State has chosen Megan Griffith as their next head coach. Griffith comes to the Eagles after spending the last five months in her first head coaching job at DII Savannah State. In her lone season leading the Tigers she registered a 13-18 record. She has also had stops as an assistant coach on staffs at George Mason and UC San Diego.

Team USA avenged last summer’s Tokyo Olympic Games Final loss Wednesday night defeating Japan 3-2. With the victory the U.S. Women’s National Team took home the WBSC World Championship Gold at the World Games in Birmingham, Alabama. Janae Jefferson scored all three runs for Team USA in the bottom of the 2nd with a bases clearing line drive that reached the left-centerfield wall. USA was undefeated in the event outscoring their opponents 31-4.

Brady Tigert has been named the new head coach at Catawba College. Tigert joins the Lady Indians after spending one season as head coach at DIII Wesleyan College. In one season he turned the downtrodden Wolves program around winning the most games in program history (24) while appearing in the USA South Tournament Championship Series. Tigert’s most success came at the DII level he now returns to as head coach at Midwestern State. In 13 seasons leading the Mustangs he won 486 games while being named Lone Star Conference Coach of the Year six times.

Delta State has named Whitney Way to lead their program. The first-time collegiate head coach joins the Lady Statesmen after serving as a graduate assistant coach at Arkansas Tech. Last season she helped the Golden Suns to a 40-19 overall record, a Great American Conference Championship, and berth in the NCAA Postseason.

Brian Levin has resigned as head coach at Southern Miss. Levin cited wanting to spend more time closer to family for his departure from Hattiesburg. He spent three seasons coaching the Golden Eagles compiling a 65-62 record.

RTS has learned that Helen Pena will be joining the coaching staff at Middle Tennessee. Pena spent the last five seasons working with the pitching staff at Memphis. Before coming to the Bluff City she was an assistant at NAIA Menlo College in California.