USA Softball has announced the assistant coaches that will join Women’s National Team Head Coach Heather Tarr this summer at the Canada Cup and Japan All-Star Series. Cindy Ball-Malone Head Coach at Central Florida, Brian Kolze Head Coach at Pacific, and Jimmy Kolaitis Assistant Coach at Arizona State will join Tarr’s Staff for the Canada Cup slated for June 20-26 in Surrey, BC, Canada. Ball will also join Chris Malveaux Assistant Coach at Tennessee and Mike Steuerwald the Head Coach at Gaston College on staff for the Japan All-Star Series held in Fukushima and Yokohama, Japan August 1-9.
Christian Brothers Moves On From Bastian
RTS has learned that Jordan Bastian and Christian Brothers University have parted ways. Bastian spent three seasons as head coach of the Buccaneers after being hired in 2019. She compiled a 32-77 overall record while going 20-52 in Gulf South Conference play.
SDSU First Team Into NCAA Postseason
San Diego State became the first team to punch their ticket to the 2022 NCAA Postseason on Thursday. The Aztecs downed New Mexico 7-1 to clinch at least a share of the Mountain West Conference Championship. SDSU leads Boise State by a pair of games currently, but own the tiebreaker having beaten the Broncos two out of three in their regular season series. The Mountain West Conference does not play a postseason tournament, awarding the regular-season champion the automatic berth to the NCAA Regionals.
Another Debacle Costs Texas Tech
More details have emerged on the change of leadership at Texas Tech. The termination of Head Coach Sami Ward was without cause entitling her to 80% of her earnings per her contract. The sum of that amount is $429,000 that Texas Tech will pay monthly over the next three years. Tech Officials offered a lump sum of $225,000, which was turned down. Ward and her staff were dismissed in their second season in Lubbock on May 1 the day after the regular season was over. Tech administration cited a lack of improvement on reasoning for the change. The Red Raiders finished the 2022 regular season 22-26.
Top 10 Finalists For FOTY Announced
The National Fastpitch Coaches Association has announced the 10 Finalists for the 2022 Schutt Sports/NFCA Division I National Freshman of the Year award. The award honors outstanding athletic achievement among Division I freshmen softball student-athletes.
The Top 10 Finalists include:
Jordy Bahl-Oklahoma
Mac Barbara-San Diego State
Jada Cecil-UC San Diego
Michaela Edenfield-Florida State
Bri Ellis-Auburn
Tatum Kresley-Maryland, Eastern Shore
Jane Kronenberger-Notre Dame
Emma Lemley-Virginia Tech
Sierra Sacco-Louisiana Tech
Cydney Sanders-Arizona State
The field will be narrowed to three on May 26. The award will be announced on May 31.
Joseph Moves On At Michigan State
Michigan State is finally looking for new leadership for their softball program it announced Thursday. Head Coach Jacquie Joseph is retiring after 29 seasons leading the Spartans. A member of the National Fastpitch Coaches Hall of Fame in the Pioneer Category, she leaves coaching with a 889-942-1 overall record which included five seasons as head coach at Bowling Green State. Joseph guided Michigan State to four NCAA Regional appearances in her 29 seasons and one Big Ten Tournament title. She will continue at MSU in a sports administration role.
NCCAA World Series Field Set
The National Christian College Athletic Association has announced the participating teams for their World Series. The eight teams coming out of a regional tournament or selected at-large will compete May 17-19 for the NCCAA National Championship in Kansas City, MO.
NCCAA World Series Teams:
Mid-America Christian University
Southwestern Christian University
Oakland City University
Trinity Baptist University
Southwestern Assemblies of God University
Columbia International University
Hannibal-LaGrange University
Arlington Baptist University
A complete schedule for the NCCAA World Series can be found at https://thenccaa.org/tournaments/?id=2673&path=softball
CNU All Ahead Full in DIII Poll
The Captains are all ahead full into the NCAA Postseason. Christopher Newport (37-1) is once again the unanimous No. 1 in this week’s NFCA Division III Top 25 Coaches Poll.
| Rank | Team | Points | 2022 Record | Previous |
| 1 | Christopher Newport (10) | 250 | 37-1 | 1 |
| 2 | Texas Lutheran | 240 | 38-4 | 3 |
| 3 | Eastern Connecticut State | 230 | 37-4 | 4 |
| 4 | Salisbury | 220 | 36-6 | 2 |
| 5 | Belhaven | 210 | 38-6 | 5 |
| 6 | Linfield | 200 | 36-7 | 7 |
| 7 | East Texas Baptist | 190 | 32-10 | 8 |
| 8 | DePauw | 180 | 34-9 | 6 |
| 9 | Virginia Wesleyan | 170 | 33-11 | 11 |
| 10 | Berry | 160 | 29-11 | 10 |
| 11 | Mary Hardin-Baylor | 150 | 32-11 | 9 |
| 12 | Bethel | 140 | 33-4 | 12 |
| 13 | Roanoke | 130 | 30-12 | 15 |
| 14 | Piedmont | 120 | 31-9 | 16 |
| 15 | Birmingham-Southern | 110 | 32-8 | 13 |
| 16 | Randolph-Macon | 100 | 32-9 | 14 |
| 17 | Rowan | 90 | 33-8 | 19 |
| 18 | Concordia (Wis.) | 80 | 34-4 | 20 |
| 19 | Geneseo | 70 | 34-4 | 21 |
| 20 | Trine | 60 | 27-11 | 23 |
| 21 | Susquehanna | 50 | 27-7 | 24 |
| 22 | Amherst | 30 | 24-7 | T25 |
| 23 | Babson | 18 | 35-8 | 17 |
| 24 | Ohio Northern | 17 | 24-9 | NR |
| T25 | Case Western Reserve | 14 | 26-9 | T25 |
| T25 | Wartburg | 14 | 27-12 | NR |
Others receiving votes: Rochester 4, Illinois Wesleyan 2, WashU 2, and Buena Vista 1.
Dropped out: Dubuque, Kean, Millikin, Tufts, Wisconsin-La Crosse and Wisconsin-Oshkosh.
UT Tyler Still No. 1 In DII
Although UT Tyler (41-5) fell in the Lone Star Conference Tournament to eventual champion and No. 14 Texas A&M-Commerce (42-13), the Patriots keep rolling unanimously in the top spot in the final NFCA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll of the regular season.
| Rank | School | Points | 2022 Record | Prev. Ranking |
| 1 | UT Tyler (16) | 400 | 41-5 | 1 |
| 2 | Texas A&M-Kingsville | 379 | 45-9 | 2 |
| 3 | Auburn Montgomery | 367 | 43-9 | 4 |
| 4 | Rogers State | 351 | 47-9 | 6 |
| 5 | Indianapolis | 340 | 47-8 | 3 |
| 6 | Tampa | 305 | 35-11 | 8 |
| 7 | Angelo State | 290 | 38-10 | 7 |
| 8 | Central Oklahoma | 286 | 45-10 | 5 |
| 9 | Augustana | 253 | 46-7 | 11 |
| 10 | Southern Indiana | 249 | 43-10 | 15 |
| 11 | Cal State San Marcos | 242 | 40-11 | 9 |
| 12 | Valdosta State | 233 | 34-11 | 10 |
| 13 | Concordia Irvine | 214 | 43-8 | 12 |
| 14 | Texas A&M-Commerce | 190 | 42-13 | 18 |
| 15 | Anderson | 165 | 38-8 | 16 |
| 16 | Lubbock Christian | 157 | 37-10 | 13 |
| 17 | Minnesota State | 152 | 44-12 | 14 |
| 18 | North Georgia | 128 | 40-15 | 17 |
| 19 | Oklahoma Christian | 110 | 39-13 | 19 |
| 20 | Kutztown | 86 | 37-13 | 24 |
| 21 | Grand Valley State | 83 | 40-6 | 21 |
| 22 | Adelphi | 80 | 41-11 | 22 |
| 23 | Washburn | 55 | 45-13 | 23 |
| 24 | UAH | 25 | 38-15 | |
| 25 | Lenoir-Rhyne | 20 | 37-14 | 25 |
New to Poll: No. 24 UAH
Dropped Out: No. 20 West Florida
Receiving Votes: Nova Southeastern (16), St. Mary’s (11), Chico State (3), Lincoln Memorial (3), Carson-Newman (2), Seton Hill (2), Sonoma State (2), Colorado Christian (1).
Longtime Coach Kittrell Calling It A Career
Sources have confirmed to RTS that Spring Hill College Coach Steve Kittrell will retire. Kittrell coached the Badgers for five seasons after being hired in 2017. He compiled a record of 102-71, while winning one SIAC Championship and appearing in the NCAA DII South Region Tournament in 2019. Before making the move into softball, Kittrell was the head baseball coach at South Alabama for 25 seasons posting a career record of 1052–644–1.