Rounding Third Softball

Stacey Johnson-Whitfield has been named the permanent head coach at Furman. Johnson-Whitfield was named interim head coach last summer. She led the Paladins through the 2022 season going 22-33 and 8-10 in Southern Conference play. Johnson-Whitfield initially joined the program as pitching coach during the 2021 season.

University of Maryland Baltimore County has captured the American East Conference Tournament Title downing Albany 4-0 in the championship game. It’s the third tournament title in four years for UMBC. With the victory the Retrievers punch their ticket to the NCAA Postseason. The trip will be the third in four seasons since head coach Chris Kuhlmeyer took direction of the program.

Arizona State clinched at least a share of the Pac-12 Championship on Friday with an 8-4 victory over Washington in Seattle. The championship is the first for the Sun Devils since 2011. They can win the title outright today with a series winning victory over UW. With a loss and a UCLA win, they would share the title. ASU receives the conference automatic bid to the NCAA Postseason however, as they beat the Bruins two of three in their regular-season series.

UCF makes short work of South Florida in the finals of the AAC Tournament to take home the championship and punch their ticket to the NCAA Postseason. The Knights pounded the Bulls 11-0 for the run rule victory in Greenville, NC. UCF sweeps USF for the season having won all four meetings in 2022.

North Dakota State Head Coach Darren Mueller collected his 700th career coaching victory on Friday. The Bison downed Omaha 2-0 in the Summit League Tournament in Vermillion, SD. Mueller is in his 21st season at NDSU.

Carla Passini has resigned as head coach at Quincy University. Passini spent seven season coaching the Hawks. She compiled a record of 124-168, with a record of 63-107 in GLVC play.

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.

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.

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.

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.