After being tabbed interim head coach at Auburn-Montgomery earlier this month, Scottie Wilkes has now had that tag removed being named permanently to the position. Wilkes, an assistant with the program since 2012, becomes the third head coach in AUM History. Last season, Wilkes helped the Warhawks to a 49-13 record, including a 25-5 mark in GSC play. The team advanced all the way to the DII World Series.
SIUE Debacle Ends With Finigan Resignation
Southern Illinois-Edwardsville interim head coach P.J. Finigan has resigned. Finigan led the Cougars through the 2022 season compiling a 19-35 record.
The hiring of Finigan from the SIUE Baseball staff early last summer and being given the interim tag for the year, was seen at the time as a unfathomable and lazy move by SIUE Administration. At the time Director of Athletics Tim Hall said there were not enough “qualified” applicants for the position, indicating why this hire was made.
RTS learned there were numerous qualified applicants that had applied early in the summer hiring cycle. That pool was made up of former and current head coaches along with some current assistant coaches from within SIUE’s conference at the time. An open records request for the list of applicants made by RTS to SIUE was denied.
Let’s hope Mr. Hall and his administrative staff do their due-diligence this time around for their student-athletes in finding a suitable and permanent leader for their program moving forward.
Poole Out After 11 Seasons At Memphis
Sources have confirmed to RTS that Memphis will part ways with head coach Natalie Poole. Poole had led the Tigers since 2012. Her most successful season came in 2018 when the program finished with 37 victories. The 2022 squad went 16-38 and 2-16 in AAC play.
UMKC Parts Ways With Shaw
Kansas City is parting ways with head coach Kerry Shaw. UMKC indicated they were not renewing his contract on Tuesday. In three seasons coaching the Kangaroos, Shaw compiled a record of 48-73.
Jocelyn Alo’s Next Stop: Professional Wrestling?
Could Jocelyn Alo’s professional future lay away from the softball diamond? One scout at last night’s WCWS Final between Oklahoma and Texas could indicate that. Stephanie McMahon daughter of WWE Owner Vince McMahon was in attendance at the Sooners National Championship Victory in Oklahoma City. Alo was an accomplished amateur wrestler for her high school in Hawaii before coming to OU.
WCWS All-Tournament Team Announced After OU Seals Sixth National Title
NCAA announced the WCWS All-Tournament Team at the conclusion of the event last night. The National Champion Oklahoma Sooners led the team with five selections, including Jocelyn Alo the MVP of the WCWS who hit .656 with nine home runs.
2022 WCWS All-Tournament Team:
Jocelyn Alo-Oklahoma (MVP)
Tiara Jennings-Oklahoma
Jayda Coleman-Oklahoma
Rylie Boone-Oklahoma
Hope Trautwein-Oklahoma
Bella Dayton-Texas
Courtney Day-Texas
Estelle Czech-Texas
Delanie Wisz-UCLA
Megan Faraimo-UCLA
Maya Brady-UCLA
Kelley Maxwell-Oklahoma State
Veteran Coach McNutt To Lead TWU
Gay McNutt has been named the new head coach at Texas Woman’s University. McNutt is a veteran of the sport and spent the last four seasons on the staff at Texas A&M-Commerce. In 2022 she served as interim head coach. McNutt also led programs as Stephen F. Austin and Southern Miss.
Recruiting Landscape Could Be Changing
RTS has obtained an internal memo circulating to the membership of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) on behalf of their Head Coaches Committee (HCC) that could drastically change the face of recruiting moving forward.
The NCAA Transformation Committee is exploring moving all sports to recruiting calendars that are only comprised of two or three type of recruiting periods.
The examples follow the Sample Models below.
Recruiting Period (Green): All recruiting activities are permitted during a recruiting period.
Dead Period (Red): In-person recruiting activities are prohibited (e.g., contacts, evaluations, visits, to campus). Correspondence (e.g. texts, emails) and telephone calls are permitted during this time.
Recruiting Shutdown (Black): No recruiting activities of any kind are permitted during this time.
While the attached models are examples, it seems uncertain by many RTS sources with direct knowledge of the situation whether these exact models are being considered specifically. NFCA and it’s membership could come up with there own models in varying forms as calendars go. The same sources also indicated to RTS that there seems to be a lot of miscommunication, misinformation, and in one coaches words “complete confusion” within the Divison I Membership on all the moving parts of this currently. However, each head coach has been asked to give their feedback/comments to the HCC Represntive of each Division I Conference within the next week.
National Champ Captains No. 1 In Final DIII Poll
Christopher Newport (47-1) has finished No. 1 in the last NFCA Division III Top 25 Coaches Poll of the 2022 season. The Captains captured the program’s first National Championship late last month defeating No. 2 Trine (35-13).
| Rank | Team | Points | 2022 Record | Previous |
| 1 | Christopher Newport (10) | 250 | 47-1 | 1 |
| 2 | Trine | 240 | 35-13 | 20 |
| 3 | Texas Lutheran | 230 | 45-6 | 2 |
| 4 | Berry | 220 | 36-13 | 10 |
| 5 | Salisbury | 210 | 42-8 | 4 |
| 6 | Eastern Connecticut State | 200 | 44-7 | 3 |
| 7 | Belhaven | 190 | 41-8 | 5 |
| 8 | Virginia Wesleyan | 180 | 36-13 | 9 |
| 9 | Millikin | 170 | 37-9 | RV |
| T10 | Bethel | 155 | 37-7 | 12 |
| T10 | Randolph-Macon | 155 | 35-11 | 16 |
| 12 | Worcester Polytechnic Institute | 140 | 35-17 | NR |
| 13 | Case Western Reserve | 130 | 30-12 | T25 |
| 14 | Linfield | 120 | 38-9 | 6 |
| 15 | East Texas Baptist | 110 | 33-12 | 7 |
| 16 | Concordia (Wis.) | 100 | 36-6 | 18 |
| 17 | Wartburg | 90 | 30-4 | T25 |
| 18 | Mary Hardin-Baylor | 80 | 32-11 | 11 |
| 19 | Birmingham-Southern | 70 | 32-8 | 15 |
| 20 | Piedmont | 60 | 31-11 | 14 |
| 21 | Rowan | 50 | 35-10 | 17 |
| 22 | DePauw | 40 | 35-11 | 8 |
| T23 | Mount St. Joseph | 11 | 34-12 | NR |
| T23 | Tufts | 11 | 36-12 | NR |
| 25 | Babson | 10 | 38-10 | 23 |
Others receiving votes: Ohio Northern 8, WashU 7, and Arcadia 1.
Dropped out: Amherst, Buena Vista, Geneseo, Illinois Wesleyan, Roanoke, Rochester, Susquehanna
National Champion Rogers State Unanimous No. 1 In Final DII Poll
Rogers State (58-10) is the unanimous No. 1 in the final NFCA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll of 2022. The Hillcats won the program’s first Division II National Title at the end of May defeating Cal State Dominguez Hills (45-24) in the championship final.
| Rank | School | Points | 2022 Record | Prev. Ranking |
| 1 | Rogers State (16) | 400 | 58-10 | 4 |
| 2 | Cal State Dominguez Hills | 382 | 45-24 | |
| 3 | UT Tyler | 367 | 49-9 | 1 |
| 4 | Auburn Montgomery | 351 | 49-13 | 3 |
| 5 | North Georgia | 336 | 49-18 | 18 |
| 6 | Southern Indiana | 303 | 49-13 | 10 |
| 7 | Seton Hill | 291 | 42-12 | RV |
| 8 | Texas A&M-Kingsville | 281 | 50-12 | 2 |
| 9 | Central Oklahoma | 276 | 48-13 | 8 |
| 10 | Adelphi | 272 | 47-15 | 22 |
| 11 | Cal State San Marcos | 239 | 45-14 | 11 |
| 12 | Valdosta State | 227 | 38-14 | 12 |
| 13 | Augustana | 188 | 50-10 | 9 |
| 14 | Grand Valley State | 169 | 43-8 | 21 |
| 15 | Kutztown | 147 | 40-15 | 20 |
| 16 | Tampa | 141 | 38-13 | 6 |
| 17 | Anderson | 131 | 40-10 | 15 |
| 18 | Lubbock Christian | 128 | 39-12 | 16 |
| 19 | Indianapolis | 117 | 48-10 | 5 |
| 20 | Concordia Irvine | 104 | 46-10 | 13 |
| 21 | Angelo State | 91 | 39-12 | 7 |
| 22 | Minnesota State | 86 | 48-14 | 17 |
| 23 | Lincoln Memorial | 71 | 45-9 | RV |
| 24 | Wilmington | 28 | 38-20 | |
| 25 | UAH | 24 | 41-17 | 24 |
New to Poll: No. 2 Cal State Dominguez Hills, No. 7 Seton Hill, No. 23 Lincoln Memorial, No. 24 Wilmington.
Dropped Out: No. 14 Texas A&M-Commerce, No. 19 Oklahoma Christian, No. 23 Washburn, No. 25 Lenoir-Rhyne.
Receiving Votes: St. Mary’s (21), Texas A&M-Commerce (12), Sonoma State (9), Washburn (6), Saginaw Valley State (2).