Rounding Third Softball

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.

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.

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

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.

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).

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.

Sources have confirmed to RTS that Western Michigan Coach Kathy Leitke will retire. Leitke coached the Broncos for 22 seasons amassing 478 victories. She guided WMU to the 2003 and 2011 MAC tournament crowns, leading to NCAA regional appearances both seasons. The 2022 Western Michigan squad finished 22-32.

Waldorf has named Justin Uhlenhopp their new head coach. Uhlenhopp spent this season as interim co-head coach before being promoted. He joined the Warriors as an assistant coach for the 2021 season. The 2022 squad finished 10-28 under his leadership.

The NAIA announced today the 40-team field and pairings for the 2022 National Championship Opening Round. 33 automatic qualifiers were given to conference regular-season champions, tournament champions and tournament runners-up, while seven teams were selected at-large. Each of the 10 locations feature a four-team, double-elimination tournament format May 16-18. The 10 opening round champions will advance to the NAIA World Series in Columbus, Ga., May 26-June 1. The qualified teams, sites, and schedule for the NAIA Championship can be found at https://www.naia.org/…/2021-22/Releases/2022_OR_Schedule

There is a new No. 1 in this week’s USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Coaches Poll!…. Just kidding. Still all Sooners. Oklahoma (48-1) sits atop the poll for the 27th consecutive week. Some new flavors added in the Top 10 as both Arizona State (37-8) and Duke (40-7) join the fray.

Rank	School (First Place Votes)	Points	2022 Record	Prev. Ranking
1	Oklahoma (32)	800	48-1	1
2	Virginia Tech	767	40-6	2
3	Florida State	737	49-5	3
4	Arkansas	693	41-9	5
5	Alabama	658	41-10	6
6	UCLA	636	40-8	4
7	Oklahoma State	574	38-12	7
8	Arizona State	563	37-8	12
9	Duke	540	40-7	11
10	Washington	502	34-13	9
11	Northwestern	498	39-9	8
12	Florida	450	41-15	10
13	Tennessee	430	38-15	14
14	Kentucky	395	35-16	13
15	Clemson	301	37-14	18
16	Texas	294	37-16-1	17
17	Auburn	290	39-14	15
18	Georgia	270	40-15	16
19	Notre Dame	231	39-9	20
20	LSU	217	34-20	19
21	UCF	181	44-12	21
22	Oregon	124	31-17	22
23	Michigan	110	34-15	23
24	Missouri	69	33-19	24
25	Louisiana	38	41-11	RV

New to Poll: No. 25 Louisiana

Dropped Out: No. 25 Arizona

Receiving Votes: Stanford (10), Arizona (8), Nebraska (7), Ole Miss (3), Georgia Tech (3), San Diego State (1).