Rounding Third Softball

Florida Gator Legend Michelle Moultrie will be inducted into the UF Athletic Hall of Fame as a member of the 2022 class it’s been announced. Moultrie, a longtime member of the U.S. Women’s National Team Program, played for Florida from 2009-2012. A two-time All-American, Moultrie finished her Gators career as the single-season record holder for on base percentage (.519), triples (5), and stolen bases (31). She also owns a pair of career records in batting average (.395) and stolen bases (83).

USA Softball has announced the coaching staff that will assist U.S. Women’s National Team Head Coach Heather Tarr at the 2022 World Games in Birmingham, Alabama this summer. The All-Star Staff will include Cindy Ball-Malone Head Coach at Central Florida, Tony Baldwin Head Coach at Georgia, and Tim Walton Head Coach at Florida.

Florida Atlantic has named Chan Walker interim head coach. Walker has been a part of the coaching staff at FAU the last 21 years. In 2018 she was elevated to associate head coach. The program alum takes leadership of the Owls after the passing of longtime head coach and softball legend Joan Joyce last weekend.

Campbellsville Coach Shannon Wathen collected her 700th career coaching victory on Tuesday in a double-header sweep of Brescia 15-5 and 16-6. Wathen is in her 19th season coaching the Tigers.

O Captain, My Captain!… Christopher Newport (23-1) is once again the No. 1 team in this week’s NFCA Division III Top 25 Coaches Poll. The Captains were unanimous collecting all 10 first-place votes.

Rank	Team	Points	2022 Record	Previous
1	Christopher Newport (10)	250	23-1	1
2	Salisbury	240	24-2	2
3	Texas Lutheran	230	23-4	5
4	Birmingham-Southern	220	21-4	7
5	Belhaven	210	20-3	4
6	Randolph-Macon	200	17-2	11
7	East Texas Baptist	190	20-6	6
8	Eastern Connecticut State	180	13-3	9
9	Virginia Wesleyan	170	17-6	3
10	DePauw	160	11-5	12
11	Roanoke	150	15-7	13
12	Linfield	140	21-5	8
13	Berry	130	18-7	14
14	Tufts	120	12-3	10
15	Wisconsin-Oshkosh	110	10-4	18
16	Concordia (Wis.)	100	12-1	16
17	Milwaukee School of Engineering	90	5-1	17
18	Chapman	80	17-2	19
19	Rowan	70	13-5	20
20	Millikin	47	18-2	24
21	Wartburg	33	14-6	22
22	Saint Benedict (Minn.)	32	12-2	23
23	Loras	29	13-1	T25
24	Mount St. Joseph	27	14-5	21
25	WashU	17	16-4	NR

Others receiving votes:  Mary Hardin-Baylor 7, The College of New Jersey 6, Lebanon Valley 4, Nebraska Wesleyan 4, Babson 1 and Moravian 1.

Like DI, DII also now has an undefeated team sitting atop their Top 25. Concordia Irvine (32-0) overtook previous No. 1 UT Tyler (27-3) in this week’s NFCA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll. The Eagles received all 16 first-place votes.

Rank	School	Points	2022 Record	Prev. Ranking
1	Concordia Irvine (16)	400	32-0	2
2	UT Tyler	383	27-3	1
3	Rogers State	367	26-2	4
4	Valdosta State	353	21-5	3
5	Indianapolis	334	23-3	5
6	Tampa	304	23-8	9
7	Augustana	301	16-5	8
8	Cal State San Marcos	268	31-3	14
9	Texas A&M-Commerce	263	29-7	21
10	Grand Valley State	259	15-2	7
11	Auburn Montgomery	245	24-6	17
12	Texas A&M-Kingsville	233	28-5	15
13	North Georgia	188	26-10	12
14	Angelo State	184	25-7	13
15	Minnesota State	172	18-6	16
16	West Florida	135	18-7	11
17	Lubbock Christian	131	26-6	10
18	Lincoln Memorial	126	27-7	20
19	Central Oklahoma	113	28-6	19
20	West Texas A&M	95	19-10	6
21	Carson-Newman	62	25-7	18
22	Oklahoma Christian	59	24-8	23
23	Embry-Riddle	50	17-7	25
24	Seton Hill	44	20-3	RV
25	Chico State	33	24-10	22

New to Poll: No. 24 Seton Hill

Dropped Out:  No. 24 Anderson

Receiving Votes: Anderson (29), St. Mary’s (20), Southern Arkansas (17), Adelphi (8), East Stroudsburg (8), Cal State Monterey Bay (6), Georgian Court (6), Rollins (4). 

Sooners, Sooners, Sooners, as the Top 5 in this week’s USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Coaches Poll remains the same. Oklahoma (29-0) still sits undefeated and unanimous in the top spot.

Rank	School (First Place Votes)	Points	2022 Record	Prev. Ranking
1	Oklahoma (32)	800	29-0	1
2	Florida State	764	30-2	2
3	UCLA	739	28-3	3
4	Alabama	702	28-4	4
5	Virginia Tech	675	25-3	5
6	Oklahoma State	619	24-6	7
7	Florida	586	27-5	6
8	Kentucky	538	22-7	8
9	Northwestern	530	22-4	11
10	Arkansas	508	21-6	10
11	Washington	467	20-10	9
12	Oregon	444	24-5	12
13	Tennessee	442	22-9	15
14	Duke	382	23-5	13
15	Georgia	330	29-5	17
16	Arizona State	315	25-5	20
17	Auburn	268	27-4	18
18	Clemson	259	21-10	16
19	Arizona	200	19-10	14
20	LSU	175	22-11	22
21	Texas	161	26-9-1	24
22	UCF	145	29-7	23
23	Michigan	131	18-9	19
24	Missouri	58	19-12	21
25	Notre Dame	55	23-6	RV

New to Poll: No. 25 Notre Dame

Dropped Out: No. 25 Stanford

Receiving Votes: Louisiana (34), Boise State (22), Oregon State (18), Stanford (12), USF (7), Georgia Tech (4), California (3), USC Upstate (3), Ohio State (2), Western Kentucky (2).

RTS will be in Gainesville tomorrow evening for a big Top 25 Sunshine State matchup between No. 7 Florida (27-5) and No. 22 Central Florida (29-7). Check-in starting at 5 pm here, on Twitter, and Instagram for real-time updates from the showdown between the Gators and Knights.

In this edition of On Deck, Lee Dobbins sits down with one of the most successful Division II coaches in the country, Concordia University Irvine’s Crystal Rosenthal. Rosenthal is in her 23^rd season coaching the Eagles (14 as head coach preceded by nine as an assistant) and has an overall record of 592-174. Before making the move as one of the top programs in DII, she led the CIU to the NAIA National Championship in 2013. Rosenthal also added the title of Athletic Director at Concordia Irvine in 2021. This season CIU is off to an impressive start as they sit undefeated 32-0 (20-0 in PacWest play) and are currently ranked No. 1 in Division II.

Lee Dobbins: You have been the head coach at Concordia Irvine since 2009, and have had a lot of success including a NAIA National Championship in 2013 and a very successful transition to Division II. What has been the key in maintaining this success consistently especially in the extremely competitive area like Southern California where there are many great collegiate programs?

Crystal Rosenthal: First and foremost the key to our success has been my coaching staff.  I have been blessed to have so many talented people pour into this program that it has allowed me to be able to focus on the areas that I am stronger in, while leaving other areas to better experts than myself.  My Associate Head Coach Rose Imbriano has been here with me throughout my Head Coaching career and for anyone that has played here or who knows her, knows that she is truly the secret to our success.   She is extremely hard working, invested into to building strong relationships with my players and is extremely gifted at teaching the game.  I think the other key has been really challenging anyone associated with my program whether it is the field crew, the trainer and of course each player that has played here to invest themselves fully into putting the team first.  I have always tried to lead by example in the way that the only way to accomplish great things is to put in great work every day. I have never taken one day for granted as the Head Softball Coach and I want to be surrounded by people that feel the same.  So while there are many other options here in Southern California, I just want to the best one for the people that are meant to be here.

Dobbins: You are in the unique and intriguing situation of not only running the softball program at CUI, but all the sports there as Athletic Director. Talk about that dynamic and how you are balancing that with the ultra-successful product you are putting on the field from the coaching aspect. 

Rosenthal: This is a very fluid answer daily!  It has certainly been quite a daunting task some days where I have a lot going on, but again one thing that has helped me gain some balance is the great people that I work with.  My assistants on the admin side of the house are strong leaders that do not need me to micro manage them which helps ease my workload on so many things.  I think just like softball, each day I try and prioritize what the most important things are and handle those appropriately.  Also, I have a fairly clear vision of what my core values are which helps to always re-center myself on what I am spending my days on.  I hope to help create a culture in our athletic department where our student-athletes can grow and develop on and off the field/court/pool as well as have the best collegiate experience possible.  I think part of making this possible is supporting my coaches as well.  I think too many times we forget the stress our coaches are under, so I try and be as supportive of them as I can be, so they in turn can provide that to our student-athletes.  To be honest sometimes the seriousness of my day helps me really enjoy practice and games at a different level than I had in the past as it has helped me become more grounded in my gratefulness to be able to be around a sport I love with student-athletes that I love.

Dobbins: Recruiting is always evolving and maybe not always for the positive as of late with showcase softball, recruiting services, and the challenges the pandemic have brought. Where do you think recruiting is now compared to say when you competed and started coaching? What are the challenges you have seen and maybe the fixes needed to be made?

Rosenthal: This answer is hard to summarize but let me try my best. I think ultimately, we have all been a part of creating a world where immediate gratification has become the most important thing.  I think that works both for coaches and student-athletes.  The world of travel softball in some cases has become a place where coaches want their players to go places simply so they can market that.  I think we have lost our way in really allowing athletes to take their time and find what may be the best fit for themselves.  As a non-Division I coach I am constantly battling the idea of DI or bust, and I completely understand the concept of wanting to play the highest level possible, but there are sometimes kids fit better for whatever reason at a DII, DIII, NAIA or JUCO, and I think they should be supported just as much without the pressures from the outside world chiming in.  I completely understand sometimes things just don’t pan out at a place, and that really is how life works, but I do feel like if coaches, parents and players spent more time researching, getting to know college coaches and learning about universities and then making decisions without the pressure of “what level” it would help ease some of these transfers we are seeing.  Again, let me reiterate it won’t work out perfect, coaches leave, playing time comes into play and sometimes personally things come up but I think the foundation of the system is broken down.

Dobbins: Following up on the recruiting question; Where do you believe the newest innovation of the Transfer Portal fits in college recruiting? Does CUI take advantage of the portal, or are you staying the course of recruiting high school/club age Prospective Student-Athletes and possibly JUCO Athletes?

Rosenthal: My short answer is that CUI utilizes whatever resources available to recruit the best players and personal fits to our program. We traditionally have mostly four-year freshman over my time here, but have taken advantage of some four year transfers and JUCO players.  I think in the transfer world its mostly someone we may have recruited out of high school but didn’t get the first time around, or someone that we have crossed passed with somewhere along the line.  Lucky for us our location is somewhere many athletes come home to when they are looking to find their new program, but for me I have always truly believed in the idea that God has a plan for everybody, so sometimes someone takes a long path to get here but If I feel like you can be a good addition on the field, and to our culture I am willing to do the work to get to know them and put in the work to see if CUI could be a possible fit.

Dobbins: College softball tends to be divided in the “haves and have nots”. The gap seems to be particularly wide between the major Division I/Power 5s and everyone else. Talk a little about that from the standpoint of having a Top DII program and running an Athletic Department. Do you see those gaps closing, or just getting wider with innovations like the NIL and the push to treat athletes more like employees than students?

Rosenthal: I think those gaps are wide and most likely will stay that way.  The money and potential for endorsement/sponsorship at the power five level is unbelievable.  I would be lying if I didn’t say some days, I wonder what it must be like to coach in multimillion dollar stadium with multiple resources in staffing, budgeting and access to technology, however I think it comes back to for myself what drives me as a coach.  I think as a coach when we are out on the recruiting trail, we all have our challenges, even some power fives aren’t as prestigious as others and their world is difficult when trying to convince the top 2% player to come to their place.  I have always looked at it from the perspective of Frosty Westering the legendary football coach, when he says in his book “Make the Bigtime” where you are at.  So, for me as long as I can stay grounded in my purpose for coaching, I will continue to do so.

Dobbins: Who are some of the peers and mentors that shaped you as an athlete and now on your coaching journey?

Rosenthal: I have had some great coaches growing up for different reasons.  I played a lot of different sports, but basketball was my first love.  I was on a really competitive AAU basketball team early on, and my director Joe Perry really helped teach me the importance of attention to detail.  He was relentless to me at the time, but I appreciate now that little bit of edge he instilled in me.  I also played high school basketball for a legendary coach, Eleanor Dykstra who won a ton of CIF championships, she taught me the most about building a program and not just a team.  I am grateful to still be able to all her and get her coaching wisdom.  In softball I only played club for one coach on the California Cruisers, Bill Silva.  Bill was really a great example of caring for your players and being loyal to them.  He was always kind to us no matter the outcome of the game, and was always invested in our lives off the field.  My associate head coach I mentioned above Rose has really taught me what working hard look like every day. We have become like family after all of these years, so she can tell me the truth and literally serves as such a great example of showing up every day.

Peer wise I have seen some great coaches which has truly helped shape me.  Mike Smith now back at CBU has been a great help to me over the years, but also a great example as I watched from afar as a young coach what building a successful program looks like.  Sue Enquist is also someone that has helped shaped my career, one thing about Sue is she makes time for coaches of all levels to give advice, to support and to advocate for and for me it was like a celebrity in my field actually game me the time of day as a young coach and I never forgot it.  Last but not least would be my parents.  My mom never played sports, but man you won’t find a more passionate or knowledgeable fan.  She instills in me a never quit mentality that helped push me to be the best I was capable of which has helped my coaching tremendously.  And my dad who played and coached his whole life, he has taught me the importance of perspective and patience.   

Tennessee has announced that the jersey of Sarah (Fekete) Bailey will be retired by the program. Fekete-Bailey was a two-time All-American and the 2006 NCAA Batting Champion. She competed for the Lady Vols from 2003-06. Fekete-Bailey helped lead UT to their first two appearances at the Women’s College World Series in 2005 and 2006. The retirement ceremony will take place Saturday, April 16, prior to the series opener between Tennessee and Texas A&M.