Rounding Third Softball

Former Auburn Softball player Justus Perry has been named assistant coach at St. Catherine University in Minnesota. Perry’s playing career concluded in the spring of 2021 appearing in 211 games at first base for the Tigers.

The National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) has bestowed the 2021 Newberry “Perseverance” Award posthumously to Mark Lumley. The longtime coaching staff member at Baylor passed away in December of 2020 after battling cancer for the fourth time. In a 15-year period up until 2019, Lumley never missed a practice, recruiting or games due to treatments. The Donna Newberry “Perseverance” Award recognizes an NFCA member coach who has demonstrated extraordinary strength of will and character in the fight to overcome a physical, mental, or social adversity that presented an additional challenge to the already demanding job of a coach.

The University of Tennessee Martin has announced it will enshrine former head coach Donley Canary in the schools Athletics Hall of Fame. Canary coached the Skyhawks from 2002 to 2019 amassing 581 victories. The total is fourth most in Ohio Valley Conference History. In those 18 seasons he led UT Martin to a pair of OVC regular season championships, two OVC Tournament titles and three postseason appearances. Former three-time All-OVC honoree, 2012 OVC Player of the Year, and All-American Leah Taylor Eakin will also join her former coach in UTM’s Hall of Fame in the class of 2021.

McPherson College Head Coach Tony Segovia will retire at the conclusion of the 2022 season. Segovia has led the Bulldogs for the past three seasons going 73-39 overall. The McPherson graduate served 14 seasons coaching the program at Friends University compiling a 454-212 record before returning to his alma mater.

Brian Bessette has been named interim head coach at Carroll College. Bessette comes to the Saints after coaching the last two decades on the high school and club levels. He coached both Sentinel and Loyola Sacred Heart, winning 100 games at Sentinel while leading them to four Western AA conference championships in six seasons. Bessette replaces former coach Aaron Jackson who recently left to join the coaching staff at Iowa State.

After RTS first broke the news yesterday of the formation of a new professional softball league, USSSA, USA Softball, and Smash It Sports made it official this morning announcing the launch of Women’s Professional Fastpitch (WPF). The league will be headquartered out of Oklahoma City, with teams playing nation wide. WPF’s first move was an interesting one naming former professional player and Oklahoma Sooner great Lauren Chamberlain the leagues first commissioner. Play for season one of the WPF is slated to begin in June 2022.

RTS has received confirmation through sources that USSSA will announce in the next 24 hours it’s intentions to launch a new professional softball league. Word started to circulate in the last 48 hours of the impending move, and those intentions became further evident with a conference call to USSSA Pride players on Tuesday. While complete details have not been brought to light as of yet, sources have indicated that both Smash It Sports and USA Softball could also be involved with the venture. The USSSA Pride has played as an independent professional team since they ended their relationship with National Pro Fastpitch back in 2019. The NPF announced they were ceasing operation earlier this summer.

Hampton has appointed Monique White their new head coach. White joins the Pirates after three seasons as an assistant coach at Georgetown. Before joining the Hoyas she served on the coaching staff at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in a Daytona Beach from 2014-18.

Thomas University has promoted assistant Jessica Sanders to head coach. She replaces longtime Coach Bill Wilson who announced his retirement earlier this month. Sanders has worked on the coaching staff at TU the past eight seasons after coming from the staff at Shorter University, where she was also a Hall of Fame Player for the Hawks.

Texas A&M-Commerce has accepted an invitation from the Southland Conference and will join the ranks of Division I. The Lions will officially join the Southland on July 1, 2022, and begin a four-year transition into DI at the same time. A&M-Commerce has been a powerhouse in Division II, including the softball program that were NCAA South Central Regional Champions in 2018 and Regional Finalist in 2019 and 2021.