Rounding Third Softball

The weekend of Top 25 upsets continued Saturday evening as Central Arkansas knocked off No. 14 LSU. The Bears handed the Tigers the 3-2 loss on their home turf in Baton Rouge. Jaylee Engelkes was the offensive catalyst for UCA hitting a solo shot in the fourth to put the Bears on the board. She then doubled in the seventh to score the game-winning run.

Another Top 25 upset opening weekend as South Florida downs No. 16 Michigan. The Bulls defeated the Wolverines 4-1 in Tampa at the Rawlings Invitational. In the win Senior Georgina Corrick struck out 11 to push her career total to 906, breaking the American Athletic Conference record of 903.

The first major upset of the DI College Softball Season has come and come early. Florida Gulf Coast knocked off No. 10 ranked Texas Friday night. The Eagles downed the Longhorns 6-4 on their home field at the FGCU Kickoff Classic. Senior pitcher Emily Estroff led the way in the circle as she kept UT to just three earned runs on five hits while striking out three in six innings. She also went 2-for-3 at the plate with three RBI.

The 1986 Cal State Fullerton Softball Team was inducted in the school’s Hall of Fame Wednesday night. Led by Hall of Fame Coach Judi Garman, the team finished the ‘86 season 59-7-1 playing in the Women’s College World Series. CSUF defeated Texas A&M in the WCWS Final to take home the National Championship. Notable names on the squad included pitchers Susan LeFebvre and Connie Clark that combined for a staff ERA of 0.28, Chenita Rogers, Robin Goodin, Terri Oberg, and a host of other softball greats.

DePauw, which finished the 2021 season third at the NCAA Championship Finals, has been unanimously voted No. 1 in the NCAA Division III Preseason Coaches Poll. The Tigers are followed by the defending National Champions Virginia Wesleyan at No. 2.

Rank	Team	Points	2021 Final Record	2021 Final Ranking
1	DePauw (10)	250	40-5	3
2	Virginia Wesleyan	240	46-6-1	1
3	Texas Lutheran	230	36-6	2
4	East Texas Baptist	220	33-7	10
5	Birmingham-Southern	210	33-8	5
6	Eastern Connecticut State	200	32-4	17
7	Tufts	190	21-7	T8
8	Salisbury	180	25-9	14
9	Rochester	170	35-10	T8
10	The College of New Jersey	160	26-5	4
11	Milwaukee School of Engineering	150	35-10	16
12	Wisconsin-Oshkosh	140	29-13	6
13	Mount St. Joseph	130	33-10	12
14	Piedmont	120	25-13	18
15	St. John Fisher	110	31-7	11
16	Trine	100	30-8	21
17	Berry	90	25-10	15
18	Belhaven	80	31-12	19
19	Christopher Newport	70	28-14	NR
20	Linfield	60	38-9	RV
21	Millikin	38	31-13	NR
22	Brandeis	26	14-3	RV
23	Case Western Reserve	22	27-9	NR
24	Gettysburg	17	13-5	RV
25	Alfred	12	32-11	24

Others receiving votes:  Husson 10, Coe 7, Emory 6, Aurora 5, Benedictine 3, Calvin 3, and Babson 1.

The University of Illinois-Chicago has now joined the growing list of victims of former conference bitterness and apparent temper tantrums. UIC has been informed by the Horizon League that all of their athletic teams would be banned from postseason play all but ending their chances to make any respective NCAA Play. The move comes as UIC has decided to leave the Horizon League to join the Missouri Valley Conference in the 2022-23 season. The Flames join the likes of Stony Brook and James Madison that were told in the last several months they would also not be eligible for postseason play in their current respective conferences (the America East and Colonial Athletic) after making similar announcements to move affiliations (Stony Brook to the Colonial Athletic and James Madison to the Sun Belt). From a softball perspective this would all but end chances for NCAA Play for Illinois-Chicago and Stony Brook, and strain James Madison’s chances at an at-large due to their strong pre-conference schedule yet weak RPI after they start CAA play. JMU made a historic run in the 2021 season to the Women’s College World Series knocking off eventual National Champion Oklahoma before finishing fourth nationally.

On Tuesday ESPN released its 2022 Collegiate Softball Schedule featuring more than 2,000 games over their multiple platforms including: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN+, SEC Network, ACC Network, Big 12 Network and Longhorn Network.

The 2022 season coverage begins February 17-20 with the St. Pete Clearwater Elite Invitational.

A full coverage schedule can be found at ESPN’s Industry-Leading Collegiate Softball Schedule to Offer More Than 2,000 Regular Season Games – ESPN Press Room U.S.

Rhode Island College has named Mary Holt-Kelsch interim head coach. Holt-Kelsch spent six seasons as an assistant coach and eventually associate head coach at the University of Rhode Island. She also had a two-year stint on the coaching staff at Lafayette.

Savannah State has hired Megan Griffith as their new head coach. Griffith takes over direction of the Tigers after most recently being an assistant coach at George Mason. She also served on the coaching staff at UC San Diego where the 2019 team won the regular season conference championship, the West Regional and Super Regional Championships, and advanced to the NCAA Division II College World Series.

The University of Southern Indiana has announced its intentions to reclassify to Division I. The institutes board of trustees voted unanimously to make the move from Division II. The board approved the start of the application process to the NCAA for reclassification indicating they will apply by the June 1st deadline to start playing in DI by the upcoming fall semester. The Screaming Eagles Softball Squad has found their share of national success playing on the DII level. However, finishing the 2021 season 16-21 while going 13-15 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.