Houston head coach Kyla Holas has resigned after sixteen years at the program's helm. Holas, the only person to hold the Cougars' head coaching position since the program's inception in 1999, led her squad to a 27-29 record in 2016, including a 9-9 (.500) record in conference play in what would be her final season. Under Holas' leadership, the Cougars earned seven appearances in the NCAA tournament, twice reaching the Super Regional round. The Cougars haven't reached the NCAA postseason since 2014 and have not reached a Super Regional since 2011. A two-time Conference USA Coach of the Year, Holas boasts a 563-376-1 career record. Over the last two seasons, her team has recorded a 55-56 overall mark, including a 19-16 record in conference play. The school's press release termed the reasoning for Holas' departure as "to pursue other opportunities". Holas, a member of the Yvette Girouard coaching tree, was a three-time all-American as a player at Louisiana-Lafayette and was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 2011.
The group of ten finalists for the 2016 National Player of the Year award have been announced, narrowing the list from the twenty-five finalists announced last month.
Twice-defending champion and likely NCAA #1 seed Florida has two representatives on the list, the only school who can boast that. Two other SEC schools, Alabama and Auburn, are represented by a single player each, as are Michigan; Minnesota; Notre Dame; Florida Atlantic; James Madison; and Louisiana-Lafayette. Pitchers Delanie Gourley and Aleshia Ocasio represent the Gators as finalists - Ocasio leads the Gators with a 0.71 ERA and a 19-1 record. She's collected 127 strikeouts in 128 innings and allowed just fourteen extra base hits. Gourley sports an 0.76 ERA and an 18-3 record. She boasts more than 200 strikeouts of her own, while opponents are batting just .142 against her. Auburn's Kasey Cooper - the SEC Player of the Year and likely national award front-runner - batted .435 on the year, with nineteen homeruns and seventy-three RBI. She led her team in five statistical categories, numbers that also included a .939 slugging percentage. Michigan's Sierra Romero is one of just three seniors in the final ten. For her part, she is batting .485 on the season with sixteen homeruns, seventy-one RBI, and a .947 slugging percentage. She has earned forty-two walks on the year and scored sixty-six times. Alabama senior outfielder Haylie McCleney; James Madison sophomore pitcher Megan Good; Minnesota junior pitcher Sara Groenewegen; Florida Atlantic junior pitcher Kylee Hanson; Notre Dame junior outfielder Karley Wester; and Louisiana-Lafayette's injured senior catcher Lexie Elkins round out the list of finalists. Perhaps the most glaring omission from the ten finalists might be Washington's Ali Aguilar, who posts a .362/20/58 thus-far and boasts an .872 slugging percentage. She leads the PAC-12 in home runs, RBI, and slugging percentage. The list of finalists will be narrowed down one more time, to the final three, on May 25, while the winner will be selected a week later prior the start of the Women's College World Series.
Fresh off a stellar four-year career with Division 2 powerhouse Indianapolis, ace pitcher Morgan Foley has signed with the Chicago Bandits.
(c) UIndy Sports Info
The dominant hurler is UIndy's all-time wins leader and will be the first Division 2 player to ever suit up for the Bandits, who are coming off a league championship in 2015 and looking to shore up their rotation and pitching staff following the departure of all-time great Monica Abbott this offseason. During her career at UIndy, Foley set three school records including wins (140), strikeouts (1,659), and innings pitched (1027). She registered eight career no-hitters. Foley is second all-time in Division II history in strikeouts, behind only fellow 2016 NPF rookie Hannah Perryman, who was drafted by the Akron Racers. Foley got the "W" in the duo's only true head-to-head matchup this season, registering eighteen strikeouts and allowing just one hit and two runs in the conference tournament against Perryman's UMSL squad. For 2016, Foley finished the season with a 40-4 record and 0.85 ERA. She collected 487 strikeouts in 272 innings of work. She allowed just twenty-one extra base hits and opponents hit just .133 against her. Throughout her entire career, Foley never allowed opponents to hit higher than .166 against her. Also on the strikeout front, Foley holds the NCAA record for most strikeouts in a single game with thirty, a record she set in a thirteen-inning affair.
The Southland Conference's Texas A&M-Corpus Christi has announced that head softball coach Stephanie Hughes will not be retained and her contract will not be renewed following this season. 2016 was Hughes' fifth season at the helm of the Islanders, a year when she led her team to an 18-30 overall record, including a 7-19 performance in conference play. The Islanders finished ninth in the twelve-team conference, boasting a conference winning percentage of .269. During her five-year span at the helm of the A&M-CC program, Hughes put together an overall record of 82-156-1, including a 50-74 record in conference play. The Islanders reached the twenty-victory plateau just once in her tenure, in 2015. Prior to her hiring as Islanders head coach, Hughes spent eight seasons on the staff at UTSA, including a single season in 2011 as interim head coach. In her position as interim head coach, Hughes led UTSA to a 28-27 record. Hughes previously spent time on the coaching staff at Texas State, her alma mater, and at Navarro College. As a player, Hughes helped lead her team to two Southland Conference titles, herself earning a first-team all-conference nod in 2001.
Iowa State head coach Stacy Gemeinhardt-Cesler will not have her contract renewed at season's end, the school announced yesterday.
A three-game series against Kansas this weekend will end Gemeinhardt-Cesler's eleventh season at the helm of the Cyclones. She posted a 242-319-1 record to date, including a 20-32 record in 2016. Pending the completion of the Kansas series, her squad won just one Big 12 game this season. Since 2007, Gemeinhardt-Cesler won just thirty-three conference games, winning more than four a year only once. From 2012-2015, the Cyclones won just eleven games against Big 12 opponents. She posted just a single .500 season in 2008, finishing below the mark every year since. The best player to come out of Gemeinhardt-Cesler's ISU program is easily Brittany Gomez. The senior this season was the program's first-ever NPF draft pick and holds four program statistical records, including batting average, hits, runs, and stolen bases. Gemeinhardt-Cesler posted a 153-76 career mark at Division II Emporia State prior to coming to Iowa Stat. She twice earned Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association Coach of the Year as head coach at Emporia, after being elevated to the role after originally being hired as a graduate assistant coach in 2001. Gemeinhardt-Cesler twice earned all-conference honors and three times was an all-region honoree as a Missouri Tiger during her playing days. At the time of her playing career's end, she held top-ten positions in nine statistical categories in the Tiger record books. Iowa State is the second head coaching position to open and the first Power Five job to come open. Saint Peter's led off the 2016 Coaching Carousel with the firing of Ken Passante two weeks ago.
Every team enters the postseason with one goal... to reach Oklahoma City.
Justin's World of Softball is your place to be for everything you need to know about all of the conference tournaments - where they're happening, who's playing, and how you can watch. The PAC-12, Mountain West, Big 12, Big West, and West Coast Conference do not host conference tournaments and each league's regular-season champion earns the automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. The Ivy League held a "championship series", a three-game set between Harvard and Princeton this past week, with the end result leaving Princeton the conference champions and earning the conference's automatic NCAA bid. American: Where: Tulsa, Oklahoma (Tulsa host) Seeding: South Florida earned the AAC's top seed and earned a first-round bye in the seven-team tournament. UCF, Tulsa, and Houston fall in line behind as the remaining top-four seeds, while Memphis, East Carolina, and UConn earned lower-seeded berths. Watch: Preliminary games can all be seen on the American Digital Network, while the championship game will be seen on ESPN at 11:00 am Central time on Saturday. Bracket: Find it here. ACC: Where: Raleigh, North Carolina (NC State host) Seeding: Florida State earned the #1 seed, followed by Louisville, Notre Dame, Boston College, North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Syracuse, and Pitt. No first-round byes are given. Watch: The tournament title game will be seen on ESPN at 1:00 pm Central time on Saturday. Bracket: Find it here.
America East: Where: Binghamton, New York (Binghamton host) Seeding: Hosting duties came along with the regular-season championship for Binghamton, the tournament's #1 seed. Seeded 2-6 will be Maine, Albany, Stony Brook, UMBC, and Hartford. The top two seeds have first-round byes. The tournament is played in double-elimination format. Watch: No TV, but you can find Championship Central here. Bracket: See Championship Central link above. Atlantic Sun: Where: Fort Myers, Florida (FGCU host) Seeding: Host Florida Gulf Coast earned the top seed, followed by perennial power USC-Upstate who is seeded second. Stetson, Kennesaw State, Lipscomb, and Jacksonville earned seeds 3-6. Watch: Every game from the tournament will be streamed on ESPN3.com and the WatchESPN app. Bracket: Find it here. Atlantic 10: Where: Washington, D.C. (George Washington hosts) Seeding: #1 seed Fordham and #2 seed Dayton earn first-round byes, while #s 3-6 UMass, Saint Louis, St. Joseph's, and George Washington will play the first round of games. Watch: The semifinal and finals games will be televised on the American Sports Network on Friday and Saturday, respectively. Bracket: Find it here. Big East: Where: Rosemont, Illinois (DePaul host) Seeding: Host DePaul earned the conference's #1 seed, while Villanova, defending champion St. John's, and Butler round out the four-team field. Watch: All games of the tournament can be seen on FS2. Bracket: Find it here. Big Sky: Where: Ogden, Utah (Weber State host) Seeding: #1 seed Weber State and #2 Sacramento State earn first-round byes for the tournament, while Idaho State, Montana, Southern Utah, and Portland State earned the #3-#6 berths, respectively, and will battle in the first round of the double-elimination tournament. Watch: All of the tournament will be streamed on WatchBigSky.com Bracket: Find it here. Big South Where: Rock Hill, South Carolina (Winthrop host) Seeding: Longwood is the #1 seed for the tournament. An 8/9 play-in game between Gardner-Webb and Winthrop, respectively, will lead off the tournament. The seedings in full include Longwood, Coastal Carolina, Liberty, Radford, Campbell, Presbyterian, Charleston Southern, Gardner-Webb, and Winthrop. Watch: All of the preliminary round games will be played on the Big South Network, while the semifinals and championship game(s) will be carried on ESPN3.com. Bracket: Find it here.
Big Ten Where: State College, Pennsylvania (Penn State host) Seeding: Nationally-ranked #2 Michigan earns the top #1 berth in the conference here, followed quickly by #2 Minnesota, #3 Northwestern, and #4 Penn State. The quartet of teams all earn first-round byes. Higher-seeded 'home teams' playing in the first round include #5 Nebraska, #6 Ohio State, #7 Illinois, and #8 Wisconsin. #9 Indiana, #10 Michigan State, #11 Rutgers, and #12 Purdue round out the single-elimination field. Watch: Live coverage of every game, as well as studio shows and championship coverage, can be seen regionally on the Big Ten Network. Bracket: Find it here. CAA Where: Harrisonburg, Virginia (James Madison host) Seeding: James Madison earned both hosting duties and the #1 seed with their regular-season championship. They recieve a first-round bye while the remaining four teams, #2 Towson, #3 College of Charleston, #4 Elon, and #5 Delaware, battle one another in the first round of the double-elimination affair. Longtime power Hofstra, with a sub-.500 conference record, did not make the tournament. Watch: Every game of the tournament can be seen on the conference's digital broadcast avenue, CAA.tv. The championship game will simultaneously be shown on the American Sports Network on Friday. Bracket: S CUSA Where: Denton, Texas (North Texas host) Seeding: #1 overall seed Florida Atlantic and #2 UAB earn byes for the first two rounds of the tournament, while #3 and #4 seeds Southern Miss and Louisiana Tech, respectively, earn a bye through the first round. #5 Marshall takes on #8 UTSA in the first round, as does #6 UTEP and #7 Florida International. Watch: All preliminary games of the single-elimination tournament will be shown on the C-USA Digital Network. The championship game on Saturday will be shown on CBS Sports Network. Bracket: Find it here. Horizon Where: Chicago, Illinois (UIC host) Seeding: UIC earned the #1 overall seed, followed by Wright State, Youngstown State, Green Bay, Cleveland State, and Valparaiso. The top two seeds earned first-round byes. The tournament format is double-elimination. Watch: The full tournament will be streamed live on ESPN3.com and the WatchESPN app. Bracket: Find it here.
MAAC Where: Poughkeepsie, New York (Marist host) Seeding: Host Marist earned the #1 seed after a stellar regular season and, along with #2 Manhattan, will sit out the first round on a bye. #3 Canisius is followed in the seedings by Monmouth, Fairfield, and Quinnipiac. Watch: Watch on MAAC.tv, the conference's digital streaming arm. Bracket: Find it here. MAC Where: Firestone Stadium, Akron, Ohio (neutral site) Seeding: Kent State took home the regular-season championship and earns the #1 seed. Falling in line behind are Miami (OH), Ohio, Northern Illinois, Western Michigan, Akron, Toledo, and Central Michigan. All teams play in every round until eliminated in the double-elimination tournament. Watch: The tournament will be streamed online; live event links can be found for each game here. Bracket: Find it here. MEAC Where: Ormond Beach, Florida (Bethune Cookman host) Seeding: From the North division, Delaware State earned the #1 seed, followed by Norfolk State, Hampton, and Morgan State. From the South division comes #1 Savannah State, #2 Bethune-Cookman, #3 Florida A&M, and #4 NC AT&T State Watch: No information was immediately available. Bracket: Find it here. Missouri Valley Where: Carbondale, Illinois (Southern Illinois host) Seeding: Wichita State earned the #1 seed and earned a bye into the semifinals, as did #2 seed Drake. #3 Northern Iowa and #4 Southern Illinois earn first-round byes and await for the victors to emerge from the group of #5 Bradley, #6 Evansville, #7 Illinois State, and #8 Missouri State. Watch: The entire tournament will be streamed live on ESPN3.com and the WatchESPN app. Bracket: Find it here.
Northeast Where: Brooklyn, New York (LIU-Brooklyn host) Seeding: LIU-Brooklyn took home the regular-season crown and, with it, hosting duties and the #1 seed. #2 Saint Francis, #3 Robert Morris, and #4 Bryant fill out the small tournament grouping. Watch: Every game of the tournament can be found live on NEC Front Row, the conference's digital broadcasting arm. Bracket: None immediately available. Ohio Valley Where: Oxford, Alabama (neutral site) Seeding: Jacksonville State earned the top seed, followed in quick succession by Eastern Illinois, Eastern Kentucky, SIU-Evansville, UT-Martin, Tennessee Tech, Morehead State, and Murray State. Watch: Every game of the tournament will be streamed online via the OVC Digital Network. Bracket: Find it here. Patriot League Where: Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (Lehigh host) Seeding: #1 Lehigh, #2 Army-West Point, #3 Boston, and #4 Bucknell will vie for the tournament crown & the league's automatic NCAA bid. Watch: All games from the double-elimination tournament will be broadcast live on the Patriot League Network (online). Bracket: Find the seedings & game list here. SEC Where: Starkville, Mississippi (Mississippi State host) Seeding: Twice-defending National Champions Florida holds the #1 seed, a spot they've held frequently nationally. Kentucky, Tennessee, and Auburn earn the remaining top-four seeds and first-round byes. Higher seeds playing the first round, #s 5-8, include Alabama, Missouri, LSU, and Georgia, followed on the lower end by Ole Miss, Texas A&M, South Carolina, and host Mississippi State. Watch: Every game of the SEC tournament will be seen on an ESPN network with two different (daytime/primetime) broadcast teams. The preliminary rounds up to the quarterfinals will be seen on the SEC Network beginning on Wednesday, while the semifinals will be found on ESPNU and the championship game will be on ESPN at 4:00 pm Central time Saturday. Bracket: Find it here. SoCon Where: Greensboro, North Carolina (UNCG host) Seeding: Regular-season champ Samford holds the #1 seed and are the only team with a bye to the second day of play. #2 Furman falls in line behind, themselves followed by #3 Western Carolina, #4 UNCG, #5 ETSU, #6 Chattanooga, and #7 Mercer. Watch: The SoCon Digital Network will broadcast all of the tournament's preliminary games. Saturday's action, including the championship game and if-necessary championship game, will be broadcast on ESPN3.com and the WatchESPN app. Bracket: S Southland Where: Lake Charles, Louisiana (McNeese State host) Seeding: Top seed McNeese also hosts at their own Cowgirl Diamond... fellow Louisiana squad Nicholls State earned the #2 seed. The top two seeds both get first-round byes, while #3 seed Lamar takes on #6 Sam Houston State and #4 Central Arkansas faces #5 Stephen F. Austin in the first round of the double-elimination tournament. Watch: The preliminary games of the tournament will be broadcast on the conference's digital platform, available at southland.org/watch. The championship games can be seen on ESPN3.com and WatchESPN Friday at 2:00 pm Central. Bracket: Find it here. Summit Where: Fargo, North Dakota (North Dakota State host) Seeding: Host North Dakota State hosts the six-team tournament and earned the #1 overall seed; the Bison earned a first-round bye, as did #2 seed Omaha. #3 Western Illinois, #4 South Dakota, #5 South Dakota State, and #6 IUPUI make up the remainder of the field. Watch: Not immediately available. Bracket: Find it here.
Sun Belt Where: Mobile, Alabama (South Alabama host) Seeding: Regular-season champ and #1 seed Louisiana-Lafayette and host and #2 seed South Alabama earn first-round byes and avoid the single-elimination preliminaries. #3 Texas State and #4 Georgia State must play a single game on single-elimination Wednesday, playing the winners of the tournament's first two games. These matchups will include the lowest four seeds, Georgia Southern, Troy, UT-Arlington, and Louisiana-Monroe. Watch: The full tournament can be found on SunBeltSports.org, via the /watch extension. From the semifinals on, including the championship game, will be aired on ESPN3.com and WatchESPN. Bracket: Find it here. SWAC Where: Irondale, Alabama (neutral site) Seeding: Alcorn State vs. Prairie View A&M leads off the first-round matchups, while Texas Southern and Alabama A&M battle, followed by Southern vs. Mississippi Valley State and Alabama State vs. Arkansas Pine-Bluff. Watch: The championship game will be seen on ESPN3.com and the WatchESPN app on Saturday. Bracket: Find it here. WAC Where: Seattle, Washington (Seattle host) Seeding: #5 Utah Valley and #4 Seattle play a single-game play-in to be the fourth team to enter the double-elimination tournament. They'll play #1 seed New Mexico State in the first round, with #2 UMKC and #3 CSU Bakersfield making up the rest of the field. Watch: Links to watch live online can be found here. Bracket: Find it here.
Ole Miss' Hailey Lunderman set the program's single-season hits record.
McNeese State sophomore Erika Piancastelli set the program's career home run mark.
Central Arkansas hired Brandi Dannelly as an assistant coach.
Texas A&M head coach Jo Evans earned her 1,100th career win.
Auburn's Emily Carosone set the program's all-time hits record.
Saint Louis head coach Christy Connoyer earned her 200th career win.
North Carolina State's Tyler Ross set the program's single-season records for both runs scored and stolen bases.
Samford senior Callie Brister set the school's all-time home run mark.
Kent State junior Maddy Grimm set the program's single-season runs record, as well as the all-time RBI mark.
Kennesaw State's Taylor Denton set the program's new all-time stolen base record holder.
South Alabama senior (and NPF draftee) Emily Messer set the school's new single-season hits record.
North Carolina senior infielder Kristen Brown earned a share of the ACC all-time home run record.
Seton Hall's Valerie Suto earned a share of the Pirates' program record for hits in a single season.
Ohio State's Cammi Prantl became the program's all-time hits leader.
UCF senior star Shelby Turnier earned a share of the program's career pitching wins record.
On the final game of the season, Saint Peter's recorded their first victory of the year, a 3-2 upset win over Monmouth.
Congratulations to this week's members of the No-No Express:
Molly Flowers, Maine (7.0 IP, 12 SO, vs. UMBC)
Holly Reinke, Colorado State (7.0 IP, 2 SO, vs. UNLV)
Kelly Barnhill, Florida (5.0 IP, 10 SO, vs. Arkansas)
KELSEY STEWART HIT TRACKER
The Florida Gators' second baseman comes into this season 113 hits away from the career NCAA record. We will track her progress weekly.
Original photo: Tim Casey/Florida Communications
WORTH WATCHING - After their teams' doubleheader matchup on Saturday, Western Kentucky head coach Amy Tudor and Marshall head coach Shonda Stanton had a 'battle' of their own.
UPSET ALERT - Top 25 teams that lost this week.
- #4 Alabama - Lost to #19 Georgia 9-5
- #5 Florida State - SWEPT by #1 Florida 1-0 (suspended game), 7-1; Lost to NR Louisville
4-0
- #6 Oregon - Lost to NR California 15-4 (5)
- #7 Auburn - Lost to #18 Texas A&M 6-5 (8); Lost to #18 Texas A&M 13-6
- #8 Washington - Lost to #16 LSU 6-0; Lost to #16 LSU 5-4 (9)
- #10 Missouri - Lost to NR South Carolina 3-1
- #13 Tennessee - Lost to NR Ole Miss 3-0
- #16 LSU - Lost to #8 Washington 9-4
- #18 Texas A&M - Lost to #7 Auburn 5-4
- #19 Georgia - Lost to #4 Alabama 7-2; Lost to #4 Alabama 9-7
- #20 South Florida - Lost to NR UCF 9-0; Lost to NR UCF 5-3
- #21 Arizona - Lost to #23 Oregon State 2-1
- #23 Oregon State - Lost to #21 Arizona 6-0; Lost to #21 Arizona 10-1 (5)
- #25 Utah - SWEPT by #15 UCLA 15-7 (5), 8-0 (6)
PERFORMANCES OF THE WEEK
Kierra Willis, Fresno State - As her squad ran their win streak to twenty-one straight games with two wins over Nevada, Willis provided a serious power push. Hitting .625 on the weekend, the junior outfielder clobbered three home runs and drove in seven of her team's seventeen runs as the Bulldogs swept the doubleheader.
Maddie Houlihan, Minnesota - The Gopher freshman got hot at just the right time, adding another stellar conference performance to her resume. Hitting at a .769 clip against the final B1G foe of the year, Iowa, notched out four extra base hits, including three doubles and a home run. She tallied four RBI along the way.
Kendra Lynch, North Carolina - With their backs against the wall and needing a solid showing in the final conference series of the year, the Tar Heels turned to Lynch to guide them to the conference tournament, and guide them she did. Throwing every inning of the three-game set against Georgia Tech, Lynch allowed just four runs and only fifteen hits. She struck out just seven, but added four hits, including two home runs, and 4 RBI from the offensive side, contributing to her team’s 22-run onslaught against the Yellow Jackets.
Alex Stewart, Louisiana-Lafayette - Pitching all but three innings of her team's dominant three-game sweep over in-state rival Louisiana-Monroe, Stewart showed out. In seventeen innings of work, she allowed just four hits, no runs, and struck out eighteen, earning the win in each of the three games to improve her season's record to 25-4.
Holas, the only person to hold the Cougars' head coaching position since the program's inception in 1999, led her squad to a 27-29 record in 2016, including a 9-9 (.500) record in conference play in what would be her final season.
