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Tennessee continues dominance
April 03, 2007
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March 2007 Rule Clarifications and Plays
March 31, 2007
Tips for Judging Interference
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Tincher and Dickson share USA Softball National Player of the Week accolades
March 27, 2007
Tincher and Dickson share USA Softball National Player of the Week accoladesOklahoma City---For the first time this season and only the third time in the history of the USA Softball National Player of the Week award there are Co-National Player’s of the Week announced today by the Amateur Softball Association. Oklahoma senior third baseman Norrelle Dickson (Orange, Calif.) and Virginia Tech junior hurler Angela Tincher (Eagle Rock, Va.) have been selected as Co-National Player’s of the Week for the week of March 19-25.Tincher led her Virginia Tech squad to a conference series win at Florida State, posting a pair of 1-0 victories. On Saturday, she tossed an eight-inning perfect game, the first in Virginia Tech history, as the Hokies picked up the 1-0 win in the eighth frame. She fanned 18 of the 24 batters she faced in the perfect outing.
"I want to thank USA Softball for this big honor. It's one I share with my team because you can't throw a perfect game and a one-hitter without great defense behind me. I also have to credit my catcher, Kelsey Hoffman, for calling two great games. She kept a great-hitting Florida State team off balance,” said Tincher of her performance. “Our offense came through with big runs in both games to support me and help us to win. Hopefully we can build on our success this past weekend as we head into the second half of the season."
On Sunday, Tincher flirted with another no-hitter, taking it into the seventh before giving up an infield single. She finished with a one-hit shutout as the Hokies posted another 1-0 victory. For the weekend, she pitched 15.0 innings of shutout ball, struck out 29, walked none, hit one batter and gave up just one hit.
For her season, Tincher is 20-3 with a 0.43 ERA and 330 strikeouts in just 155.0 innings pitched. She has two no-hitters and two other perfect games.
"Angela has been throwing well all season and Kelsey Hoffman has been doing a good job catching her. Angela has been awesome and was again so this weekend against a very good Florida State team,” said head coach Scot Thomas. “She's been diligent in staying healthy and throwing a lot of quality innings. We're proud of her accomplishments and she's certainly leading the way for us right now."
Dickson led the Sooners to a 3-1 record this week in Big 12 play while also making history as she became the career hits and runs scored leader at the University of Oklahoma. Dickson broke the career hits record on Sunday against No. 10 Texas going 5-for-5 against the Longhorns. She now owns the lead with 297 hits in her career, passing former OU player Kristin Vesely’s mark of 293. The senior also set the career record in runs scored during their win over Texas Tech surpassing former Sooner Christy Ring. She now owns the top mark with 211 runs scored in her tenure at Oklahoma.
“This is really special to me because this is the first time in my career I have ever gotten this,” Norrelle Dickson said. “Our team did a great job this weekend and I just went out there and tried to be an offensive leader all week and get our offense going. It was exciting to break the school records and leave my mark on the program. Hopefully I can continue to be consistent through Big 12 play and our team can continue to improve.”
In addition to setting career records, Dickson was impressive at the plate posting an impressive .750 batting average (12-for-16) to lead the Sooners to two wins over Texas Tech and a victory over rival Texas. She was perfect in two games against the Longhorns going 7-for-7 with two walks while notching a 1.429 slugging percentage and posting 10 total bases against UT.
Despite OU’s extra-innings loss to the Longhorns on Sunday, Dickson went 5-for-5 from the plate with a triple and an RBI. The five hits in one game marked a career high for the Sooner while she also set a career high with seven total bases in Sunday’s contest.
“Norrelle was such a huge offensive catalyst for us this weekend,” head coach Patty Gasso said. “She was absolutely in the zone all weekend and was clutch for us in all four games. She had a great offensive performance against some very good pitching. I’m excited for her because this honor is very deserving.”
For the week as the lead off batter she amassed a .778 on-base percentage with two RBI on a 1.000 slugging percentage. She also stole two bases during the week, including one against highly touted UT catcher Megan Willis.
This is the first-time honor for both Dickson and Tincher.
ABOUT ASA
The Amateur Softball Association, founded in 1933, is the National Governing Body of softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. The ASA has become one of the nation’s largest sports organizations and now sanctions competition in every state through a network of 84 local associations. The ASA has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to over 240,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than three million. For more information on the ASA, visit www.asasoftball.com.
ABOUT USA SOFTBALL
USA Softball is the brand created, operated and owned by the ASA that links the USA Men’s, Women’s, Junior Boys’ and Junior Girls’ National Team programs together. USA Softball is responsible for training, equipping and promoting these four National Teams to compete in international and domestic competitions. The USA Softball Women’s National Team is one of the only two women’s sports involved in the Olympic movement to capture three consecutive gold medals at the Olympic Games since 1996. The U.S. women have also won eight World Championship titles including the last six consecutive. For more information about USA Softball, please visit www.usasoftball.com -
Lady Vols are No 1
March 27, 2007
Lady Vols are No. 1 for seventh consecutive weekOklahoma City---The Tennessee Lady Volunteers (33-2) are the No. 1 team for a seventh consecutive week after going 5-0 this past week in conference play. This is the longest a team has held the top spot in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 poll in a single season since Michigan in 2005. The Wolverines finished the 2005 season ranked No. 1 for a 10th consecutive week after being crowned national champions at the NCAA Women’s College World Series.Texas A&M (28-3) moved up to the No. 2 spot this week after Alabama (31-3) lost two of three games at SEC rival LSU (31-5) last weekend. The Tide dropped to No. 4 while Oklahoma (36-3) held on to the No. 3 spot after sweeping a conference series at Texas Tech and splitting their series at Big 12 rival Texas (25-7). This is the first time this season that the top four teams have all received at least one first-place vote.
LSU moved up three spots this week to No. 6 following their two wins at home over Alabama while Michigan (25-5) slipped to No. 8 after dropping a nine inning affair to Big 10 rival Northwestern (24-6), 2-1, and being shutout, 2-0, by Liberty.
The University of Florida (27-14), who gave Tennessee and Alabama their first losses of the season earlier this year, made its way back into the top 25 this week at No. 22 by sweeping SEC East rival Georgia (28-12) in a three game series at home. The three losses were enough to knock Georgia, who was ranked No. 19 last week, out of the top 25 for the first time in the five year history of the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 poll. NC State (22-13), who has been back and forth in the top 25 the past few weeks, dropped out again this week after losing two of three at Georgia Tech (29-10).
No. 23 North Carolina (32-8), who is riding a NCAA best 25-game win streak, enters the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 Poll for the first time since May 14, 2006. The Tar Heels began the season 7-8 before starting their amazing win streak.
The Southeastern Conference and Big 12 Conference continue to dominate the top 10 with three teams each while the Big 10 and Pac 10 are represented by two teams each.
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Field Set for Challenge Series
March 21, 2007
Field Set for KFC World Cup and American Challenge SeriesOklahoma City, OK—The Amateur Softball Association of America (ASA) announced today the teams that will be competing in the KFC World Cup of Softball, July 12-16, in Oklahoma City. For the third consecutive year this world-class event will bring together some of the top teams in the world. USA, the reigning World Cup champions, will battle perennial powers Japan, China and Canada for a third consecutive year. These four teams will be joined by two powers from South America and Latin America respectively. Venezuela and the Dominican Republic have been added to the six-team field this year to truly make this a world class competition.“The Amateur Softball Association is extremely excited to be hosting the KFC World Cup of Softball in Oklahoma City for a third consecutive year”, said ASA Executive Director, Ron Radigonda. “This year’s event is shaping up to be even better than our last two events. We have already sold over 50% more tickets than we did last year at this time. “
In 2006, over 25,000 fans from over 30 different states attended the five-day event where the USA reclaimed the World Cup from Japan in dominating fashion. The event was televised in over 200 different countries and watched by over eight million U.S. households.
Reserved seating for this year’s World Cup has been expanded and fans are already taking advantage of the opportunity to reserve the best seat possible for the event. Pre-sales have already surpassed the pre-sale numbers from a year ago.
The pre-sale of reserved tickets includes all-session tickets only. All-session premium reserved seats are available for $100, all-session grandstand reserved seats are $50 and all-session general admission seats are available for $30. The all-session tickets include a minimum of 15 games plus fans holding a ticket for the World Cup will receive free admission to the inaugural American Challenge Series being held at the same time.
The American Challenge Series was developed by the ASA to help expose the men’s fast pitch game to fans who attend the World Cup and to give the USA Men’s National Team an opportunity to play on American soil. This will be the first time an International Softball Federation (ISF) men’s fast pitch event has been hosted in the U.S. in more than a decade. The last event held in the U.S. was the 1996 ISF Men’s World Championship in Midland, Mich.
The teams competing in the American Challenge Series, July 12-16, have also been finalized. The USA Softball Men’s National Team will face Japan, Venezuela and Argentina in a four team round-robin before advancing into the championship round.
“We are very excited to be hosting the inaugural American Challenge Series in Oklahoma City this summer,” said Radigonda. “This is a very unique opportunity for softball fans to get to see both their national teams play in one location. Men’s fast pitch is a very exciting sport to watch and I have no doubt fans are going to be treated to some great action.”
There are less than 1,000 premium reserved tickets still available for the 3rd World Cup and seating assignment requests will be considered on a first-come, first-serve basis. There are less than 1,200 grandstand reserved tickets available as well.
Individual session tickets will be available at a later date.
The Ultimate Fan Zone package, which has been a huge hit with fans, is currently sold out but in case more seats become available fans can request to be put on a waiting list by calling 1-800-654-8337. The Ultimate Fan Zone includes an all-session reserved seat in the premier section of the stadium, a personalized replica jersey and dinner with Team USA as well as an autograph session with the team. The Ultimate Fan Package is $250.
A schedule for the KFC World Cup of Softball will be released in the next couple of weeks.
The 3rd World Cup of Softball and the American Challenge Series are sanctioned by the International Softball Federation, the governing body of softball internationally as recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the General Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF).
Advanced tickets can be purchased through the ASA merchandise website at http://www.softballoutlet.com/ or by calling 1-800-654-8337.
ABOUT ASA
The Amateur Softball Association, founded in 1933, is the National Governing Body of softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. The ASA has become one of the nation’s largest sports organizations and now sanctions competition in every state through a network of 84 local associations. The ASA has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to over 240,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than three million. For more information on the ASA, visit http://www.asasoftball.com/.ABOUT USA SOFTBALL
USA Softball is the brand created, operated and owned by the ASA that links the USA Men’s, Women’s, Junior Boys’ and Junior Girls’ National Team programs together. USA Softball is responsible for training, equipping and promoting these four National Teams to compete in international and domestic competitions. The USA Softball Women’s National Team is one of the only two women’s sports involved in the Olympic movement to capture three consecutive gold medals at the Olympic Games since 1996. The U.S. women have also won eight World Championship titles including the last six consecutive.ABOUT ISF
The International Softball Federation (ISF) is the governing body of softball internationally as recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the General Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF). The ISF organizes and conducts world championship competition in women's and men's fast pitch, junior women's and men's fast pitch, women's, men's and coed slow pitch and women's and men's modified pitch. The ISF sanctions regional championships and provides technical support to Regional (Multi-Sport) Games. Additionally the ISF qualifies teams for Olympic softball competition in coordination with the IOC. The ISF provides the official playing rules for international competition including but not limited to; Olympic Games, world championships, regional championships, regional Games and other sanctioned competitions. -
Tennessee retains top spot
March 20, 2007
Tennessee retains top spotOklahoma City---After six weeks of competition there are no teams remaining with a perfect record in the top 25 after Alabama (28-1) dropped an 8-4 decision to conference rival Florida this past week. Tennessee (28-2) dropped their second game of the season in conference play but despite the loss remain as the No. 1 team in the country for a fourth consecutive week according to this week’s ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Poll.Tennessee was able to hold on to the top spot this week after going 4-1 in conference play that included a 5-4 loss at Ole Miss. No. 2 Alabama also posted a 4-1 record in conference this past week that saw the Tide lose one of three games at Florida, the same team that gave Tennessee its first loss of the season.
Oklahoma (33-2), who started the season ranked 16th, continued its climb up the rankings to No. 3 this week after capturing the prestigious Judi Garman Classic title in Fullerton, Calif., with a 4-1 record. The Sooners, who received two first place votes this week, defeated defending national champion Arizona (21-7) twice over the weekend including an 11-0 run rule victory in the championship game on Sunday.
Taking the week off proved beneficial for the Stanford Cardinal (21-5) as they moved back into the top 10 despite not playing a game this past week. LSU (28-4) also joined the top 10 this week after sweeping upset-minded Florida in a three game series.
Two teams from the Big 12 Conference dropped out of the top 10 this week after losing three games in tournament competition. No. 11 Texas (23-6) fell three spots this week after losing three games during the Judi Garman Classic while No. 12 Baylor (27-8) slipped two spots after going 3-3 at the Hawaii Invitational in Honolulu, HI.
No. 18 DePaul (16-6), who started their season 6-5, have turned things around winning 10 of their last 11 games including victories over Fresno State, Penn State, Cal State Fullerton and Texas this past week.
Two schools from the ACC are back into the top 25 this week while two schools from the SEC dropped out. No. 24 Virginia Tech (24-9) cracks the top 25 for the first time since April 30, 2006 after winning their conference series with Georgia Tech this past weekend. No. 25 NC State (21-11) is back in the top 25 after a two week hiatus. The Wolfpack were impressive at the Judi Garman Classic knocking off No. 6 Oklahoma, Florida State and No. 4 Arizona State.
Florida (20-14) dropped out of the top 25 for the first time this season after going 1-4 in conference play this past week. South Carolina (24-7) was also dropped from the top 25 after also losing four of their five games this past week.
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Sims selected Player of the Week
March 20, 2007
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Tennessee holds on to No 1 Spot
March 13, 2007
Tennessee holds on to No.1 Spot
Oklahoma City, Okla. – Despite a 4-0 loss last week to then No. 24 Florida that ended their perfect record, the University of Tennessee (24-1) remains as the No. 1 team in the nation according to this week’s ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Poll. Alabama, which is the only undefeated team remaining in the top 25, moved up to No. 2 this week marking the first-time that teams from the Southeastern Conference hold to top two spots in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 poll.
The Lady Volunteers, who had been a unanimous No. 1 in the last two polls, received only 12 first-place votes after finishing this week with a 4-1 record. Tennessee entered the week as one of three teams undefeated in the poll but their 23-game win streak came to an end with a 4-0 loss to Florida in the second game of a double-header. They were able to take game one against Florida 1-0 in 10 innings before being shutout in the second game of the double header. The Lady Vols clinched the three-game series with a 3-1 win on Sunday.
The Crimson Tide began their conference season with a three game sweep over Mississippi State. With a perfect 24-0 record, Alabama earns their highest ranking ever after earning eight of the 20 first place votes in this week’s poll.
The Arizona Wildcats (17-5) fell three spots to No. 5 after suffering two losses to Baylor (24-5) in Waco, Texas. The Wildcats opened a three-game series against the Lady Bears with a 3-0 victory but dropped the last two games in the final inning by an identical score of 3-2. With the series win over Arizona, Baylor moved up four spots to No. 10 this week.
No. 6 Oklahoma (28-1) dropped out of the top five after falling 2-0 to in-state rival Tulsa on Friday. The loss ended the Sooner’s perfect start this year and a 23-game winning streak. No. 19 Georgia (22-8) moved up four spots after a perfect 7-0 record with big wins over No. 20 Southern Illinois and Florida State.
No. 24 South Carolina (23-3) and No. 25 Hawaii (22-5) made their way into the top 25 while NC State (18-8) and Cal (18-9) dropped out of the top 25 but are still receiving votes. This is the first-time in the history of the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 poll that Cal is not among the teams in the top 25 rankings.
This marks the first time in the history of the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 Poll that four teams from the Big 12 Conference are ranked in the top 10. The Southeastern Conference, Pac 10 and Big Ten have two teams each in the top 10.
About ASA
The Amateur Softball Association, founded in 1933, is the National Governing Body of softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. The ASA has become one of the nation’s largest sports organizations and now sanctions competition in every state through a network of 84 local associations. The ASA has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to over 240,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than three million. For more information on the ASA, visit www.asasoftball.com.
About USA Softball
USA Softball is the brand created, operated and owned by the ASA that links the USA Men’s, Women’s, Junior Boys’ and Junior Girls’ National Team programs together. USA Softball is responsible for training, equipping and promoting these four National Teams to compete in international and domestic competitions. The USA Softball Women’s National Team is one of the only two women’s sports involved in the Olympic movement to capture three consecutive gold medals at the Olympic Games since 1996. The U.S. women have also won eight World Championship titles including the last six consecutive. -
Baylor’s Alex Colyer Selected as the USA Softball National Player of the Week
March 13, 2007
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Tennessee keeps rolling to stay No 1
March 06, 2007
Tennessee keeps rolling to stay No. 1Oklahoma City---The top three teams remain the same in this week’s ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 poll with the University of Tennessee (20-0) claiming the top spot for the third consecutive week after going 5-0 at the Frost Tournament in Chattanooga, Tenn., this past week. Arizona (14-3) remains at No. 2 after sweeping Missouri this past week and Alabama (21-0) held on to the No. 3 spot with a perfect weekend that included two wins over Louisiana Lafayette who was ranked No. 11 in last weeks poll.Two teams from the Big 12 Conference round out the top five with Texas A&M (19-2) moving up to No. 4 and Oklahoma (23-0) jumping from No. 7 to No. 5 this week.
The Michigan Wolverines (20-1) continue to push their way up the rankings and check in at No. 7 this week after sweeping a two game series at Florida State (12-7) and collecting four shutout victories at the Jacksonville University Tournament over the weekend. Texas (17-3) also continues its rise in the poll moving from No. 10 to No. 8 this week.
LSU (21-3) dropped three spots this week to No. 9 after losing its final two games of the Husky Classic in Seattle, Wash., to the University of Washington (15-2). The wins by Washington were enough to move them into a tie with Northwestern (15-5) for the No. 10 spot this week.
After a rough weekend at the Worth Classic in Fullerton, Calif., Stanford (16-5) dropped out four spots to No. 12 after going 2-3 in tournament play. Oregon State (11-7) also had a tough weekend in Fullerton, losing its final two games to drop to No. 17 this week.
With three wins over Top 20 competition, the Redbirds of Illinois State (15-5) jumped seven spots to No. 18 this week. Illinois State defeated No. 15 UCLA, 2-1, and No. 20 Florida twice by identical scores of 1-0.
After being left out of last week’s poll, DePaul (12-5) and NC State (14-6) rejoined the top 25 this week at No. 21 and No. 25 respectively. Hawaii (16-5), who entered the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 for the first time in history last week, dropped out of this week’s poll. Florida State joins Hawaii among teams receiving votes after losing two games to Michigan and two of three games to ACC rival NC State.
The Pac-10 continues to lead all conferences with eight teams currently ranked in the top 25 with three appearing in the top 10. The Southeastern Conference is second with a total of five teams represented of which three appearing in the top 10. The Big 12 has four teams in the top 25 with three of the four ranked in the top 10. The Big 10, Missouri Valley and Atlantic Coast Conference each have two teams in this week’s top 25.
About ASA
The Amateur Softball Association, founded in 1933, is the National Governing Body of softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. The ASA has become one of the nation’s largest sports organizations and now sanctions competition in every state through a network of 84 local associations. The ASA has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to over 240,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than three million. For more information on the ASA, visit www.asasoftball.com.
About USA Softball
USA Softball is the brand created, operated and owned by the ASA that links the USA Men’s, Women’s, Junior Boys’ and Junior Girls’ National Team programs together. USA Softball is responsible for training, equipping and promoting these four National Teams to compete in international and domestic competitions. The USA Softball Women’s National Team is one of the only two women’s sports involved in the Olympic movement to capture three consecutive gold medals at the Olympic Games since 1996. The U.S. women have also won eight World Championship titles including the last six consecutive.