Anyone know how I can watch the games? If not; anyone know how they're looking and playing? 3 peat =0

I know this is not softball specific, but you probably have experience witnessing online abuse toward softball players. I am Dr. Natalie Bunch, sport administration faculty at the University of Cincinnati. I am running a survey for women who follow women's sports. 

Players, coaches, broadcasters, and fans all get comments about their bodies online. Our study asks women fans what they've seen in fan spaces and how they feel about their bodies and their fan community. We'd like to hear from you whether those comments bother you or you scroll right past them. 

Who can take it: women 18 or older who follow at least one women's pro league or college women's sport. 

Time: about 10 to 15 minutes. 

Content note: the survey includes questions about body image. You can skip any question or stop at any time, and support resources are listed at the end. 

Survey: https://ucincinnati.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8qb4oFcfWDKk7ps 

Questions? Email Dr. Bunch at bunchnn@ucmail.uc.edu. Approved by the University of Cincinnati IRB (#2026-0613). 

Hi everyone!

I’m a senior Marketing student at Iona University in New York, currently working on a research project focused on softball officiating and the timing responsibilities umpires manage during games. My team is conducting a short survey to better understand how umpires currently track timing requirements, the challenges they experience, and their opinions on potential features for an officiating timing device.

We’re looking for responses from current or former softball umpires at any level, including youth/recreational, high school, collegiate, and other organizations.

The survey only takes a few minutes to complete, and your feedback would be extremely valuable to our research!

Survey link: httpse://forms.gle/NM74FchiV9VYQpd9A

Thank you so much for your time and participation!

14 former players spoke!

Despite the loss of Grant and Woolery (who were historic offensively), UCLA is still set to return a dangerous offense and tight defense. After falling out of the post season due to a lack of pitching depth, UCLA went to the portal and got experienced arms. They now have the depth for a post season run with seven different arms in the circle. The transfers are going to bring it but what about the other arms? How are they developing? What conversations are being had? Is everyone healthy? Does anyone have any insight? I have high hopes for us this season, and here is how I see it with respect to pitching:

Starting:
-Salmon: She has the velocity and arm-side run with her screw and rise.
- Lauppe: is a workhorse and also brings the velocity and can use all four quadrants. She used to have a back swing but changed her mechanics. Will UCLA bring that back?
- Cable: Cable struggled with injuries her freshman year. We really didn’t get to see a fully healthy cable. Seemed like she was dealing with a shoulder or back injury. She also stepped into a big role, maybe one that she wasn’t meant to have. Cable was recruited with the intention of also having Terry and Addison. She would have been more of a lefty specialist, utilizing her spin and contrasting UCLA’s harder throwers. She has the most experience of UCLA’s returning pitchers. Does anyone know what she is working on in the fall? She changed her mechanics mid-season. Her previous mechanics were a bit violent. Not sure if that contributed. I noticed she also started wearing sports glasses midway through the season. Was vision an issue? Is she healthy?

Relief Pitchers:
- Nally: Needs to hit the weight room and get serious about strength training. She needs to be able to throw strikes through the zone. Needs to work on spin and control. Too many balls and hit batters. The dropball actually has to drop. Would love to see her be the MacMorgan of UCLA and only throw a dropball. Does anyone know how she is looking as we head into the fall?
-Somnerdike: As a senior, she doesn’t have the experience in the circle that she should have. Would love to see her focus on throwing her riseball at different levels.
- Marsh: UCLA has been known to throw their freshmen in. I haven’t heard much of her though. There isn’t much footage of her and she remains one of the biggest unknowns. Is she going to have an impact? How is she looking?
- Beliveau: A 2025 winter transfer who redshirted and had to sit out. She barely had any outings before transferring in but I suspect that she will play a big role. She had an entire year to develop and likely threw batting practice against a potent offense. I just haven’t seen anything on her. How is the velocity and spin? What does she throw? Any info?

Why do women college softball interviewees get stacked with random items during the interview? How did this start, why is it happening, are there rules to the stacking, I have so many questions?

basically what the title is. i played softball nearly all my life until i lost the love for it somewhere around 2018 but forced myself to continue bc i didn’t know what else i would do. i played for my first school year of college (fall ‘21, spring ‘22) then ended up leaving it altogether for a year. now i’m back at the same community college pursuing dance but i’ve been weirdly in my feels for softball and was considering enrolling next semester again. but it may be too late.

i know the ncaa has the 5 year rule but was wondering (kind of hoping too) if the gap year or the fact that i’m at a community college would affect that at all?

I went to a 4 year university and wound up getting a degree in which I decided I didn’t want to do for the rest of my life. That being said, I only used two seasons of eligibility.

I’ve decided regardless to go to school to pursue my actual passion, which would be at a JUCO. Would it be weird to join the softball team at 23 when most girls are 18-20?

Calling all college sports fans!

We, researchers at the University of Kansas, are looking for season ticket holders of college teams in a Power 4 Conference to participate in a research interview about their experience!

Specifically, we’re looking for individuals who have been a season ticket holder for the same sport/team for at least the last 8 years.

We expect the interviews to last 45 – 60 minutes, and they will take place over Zoom. You must be at least 18 years or older.

Interested? DM me or send me an email at [escox@ku.edu](mailto:escox@ku.edu)

#CollegeSports #NCAA #CollegeAthletics #NIL

Anybody got any info as to why it seems the records start all of a sudden around 1988 to 1990 ish? What kicked off the wide spread growth after that?

Thoughts?

Watched the highlights from Team USA's game against Brazil and the empty stands really stuck out. These are most of the top players from our country and it looks like 30 people came out to watch at Devon Park. I get that Brazil is not a tough opponent. The game was on Sunday with a 1 pm start time so it's not a problem with it being a weekday. Maybe the weather was an issue like it was too hot or something. Just disappointing to see so little support for these players.

Former All-Big 12 and All American selection, Kenzie Brown, joins Texas Tech as Director of Player Development.

I love this addition for Texas Tech. Basically, they got a new pitching coach. With respect to Glasco’s daughter, TT needed someone with actual pitching experience. TT needs to contend with a primarily all leftie staff. They also need to get Spearman and maybe West (who had zero innings last year) substantial reps.

TT has a lot of similar looks. KT and Heavner have different mechanics but come hard from the left side with their curve and rise. Maestretti and Terry both have great dropballs and off speed pitches. Spearman has got to work on being pitch to contact or changing speeds. Would love to see her work on her mechanics a bit to standardize her pitching.

What do you all think?

My daughter is a varsity freshman player but is finding that the very demanding HS team schedule does not leave time for her usual hitting and pitching lessons. Further, the practices are not challenging and the coach is playing her out of normal position. She thinks her time might be better spent next year on her school work and private lessons. I don’t disagree. But would not playing for her HS team be seen as a red flag to college coaches? She does play for a competitive travel ball team.

If LSU football is kicked out of the conference, will that mean all sports will? I think it’s a d*ck move on LSU football to risk everything and not think of the consequences for the rest of the sports programs.