LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Sixteen players from eight schools in three member regions have garnered 2016 NFCA NJCAA Division III All-America Team recognition, the Association revealed on Tuesday.  

Rock Valley College, which won its third straight NJCAA Division III national championship in May, leads all teams with four honorees, while Herkimer County Community College, the national runner-up the last three years, placed three of its players on the team.

College of DuPage, Ocean County College and Rowan College at Gloucester County each had two selections, while Anoka-Ramsey Community College, Brookdale Community College and Corning Community College had one choice apiece.

There is an equal split of eight freshman and eight sophomores on the team, with six selections each in the Midwest and North Regions and four choices from the East Region.

A trio of sophomores fill the pitching spots, with Rock Valley’s Morgan Adolph a two-time All-American after going 23-2 this season with an 1.76 ERA, 21 complete games, 49 walks and 190 strikeouts in 163 innings. Ocean County’s Ashley Hussey compiled a 15-3 mark over 22 games, while Herkimer’s Dana Nicoletti was a perfect 17-0 with a 1.65 ERA, 35 walks and 126 strikeouts in 97.2 innings.

In the catcher category, Rowan College freshman Lynnsie Collins batted .458 with 66 hits, including 18 doubles and two homers, to go with 43 RBI, while Anoka-Ramsey sophomore and two-time All-American Jen Zidar hit .533 with 65 hits, 14 doubles, three homers, 63 RBI and 11 steals.

At infield, Herkimer sophomore Taylor Daniels, a two-time All-American, is the lone upperclassman after batting .528 with 75 hits, 72 runs, 22 doubles, six triples, 14 homers and 93 RBI this season. Herkimer teammate Molly McGuire batted .451 with 20 doubles, 11 homers and 58 RBI, while Rock Valley freshman Summer Amman collected 59 hits and 49 runs while hitting .444. Brookdale’s Bethany Evans batted .434 and had 12 doubles and nine homers among her 59 hits, while DuPage’s Rachel Martin amassed 81 hits, 18 doubles, three triples and five homers and hit .479.

Rock Valley sophomore Abby Kissack is the last of four two-time All-Americans this season, batting .418 with 61 hits, 19 doubles, eight homers and 44 RBI. Fellow sophomores Kara Molnar of Ocean County and Stephanie Polo of Rowan College and DuPage freshman Marjorie Sloan round out the outfield selections. Molnar hit .548 with 25 extra-base hits, while Polo batted .414 with 22 walks and 16 steals, and Sloan stole 38 bases, scored 64 runs and hit .392.

A pair of freshmen round out the squad, with Rock Valley’s Olivia Fluehr earning the utility spot and Corning’s Haley Williamson getting the designated player/at-large slot. Fluehr hit .436 with 14 doubles, four triples, 13 homers and 72 RBI while also compiling a 20-4 record in the circle with 129 strikeouts and just 16 walks over 140.2 innings. Williamson batted .458 with 14 doubles among her 55 hits and 42 RBI.

NFCA member coaches representing the three NJCAA Division III regions selected the teams.

2016 NFCA NJCAA DIVISION III ALL-AMERICANS

Pitcher                                  Ashley Hussey                                           Ocean County College

Pitcher                                  Morgan Adolph*                                      Rock Valley College

Pitcher                                  Dana Nicoletti                                           Herkimer County Community College

Catcher                                 Jen Zidar*                                                  Anoka-Ramsey Community College

Catcher                                 Lynnsie Collins                                          Rowan College at Gloucester County

Infield                                   Taylor Daniels*                                          Herkimer County Community College

Infield                                   Bethany Evans                                           Brookdale Community College

Infield                                   Rachel Martin                                            College of DuPage

Infield                                   Summer Amman                                       Rock Valley College

Infield                                   Molly McGuire                                          Herkimer County Community College

Outfield                                Stephanie Polo                                          Rowan College at Gloucester County

Outfield                                Abby Kissack*                                           Rock Valley College

Outfield                                Marjorie Sloan                                          College of DuPage

Outfield                                Kara Molnar                                              Ocean County College

UTIL                                       Olivia Fluehr                                             Rock Valley College

DP/At-Large                       Haley Williamson                                       Corning Community College

* denotes 2015 All-American

Meghan Markle has been speaking out and standing up for women’s rights from a young age, but the Duchess of Sussex still feels like her work has just begun.

Markle joined a panel for the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust Friday, celebrated as International Women’s Day, where she touched on the importance of calling out inequality.

“If things are wrong and there is a lack of justice, and there is an inequality, then someone needs to say something,” Markle says in a video posted to Kensington Palace’s social channels.

Markle, who is now the Trust’s vice-president, talked about her journey as a feminist — starting at age 11 when she wrote a letter that successfully got a sexist commercial changed.

The duchess has spoken about her younger self’s campaign before, most notably in her speech at the 2015 United Nations Women conference.

Markle said the issue that really stands out to her is the importance of educating girls, the urgency of which has become more evident as she’s travelled to developing countries and seen first-hand the conditions for women and girls.

“For me, what really resonated was the lack of education for girls and how that has a ripple effect for so many things,” she says, adding that when girls are educated, it improves the economy and reduces crimes such as trafficking and child marriage.

“When I look at it in those terms, it would be impossible for me to sit back and not do something about it.”

Every additional year of elementary school a girl attends increases her eventual wages by 10-20 per cent, UN Women reported. It also leaves them less vulnerable to violence.

A child born to a mother who is literate is 50 per cent more likely to survive past the age of five, according to UNESCO. Additionally, if India enrolled one per cent more girls in secondary school, the country’s GDP would rise by $5.5 billion.

Markle’s advocacy for girls’ education and welfare predates her becoming a royal — in 2016, she visited Rwanda with World Vision Canada’s clean water efforts, where she again stressed the need for girls and children to have access to education.

The royals’ relationship to the countries that form the British Commonwealth is complicated by the fact that many view the colonization of these countries by England as a violent disruption to their histories, identities, political structures and economies.

Whether the duchess can effect meaningful change in the Commonwealth through her work with the QCT remains to be seen, but it’s clear she’s determined to try.

With a file from Lisa Yeung

Dangerous Driving, the upcoming arcade racer from Burnout co-creators Fiona Sperry and Alex Ward, will be released on April 9, developer Three Fields Entertainment announced today.

It will be available digitally on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC (via the Epic Games Store) for $30 USD/£25. A physical version, which bundles in Three Fields’ Danger Zone 2, will be available for $40 USD/£30.

Alongside the release date, Three Fields revealed Dangerous Driving will include seven locations with 30 total courses. It’ll also feature unlockable cars and abilities, which can be obtained by racing online against other players or offline against “remorseless” AI.

Dangerous Driving will offer eight different event types, with many taking inspiration from beloved Burnout modes.

“In Dangerous Driving we wanted to return to all of our favorite modes — so you will see some Burnout 1 and Burnout 2 in there like Survival Mode, Pursuit Mode and Boost Chain Races — as well as stuff from B3 and Revenge like Road Rage and Races based around Takedowns,” Ward previously told IGN. “But with every mode where we left off last time is just the beginning — so for example in the Takedown Races we now have persistent wrecks that litter the road which really changes laps 2 and 3.”

For more, be sure to check out IGN’s full Dangerous Driving interview with Ward. You can also read IGN’s review of Danger Zone 2, Three Fields’ 2018 take on Burnout Revenge’s Crash mode.

Jordan is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter @jdsirani.

LAUSANNE, Switzerland — Japan remains ranked No. 1 in the world, as the World Baseball Softball Confederation revealed the updated 2016 standings in the Official WBSC Women’s Softball World Rankings, following a reformatting of the rankings methodology to weigh additional events.

View World Rankings

Four continents (Asia, Europe, the Americas, and Oceania) are represented within the Top 10, while all five global continents are within the Top 25.

Japan held on to the top spot, following a second-place finish at the 2016 Women’s Softball World Championship earlier this year in Surrey, Canada, which boosted the nation’s total ranking points to 3,798.

Winning the gold medal at this year’s Women’s Softball World Championship was not enough for the USA to move up in the rankings, as the U.S. keeps its No. 2 world rank — just 36 points behind Japan.

Canada has risen to a historical high at No. 3 in the world, with 3,042 points, continuing on their momentum of winning the bronze medal at the WBSC flagship Women’s Softball World Championship.

Australia, slipped one position to No. 4, following a 10th place finish in Surrey, while New Zealand jumps up three spots to round out the Top 5 with 2,616 points.

China remains at No. 6 with 2,262 points. No. 7 Puerto Rico enters the Top 10 for the first time, only 66 points behind China. Their bronze medal finish at the Jr. Women’s World Championship helped push them to their highest position to date.

Netherlands remains the highest ranked European nation at the No. 8 post with 1,978 points. Trailing 12 points behind Netherlands, Chinese Taipei drops four spots to No. 9. Mexico elevates their position four spots to round out to the Top 10 with 1,784 points.

Brazil made the biggest jump, advancing seven spots to No. 11 (1,604 points). The top-ranked nation in Africa is No. 23 Botswana with 348 points.

Sixteen nations are also making their first debut in the Softball World Rankings: Philippines, Austria, Greece, Guatemala, Peru, Ecuador, France, Korea, Uganda, Serbia, Ireland, Switzerland, Kenya, Singapore, India, and Israel. This follows a historic ten nations playing in their first women’s world championship this year in Surrey, Canada.

NEW METHODOLOGY

The WBSC Softball World Rankings reflect a four-year cycle with points generated from recent competitions including the WBSC Women’s Softball World Championship (max 1,150 points), and U-19 Women’s Softball World Championship (max 920 points).

The qualifiers for the softball world championships, multi-sport and continental games and championships, and all WBSC sanctioned events involving Softball National Teams will now be granted world points beginning in 2017.

The web-based version and methodology of the WBSC Softball World Rankings can be found at www.wbsc.org/rankings.

— Courtesy of the World Baseball Softball Confederation 

Welcome back to Game Scoop!, IGN’s weekly video game talk show. This week we’re discussing open-world games, recent PS4 recommendations, Darkest Dungeon 2, and more. Watch the video above or download the podcast below.

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Oklahoma City head softball coach Phil McSpadden was named the 2016 NAIA Softball National Coach of the Year for the ninth overall time and first since 2007, announced by the NAIA national office. This accomplishment comes on the heels of the Stars winning the 2016 NAIA Softball World Series title June 2 with a 5-0 victory over Saint Xavier (Ill.).

The nine NAIA Coach of the Year plaques for McSpadden is the most in NAIA history and correlates with the NAIA-record nine national championship rings.
McSpadden completed his 29th year and stands with 1,545 all-time softball victories, which ranks No. 1 on the all-time college coaching list against four-year schools at any level (NAIA, NCAA). He officially set the all-time coaching wins record during the middle of the 2015 season.

In 2016, McSpadden’s club went 67-3, won the Sooner Athletic Conference regular-season title and finished with the most wins in the NAIA. The 67 wins marked the fifth time in McSpadden’s career the program reached 60-plus victories and was two shy of tying the all-time NAIA single-season record of 69 set during the 1999 campaign.

McSpadden mentored six athletes on the 2016 NAIA All-America First Team, the most of any institution this season. Under his tutelage, the Stars ranked first in the NAIA statistically in total hits (749), runs scored (568), RBIs (491) and pitching ERA (0.860). Individually, pitcher Georgia Wall (2016 NAIA World Series MVP) was No. 1 nationally in ERA (0.470) and total earns runs allowed (13). She was joined on the national leaderboard by NAIA doubles-champion Kyndra Holasek (30) and NAIA runs-queen Kali Pugh (84).

McSpadden is a member of three prestigious Hall of Fames, which include the NAIA, the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) and Oklahoma City University Athletics.

Prior to coming to Oklahoma City in 1988, McSpadden coached at Ponca City and Dewey High Schools in Oklahoma, compiling an impressive 127-40 re¬cord in five years while leading teams at both schools to state tournaments. While at Dewey, his teams won the school’s first three crowns in any sport.

— Courtesy of Chad Waller, NAIA Director of Communications & Sports Information

The dates you can own the Aquaman movie on Blu-ray and digital have been revealed and it turns out there’s a little Shazam! bonus included.

You’ll be able to grab the digital copy of Aquaman on March 5 and if you’re after a physical copy, these versions will be out three weeks later on March 26. The editions will be available in 4K UHD combo packs, Blu-ray combo packs, and a DVD special edition.

All copies of Aquaman are going to include a three-minute preview of the upcoming DC superhero movie Shazam! However, it seems we’ll have to wait until March to see exactly what that entails.

As with most home releases, Aquaman will include a set of special features so fans can get a deeper look behind the scenes. These include looks into the world of Aquaman, some of the training required, creating the sea creatures, scene study breakdowns and other features.

Aquaman grossed over $1 billion at the worldwide box office. Thanks to its success, Warner Bros. doesn’t feel the need to focus on a shared DC universe.

Despite this, the upcoming Shazam film still fits into the DC Extended Universe. Shazam star Zachary Levi is pretty pleased about the whole thing, so much so he’s glad Marvel killed off his MCU character Fandral so he could take on the role.

Hope Corrigan is an Australian freelance writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.