LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The NFCA and its Board of Directors have decided to honor Melinda Fischer’s hard work and dedication to the Association and the sport of softball by naming the Distinguished Service Award after the longtime Illinois State head coach. The Melinda Fischer Distinguished Service Award encompasses all the qualities that Fischer has shown throughout her years of commitment and service to the NFCA.

“I am deeply humbled and honored to have the Distinguished Service Award named after me,” said Fischer. “This was totally unexpected… a WOW factor! I’m a big believer in giving back and helping with the Convention is one way which I could help the NFCA and the sport I love.”

Fischer, the first recipient of this award in 2002, has devoted decades of service to the NFCA. With regards to her 25 years of volunteering at the NFCA Convention, Fischer’s emphasis has been onsite schedule organization and planning, along with the oversight of food and beverage. She is always one step ahead. Her hard work and expertise in those areas are keys to the event’s success.

“Melinda is so deserving of this honor,” said NFCA Executive Director Carol Bruggeman. “She has dedicated decades of service to the NFCA in a variety of roles.  Most notably, Melinda has worked tirelessly in planning, organizing, and executing our annual Convention. Her expertise and attention to detail have helped the Convention thrive over the years. Melinda is selfless and serves with a giving heart, expecting nothing in return. There is no one more deserving of having her name permanently etched into the NFCA Distinguished Service Award.”

The NFCA Hall of Famer has served in several capacities with the NFCA, including First Vice President (1993-97), chair of the Division I All-America Committee and director of the NFCA Division I Leadoff Classic. Fischer has served multiple times on the All-America Committee and returns to the post of Mideast Region representative for the 2019 season.

“I have worked with two amazing Executive Directors – Lacy Lee Baker and Carol Bruggeman – who along with their tremendous staffs have dedicated their efforts to putting forth the best Conventions every year,” Fischer stated. “They are tireless workers from whom I’ve learned so much, which makes me even more grateful and appreciative of their efforts. It has been a fun 25 years of meeting new people and witnessing the growth of our Association.  Fond memories of the past and exciting dreams of the future.  Thank you. This is truly an amazing honor!”

On the field, Fischer is entering her 34^th season at the helm of the Redbirds. She is just one of 22 NCAA Division I head coaches to have won 1,000 games with at least 10 years of Division I head coaching experience. To top that, the winningest coach in Illinois State Athletics history is only one of nine NCAA Division I head coaches to win 1,000 contests at one institution. Fischer’s 1,074 career victories, spread out among 35 previous seasons as a collegiate head coach (at both Eastern Illinois [1979-80] and Illinois State [1986-present]), rank her as the 16th-winningest coach in NCAA Division I softball history and the eighth-winningest active head coach.

There’s conflicting predictions from Canada’s two most famous forecasting groundhogs, with Wiarton Willie heralding an early spring while Subenacadie Sam claims there will be six more weeks of winter.

The mayor of the Town of South Bruce Peninsula, which includes the community of Wiarton, announced Willie’s prediction on stage with Premier Doug Ford on Saturday morning.

Where did Groundhog Day come from anyway? Story continues below.

Folklore has it that if a groundhog sees its shadow on Groundhog Day, it will retreat into its burrow, heralding six more weeks of cold weather. But spring-like temperatures are thought to be on the way if no shadow is seen.

Willie was backed up by the most famous American groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil.

But Shubenacadie Sam, Nova Scotia’s Groundhog Day darling, grudgingly clambered out of his shelter just after dawn, saw his shadow, and retreated into hiding.

Tabitha Cox, head nature interpreter at the wildlife park where Sam lives, said about 200 people came out to the park in frosty weather to watch the furry forecaster make his prediction.

“I heard some booing,” she said. “People love it or hate it with winter.”

The wildlife park has held Groundhog Day events for the past 30 or so years, and Cox says there’s a “Shubenacadie Sam family” of groundhogs that are used to make their forecasts.

The human weather experts say the odd ritual has a terrible record when it comes to predicting the weather.

In his book, “The Day Niagara Falls Ran Dry,” climatologist David Phillips cites a survey of 40 years of weather data from 13 Canadian cities, which concluded there was an equal number of cloudy and sunny days on Feb. 2 — and during that time, the groundhogs’ predictions were right only 37 per cent of the time.

But Cox said that despite the hit-or-mostly-miss nature of these forecasts, it’s important to keep the tradition alive for Canadians who want to have some fun and blow off some mid-winter steam.

“I think it’s just because it’s something fun in the dead of winter,” she said. “(There’s) not much else going on, Christmas and New Year’s are well over, Easter’s still a long way away. It’s just a chance to have some fun.”

Last year, Sam predicted a quicker onset of warmer weather, while Willie forecast six more weeks of winter.

TORONTO — A serial killer who preyed on men from Toronto’s gay village has pleaded guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder.

Bruce McArthur, who had been set to stand trial next year, entered the guilty plea during a hearing in a Toronto courtroom.

The 67-year-old self-employed landscaper was arrested in January 2018.

Police eventually charged him with first-degree murder in the deaths of Selim Esen, Andrew Kinsman, Majeed Kayhan, Dean Lisowick, Soroush Mahmudi, Skandaraj Navaratnam, Abdulbasir Faizi, and Kirushna Kanagaratnam.

The victims went missing from the gay village between 2010 and 2017.

The LGBTQ community had long said someone was targeting men who were vanishing from the city’s gay village.

Watch: ‘Mixed feelings’ after Bruce McArthur’s guilty plea. Story continues below.

In November 2012, police launched Project Houston to investigate the disappearances of 42-year-old Faizi, 40-year-old Navaratnam and 58-year-old Kayhan. They closed the probe in April 2014 after being unable to identify a suspect in their disappearances.

In the summer of 2017, police launched a separate investigation known as Project Prism into the disappearances of 49-year-old Kinsman and 44-year-old Esen. Within months, McArthur came on the police radar, according to court documents.

On Jan. 17, 2018, investigators uncovered evidence alleging McArthur was responsible for both Kinsman and Esen’s deaths, along with the deaths of other unidentified people.

The next day, police arrested McArthur at his apartment and charged him with the murders of Kinsman and Esen. They brought cadaver dogs the following day to a property nearby where McArthur, a self-employed landscaper, stored his equipment, court documents said.

Over the next three months, investigators made several grisly discoveries at the residential property in midtown Toronto, eventually finding the dismembered remains of seven men in large planters.

The remains of an eighth man were found in a large compost pile in a ravine behind the home, police said.

Partway through their investigation, police also made the rare decision to release a heavily edited photograph of a dead man in a bid to identify him. A month later they said the man in the photograph was Kanagaratnam.

Lead investigator Insp. Hank Idsinga said the McArthur probe was the largest forensic examination in the force’s history.

Forensic officers spent four months scouring McArthur’s apartment — they seized 1,800 exhibits and snapped more than 18,000 photographs of the scene. They also searched more than 100 properties where McArthur worked across the Toronto area.

The force’s cold case squad is currently investigating a series of homicides in the 1970s related to men with ties to the gay village, but Idsinga has said they’ve found nothing to link those to McArthur.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The musical chairs continued as North Georgia is the sixth consecutive new No. 1 in the 2019 NFCA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll. The NightHawks (26-6) received 11 first-place votes and 393 points to return to the top spot, a ranking they held the final three weeks of the 2018 season.

UNG knocked off a pair of ranked teams – then-No. 21 Wingate, then-No. 2 West Florida – to start the week. They rolled into Peach Belt Conference play, sweeping UNC Pembroke and Francis Marion in a pair of league doubleheaders.

Central Oklahoma, which received the other five first-place votes, continued to rise, reaching No. 2 after a pair of Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association doubleheader sweeps of Lindenwood and Lincoln. The four triumphs extended the Bronchos (24-1) winning streak to 20 games, second longest in program history.

West Florida dipped one spot to No. 3 following a 5-2 week. The Argos (27-4) defeated then-No. 21 Wingate, Montevallo twice and then-No. 9 Valdosta State twice. No. 4 Chico State inched up one position with a 3-1 road record versus Cal State Dominguez Hills in California Collegiate Athletic Association play.

No. 5 Southern Arkansas, No. 6 West Texas A&M, No. 8 Grand Valley State and No. 10 University of Alabama in Huntsville all made positive jumps, while No. 7 Concordia Irvine and No. 9 Carson-Newman fell in the Top-10.

The Muleriders (22-6) bounced back with a four-game sweep at East Central in a Great American Conference series. The Lady Buffs (22-6) posted a 4-1 mark, winning two games at Metro State and two of three versus Lone Star Conference foe Texas A&M-Commerce. The Lakers (16-2) swept a doubleheader from then-No. 19 Cedarville, while the Chargers (22-7) went 3-1 in Gulf South Conference play. UAH finished off a sweep of Lee and then took two of three at West Georgia.

The seventh-ranked Eagles (19-3) fell from the No. 1 spot after a 4-2 week. CUI split four games against Hawai’i Pacific and posted two wins over Stanislaus State. The No. 9 Eagles (14-1) dropped their first game of the 2019 season, splitting at Queens (N.C.) in South Atlantic Conference play.

Joining the poll for the first time this season are No. 23 Lincoln Memorial and No. 24 Western Oregon. The Wolves (12-4) are joined at No.24 by Angelo State, making a return following one-week hiatus. The 23^rd-ranked Lady Railsplitters have won 13 of their last 14 contest, which included a split with then-No. 20 Wingate over the weekend.

2019 NFCA Division II
Top 25 Coaches Poll – March 20 (Week 5)

Rank

School

Totals

2019 Record

Previous Week

1

North Georgia (11)

393

26-6

3

2

Central Oklahoma (5)

379

24-1

4

3

West Florida

367

27-4

2

4

Chico State

343

18-5

5

5

Southern Arkansas

324

22-6

6

6

West Texas A&M

315

22-6

8

7

Concordia Irvine

293

19-3

1

8

Grand Valley State

286

16-2

10

9

Carson-Newman

272

14-1

7

10

UAH

256

22-7

14

11

Texas A&M Kingsville

247

23-4

12

12

Florida Tech

220

23-7

11

13

Valdosta State

182

17-7

9

14

Texas A&M-Commerce

176

21-8

15

15

Wayne State University

174

17-4

16

16

UC San Diego

171

18-6

13

17

Augustana

159

16-4

18

18

Colorado Mesa

144

20-6

17

19

Southern New Hampshire

103

14-4

22

20

Indianapolis

84

19-7

24

21

Mississippi College

81

20-6

23

22

Winona State

48

13-3

25

23

Lincoln Memorial

43

23-5

NR

24

Angelo State

35

22-9

RV

24

Western Oregon

35

12-4

RV

 

New to Poll: No. 23 Lincoln Memorial, t-No. 24 Angelo State, t-No. 24 Western Oregon

Dropped Out:No. 19 Cedarville, t-No. 20 Wingate, t-No. 20 Cal State San Bernardino

Receiving Votes: Cedarville (33), Georgian Court (10), Tarleton State (10), Cal State San Bernardino (5), Ashland (3), Central Washington (1), Nova Southeastern (1).

The 2019 NFCA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll is voted on by 16 NCAA Division II head coaches with two representing each of the NCAA’s eight regions. Records reflect games played through March 17.

The 2019 NFCA Division II Top 25 Poll is voted on by 16 NCAA Division II head coaches with two representing each of the eight NCAA regions. Records reflect games played through March 17, 2019.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Guiding Mount San Antonio College to a CCCAA State Championship, Rubilena Rojas and her staff have been named the 2018 NFCA Cal JC National Coaching Staff of the Year. Under the guidance of Rojas and assistant coaches- Jim Bollier, Jessica Vogel and Alex Mascarenas- the Mounties (41-7) earned their first state title with Rojas at the helm and fifth overall.

Mt. SAC won the South Coast-North regular season and posted a perfect 8-0 mark during its state playoff run. The Mounties swept Fullerton and Canyons in the Southern Region and Super Regional rounds to earn a spot in the state championship. The hosts and South No. 2 seed edged Ohlone, 2-1, in their opener and cruised past El Camino, 10-3 in their second contest.

A 5-1 triumph over Palomar put the Mt. SAC in the championship game where it would face the Comets again. Vicky Gutierrez’s three-run homer in the bottom of the sixth and two inning of shutout relief by Jessica Olvera lifted the Mounties over the Comets, 5-4, and to the 2018 title. The 41 victories marked the program’s third straight 40-win season and fourth overall under Rojas.

Regional winners this season were:

North – Sierra College

Head Coach: Darcie Brownell
Assistant Coaches: Cortney Magorian, Gabby Gonzalez, Craig Fuentes

Record: 38-9, 21-3 Big 8

Claimed the Big 8 Conference title and was ranked tied for third in the final regular season 3CFCA state rankings and second overall in the NorCal poll… Swept West Valley and College of the Sequoias in the Northern Regional and Super Regional rounds to reach the CCCAA State Championship… Finished 1-2 at the state tournament earning a first-round win over defending champion Cypress… Most wins since 43 in 2014.

South – Bakersfield College

Head Coach: Casey Goodman
Assistant Coach: Megan Rowe

Record: 33-11, 13-1 Western State-North

Ranked tied for third in the final regular season 3CFCA state rankings and second overall in the SoCal poll… Won the Western State-North regular season… Entered the Northern Regionals as the six seed and swept Riverside City to advance to Super Regionals… Fell to 2017 national champions Cypress College in the supers… Head coach Casey Goodman was named Southern California Coach of the Year… Kylee Fahy was the Western State Conference North Pitcher of the Year and was one of eight all-conference selections.

CONCEPTION BAY SOUTH, N.L. — Police say they pulled over a driver in Conception Bay South, N.L., and discovered he had $18,000 in unpaid fines.

The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary says officers made a traffic safety stop at about 10:20 p.m. on Saturday.

They say the man was also driving with a suspended licence and no insurance.

Police say he was ticketed under the Highway Traffic Act and his vehicle was impounded.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Off to a 13-1 start, Angelo State rose to No. 1 in the first regular season rankings of the 2019 NFCA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll. The Rambelles received half of the 16 first-place votes and 381 points. 

With the regular season underway, there were a few shakeups since the preseason poll was announced on Jan. 30. Six programs entered for the first time, while six others dropped out. The biggest jump was West Florida, which is off to a 13-1 start, and No. 10 this week. Joining the Argos as newcomers are No. 11 Carson Newman (9-0), No. 14 and NFCA DII Leadoff champions Florida Tech (10-2), No. 19 Central Oklahoma (13-1), No. 21 Cal State San Bernardino (7-0) and No. 23 Southern New Hampshire (5-1).

Angelo State has a neutral site win over then-No. 18 Palm Beach Atlantic and two at Florida Tech. The Rambelles have hit 22 home runs and are averaging 10.1 runs over their first 14 games.

Moving into No. 2 is 2018 national runner-up Saint Anselm. The Hawks (5-0), opened with five wins in Myrtle Beach, S.C., garnered four first-place votes and 374 points. North Georgia remained at No. 3 receiving three first-place nods and 356 points. The NightHawks (12-3) put forward a 4-1 showing at the Leadoff Classic with a win over then-No. 19 Lenoir-Rhyne. Southern Arkansas (9-3), which received the final first-place vote, slipped to No. 4 after dropping three contests, two of which did come at the hands of new-No. 7 Valdosta State and Palm Beach Atlantic.

In at No. 5 is another Lone Star Conference member, Texas A&M University-Commerce. The Lions (12-1) have three triumphs over then-No. 20 Arkansas Tech with their lone defeat coming at the hands of No. 25 Augustana.

Chico State is No. 6 after a 6-1 start. Following the Wildcats, is Valdosta State who catapulted from No. 22 to No. 7. The Blazers (10-2) opened the season with eight wins, half of which came against nationally-ranked foes –North Georgia, Palm Beach Atlantic, Lenoir-Rhyne and Southern Arkansas – all courtesy of a shutout.

Rounding out the top 10 is No. 8 Tarleton State, No. 9 Concordia-Irvine and West Florida. The Texans (11-2) sandwiched 11 consecutive wins between a pair of losses. The Eagles (4-1) have won four straight following a season-opening defeat. The Argos were the runners-up at the Leadoff Classic with their only defeat of the season to Florida Tech. UWF has wins over Saint Leo (2), Palm Beach Atlantic and then-No. 8 West Chester. 

Falling out of the poll are No. 1 Southern Indiana (3-5), No. 5 Saint Leo (7-7), No. 8 West Chester (0-5), No. 18 Palm Beach Atlantic (5-6), No. 19 Lenoir-Rhyne (6-5) and No. 20 Arkansas Tech (6-6).

The 2019 NFCA Division II Top 25 Poll is voted on by 16 NCAA Division II head coaches with two representing each of the eight NCAA regions. Records reflect games play through Feb. 17, 2019.

 

2019 USA Today / NFCA Division II
Top 25 Coaches Poll – Feb. 20 (Week 1)

Rank

School

Totals

2019 Record

Previous Week

1

Angelo State (8)

381

13-1

6

2

Saint Anselm (4)

374

5-0

4

3

North Georgia (3)

356

12-3

3

4

Southern Arkansas (1)

348

9-3

2

5

Texas A&M-Commerce

336

12-1

9

6

Chico State

321

6-1

7

7

Valdosta State

303

10-2

22

8

Tarleton State

283

11-2

14

9

Concordia Irvine

279

4-1

10

10

West Florida

244

13-1

NR

11

Carson-Newman

230

9-0

NR

12

Illinois Springfield

222

6-2

12

13

Dixie State

191

6-1

17

14

Florida Tech

183

10-2

NR

15

Winona State

176

0-0

15

16

Grand Valley State

160

0-0

16

17

UC San Diego

147

9-2

23

18

Young Harris

144

7-3

13

19

Central Oklahoma

128

13-1

NR

20

UAH

80

10-5

11

21

Cal State San Bernardino

72

7-0

NR

22

Colorado Mesa

56

7-3

21

23

Southern New Hampshire

50

5-1

RV

24

Gannon

32

0-0

24

25

Augustana

31

5-3

25

 

Receiving Votes: Newberry (27), Saint Leo (17), Arkansas Tech (16), Harding (6), Lenoir-Rhyne (6), Oklahoma Christian (1).

New to Poll: No. 10 West Florida, No. 11 Carson-Newman, No. 14 Florida Tech, No. 19 Central Oklahoma, No. 21 Cal State San Bernardino, No. 23 Southern New Hampshire.

Dropped Out: No. 1 Southern Indiana (3-5), No. 5 Saint Leo (7-7), No. 8 West Chester (0-5), No. 18 Palm Beach Atlantic (5-6), No. 19 Lenoir-Rhyne (6-5), No. 20 Arkansas Tech (6-6).

 

The 2019 NFCA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll is voted on by 16 NCAA Division II head coaches with two representing each of the NCAA’s eight regions. 

The 2019 NFCA Division II Top 25 Poll is voted on by 16 NCAA Division II head coaches with two representing each of the eight NCAA regions. Records reflect games play through Feb. 17, 2019.