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Clearwater, Fla. – Day two saw a pair of no-hitters, two bottom of the seventh walk-off wins and an inside-the-park home run, while two teams- Valdosta State and Florida Tech – remained undefeated at the 2019 NFCA Division II Leadoff Classic at the Eddie C. Moore Complex.

The Blazers and Panthers head into the final day as the favorites for the 2019 Leadoff title. However, five teams – West Florida, Lee, North Georgia, Harding and Tampa – with 3-1 marks are still in the hunt.

No. 22 Valdosta State takes on Tampa, while Florida Tech faces of against No. 20 Lenoir Rhyne at 11 a.m. Also at that time slot will be Harding versus Lee and West Florida against No. 8 West Chester.

The Argos, one of seven teams to post 2-0 marks, witnessed two of those feats in their game against California (Pa.). Tori Perkins (pictured) twirled the first no-hitter of the weekend, fanning seven and walking two in a six-inning win (8-0) over California (Pa.). It was the first Argo no-hitter since Feb. 5, 2015 (Sarah Malony vs. UMSL). 

Tournament CentralTournament Central

UWF’s Teala Howard capped off the win over the Vulcans in style, rounding the bases in 11.1 second for an inside-the-park home run. Following that, the Argos dug out of an early 5-2 hole with nine unanswered runs in an, 11-5, upset win over No. 18 Palm Beach Atlantic.

Not long after Perkins’ gem, Southern Arkansas’ Sydney Wader struck out two in a five-inning no-hitter against Tampa. Her no-hitter followed a wild walk-off 1-0 win for the second-ranked Muleriders over West Georgia. 

With the game scoreless in the bottom of the seventh, SAU loaded the bases with no outs. After two quick outs, Sarah Evans struck out swinging, but the ball skipped past the catcher, allowing her to reach first safely and pinch runner Taylor Stricklin scooted home with the winning run. 

The 22^nd-ranked Blazers’ pitchers continued to shine with two more shutouts against No. 20 Lenoir-Rhyne, 6-0, and Azusa Pacific, 1-0. Caylie Van Auken and Avery Lamb each tossed three-hit shutouts with nine and eight strikeouts, respectively. 

Florida Tech kept marching along with 4-2 and 8-0 wins over Molloy and California (Pa.). Jordan Lawlis blanked the Vulcans in game two, while the Panthers used a five-run first and three-run fourth to seal the win. Against the Lions, they fell behind 2-0, but scored four runs in the fourth to rally for the victory.

North Georgia, Lee and Harding also enjoyed undefeated Saturday’s. The Nighthawks trumped Hillsdale, 6-3 and Azusa Pacific, 1-0, while the Flames toppled No. 8 West Chester, 8-2 and edged Eckerd, 3-2, and the Bisons posted a pair of three-run wins over No. 5 Saint Leo (8-5) and West Georgia, 4-1.

The tournament concludes on Sunday with 10 games.

CHICAGO – A rousing keynote, stellar speaking lineup, sold-out Exhibit Show and touching Hall of Fame speeches were just a few of many highlights that made the 2018 NFCA National Convention another success.

A near-record 1,679 attendees (second straight with over 1,600) gathered for four days of learning, sharing, networking and socializing at the Sheraton Grand Chicago. It was the first Convention outside of Las Vegas to surpass the 1,600 mark, breaking New Orleans’ record of 1,594, and was just eight shy of last year’s record-breaking event held at Bally’s Las Vegas.

The Exhibit Show, which sold out in a record 3 1/2 hours, was at full capacity for a third straight year and the Rookie Orientation was well attended, welcoming newcomers and acclimating them to their first Convention. The silent auction, which coincides with the Exhibit Show went digital this year and was an instant success, as it drove attendees to company’s booths to scan QR codes and meet with those company’s representatives.

Additionally, the high school and travel ball coaches, along with softball instructors were treated to a brand new “Meet and Mingle,” which allowed our grassroots coaches to network amongst their peers.

“What an outstanding event!” said NFCA Executive Director Carol Bruggeman. “We like to promote our Convention as the Greatest Softball Show on Earth and I believed it lived up to the hype! The energy and excitement level was at an all-time high.”

In the week’s marquee event, the Association welcomed three new members to its Hall of Fame. Salisbury’s Margie Knight, the late Mike Lambros of North Davidson High School, and Tennessee’s Karen Weekly were inducted as the 28th Hall of Fame Class. Sharon Lambros, wife of Mike Lambros, accepted on his behalf. He is the first high school member and the first posthumous induction into the Hall of Fame.

Keynote speaker Holly Rowe knocked it out of the ballpark on Wednesday evening. Nobody moved a muscle during Rowe’s emotional and passionate speech, which touched on being genuine, having a purpose, her love of sports, her career as woman in the sports broadcasting industry and her fight against cancer.

Preceding Thursday’s member caucuses was the “Pregame Chatter” session designed to help inform each other of the hot topics each membership group is discussing, along with NCAA rules and umpiring inquiries.

Along with this business aspect, the Association spotlights its member coaches through the Victory Club Luncheon which focuses on win milestones and the Champions Brunch, honoring NFCA Coaching Staffs of the Year, Easton/NFCA Assistant Coaches of the Year, Easton/NFCA Top Academic teams and NFCC Four-Star Coaches.

At the Softball Summit, a trio of Mary Nutter Scholarship winners, Diversity Grant recipient Marco Aragon of Feather River College and the Turface/NFCA Fields of the Year were recognized. In addition, Southern Illinois head coach Jen Sewell received the Donna Newberry “Perseverance Award” and the University of San Diego’s Melissa McElvain was honored as the NFCA’s Humanitarian Award recipient.

In a special tribute, longtime Convention volunteer, Illinois State head coach Melinda Fischer, was presented with a customized bat in honor of the Association’s Distinguished Service Award being named after her for Fischer’s years of selfless service to the NFCA. Following her recognition, ESPN’s Meg Aronowitz was honored as this year’s Distinguished Service Award recipient.

The Convention featured numerous ways to get better as coach, no matter what level you coach. Drills, Drills, Drills and the five Chalk Talks on Saturday were hits. This year’s Grassroots Panel for our high school and travel ball coaches featured collegiate head coaches as well as special presentations by Gerry Quinn (Illinois Chill) and Dot Richardson (Liberty University). Convention sponsor USSSA presented a Mental Health Panel moderated by Hall of Famer Sue Enquist.

A technology session presented by NFCA Official Sponsor Diamond Kinetics and featuring North Carolina State’s Jennifer Patrick-Swift saw the University of Illinois Springfield (Shannon Guthrie), Deer Park (Texas) High School (Erica Cantu) and Texas Blaze Travel (Tammie Davis) recognized as the winners of a 2018 Diamond Kinetics Technology Scholarship.

A laid-back setting was also available for coaches to learn with the standing-room and ever-growing Fireside Chats. Those were preceded by the annual mentoring programing, which allowed coaches to gain valuable knowledge from their peers, along with paying it forward by raising money, which goes directly back into the membership.

The Convention clinics were once again sponsored by Sports Attack, and the usual group of breakfast, happy hours and receptions were presented by loyal Association supporters, Diamond Sports, HitTrax, PGF, Legacy Event Management, San Diego Summer Softball League, Schutt Sports, Scrap Yard Sports, USA Softball and USSSA.

Fort Collins, Colo. – The selection committee for the National Invitational Softball Championships has announced the 17-team field for the 2018 NISC. This marks the second year of the tournament, which features eight teams that have won 30 games or more during the 2018 season and six teams that finished second or better during the regular season in their respective conferences.

First-round regional action begins Wednesday, May 16 – regional hosts are Northern Colorado, UNLV, Eastern Kentucky and Central Arkansas. Each double-elimination regional concludes play on either Friday, May 18 or Saturday, May 19. The Championship round, also double-elimination, is slated to begin Wednesday, May 23 at a host site to be determined.

NISC qualifiers

Austin Peay (Ohio Valley) – At Large

Central Arkansas (Southland) – At Large

Colorado State (Mountain West) – At Large

Eastern Kentucky (Ohio Valley) – Automatic Qualifier

Loyola Marymount (West Coast Conference) – Automatic Qualifier

Nevada (Mountain West) – Automatic Qualifier

Northern Colorado (Big Sky) – At Large

Stephen F. Austin (Southland) – Automatic Qualifier

South Dakota State (Summit League) – Automatic Qualifier

Texas Tech (Big 12) – Automatic Qualifier

Toledo (Mid-America) – Automatic Qualifier

Towson (Colonial Athletic) – Automatic Qualifier

UC Riverside (Big West) – Automatic Qualifier

UNLV (Mountain West) – At Large

UT Arlington (Sun Belt) – Automatic Qualifier

Utah Valley (WAC) – Automatic Qualifier

Weber State (Big Sky) – Automatic Qualifier

Each of the 12 automatic qualifiers are the teams who finished the best regular-season record in their respective conference and are not playing in the NCAA Tournament. The five at large selections were selected off their body of work. Teams are selected to regions based on travel considerations first and then seeded by NCAA RPI (as of May 13).

“We’re thrilled to be offering this event for a second consecutive year,” said Tournament Director Dave King. “We’ve already seen programs receive a significant boost by playing in the NISC last year. With the depth of talent this year, we’re looking forward to seeing this year’s programs play meaningful postseason games and continue their momentum into next season.”

Here are the matchups for the first round. The Northern Colorado and UNLV regions begin play on Wednesday, May 16, while the Eastern Kentucky and Central Arkansas regions will start on Thursday, May 17 (all times Eastern). Home team listed second; based on RPI.

Region 1: Greeley, CO (Northern Colorado Hosts)

South Dakota State (32-16) at Colorado State (26-21), 5 p.m. ET

Northern Colorado (28-26) at Loyola Marymount (28-23-1), 8 p.m. ET

Region 2: Las Vegas, NV (UNLV Hosts)

Weber State (27-24) at Nevada (25-25), 3 p.m. ET

Utah Valley (21-29) at UC Riverside (33-22), 6 p.m. ET

Weber State/Nevada at UNLV (31-18), 9 p.m. ET

Region 3: Richmond, KY (Eastern Kentucky Hosts)

Towson (40-17) at Austin Peay (39-17), 3 p.m. ET

Toledo (34-21) at Eastern Kentucky (40-18), 6 p.m. ET

Region 4: Conway, AR (Central Arkansas Hosts)

Stephen F. Austin (31-22) at Texas Tech (29-26), 4 p.m. ET

Central Arkansas (27-25) at UT Arlington (27-26), 7 p.m. ET

— Courtesy of NISC

OKLAHOMA CITY – USA Softball announced the 2019 USA Softball U-19 Women’s National (U19 WNT) assistant coaches, finalizing the coaching staff for the upcoming year.   With the program led by head coach Heather Tarr (head coach at Washington), Tony Baldwin (associate head coach at Georgia), Cindy Ball-Malone (head coach at UCF) and Tim Walton (head coach at Florida) will bring a wealth of experience to a U.S. roster that will look to become the first, three peat U-19 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Women’s World Cup champion.

This will be the first stint with the USA Softball U19 WNT for both Baldwin and Ball-Malone, while Walton previously served as an assistan tcoach for the 2015 roster.

Baldwin is entering his fifth season with Georgia, having served as both a volunteer and assistant coach until his promotion to associate head coach shortly after the 2016 season.  In his tenure, the Bulldogs offense has found successful production, consistently landing in the Top 5 in the country in batting average the past two seasons.

“I am honored to be selected to work with the U19 Women’s National Team this summer,” said Baldwin.  “Like the players, it has always been a dream of mine to be able to represent my country in competition. I am looking forward to spending the summer with Coach Tarr and the rest of the staff to prepare this team to be at its best at the U-19 World Cup. What I am most looking forward to is investing in the players and helping them in their journey through softball.”

Ball-Malone is currently in her first season as head coach at UCF.  Prior to joining the Knights in June of 2018, she had four seasons at the helm of Boise State’s softball program.  At Boise State, she led the team to the program’s first NCAA postseason appearance at the 2017 National Invitational Softball Championship before following up with a 2018 NCAA tournament berth.

“I am truly thankful for this opportunity given to me by USA Softball and coach Tarr,” said Ball-Malone.  “It is a pleasure and an honor to work with the talented athletes that were selected. This will be a remarkable experience working with these young athletes and traveling the world representing the Red, White and Blue.”

Walton helped guide the 2015 U.S. squad to the Gold Medal in dominating fashion, with the team going undefeated and leading the tournament with a .425 batting average while scoring 119 runs in 10 games played.

Collegiately, Walton is entering his 14th season at the helm of Florida.  In his 14 seasons, Walton has established the Gators as a softball powerhouse, capturing back-to-back national titles in 2014 and 2015.

“I am thankful to USA Softball and the selection committee for putting their trust in me as an assistant coach,” said Walton.  “I cannot wait to help prepare and develop this group of young women for another run at the WBSC U-19 Women’s World Cup.  This is a tremendous opportunity as there is no greater honor than being able to represent your country in international competition.”

— Courtesy of USA Softball

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau won’t say if his office leaked stories detailing internal disagreement with former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould over a Supreme Court appointment.

“Canadians can have confidence in our government’s respect for the institutions, the Supreme Court,” Trudeau said in Winnipeg Tuesday morning. “Canadians have confidence in the strength of our judiciary in this country. I have no further comment to make on this issue.”

Trudeau was pressed to respond to reports from CTV News and The Canadian Press this week that Wilson-Raybould advocated for Glenn Joyal, chief justice of Manitoba’s Court of Queen’s Bench, to not only be named to the top court in 2017 but also appointed chief justice.

Earlier: Trudeau shares his side of SNC-Lavalin affair

Trudeau ended up promoting Richard Wagner as chief justice of the Supreme Court and naming Sheilah Martin to fill the vacant western Canadian seat.

“Well-placed sources” told CP that Trudeau balked at naming Joyal to the top court because of his past criticism about the court’s activism on Charter of Rights and Freedoms issues. The newswire reported this was a matter of “significant disagreement” between the prime minister and Wilson-Raybould.

Internal discussions about who should be named to the top court are highly confidential and sensitive. Wilson-Raybould said as much in statements to both outlets, warning that reporting on such conversations “could compromise the integrity of the appointments process and potentially sitting justices.”

According to CP, Joyal withdrew from consideration after Trudeau told Wilson-Raybould he did not back her choice. In a statement Monday, Joyal said he took himself out of the running because of his wife’s metastatic breast cancer and raised concerns that the confidential process of naming Supreme Court justices was being politicized.

“I fear that someone is using my previous candidacy to the Supreme Court of Canada to further an agenda unrelated to the appointment process,” Joyal said. “This is wrong.”

A number of lawyers expressed discomfort on social media over the latest twist in the saga.

On Tuesday, Trudeau would not offer any insight as to why Joyal would have been the wrong pick to serve as the top court’s chief justice.

“I think one of the most important things is that Canadians know… they can continue to have confidence in their judicial system, in the way we operate as a government,” he said. “Canadians can know that we have a strong and independent judiciary and as would be proper, I’m not going to comment any further on that question.”

Trudeau kept that message discipline when asked directly if he decided against Joyal or if the application was withdrawn in advance.

“The choice of Supreme Court justices and indeed chief justice of the Supreme Court of Canada is always a decision by the prime minister,” he said. “Canadians can know that they can have confidence in our institutions, in our judicial system. And I have no further comment to make on this particular story.”

The reports landed one day before the House of Commons ethics committee met to discuss an opposition motion to have Wilson-Raybould and former Treasury Board president Jane Philpott, who quit Trudeau’s cabinet over the controversy, testify about the SNC-Lavalin affair. Liberal MPs on the committee voted against launching a new probe into the matter.

Wilson-Raybould told the justice committee last month that she faced months of sustained pressure from Trudeau and other officials to help the Quebec engineering giant secure a remediation agreement to avoid a criminal trial on corruption charges.

Wilson-Raybould also told the committee she believed she was shuffled to Veterans Affairs in January, widely seen as a demotion, because she would not help SNC-Lavalin land a deal.

Last week, Liberal MPs on the justice committee ended the group’s investigation into the matter. Wilson-Raybould has since said she will make a written submission to the committee to disclose more “facts and evidence.”

While the prime minister denies Wilson-Raybould’s allegations, these most recent reports offer another potential reason as to why Trudeau might have wanted a new attorney general and justice minister. Still, Wilson-Raybould was not moved during a large summer shuffle in 2018, after the reported strife over the Supreme Court appointment, when five new ministers were named.

Trudeau: Liberals ‘stronger and more united than ever before’

Trudeau has also said Wilson-Raybould would still be attorney general today if Scott Brison had not resigned as Treasury Board president in January. His former principal secretary, Gerald Butts, said the same while testifying before the justice committee about the decisions behind that fateful cabinet shuffle.

Asked by a reporter Monday about what looks like a simmering “civil war” within his party, Trudeau suggested he has no concerns about unity. The prime minister pointed to the 30-hour marathon vote triggered by Conservatives last week as something that ended up building morale.

“Our team has come out stronger and more united than ever before,” he said. “I’m incredibly proud of the Liberal party that is focused on things that really matter to Canadians.”

Both Wilson-Raybould and Philpott did not attend those votes.

With files from The Canadian Press