Category: College Softball

You Don’t Need to be the ‘Spotlight Kid’ to be Recruited

“Do you really have eight pitchers? or do you really have two and the rest are kind of iffy?”

We caught up with University of San Diego Asst. Coach Danielle O’Toole during practice.  She explains what makes her and her fellow coaches stay and watch recruits play, even if they’re not the ‘Star’ player on their team.

O’Toole also talked about something that she notices on the recruiting trail.  “Do you really have eight pitches? or do you have two good ones and the rest are iffy?”  She explains how she worked to improve her multiple pitches.

Buy Under Armour Women’s ColdGear

This is the 2nd part of our interview with O’Toole.  Check out part one of her interview where she talks about how she was recruited and the unnamed school withdrew their commitment.

Coach O’Toole pitches for USA Softball and the Chicago Bandits.  She was hired as an Assistant Coach in Fall 2017 at the University of San Diego.  She was also the University of Arizona’s ace pitcher.

Coach McElvain explains the process of how to choose the right school for you

“Could you see yourself at this school without softball?”

Sometimes, schools come calling for softball players, providing a ready-made list of choices.  But very often, players have to go out and find the right school for them.  University of San Diego Head Coach Melissa McElvain explains one way to narrow down the list of possible colleges where players might want to go.

Coach Mac suggests asking a series of questions about what a softball player might want in a University.  Ultimately, she says athletes should be comfortable with a school even if they didn’t play softball.  Here’s why….

Skills many girls don’t know before college

College and Travel ball coach Cristina Byrne talks about the important skills that many young players didn’t learn before they went to college. She also explains the biggest difference between coaching in College and Travel Ball.

Coach Cristina Byrne was a Head Coach at San Francisco State, Assistant Coach at UCSD, UC Davis and now SDSU. She also Coaches the SoCal Mavericks

Buy a Mac Sports Collapsible Folding Wagon

Halloween Shenanigans of College Softball

Castaway and Stepbrothers. LOL

There was no shortage of Halloween fun across the country’s college softball programs!  Players wore some very creative costumes and some even played games in their costumes.

These Ole Miss players dressed as the heroes from the Toy Story movies….

The whole team participated in a game where the players hit a volleyball and ran the bases in reverse!

 

University of Virginia Softball players turned two in rabbit helmets.  Could we see this as a tactic in future games?

Portland State’s Softball team played kickball in some great costumes, including bacon and eggs.  The inflatable body builder was pretty cool too!

University of Oregon players get high marks for the Castaway costume including Wilson.  But the “Stepbrothers” costumes were Epic.

Arizona’s softball players were very creative with the bobbleheads.  Washing machines and dirty laundry were also very impressive!

Hope you had a great Halloween!  Eat more candy!