The ScrapYard Dawgs and the USSSA Pride were set to kick off a summer tour of games between the two professional softball organizations on Monday. One social media post has put the entire tour in jeopardy. As the national anthem played, the ScrapYard Dawgs posted a tweet that not only praised the teams for standing […]
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The Florida Athletic Coaches Association all-state softball teams were released this past week. Coaches who are members of the associations submitted nominations of their players to be considered. Because the season was canceled after just a few games, the list was limited to first-team selections. Class 7A Newsome INF Claire Ginder, Sr. 1B Jadeyn Ruszkowski, […]
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The Florida Gulf Coast League, the first of its kind for college softball players, starts its inaugural season on Thursday. The seven-team league will play a 25-game schedule during the next five weeks. More than 56 colleges at every level have at least one player participating. Former Olympian Michele Smith, now a lead analyst at […]
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The Hillsborough scholar athletes are typically announced during an awards presentation. Because of COVID-19, the winners were revealed virtually this year. Each public school in the county picked a senior female and male student-athlete. The winners received a plaque and a $1,000 check. Alonso Alexis Gyselinck Sports: Flag football, soccer GPA: 7.0 SAT: 1,540 College: […]
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Jessica Warren had a remarkable college softball career. The former Alonso standout led FSU in nearly every offensive category as a senior, including batting average (.470), home runs (21) and RBIs (70). She also finished her career as the school and ACC leader in home runs (82) and RBIs (273) en route to guiding the […]
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The Gulf Coast Eight Conference, which is made up of county public schools in Citrus and Hernando, announced their softball team. Seven players from Hernando County were first-team selections. Nature Coast, which was 9-0 before the season was cut short, was well-represented with three selections, as well as the player and coach of the year. […]
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The NCAA Women’s College World Series was supposed to start today. Three former area standouts — Aliyah Andrews (East Lake/LSU), Cassidy Davis (Newsome/FSU) and Shannon Saile (Land O’ Lakes/Oklahoma) — all played for contending teams. Instead of possibly finishing their college careers on softball’s biggest stage, the trio are at home watching replays of past […]
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Whether cajoling, celebrating, raging or fuming, former Chamberlain softball coach Bobby Diez always wore his emotions in plain sight. He was a bold, intense, yet personable motivator who transformed the program into a powerhouse. Diez did it patrolling the dugout at the school for nearly 30 years. Now, the school wants that field named in […]
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For Nature Coast’s three seniors, everything was coming together. They had gone through some uneven seasons, but the lessons learned were paying off. Now veterans, the trio helped the Sharks get off to one of the best starts in school history (8-0). Nature Coast was dominant, too, outscoring foes by a combined 97-11. Then came […]
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Taylor Layner knew what he wanted in a relationship. The former Osceola baseball standout preferred someone who worked hard and was passionate about helping others. One more thing. She had to be a sports fanatic. He found that in Amanda Byers. The two became friends at South Florida State College in 2012. He was a […]
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