Inside Pitch: Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Extra Inning Softball looks at breaking news around the world of fastpitch softball including a very unfortunate injury in the Pac-12, Mizzou’s choice of a head coach (for now, at least) and two new recruiting verbals…

The Washington Huskies announced Monday that standout junior catcher Morganne Flores will miss the 2018 season with injury.  According to the Husky release, “Flores is expected to return to full health for 2019.”

The Washington Huskies announced Monday that standout junior catcher Morganne Flores will miss the 2018 season with injury.  According to the Husky release, “Flores is expected to return to full health for 2019.”

We spoke with Morganne’s mother, Lynn, today and she told Extra Inning Softball: “Morganne completely tore her right ACL at practice last Thursday so she will be having surgery on February 14 to replace it.”

“It will be a long recovery and she will be redshirting this year. She’s pretty devastated about it, but life isn’t always fair and she will grow from it just as her friends have.”

A former PGF National Championship with the OC Batbusters, Flores started all 64 games as a sophomore last year for Washington and led the Pac-12 Conference with 74 RBI, third best in Husky history. She had 13 home runs on the season and 17-multi hit games with a huge game in the NCAA Seattle Regionals on May 26 where she hit a grand slam and had a career-high seven RBI versus Utah.

From Extra Inning and all the softball community we wish Morganne a very speedy and complete recovery.

The unexpected firing of Missouri Head Coach Ehren Earleywine on Friday “totally blindsided” him according to a lengthy conversation he had with the Kansas City Star yesterday.

It apparently was a big surprise to players too—Extra Inning Softball has spoken to sources within the program who said many of the players found out on Twitter initially and then received a text about a meeting with the Athletic Director, Jim Sterk.

The AD reportedly told the players they should take a few days off but junior infielders Rylee Pierce and Amanda Sanchez allegedly responded by saying they had their first game in 15 days and shouldn’t take any days off.

Said one source wishing to say anonymous, “The AD has been mad at Ehren since (NCAA Sectionals) last year when the coach canceled the chartered flight back home, telling them it’s a privilege to play—you don’t play like that and get rewards made them drive back.”

The university didn’t waste any time announcing who his replacement would be as word leaked out Sunday via various media outlets and was confirmed on Monday via a press release issued today on the SEC school’s website that assistant Gina Fogue would step in as Interim Coach.

The complete Tigers’ release is as follows:

University of Missouri assistant softball coach Gina Fogue will serve as the program’s Interim Head Coach for the 2018 season, Mizzou Director of Athletics Jim Sterk announced Monday.

“Gina has had a tremendous amount of responsibility with practice and game management decisions over the past four seasons which have greatly contributed to Mizzou’s success, and we believe it was in the best interest of our student-athletes to have her serve as our Interim Head Coach for the upcoming season,” Sterk said. “As a Mizzou alum, who played on a pair of Women’s College World Series teams during her career, she loves Mizzou and has proven to be a fierce competitor.”

“More importantly, she has earned the trust and respect of our student-athletes, which is critical when making an important decision such as this,” he added. “We believe that she is the right coach at the right time to lead the Tigers into the 2018 season.”

A member of the Mizzou softball staff since 2011, Fogue served two seasons as the program’s Director of Operations until being promoted into an on-field coaching position on July 8, 2013, where she has coached the Tiger outfielders and served as the team’s base-runners coach. In four seasons as an assistant coach, the Tigers reached the NCAA Tournament each year and advanced to a pair of NCAA Super Regionals.

“I would like to thank Jim Sterk and Brian Brown for entrusting me with this great group of women,” Fogue said. “Naturally, this isn’t the scenario in which you envision taking over as head coach, but I’m grateful for the opportunity to do anything I can to help this team move forward with a successful season. I’ve learned a tremendous amount under Coach Earleywine in my time here at Mizzou, and I look forward to building on this program’s proud tradition.”

“Since coming to campus 12 years ago, Mizzou has been the place that I call home,” she added. “I’m a proud alum of this program and want to help our long-standing success continue. I’m here to support our young ladies, and am encouraged and excited by the talent and chemistry our team has as we go forward into the 2018 season.”

As a former Tiger standout, Fogue may best be remembered for her walk-off home run that ended Mizzou’s game three win of the 2009 NCAA Super Regional at No. 1-seeded UCLA, 9-1, to reach the NCAA Women’s College World Series. The long ball to down the Bruins was part of a strong senior season. Fogue enjoyed her best season as a Tiger that year, hitting .321 with eight home runs, 32 RBI and a .599 slugging percentage.

Versatility was Fogue’s strong suit throughout her Black & Gold career, as she saw playing time at third base, second base, shortstop and in the outfield. She was an equally productive hitter and scorer with 87 hits and runs in her career.

Fogue finished her Mizzou career as a three-time First-Team Academic All-Big 12 selection. She graduated from the University of Missouri in 2010 with a degree in graphic design and a minor in business.

Second-year Assistant Coach Adam LaLonde will continue in his role in 2018 with an interim assistant coach expected to be named soon.

Missouri opens the 2018 season Feb. 8 at the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Ariz., against San Jose State.

In recruiting news, UCLA has picked up a 2022 catcher in Caitlyn Newburn, who plays for the Lady Magic 16U team out of Northern California and coached by Ernie & Lindsey Muñoz.

We’ll have more on Caitlyn in the upcoming days as well as the Magic squad which has 10 D1 commits on the team including a half dozen headed to the Pac-12 and one going to the SEC (Sydney Peterson, LSU) who looked very impressive last fall at the PGF Ultimate Challenge in Salinas, California.

Finally, congrats to Atlanta Viper P/1B Ansleigh Hollifield who committed this week to Kennesaw State.

Ansleigh plays high school ball with Buford (Georgia) and helped the team finish 3rd in the State at the Class 5A level. She was 1st Team All-Region going 7-2 with two shutouts and at the plate had a .357 batting average.

In the fall, she hit .417 with the Atlanta Vipers-Holbrook team with four home runs and seven RBI.

“She is truly a great player who always has a positive attitude,” says Coach Jason Holbrook.” Ansleigh puts in the hard work and reps and loves the game.”

As to why she chose KSU, Ansleigh told Extra Inning Softball: “I wanted an opportunity to play for a great school with an accomplished coaching staff.  I want to compete at the highest level and get a great education.  Being close to home was a bonus.”