We continue our list of the Top 15 Softball Stories of 2021, which will run through December 31st when we’ll present our No. 1 story of the year.
Here are the previous stories (clink on link to read):
- #15… Ty’Liyah Hardeman Foregoes Playing for Bethune Cookman to Support Family after Mom Dies, Now at Kennesaw State
- #14… Dakota Wagner Promotes Tourette Syndrome Awareness Through Her Successes On & Off the Field
- #13… Sara Goodrum, the Trailblazing Former Oregon Duck Softball Player, Makes History in the MLB Ranks
- #12… USA U-18 Team Goes Undefeated in International Play This Fall (& Valerie Cagle Leads the Way!)
- #11… Women’s College World Series Expands & Explodes in TV Rankings Thanks to Great Teams, Games & Storylines
Also, on New Year’s Day 2022, we’ll list all 15 of the top stories of the year as well as run 15 more that were considered.
We’ve surveyed the softball community and talked internally as well to come up with what were the most impactful and relevant stories of the year pertaining to the world of fastpitch softball.
Where applicable, we are providing the text to the original articles and/or references when the story first happened.
- Click Here to see the Top 15 Stories of 2020
- Click Here to see the Top 15 Stories of 2019
- Click Here to see the Top 15 Stories of 2018
To provide comments, insights or thoughts, email: info@extrainningsoftball.com.
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Today’s Story of the Year: #10
James Madison’s Cinderella Run & Odicci Alexander Wears the Slipper
All of their fortunes changed, though, with a postseason run that can only be described with the word “magical.”
The Dukes were limited on who and where they could play during the regular season, and despite losing just once in the regular season, they were placed as the 3-seed in the Knoxville Regional.
In the Regional, JMU twice beat top-25 ranked Liberty and also bested hosting Tennessee. Advancing to the Super Regional round, the Dukes squared off with another SEC foe in Missouri and won the first and last games of the best-of-three series to move on to the first Women’s College World Series in program history.
Once they got to Oklahoma City, the Dukes took the softball world by storm by beating top-seeded Oklahoma in the opening game of the WCWS and, later, besting Oklahoma State in a winner’s bracket matchup that catapulted the upstart Dukes to the tournament semifinals.
And the more the Dukes won, the bigger their fan base grew.
Casual softball fans took up the JMU mantle, throwing their rooting interests behind the “underdog” team beating the odds-on favorites… then winning some more.
Alexander, in her final season of collegiate eligibility, became a household name in the softball world but even in the sports world in general. Whether it was her dominant pitching – she threw every game for the Dukes in the WCWS – or her athletic defense that included a diving play that made highlight reels worldwide, “Odicci” earned her way to sports stardom after performing under pressure on the game’s greatest stage.
Looking back on JMU’s run, there are many things that made their postseason performance special. Even though that run did not end in a championship, JMU carved a new path for mid-major programs across softball and made bonafide legends out of more than one of the women who sported a JMU Dukes uniform in Oklahoma City.
— Justin McLeod, Extra Inning Softball
To provide comments, insights or thoughts, email: info@extrainningsoftball.com.
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Here are some of the articles Extra Inning Softball featured this year on the Dukes’ exciting run in the WCWS…
College News: Historic Run Nabs James Madison 2021 NFCA DI National Coaching Staff of the Year Honors
Originally published June 25, 2021 on Extra Inning Softball
Highlighted by a historic run to the national semifinals, James Madison University was named the 2021 NFCA Division I National Coaching Staff of the Year, the Association announced Thursday afternoon.
Voted by their peers, head coach Loren LaPorte and her staff take home their first national honor from the Association.
LaPorte, along with associate head coach Jennifer Herzig and assistant coach Libby Morris, steered JMU to the program’s first Women’s College World Series appearance where it made history.
With a pair of one-run wins over No. 1 overall seed Oklahoma and No. 5 seed Oklahoma State, the Dukes became the first unseeded program to capture their first two games at the WCWS as well being the first ever to reach the semifinals.
Making its way to the WCWS, JMU opened postseason as the Knoxville Regional’s three seed and swept its way to Super Regionals, knocking off nationally-ranked Liberty twice and No. 9 national seed Tennessee.
Continuing on the road, the Dukes defeated No. 8 national seed Missouri in three games at the Columbia Super Regional to advance to the WCWS.
Earning honors as the NFCA’s Northeast Region Coaching Staff of the Year, LaPorte, Herzig and Morris guided JMU to Colonial Athletic Association regular season and tournament titles.
The Dukes, who lost only one regular season game, finished 41-4 and 17-1 in the CAA. LaPorte, who just finished her fourth year at the helm, is 148-34 overall and has led the Dukes to back-to-back Super Regionals and three straight Regionals.
Regional (respective region only) and National Coaching Staffs of the Year are voted on by NFCA member head coaches.
JMU, along with respective regional winners (listed below) were eligible for the national honor. For more on the Regional winners, Click HERE.
- University of Oklahoma (Central)
- University of Michigan (Great Lakes)
- Virginia Tech (Mid-Atlantic)
- Miami University (Mideast)
- South Dakota State University (Midwest)
- University of Washington (Pacific)
- University of Arkansas (South)
- Duke University (Southeast)
- UCLA (West)
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Women’s College World Series, Day 2: James Madison & Alabama Go 2-0 Behind Odicci’s Diving Tag Out at Home & Montana Fouts’ Perfect Game on Her Birthday!
Originally published June 4, 2021 on Extra Inning Softball
OKLAHOMA CITY – On the second day of the Women’s College World Series, two players had incredibly memorable performances to help their teams advance to the National Semifinals on Sunday.
Odicci Alexander shined in the circle against Oklahoma State to help James Madison become the first-ever unseeded team to go 2-1 at the WCWS on Friday, while Alabama’s Montana Fouts achieved perfection, tossing the first perfect game in over 20 years at the WCWS in a stunning 6-0 win over (2) UCLA.
Here are the full recaps from Friday’s action and another terrific day at Hall of Fame Stadium:
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James Madison 2, #5 Oklahoma State 1
The Dukes continued their Cinderella story by becoming the first ever unseeded team to go 2-0 at the WCWS as Odicci Alexander made a game-saving tag with one out of the seventh to nab the tying run at the plate on a squeeze play.
Alexander’s tag not only made shockwaves around the softball world, but around the sports world.
The NCAA Softball official Twitter’s video of the tag garnered over half a million views on Twitter and the phrase “WHAT A PLAY” was one of the top-trending phrases on the social media platform throughout the night.
The diving tag out at home that will now be considered one of the greatest plays in the history of the Women’s College World Series.
ODICCI ALEXANDER, ARE YOU SERIOUS?! 😱
📺 ESPN2#WCWS #SCtop10 x @JMUSoftball pic.twitter.com/eVJ0ruSiZY
— NCAA Softball (@NCAASoftball) June 5, 2021
At the plate, James Madison jumped out to a 2-0 lead on the strength of a walk and two singles to get Alexander home on a throwing error in the first.
Kate Gordon – Friday’s hero in the 4-3 extra-inning win over top-seeded Oklahoma – smacked her second home run in as many games to double JMU’s lead.
Oklahoma State got a run back on a Chelsea Alexander RBI single to score Reagan Wright. When James Madison responded by getting a pair on with nobody out, the Cowgirls turned to lefty Kelly Maxwell in relief of Carrie Eberle to get the Cowgirls out of the jam. Maxwell struck out five in her two innings of work.
Alexander was forced into changing her game plan against the Cowgirls after dominating Oklahoma with a deceptive rise ball on Friday.
The righty worked an effective curveball, drop ball and screwball mix that kept Oklahoma State off balance.
While she didn’t garner as many swings and misses on Saturday, Alexander was effective enough to work her second complete game of the World Series, allowing just three hits and two walks to improve to 18-1 on the season, needing just 95 pitches to do so.
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#3 Alabama 6, #2 UCLA 0
On her 21st birthday, Montana Fouts let the world know that she was perfect.
The right-hander faced the minimum on Friday, shutting down defending national champion UCLA, 6-0, the first perfect game in the WCWS since Courtney Blades did it for Southern Miss in 2000 and just the fifth all-time.
To make it sweeter, it was the first time that the Crimson Tide defeated the Bruins in program history (0-10 prior to Friday).
Reverse birthday present: Montana Fouts gives her Tide team a gift they’ll never forget: her perfection!
Postseason Perfection! Montana Fouts throws a perfect game to defeat UCLA#Team25 #WCWS pic.twitter.com/GNRF76jQGg
— Alabama Softball (@AlabamaSB) June 5, 2021
While Fouts worked a hard, deceptive rise ball that netted 14 strikeouts, Alabama did more than enough at the plate against U.S. Olympian Rachel Garcia.
For the second straight night, SEC Player of the Year Bailey Hemphill came up big for the Tide, doubling to right center in the first against a shallow outfield to score Alexis Mack, then Jenna Johnson drove in Hemphill on a 3-2 single to center, giving Alabama a 2-0 lead after a half inning.
Kaylee Tow belted a three-run homer to center to bring home Hemphill and Mack in the fifth, then Savannah Woodard scored on an RBI single to hang six on Garcia, the most she’s allowed in her storied career as a Bruin.
Fouts – like Alexander – needed just 95 pitches to polish off her gem.
Alabama advances to Sunday’s national semifinal, where they’ll play the winner of Oklahoma State and Arizona/Florida State.
“I’m just so proud… so proud of my defense, so proud of my offense,” Fouts told Holly Rowe of ESPN. “I just came out here – if they don’t score, we don’t win. They had my back and they made the plays and this doesn’t happen without them, this doesn’t happen without Bailey behind the dish, it was just a team win.
Even after a ridiculous performance, Fouts still believed she has more to do.
“I definitely feel [the rise ball] has some work to do. I think I could’ve had more command on it. My spin and my timing felt a little bit off at points, but I just trusted the timing, trusted the pitch and trusted my defense,” she said.
The final out as 21 come up and 21 go down:
ALABAMA'S MONTANA FOUTS THROWS A PERFECT GAME AT THE #WCWS! pic.twitter.com/TqJaKZAZ8t
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 5, 2021
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WCWS Spotlight: There’s a Unifying Thread that Ties Together Several James Madison Players… Know What It Is? (Hint: Think Club!)!)
Originally published June 4, 2021 on Extra Inning Softball
The shocking upset of #1 seed Oklahoma by unseeded James Madison yesterday on Day 1 of the Women’s College Worlds Series is the talk of the world…. well, certainly the sports world.
It was the “Lead” on ESPN yesterday’s SportsCenter and on the scrolling news and sports scores that ran all day underneath the action on the screen.
The 4-3 JMU win to start off the 2021 WCWS marked just the second time since seeding began in 2005 that a #1 seed lost to an unseeded team—the other was in 2008 when the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns shocked Florida.
Today, Dukes players like Thursday’s winning pitcher Odicci Alexander and big home run hitters Sara Jubas and Kate Gordon are household names to college softball fans, especially to those who love rooting for the underdog, but there’s a common tie-in that all three of these standouts have.
Odicci, seen here, is part of the “club:”
𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙌𝙪𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙤𝙛 @JMUSoftball.
Redshirt senior @2seas__ is ready to guide her team to a National Championship in its first-ever #WCWS appearance. pic.twitter.com/KOMC1xXpJE
— NCAA Softball (@NCAASoftball) June 3, 2021
So too are Sara (#4) and Katie (#17), seen here hitting their big homers:
Brought the bats to OKC. 💪#GoDukes pic.twitter.com/8mShrsyePt
— JMU Softball (@JMUSoftball) June 3, 2021
In fact, go through yesterday’s batting order for James Madison and you’ll find that six of the first seven in the lineup had one thing in common…
*** Continue below to learn what ties together many of the JMU standout players!
