AUSTIN - On the recommendation of Dr. David Lakey, Commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services, and in consultation with Texas Education Agency Commissioner Robert Scott, the University Interscholastic League is altering its schedule of events due to the outbreak of the swine flu in Texas. Effective immediately, all UIL interscholastic competition is suspended until May 11. The health and safety of our student activity participants is of the utmost importance, said UIL Executive Director Dr. Charles Breithaupt. Taking every possible precaution to prevent the further spreading of this disease is an important contribution to the welfare of our great state, and altering the schedule of our events is a way to keep our participants safe. As this is a fluid situation, the UIL tentatively releases the following schedule for UIL regional and state events affected by this situation. No interschool games will take place until May 11 for either softball or baseball. Below is an altered playoff schedule for both sports.Softball Baseball District Certification April 28 May 19 Bi District Deadline May 16 (1 game or 2 out of 3) May 23 (1 game or 2 out of 3) Area Deadline May 19 (1 game only) May 26 (1 ...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Lubbock Christian (Tenn.) softball team is the favorite in the 2009 NAIA Softball Coaches' Top 25 Preseason Poll. The Lady Chaparrals, who won their first national title last year in their inaugural season, received 20 of the possible 23 first place votes and 650 total points. LCU returns all but one player from last year's national championship team. The Lady Chaps will be led by four returning seniors, including infielders Raquel Hawkins, Honda Rodriguez and Ginalee Davis and pitcher/outfielder Kelly Griego. Point Loma Nazarene (Calif.) earned the other three first place votes and compiled 630 total points. The Sea Lions will return three key players from last season, including seniors Melissa Gomez and Kayla Luttmers and junior Tyler Lent and Jell Schaefer. California Baptist received 608 total points at No. 3 while Saint Gregory's (Okla.) earned 581 total points at No. 4 and Dickinson State (N.D.) compiled 550 total points at No. 5. Mobile (Ala.), last year's national tournament runner-up, received 546 total points for the sixth spot. Oklahoma City (534 points), Simon Fraser (B.C.) (492 points), Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) (444 points) and Columbia (Mo.) (438 points) rounded out the top-10. The first regular season poll will be released on Tuesday, ...

BY DAVE LIEBER- FT. WORTH STAR TELEGRAM Former Keller High School girls softball coach Maureen "Moe" Fritz was in a class by herself. She led the Lady Indians to two state titles and a national championship. She was named USA Today High School Softball Coach of the Year. She threw out the ceremonial first pitch at a Texas Rangers game. For all her success, she is no longer the team’s coach. On March 27, she signed a renewal contract for this school year. Ten weeks later, she signed a letter that read: "I Maureen Fritz resign from my coaching position at Keller High School at the end of the 2007-2008 school year contract." She now teaches at Indian Springs Middle School. Several parents asked The Watchdog what happened to Fritz. I filed an open-records request with the Keller school district and received access to a foot-high stack of documents. But the district had other records that it didn’t want to release and asked the Texas attorney general’s office to rule that they were exempt from the Texas Public Information Act. But the office said that the records — e-mails and memos — were public information. It also scolded the school district for missing the legal deadline to ...

By CHARLES WILSON | Associated Press Writer INDIANAPOLIS - Being a girl hasn't kept Logan Young from playing baseball with the boys for nine years, and she and her parents don't think that should change now that she's in high school. The 14-year-old and her family have filed a federal lawsuit over an Indiana High School Athletic Association rule that prohibits the Bloomington South freshman from trying out for the high school baseball team because she is female. "In this day and age, a girl should have the opportunity to participate on an equal footing with the boys in high school sports and the IHSAA precludes that," Fishers attorney Tae Sture said Monday. "Our feeling is, quite frankly, there's no rational reason for it," he said. An IHSAA rule prohibits girls from trying out for baseball if their school has a softball team on the basis that the sports are comparable. But the lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis argues that baseball and softball aren't really the same sport, so girls should be able to try out for baseball. The suit seeks to have the IHSAA rule thrown out based on the equal protection clause of the 14th ...

By Scott Bernarde It’s just three feet, but it’s much bigger than that in the debate over the distance between the pitcher’s mound and home plate in high school girls fast-pitch softball. According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, the regulation distance from the rubber to the plate is 40 feet. A growing number of coaches, especially those in softball-strong metro Atlanta, would like to see it increased to 43 to be in line with the college game. [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive] “The three feet, it’s a huge difference for both the pitcher and the batter,” said Kelly Murdock, head coach at Mill Creek, one of the teams expected to challenge for the state Class AAAA championship this weekend in Columbus. Murdock says moving back the mound will benefit players by allowing them to develop on the same infield dimensions played in college. Pitchers, for instance, would have to adjust their pitches to break at a later point to be successful in college. The change also might shake up a high school game dominated by certain strikeout pitchers since the Georgia High School Association began sanctioning ...

In an attempt to help college softball coaches scout new prospects, have have created a new website, Fastpitch Web Scouting. The goal of The Fastpitch Web Scouting Website, located at www.Fastpitch.ws is to create an environment that college softball coaches will enjoy visiting. By creating an easy to use website for college coaches we will increase the amount of coaches actually using the website to look for new players. It goes without saying that the more coaches that use the website, the more opportunities there are for high school softball players that have their skills videos featured on the site. Please visit www.Fastpitch.WS today, and see what I am talking about.

Three weeks into the Oklahoma High School softball season there are many athletes putting up impressive early numbers. Below are some of the top performances reported through week three: Ashley Brokeshoulder is a right-handed pitcher out of 5A Shawnee High School. The senior hurler continues to put up impressive numbers leading the Lady Wolves to an undefeated (6-0) Shawnee Tournament Championship. She is now 11-2 on the year with over 160 Ks (averaging over 12 Ks per outing). Sierra Bronkey is a junior righty hurler out of 6A Edmond Sante Fe High School. She stepped up in the Prague Tournament this past weekend, hitting an impressive .666 (10 for 15) with eight doubles and two singles. She was just as solid in the circle going 3-0 with an ERA of 0.00 in 20 innings. This brings her season stats up to a 5-1 record with a 0.00 ERA on the mound, and a .575 batting average (19 for 33) with 13 doubles and eight RBI's at the plate. Bailee Cartwright is a second baseman out of Class B Moss High School. The junior speedster had another great week leading her team to the Championship at the Little River Conference Tournament this week. ...

Two weeks into the Oklahoma High School softball season there are some bigtime stars putting up some impressive early numbers. Here are a few of the top performances reported from week 2: Tarra Underhill is a junior 3B out of Henryetta High School. After leading the Lady Knights in batting average as a sophomore in 2007, the power-hitter is off to a great start this fall having a spectacular week going an impressive 11-for-15 for a .733 average. Javen Henson is a junior shortstop out of two-time Class B State Champions Red Oak High School. It's business as usual for the 2008 UnderArmour HS All-American and future Lady Sooner as Henson is off to another great start with an .800 sluggin percentage, two homeruns, scoring 16 runs and driving in 10 RBIs through her first 25 at bats. Hannah Martin is a senior outfiellder out of 6A Owasso High School. After sitting out the first week due to a sprained ankle, the senior speedster helped add some additional spark to the Lady Ram's offense with a .578 average. Bailee Cartwright is a junior out of Class B Moss High School. The junior speedster had another great week at the Tuepelo ...

The high school softball season kicked off to a great start last week in Okla. The Sooner state is one of only five states that plays their high school softball season in the fall (Missouri, Colorado, Nebraska and Georgia being the other four). With the athletes coming straight out of their summer travelball seasons, there are always some immediate impact players that never seem to slow down their progress from the summer and don't miss a beat. Here are a few of the top performances from week one: Amy Graham, a senior and RHP/SS of Hominy High School, continues to prove why she has been one of the top prospects in the country and is being heavily recruited by several top programs. She starts right where she left off the past few seasons when she hit .615 (59-for-96) with 49/52 stolen bases as a junior and .667 (60-for-90) with 76/80 stolen bases as a sophomore. Graham played in five games this week going an impressive 11-for-16 for a .688 average and stole an amazing 19 bases in 20 attempts. On the mound she recorded 37Ks in 27 innings. Shelbi Redfearn, a junior and 3B/LF of 6A Stillwater High School, continues ...

LOWELL, MASS -- The Washington Glory headed into Lowell, Mass. needing four wins to solidify their second straight NPF regular season championship but could do no better than a pair of hits in losing 4-0 in the first of a four-game series to the Riptide on Thursday night. Jackie Pasquerella and Lisa Modglin both drove in a pair of runs off Sarah Pauly (11-5) while Eileen Canney (12-10) struck out seven in getting the complete-game shut-out victory. Nicole Barber and LaDonia Hughes each delivered hits for the Glory who could not find a way to drive the runners home. The Glory have now be two-hit in their second consecutive game, however took a 4-1 victory over Akron last Monday as both hits were home runs. The Glory is now tied for the top spot in the NPF with the Chicago Bandits at 29-16. Philadelphia, who was rained out in their game against Akron, will play a double header on Friday and are one game out of first place. New England moves into the fourth and final playoff spot in the NPF while Akron and Rockford are one game out of the final spot. The Glory and Riptide play game two of this ...