John Rohde The Oklahoman The 2010 class joining the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame will feature a passer, a slugger, a pitcher, an outfielder and a tackler. Oklahoma City mayor Mick Cornett on Thursday revealed this year's inductees during a noon luncheon at the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame & Jim Thorpe Museum. The class includes two-time Olympic Gold Medalist Michele Smith. Also leading the way is quarterback Troy Aikman, who led the Fighting Hens of Henryetta High School, began his collegiate career at Oklahoma, transferred to UCLA and later directed the Dallas Cowboys to three Super Bowl championships in the 1990s. This will complete a hall-of-fame trifecta for Aikman, who previously was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame (2006) and the College Football Hall of Fame (2008). The Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame selection committee has eyed Aikman for several years, but wanted him to be able to attend when inducted. Joining Aikman will be Oklahoma State slugger Pete Incaviglia, who in 1999 was named college baseball's player of the century. Most agree Incaviglia's 48 home runs, 143 RBIs and 1.140 slugging percentage achieved in 1985 will never be surpassed. Left-handed pitcher Smith, a two-time All-American at Oklahoma ...

Sparks, MD – Former Virginia Tech softball All-American Angela Tincher, the 2008 NCAA Player of the Year, and University of Maryland head coach Laura Watten will highlight an accomplished instructional staff at the All-Pro Fastpitch (APF) Softball Coach/Player Seminar scheduled to be held December 5, 2009, at the Hunt Valley Marriott. They will be joined by former Maryland All-American Amber Jackson and Tincher’s college teammate, former All-ACC selection Kelsey Hoffman Schmitt, at the event, which is designed for coaches, parents of fastpitch athletes and youth players 12 years of age and older. The APF Coach/Player Seminar is scheduled to run from 10 am. Until 1 p.m. on Saturday, December 5. It will cover most aspects of the game, including pitching, hitting, defense and catching as well as a segment on developing an effective practice plan. Each segment will include a Q&A opportunity with the instructors, and there will be an opportunity for photos and autographs following the event. The cost of the seminar is $75 for parents and coaches and $35 for players 12 years of age and up. Instructors will teach and demonstrate in a classroom-style format, however players attending the seminar may be asked to help ...

ESPN The Magazine’s inaugural ‘Body Issue,’ which honors athletes of various shapes, sizes, genders, races and — it would appear– stages of pregnancy! USA Softball star Jessica Mendoza, a gold medalist in the 2004 Olympic Games, posed alongside her teammates this summer while 8 ½-months pregnant with her first child. “The bodies in this issue vary from super buff, to lean, to stocky … all exemplifying beauty in their own way,” the 28-year-old outfielder notes. “I was proud to be in this issue at a unique time of my life.” Jessica adds, “I felt that by showing athletes in every shape and form, including those of us who have children and continue to play, ESPN The Magazine is trying to break those stereotypes.” Her athletic background almost certainly came in handy just a few weeks later, when she delivered son Caleb Ashton Mendoza-Burks — after 41 hours of labor! Baby boy arrived at 6:51 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 12, weighing in at 6 lbs., 8 oz. and measuring 21 inches in length. He is the first child for Jessica and her husband, Adam Burks.

Last weekend the Triple Threat Softball Camp held their first camp in McKinney,Texas. Since I live about 30 miles from McKinney I thought I would take The Fastpitch TV Show camera to McKinney and see what kind of film footage I could get for future episodes. If you not be familiar with The Triple Threat Softball Camp, you are not alone. It is a brand new project put together by former Olympians Caitlin Lowe, Cat Osterman, and Kelly Kretschman. As I said the McKinney Stop was the first of seven currently scheduled. You can visit the camp website at www.triplethreatsoftball.com Upon reaching the field, I tried to find someone in charge, so I could make sure it was OK to film. I was pleasantly surprised to find myself talking to Caitlin Lowes Mom. Then I met Catlin's boyfriend, as well as Kelly Kretschmans Mother. I must say it was a pleasant atmosphere to see that this camp was a family project. They were all very pleasant, and gave me permission to shot all the film I wanted. I must say I was impressed a second time with the camp itself. This was not a camp where you come met some famous players, ...

WALNUT CREEK, Calif.- Washington softball player Danielle Lawrie has been named one of 10 finalists from around the world for the 2009 Women's Sports Foundation's Sportswoman of the Year award, the organization recently announced. Each year, the Women's Sports Foundation recognizes an individual and team Sportswoman whose performances over a 12-month span has been above and beyond those of their peers. Criteria is based on new records and world championships won. Lawrie is nominated in the team category with 10 other qualified athletes, including Brazilian soccer player Marta, University of Connecticut basketball player Renee Montgomery and other athletes representing the sports of tennis (doubles), volleyball, bobsledding, curling, bowling, lacrosse and ice hockey. Since the team category's inception in 1993, four softball players have won the award, including the past two years, with Stanford's Jessica Mendoza (2008) and Monica Abbott from Tennessee (2007). Previous winners include Lisa Fernandez (1994) from UCLA and Texas' Cat Osterman (2003). Other Pac-10 athletes to win the award include Stanford's Kerri Walsh, the four-time All-American and gold medal Olympian won the award with Misty May-Treanor in 2006. Lisa Leslie, a three-time All-American at USC, is a two-time winner of the award in 2003 and 2001. Cynthia Cooper, also a ...

BY MATT WING Journal-Courier Imagine being three outs away from winning a state championship. Now imagine losing the title before another pitch is thrown. Parents, players and coaches from the Beardstown Girls Junior League All-Stars are crying foul after Beardstown was ruled the loser in the championship game of the Girls Junior League Softball State Tournament in East Chicago, a tournament that feeds into the Little League World Series. “They basically took a state title away from us, and I’m pretty upset about it,” said Craig Myers, who coaches the team of 13- and 14-year-olds. Beardstown had rallied for five runs in the top of the seventh inning to take an 8-6 lead against the Burbank Nationals Wednesday when the game was suspended because of darkness. Both teams were to return to the field the next day to complete the game. But when Beardstown arrived, it got a nasty surprise. Tournament officials learned Thursday morning that they had made a mistake: Games suspended because of darkness cannot be continued. Instead, the score reverts back to the last completed inning, and the game is over. Burbank had won 6-3. “It was really emotional and we did cry a lot, but then we just kind of sucked it up and ...

If a girl you liked had Jack Nicholson as a father, would you be too scared to ask her out? Even if that girl was Reese Witherspoon? I would think so, but then this isn’t a situation I would ever find myself in. Paul Rudd and Owen Wilson will however, according to The Hollywood Reporter: Nicholson is “in talks” to take the role in an untitled romantic comedy from James L. Brooks. The romantic comedy stars Reese Witherspoon as a professional softball player who is torn between two handsome, available men: Rudd, a nice, ordinary guy, and Wilson, a rakish fellow with one heck of a fastball. It clocks in at 94 miles an hour. Nicholson will play Witherspoon’s father, stepping into a role that until recently belonged to Bill Murray. The former “Ghostbuster” lost interest, allowing Nicholson to potentially step in. The deal hasn’t been made yet, but given Nicholson’s and Brooks’ track record together, this has a better-than-decent chance of working out. Brooks and Nicholson go way back, and they’ve had a lot of good luck together. Nicholson has won two Oscars (for “Terms of Endearment” and “As Good As It Gets”) working with his good luck charm of a ...

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="Reese wearing a Gameface protective mask."][/caption]Reese Witherspoon will show off her softball skills in an upcoming movie when she plays a professional sportswoman. The Oscar winner has revealed she has been secretly planning the untitled Jim Brooks film for the past two years - and its great fun. "It's a movie with Jim Brooks and Paul Rudd and Bill Murray. I don't know what the title is. I really have been making a movie with Jim Brooks for about two years now and one day we'll start filming and it will be fantastic! "We haven't shot the movie yet. I play a professional softball player."

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The "windmill" motion used in fast-pitch softball puts pitchers at risk for injuries to the biceps muscle, a new study suggests. Softball pitching has traditionally been seen as less stressful to the arm than the overhand pitching used in baseball. However, recent studies have suggested that college and professional softball pitchers run a high risk of chronic shoulder pain. The new study, published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine, suggests that strain placed on the biceps muscle, which connects with tendons in the shoulder, may be to blame. "The conventional belief has been that the underhand throwing motion of softball places little stress on the arm," senior researcher Dr. Nikhil Verma, a sports medicine specialist at Rush University in Chicago, said in a written statement. "But that is not the case." Understanding how pitchers' shoulder pain originates may help doctors and trainers develop better ways of preventing and treating it, according to Verma and his colleagues. For their study, the researchers analyzed the pitching motions of seven college and professional softball players. They used a technique called surface electromyography, which uses electrodes placed on the skin, to collect information on muscle firing patterns during each pitch. The women perform both ...

Allentown, Pa- The Philadelphia Force is sad to announce the retirement of several players. Retiring from the game they love are players Raquel “Rocky” Spencer, Kellie Wilkerson, Savannah Long, Jenna Hall, Ashley Smith, Kristen Miller, and Sharonda McDonald. The Force thanks these players for all of their contributions both on and off the field for both the team and the NPF. "This year will be an exciting one for the Philadelphia Force, however it will be without several players who have either retired or taken the year off for one reason or another. Notably, we will not have Kellie Wilkerson, Ashley Smith, Jenna Hall, Sharonda McDonald or Rocky Spencer," stated Tom Kleinman, owner/GM of the Philadelphia Force. Kleinman continues to state, "All four have retired from active playing. We wish Kellie and Jenna good fortune as they are both Assistant Coaches for NCAA Division I schools. Rocky has entered Graduate school in Colorado and Ashley Smith graduated from the Univ. Of Michigan Engineering program and is starting a great job in Colorado. They will all be missed." Rocky Spencer just ended her fourth year in the NPF after joining the Force as a utility player in 2007. She saw 12 at bats ...