The Texas Tech Red Raiders and Lady Raiders are the athletic teams that represent Texas Tech University, located in Lubbock, Texas. The women's basketball team uses the name Lady Raiders, while the school's other women's teams use the "Red Raiders" name.
Larry Hays is a US college baseball, basketball, women's basketball, and softball coach. He was the head baseball coach at Lubbock Christian University (LCU) (1971–1986) and Texas Tech University (1987–2008). He was the head coach of the LCU Chaparrals basketball, LCU Lady Chaps basketball (1982–83), LCU Lady Chaps softball (2010) and LCU athletic director (1979–1987).
Jenny Louise Topping is an American, former collegiate four-time first team All-American, medal winning Olympian, retired professional All-Star softball player. Topping played college softball at Washington and Cal State Fullerton primarily as a catcher. She is best known for being a member of the United States women's national softball team at the 2004 Summer Olympics that won a gold medal. She also played professionally in the National Pro Fastpitch for the Akron Racers.
Jennifer Yvonne McFalls is an American, former collegiate All-American, gold-medal winning Olympian softball player and current head coach originally from Grand Prairie, Texas. She is head of the Kansas Jayhawks softball. team She played college softball at Texas A&M as a utility player and shortstop. She then went on to represent Team USA, being named an Olympic alternate in 1996 and a member of the 2000 team that won gold. After her years playing softball McFalls decided to become a coach with her first position as the assistant coach at Texas A&M. Mcfalls continued to coach for many years with several different schools at many different competitive levels. She was the head coach of the National Pro Fastpitch professional softball team, the Dallas Charge for their inaugural season.
Tammy Kay Williams is an American, former collegiate four-time All-American, four-time professional All-Star softball player and coach. She played her natural position at shortstop from 2006 to 2009 at Northwestern, as well as the Team USA and Chicago Bandits softball team. She owns Northwestern' softball team all-time career records in batting average, home runs, hits and total bases. She helped lead the Wildcats to a national runner up finish in the 2006 Women's College World Series. Williams was drafted tenth overall by the Chicago Bandits in the 2009 NPF Draft, winning two Cowles Cup championships in 2011 and 2015. She later worked as a sports broadcaster for the Big Ten and an assistant softball coach at Northern Illinois.
Charlotte Lee Morgan is an America], former professional softball pitcher and current Head Coach for Cal State Northridge. She played college softball for Alabama from 2007 to 2010, where she is the career leader for the school in RBIs, also ranking top-15 in the NCAA Division I. She was also named a four-time all-conference honoree and twice named SEC Player of the Year. Morgan was the No. 1 draft pick in the 2010 National Pro Fastpitch Senior Draft, beginning her career with The USSSA Pride based in Kissimmee, Florida, winning a title in 2010. In 2020, Morgan was named the head coach of the California State University, Northridge softball team after previously working at several colleges as a pitching coach.
Sierra Joy Romero is a Mexican American professional softball player. She formerly was a volunteer assistant softball coach for the Oregon Ducks softball team. She played college softball for Michigan from 2013 to 2016, where she set numerous records and was a four-time All-American. She holds the Big Ten Conference career Triple Crown, along with the total bases and slugging percentage records, simultaneously leading all of the NCAA Division I in runs scored and grand slams. She was the inaugural winner of both the espnW Softball Player of the Year in 2015 and the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Player of the Year in 2016, when she also took home the Honda Sports Award Softball Player of the Year and USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year awards. She is one of nine NCAA players to hit .400 with 200 RBIs, 50 home runs and an .800 slugging percentage for her career and was named the #5 Greatest College Softball Player.
Jessica Merchant is an American softball coach and former softball player. She is currently the associate head coach with the Stanford Cardinal softball team. She previously served as an assistant coach with the Minnesota Golden Gophers and UMass Minutewomen. She played professional softball in the National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) league for the New England Riptide for three seasons, and for the Connecticut Brakettes for one season. While playing for the Brakettes in 2006, she was named NPF Offensive Player of the Year.
Kellyn Marie Tate is an American softball coach and former outfielder. She has been the head softball coach at University of Puget Sound since 2012. She previously held coaching positions at Portland State, Miami (Ohio), Texas Tech, and Penn State.
The Texas A&M Aggies women's basketball team represents Texas A&M University (TAMU) in NCAA Division I women's basketball. The team is coached by Joni Taylor, entering her first season; she replaced Gary Blair, who retired after 37 years as a collegiate head coach, 19 of which were with TAMU. The Aggies play home games at Reed Arena, a 12,989-capacity arena in College Station, Texas on the campus of Texas A&M.
Jessica Lynne Allister is an American softball coach and former catcher who is the current head coach at Stanford. Allister played college softball at Stanford and earned second-team All-American honors in her senior season of 2004. After a two-year professional softball career with the New England Riptide of National Pro Fastpitch, Allister began a coaching career as an assistant coach at Georgia, Stanford, and Oregon.
Taylor Thom is a shortstop for the Dallas Charge, a softball team based in Dallas, TX as a member of the National Pro Fastpitch (NPF).
Eric Rigoberto Gutierrez is an American college baseball coach and former professional baseball first basemen. He is the volunteer assistant coach at Texas Tech University. He played college baseball at Texas Tech University from 2013 to 2016. He was drafted in the 20th round by the Miami Marlins in the 2016 Major League Baseball draft, where he would play in their organization until 2018.
Alexandrea "Lexie" Kenedie Elkins is an American softball coach, she served as the assistant coach at Houston. She is also a former collegiate All-American, and retired softball catcher. She began her college softball career at Texas Tech in 2013 before transferring to Louisiana for the 2014–16 seasons, where she set numerous school records. She is the Sun Belt Conference career leader in batting average and slugging percentage in only three seasons. She is also one of nine NCAA Division I players to hit a career .400 with 200 RBIs, 50 home runs and an .800% slugging percentage for a career.
Ehren Larry Earleywine is an American sports coach and administrator who is currently athletic director at Jefferson City High School. From 1997 to 1999, Earleywine was head baseball coach at Westminster College in Missouri. He later became a college softball head coach, first at Georgia Tech from 2004 to 2006, then at Missouri from 2007 to 2018.
Thomas Joseph Bruce is an American college baseball coach, who is the current associate head baseball coach for the TCU Horned Frogs. He served as head coach of the Nevada Wolf Pack (2016–2022).
The 1988 NCAA Division I softball season, play of college softball in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I level, began in February 1988. The season progressed through the regular season, many conference tournaments and championship series, and concluded with the 1988 NCAA Division I softball tournament and 1988 Women's College World Series. The Women's College World Series, consisting of the eight remaining teams in the NCAA Tournament and held in Sunnyvale, California at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium, ended on May 29, 1988.
Kristie Lynn Fox is an American, former collegiate All-American softball shortstop and current head coach for UNLV Rebels softball team. She attended Mt. Carmel High School and later played for the Arizona Wildcats softball team from 2004 to 2007. Fox led the Wildcats to back-to-back Women's College World Series championships in 2006 and 2007.
Nicole "Sis" Bates is a former American college softball player for the Washington Huskies and a member of the United States women's national softball team. She currently is a member of Athletes Unlimited Professional Softball, as well as an ambassador and mentor within the sport of softball.
The 2021 NCAA Division I Softball season, play of college softball in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I level, began in February 2021. The season progressed through the regular season, many conference tournaments and championship series, and concluded with the 2021 NCAA Division I softball tournament and 2021 Women's College World Series. The Women's College World Series, consisted of the eight remaining teams in the NCAA Tournament was held in Oklahoma City at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium, and ended on June 10, 2021.
