Tournament time is when stars shine their brightest, and the field at the 2022 National Invitational Softball Championship is rife with star power.

With the impact she made immediately for DePaul, catcher Anna Wohlers has looked like there were no adjustments needed going from high school to BIG EAST softball.

It took awhile for Butler and Karli Ricketts to get to the point they are now.

Alyssa Chavez’s college softball career was supposed to begin and end in the Midwest. Multiple times.

Excellence on the diamond is a family tradition that Janel Gamache is glad to carry on.

There’s a Bible verse in Isaiah 40:31 that says, “But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

Before last season, the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh softball program had not made a trip to the Division III College World Series since 1988. Ronald Reagan was still President, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” was the top-grossing movie, and current head coach Scott Beyer was just six years old.

Saint Anselm Hawks head softball coach Jill Gagnon knows a thing or two about pitching. Gagnon—entering her ninth season as the winningest coach in program history—was a First Team All-Northeast-10 and NFCA All-American East Region First Team selection as a pitcher at Merrimack College in 2009. Prior to arriving on the Hawks’ staff as an assistant in 2013, she served as a pitching coach for UMass Boston for three seasons.

When Sally Miller took over as The College of New Jersey’s head softball coach in 1996, she had already served on the coaching staffs of several prominent NCAA Division I programs including Princeton, Michigan State, and Indiana.

Tufts University head softball coach Lauren Ebstein likes to compare a softball season to a puzzle. Players and coaches are tasked with putting it together piece by piece, day by day.

After her freshman season ended in 2019, Ashley Rogers had already cemented herself as one of the top young pitchers in college softball. An NFCA All-Southeast Region and All-SEC First Team selection, Rogers posted 21 victories, third-best in the conference and 41st in the nation. Her 1.94 ERA was best on the team and put her seventh in the SEC.

When NCAA sanctions against the Missouri softball program were upheld in 2020 following an academic cheating scandal, head coach Larissa Anderson became nervous. The program would not only be banned from both SEC and NCAA postseason action, but players would be allowed to transfer without having to sit out a year.

Sometimes, you’ve just got to tip your cap to who you’re facing.

What does it mean to be a Birmingham Thunderbolt?

Winning a national championship at any level isn’t easy. It’s even more challenging to win multiple times.