Courtney Deifel announced the addition of Paragould native and former Missouri shortstop Braxton Burnside today:
Doesn’t seem that the state produces all that much SEC-level softball talent, but we might as well get what there is available, even if it detours through CoMo for a while.
I interviewed Courtney back in late March and asked her about softball across the state at the high school level, and she mentioned Burnside (not by name) and a couple of other Arkansas girls who are playing at Tulsa and Oregon.
She definitely feels the responsibility now to keep the talent in state. I’m sure the program’s recent success will help with that.
From that talk, Deifel said: “(Missouri’s) shortstop is a stud. And she’s an Arkansas kid, and you’re like, ‘Dangit.’ (laughs) You want the big-time Arkansas kids to play for their home-state school and take pride in that.”
Will she eligible next year or is there a1 year transfer rule as in football?
She’s eligible to play in 2019.
Are “minor” sports exempt from having to sit out, or is this part the new transfer rules?
Matt sent me this earlier because I had questions, too:
One-time transfer exception: If you transfer from a four-year school, you may be immediately eligible to compete at your new school if you meet ALL the following conditions:
– You are transferring to a Division II or III school, or you are transferring to a Division I school in any sport other than baseball, men’s or women’s basketball, football (Football Bowl Subdivision) or men’s ice hockey. If you are transferring to a Division I school for any of the previously-listed sports, you may be eligible to compete immediately if you were not recruited by your original school and you have never received an athletics scholarship.
– You are academically and athletically eligible at your previous four-year school.
– You receive a transfer-release agreement from your previous four-year school.
If they have SEC talent, it certainly couldn’t hurt to have a little home-state flavor to the team.
I’m probably a little biased on this, but just as it’s prevailing thought that Texas recruits are critical to Razorback football success, Courtney’s continued success will be largely tied to keeping her SoCal pipeline flowing.
I understand what she’s saying, but should we really refer to women, girls, females as a “stud”? Perhaps Coach is unaware of the actual meaning of the word.
Thanks, Scottie.
Burnside originally committed to Arkansas and ended up at Mizzou when Arkansas made the coaching change.
I haven’t seen much about her this year but I know she had a game last year in which she hit 2 Grand Slams and had 10 RBIs.
LOL…I assume you’re being less than serious with this. In similar vein, I have noticed with amusement when women basketball coaches talk unapologetically about the “man-to-man” defenses they employ, or who yell during practice to “guard your man!”.
We live in a society where the male gender is taking a backseat to gender neutral. In other words, it’s no longer mankind that does something, it’s humankind. One of the last bastions of “male dominant” pronouns is sports. It would make sense, but is not what most coaches (male or female) have learned, for women coaches to say, “Cover your woman!” or “Cover your person!” But it just doesn’t have the same ring to it.