5 Takeaways from the NFCA Conference
- The Recruiting Landscape is Evolving
The 2025-2026 season will introduce a groundbreaking change: programs will now have up to 25 scholarships annually, a significant increase from the previous 12. While this presents new opportunities, only a few programs are expected to manage the cost of offering 25 full scholarships, meaning many will continue using a mix of full and partial awards. The impact on recruiting strategy will be significant, with rising transfer activity also shaping decisions. Coaching staffs increasingly delay summer commitments until after the transfer portal closes to assess program needs as discussed in the college coach panel. During the Travel Ball/High School Caucus, experts like Kevin Bednoski, Jodi Hermanek, and Iyhia McMichael emphasized early mental health support, including a suggestion form the audience to watch The Stigma – a mental health film produced by the Kansas City Royals.
The Softball Summit, moderated by Craig Snider, facilitated meaningful dialogue between travel ball, high school, and college coaches. Topics included the evolving language of recruitment, fostering transparent conversations, the realities of the recruiting process, and effective communication strategies for prospective student-athletes. - Data Continues to Dominate the Game
Advanced data analytics are taking center stage in collegiate softball, with elite programs leading the charge. This will likely trickle down to other levels in the next few years, giving a clear edge to teams that embrace and understand this technology. A notable highlight was OGX‘s new partnership with Driveline Baseball. OGX offers full biomechanics assessments for pitching and hitting. These are for athletes who want access to their full slate of technology and storytelling to piece together the most information about their story and development plan going forward.
The collaboration will allow softball programs to leverage Driveline’s infrastructure for advanced pitching analytics. Krista Stoker of OGX shared, “Their infrastructure and expertise in data analysis, combined with our knowledge of softball, will be transformative.” Plans include building launchpads at colleges nationwide to offer biomechanics, ball flight analysis, and pitch profiling. - Information Exchange is Elevating the College Game
The conference was rich with opportunities for knowledge sharing, particularly in pitching and hitting. In a standout pitching session, Beth Torina, Trisha Ford, and Britini Newman demonstrated drills to improve velocity and accuracy, including plyo balls, water bags, v-flex tunneling, and cross-training through bat speed programs.On the hitting side, experts like Texas’ Steve Singleton, Arizona’s Amber Freeman, and Bobby Tewksbary shared innovative drills and strategies to optimize offenses. Meanwhile, Pelotero introduced an app to assess swings more efficiently.- Drills with Beth Torina – just one example of the pitching drills presented
- Pelotero – player development offers an easy-to-use and high scalable mobile application
- NFCA Hall of Fame Inductions Celebrate Excellence
The NFCA honored Connie Clark (Texas, ret.), Gretta Melsted (Augustana), and Tim Walton (Florida) with Hall of Fame inductions.- Clark reflected on her storied career, including her years playing for legends Mike Candrea and Judi Garman before leading Texas for 22 seasons.Melsted highlighted her roots as an educator and basketball coach before her success at Augustana.Walton first acknowledged the support of his family and then spoke about his California baseball beginnings and his first softball coaching opportunity under Patty Gasso.
- Pro Softball Gains Momentum
Kim Ng, senior advisor and keynote speaker, opened the conference with optimism about the future of professional softball. Athletes Unlimited Softball League, set to launch in 2025, generated significant buzz. The four teams—Talons, Bandits, Volts, and Blaze—will tour 6-8 cities in 2025 before transitioning to a city-based league model in 2026. While the energy was palpable, attendees discussed concerns about MLB’s support compared to the NBA’s backing of the WNBA and MLS’s involvement with the NWSL. Despite this, there was a strong consensus of positivity and excitement about the league’s potential.
*NCAA Tournament update: One area of stagnation is the NCAA Tournament. Unlike soccer and volleyball, softball will not expand to 32 seeds in 2025.
