The James Madison Dukes softball team represents

James Madison University James Madison University (JMU, Madison, or James Madison) is a public research university in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Founded in 1908 as the State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Harrisonburg, the institution was renamed Madison Coll ...

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic ...

college softball. The team participates in the Sun Belt Conference (SBC) and plays home games in Veterans Memorial Park. JMU has won six CAA championships, including back-to-back Championships in 2016 and 2017. The Dukes have been to the NCAA Division I softball tournament nine times, hosting Regionals and Super Regionals in 2016. The team's head coach is

Loren LaPorte Loren LaPorte is an American softball coach who is the current head coach at James Madison Dukes softball, James Madison. Coaching career James Madison On July 31, 2012, LaPorte was announced as an assistant coach of the James Madison softball ...

, leading the Dukes to a 148–34 record in four seasons.

Coaching history

Season Results

2021 Season After a dominant performance in the regular season, the Dukes entered the postseason with a 34–1 record. In the CAA tournament, the Dukes beat Delaware for their sixth conference title and were rewarded with the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA softball tournament. The Dukes advanced to the Super Regionals after beating #9

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

and #25

Liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

twice in the Knoxville Regional. They then went on to beat #8 Mizzou on the road in the best-of-three series in Columbia, Missouri. After punching their ticket to the Women's College World Series (WCWS) for the first time, the James Madison Dukes advanced to the WCWS semifinals after beating #1 Oklahoma 4–3 in eight innings and #5

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

2–1 in the first and second rounds of the tournament. In doing so, they became the first-ever unseeded team to start 2–0 in the WCWS and reach the semifinal games. Their historic run came to a close just short of the finals, falling to eventual champions #1 Oklahoma twice.

Championships

Conference Championships

Notable players

National awards

;

NFCA National Player of the Year The NFCA National Player of the Year is an award given by Schutt Sports Schutt Sports (trade name of Kranos Corporation) was a United States company that manufactured protective gear for several sports, focusing on American football, baseball, ...

Megan Good Megan Good (born October 13, 1995) is an American, former collegiate 4-time All-American, right-handed hitting softball pitcher, originally from Mount Sidney, Virginia. She attended Fort Defiance High School in Fort Defiance, Virginia. She later a ...

(2017) ; Softball America Pitcher of the Year * Odicci Alexander (2021) ;D1 Softball's Woman of the Year * Odicci Alexander (2021)

All-Americans

* 2014:

Jailyn Ford Jailyn Sue Ford (born June 3, 1994) is an American former professional softball pitcher and first basemen. She played college softball at James Madison and professionally for the Akron Racers and USSSA Pride of the National Pro Fastpitch. Play ...

(2nd team) * 2015:

(2nd team) * 2015: Jailyn Ford (3rd team) * 2016: Jailyn Ford (1st team) * 2016: Megan Good (1st team) * 2017: Megan Good (1st team) * 2018: Megan Good (1st team) * 2018: Odicci Alexander (3rd team) * 2018: Kate Gordon (3rd team) * 2019: Odicci Alexander (3rd team) * 2019: Megan Good (3rd team) * 2019: Kate Gordon (3rd team) * 2021: Odicci Alexander (2nd team)

Coaching Staff Awards

* NFCA Division I National Coaching Staff of the Year (2021) *NFCA Northeast Coaching Staff of the Year (2021)

References

{{Sun Belt Conference softball navbox