By Andy Walter

DOVER — Juli Greep had already found her next softball job.

Because that job was with a youth softball academy in West Chester, Pa., the former Wesley College coach was making the move from Dover to Wilmington.

So when the Goldey-Beacom head coaching position came open, it seemed like a no-brainer to apply for it.

“It came kind of out of nowhere,” said Greep. “It was a pretty exciting opportunity considering I had just moved up. It was good accidental timing.”

Greep landed the job as the first full-time head coach for the NCAA Division II Lightning. She started on July 1.

Greep replaces Bill Streets, a well-known coach in the state who retired after 11 seasons leading Goldey-Beacom.

Finishing as Wesley’s all-time winningest softball coach, Greep led the Wolverines for the past decade. Her last Wolverine squad went 24-5 and won the Atlantic East Conference title this spring.

Second-team all-conference second baseman Carly Setting will join her coach with the Lightning. Due to the majors offered at Goldey-Beacom, she was the only former Wolverine who logically could transfer.

“They have a lot of kids who are returning,” said Greep. “And they’re really investing in the athletic department. I think it’s a good time to be on board here.”

With the Lightning, Greep will be trying to turn around a program that went 6-21 last spring. In her first season at Wesley, in 2012, Greep helped the Wolverines win 11 more games than in the previous season — the largest increase in victories in Division III that season.

Goldey-Beacom has three former Henlopen Conference players on the roster: Braydee Whitman (Indian River), Hannah Davis (Delmar) and Jazlee Rojas (Polytech.

“I’m very excited to be in coaching and I get to continue down this path,” said Greep. “I want to get this program going in the right direction.

“It reminds me a lot of Wesley when I took over — very few wins to losses. Obviously we ended up being extremely successful the last few years. The goal is to do very much the same thing.”

Getting drafty

The Major League Baseball Draft is being held Sunday through Tuesday.

Cape Henlopen High grad Zack Gelof is a lock to get drafted. The Virginia third baseman is ranked No. 86 overall by MLB.com after helping the Cavaliers get to the College World Series.

In 2019, Gelof was drafted in the 38th round by Cleveland before he started college. It looks like Tyler Townsend, who went to the Orioles in the third round in 2009, currently holds the record for highest Cape draft pick.

In an MLB.com listing of the top draft prospects from each state, UD first baseman Joseph Carpenter gets the nod from Delaware. He was the CAA Rookie of the Year in 2019.

Coming and going

As anyone following college sports knows, the NCAA’s more liberal transfer rules and transfer portals have opened up a huge door for athletes to move around.

That’s especially true in men’s basketball, where at least hundreds of players are still looking for new homes. That comes after hundreds have already committed to new programs.

Delaware State had three players in the portal. Two — Pinky Wiley (Hampton) and Omari Peek-Green (Lawson State Community College) — have already committed while Ameer Bennett is still looking.

A pair of former Dover High standouts, Elijah Allen (Wagner) and Eden Davis (Texas A&M–Corpus Christi), are still weighing their options. Senators coach Stephen Wilson said the fact that both players maintained good grades in school has given them opportunities.

Wilson said sometimes its difficult to get noticed when there’s so many players from big-name programs out there.

“The transfer portal has put a damper on it a little bit,” said Wilson. “Once you have kids from Arizona and Stanford going into the portal, you’re going to look at them. They want to give them a chance first.”

More coaching to come?

After 26 seasons, former Wesley field hockey coach Tracey Short is finding that it’s not so easy completely walk away from coaching.

Short, who also coached softball at Wesley, originally planned to get out of the business when the school closed.

But Short said a couple weeks ago that she’s still considering all her options.

“Honestly, I thought I was out of coaching,” she said. “But as you look at all your experience, I think it’s hard to look at it and think that I’m completely done with it. I don’t know.

“I had my last camp with my little kids and that was hard to say goodbye to them. That was really cool. We had about 30 campers and probably more than half their parents either played for me or attended Wesley. That was really nice.”

Notes

Ex-Delaware State pitcher Garrett Lawson (Dover) has 27 strikeouts in 21.1 innings for the Angels’ Inland Empire 66ers Class A team. The left-hander has a record of 2-2 with a 6.75 ERA in 14 games. ... Former Delaware football standout Troy Reeder, now a linebacker with the L.A. Rams, is going to give a free community workout for youngsters on Monday from 7:30-9 a.m. at the Chase Fieldhouse in Wilmington. The event benefits SL24: UnLocke the Light, which looks to shed light on mental health battles. ... The Colonial Athletic Association will hold its football Media Day on July 27. ... Delaware’s CAA rival, Hofstra, has had five men’s basketball players transfer out. That includes Tareq Coburn, who is head for St. John’s.