The USA Softball JO Cup continues with Day 2 of pool games prior to the double elimination bracket kicking off Wednesday morning.

FloSoftball is covering—as well as streaming—all the games of this first year event produced by ASA/USA Softball at the Big League Field of Dreams in Chino Hills through Friday. On Saturday, the semis and championship game will be played at Mt. SAC in Walnut, Calif.

We’ll be blogging daily with news and notes around the event, so be sure to check in periodically!

CLICK HERE to sign-up/log in to see all the JO Cup games running today through Saturday!

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MIRANDA HERRON MAKES DEFENSIVE PLAY OF THE WEEK

It was a pool play game so it didn’t really matter, but don’t tell that to Miranda Herron of the Firecrackers DFW team.

She went horizontal to make a great catch in a tight game Tuesday with the Texas Sudden Impact Gold, which would go on to win the game 2-1.

Still, Herron’s great catch, which drew cheers and oohs and aahs from the crowd, was amazing as she laid out to stop the ball from rolling into the gap.

The 2015 grad from Waxahachee, Texas, is headed to Abilene Christian where she’ll play softball.  Interestingly, she’s known perhaps more for her bat as she broke high school records with her home run totals, but her mother says, “She loves to make plays like that.”

Her defensive gem has been one of the highlights of the week so far… now it’s time to make it count in bracket games!

USA SOFTBALL EVALUATORS IN THE HOUSE

You see a lot of people wearing “USA Softball” on their shirts this week at the US Softball JO Cup and that’s by design.

The event, produced and run by the governing body of softball, is using the JO Cup as one of its ways to evaluate talent.

As Jr. National Team Head Coach Tairia Flowers said today, “Our mission is to win a Gold Medal and we’ll look at players wherever we hear about them, but it’s like in US Track: top athletes in that sport run in the US Track-run events and we use the USA Softball events to start looking and evaluating talent as well.”

Flowers, along with Women’s National Team Selection Committee Chair Sam Ducato and committee member Crystal Dombkowski, were watching the action on the Fenway Park and Yankee Stadium fields when FloSoftball caught up with them.

We asked Ducato what he and the other USA Softball committee members and coaches were looking for at this week’s Nationals.

“This event and the process to get here gives us an excellent opportunity to get a jump on evaluating talent for the 2017 Jr. National Team,” he explained. “Obviously there is a great collection of talent from the 2018’s and this will give us a big head start for identifying camp invites. Our next camp is still up in the air—we still have to get the funding—and we are kicking around the idea to do a fundamental camp but until get funding can’t make plans.”

The selection process chairman says that one tough part of his job is working with club coaches to make sure the process isn’t disruptive to players and programs.

“We have to respect that kids play for programs and, though it’s an honor to play for your country, you still are taking them away from their programs and that’s tough. Though they (club coaches) are OK with our camps and clinics, we still have to be respective of what they’ve invested in their program—both in terms of players and coaches.”

Ducato and Dombkowski both agreed they come prepared in knowing what to look for in the young talent on the fields.

“We start our process with a list,” continues Ducato, “and our goal is to ID as many kids as we can who have potential to be on the 2017 Jr. National Team, our next team. We’re putting together a list, a starting point, and we keep an eye on these kids so if we have another event they are prime candidates for that.”

Adds Dombkowski: “My primary role is to ID younger players and in previous years we went to the GOLD Nationals to do that. This year it’s just the JO Cup.”

The former Purdue softball player, who’s an Indiana ASA Player Representative, continues, “When we come here we have our books and lists and have done our homework. It’s also important to look at birthdays for the next team in 2017; they will have to be born in 1998 or later. We do look at older kids as we’re always looking for talent in general. It’s nothing different than recruiting collegiate kids, you’re looking at gamesmanship and sportsmanship and those ultimately who have what it takes to play for the U.S.”

Ducato reveals that he doesn’t have a set limit of too many or too few for the prospect list.

“There is no limit,” the Chairman admits, “as we want our base to be as wide as possible, especially at this age group because they (the players) can change in six months. That’s what happens, a good player can go to an open tryout and they’ll say, ‘I have to work on this or that,’ and it becomes a good learning experience.”

The three members of the selection committee will be in Chino Hills through Wednesday and then will see the coaching staff of Head Coach Ken Eriksen and assistants Trisha Ford, Lisa Dodd, Laura Berg and Tim Walton will arrive tomorrow and stay through the championship game Saturday.

Coach Flowers has a unique perspective in evaluating as she has both played and coached at the U.S. Nationals level.

“I was the coach the last time around,” she begins, “and I played on the Jr. Team in 1999. Then, I was an assistant on the Women Team so I’m familiar with what we’re trying to accomplish.”

So what is it exactly the committee and coaches are looking in players on the field?

“It’s a little bit of everything,” Coach Flowers quickly adds. “They need to know how to play the game and have the physical tools, but also it’s important they have the instincts. We’re with them for such a short amount of time so it’s more about fine-tuning than just picking up raw talent and developing something out of nothing. It’s also definitely how they carry themselves—it’s more than just them playing for their high school and club team, it’s their whole country they’re representing and it’s tough to do that at a young age. We’re looking for athletes ready to step into that role.”

The Jr. National team meets up August 2 and will be in Oklahoma City for championships through August 16.

Coach Flowers said of coaching the next wave of young national talent: “This team is talented but humble and it creates a great team environment. We’re spoiled as coaches because they are so good!”

When asked if there was one player who’s had a great summer, Flowers took a moment to reflect before coming up with Sydney Romero.

“They’re all great, don’t get me wrong, but Sydney stands out because her sister gets so much publicity and it’s hard to follow in Sierra’s footsteps. Sydney was recovering from an injury and is now confident and doing well. It’s been fun to see her develop.”

BIG COACHING & EVENT NEWS A’COMIN’

This isn’t USA Softball JO Cup specific, but when you get a lot of teams and people together—like at the JO Cup and PGF Nationals—you hear some breaking news.

This will come out soon, but two of the top club coaches in the nation will be leaving their organizations and going to new ones very soon.

Can’t reveal who but one is a National Champion coach and the other has been a fixture with his program for a long time.

There is also big event news that will be released soon… a lot of exciting things happening in 2016 that we’re hearing about and look forward to being apart of and/or covering!

JO CUP FAVORITE ANNOUNCES TRYOUTS

One of the teams at the JO Cup favored to go deep into the week’s brackets is the EC Bullets-Schnute team which did well at the TC/Nationals earlier this month.

Head Coach Greg Schnute asked us to let the softball community his program is having tryouts right after these nationals… here’s the information:

The East Cobb Bullets Team’s Tryouts

*** 10U, 12U, 18U and 18U Gold tryouts are Sunday, August 9th at Georgia Gwinnett College Softball Field, Lawrenceville, Ga.

Times:

• 10U: 9:00 – 11:00 am
• 12U: 11:30 – 2:00 pm
• 18U and 18U Gold: 2:30 – 6:30 pm

*** 10U, 12U, 14U tryouts are Sunday, August 16th at Georgia Gwinnett College Softball Field, Lawrenceville, Ga.

Times:

• 14U 9:00 – 1:00
• 16U 2:00 – 6:00

For more details, go to: www.ECBulletsTryouts.com.

East Cobb Bullets:

• First in GA FastPitch
• Over 400 players recruited to play in College
• Named Top 10 FastPitch Softball Organization in the U.S. by Triple Crown Sports.
• First GA Organization to win an ASA Gold National Championship.
• Most Highest Finishes among any GA team at 18U PGF Nationals.
• Most Highest Finishes among any GA team at 18U TC/USA Nationals.
• Most Highest Finishes among any GA team at 16U PGF Nationals.
• #1 in Player Development since 1997.
• Federally Registered Trademark and Nationally Recognized Brand.
• No Other Area Teams Play the Top Calif. Teams More often. To be the best, play the best.

Go to www.ECBulletsTryouts.com to register and receive a Tryout Information Packet

BAD NEWS FOR BOMBER OPPONENTS

Coach Scott Smith admits that his Texas Bombers team was running on fumes at the TC/USA National Championship a week ago.

“It was so exciting that we were able to get to the National Title game,” he said. “We had never gotten that far and I was so proud of the team, especially because were bare bones when it came to pitching.”

The Bombers were without star 2018 pitcher Brooke Vestal (Oklahoma) who had a strained muscle in her rib cage.

“It had been bothering me all summer,” Brooke said last night, “and it felt like I had broken ribs. I stopped doing everything for two weeks and it got better all by itself. I feel great now.”

That’s bad news for the rest of the teams at the JO Cup as Brooke is throwing in the high 60’s and is a complement to Samantha Show, the Texas state title-winning pitcher going to Texas A&M.

Both looked sharp on Monday and Brooke pitched four innings of no-run ball in one game.

Coach Smith said one player who’s done so well this summer and merited getting called up off the 16U team is Kayla Garcia, a 2018 third baseman who helped her Katy (Texas) high school team win the 6A championship.

She was so impressive in the Final Four games that she was awarded the MVP honors, which usually goes to a pitcher traditionally.

Kayla is uncommitted but is starting to see her recruiting interest pick up.

SEEDING THE FIELD

We’re barely into the second day of pool play but if we had to “seed” the field and predict the order of finish we’ll go out on a limb and say the top finishers will be these teams (let’s see how close—or off!—we are come Saturday!):

1. Wichita Mustangs
2. Texas Sudden Impact Gold
3. Texas Bombers
4. EC Bullets-Schnute
5. Gold Coast Hurricanes
6. Gametime Stars
7. St. Louis Chaos
8. TXFC Fastpitch
9. Aces Express
10. Indiana Magic Gold

LOOKING AHEAD TO WEDNESDAY’S BRACKET PLAY

Today (Tuesday) is another day of pool play games which really are practice games to get the 28 teams ready for the big push which starts Wednesday morning.

Sunday night a blind-draw was done to determine the first round match-ups as well as the placement in the brackets. There were no protections meaning it was the luck of the draw and as you’ll see in the official bracket that the Texas teams seemed to be clumped in one area.

For example, one of the top first round matchups is two strong Lone Star State teams – Texas Bombers and the Texas Blaze—who will obviously knock the other to the loser’s bracket in this double elimination format.

That would be one of the top first-round match-ups, the other would probably the Gold Coast Hurricanes (Fla.) vs. Gametime Stars (Okla.). Both teams are loaded with talent and have looked good so far this week.

Here are all the first round match-ups including the byes (remember this was a blind draw, so the fortunate ones who got the byes just lucked out!):

Round 1:

• Gold Coast Hurricanes vs. Gametime Stars (Wrigley, 9 am PST)
• Rock Gold vs. Louisiana Voodoo (Ebbets, 9 am)
• Wichita Mustangs vs. DeMarini Athletics (Tiger, 9 am)
• Indiana Magic Gold vs. Wagner’s 3n2 (Fenway, 9 am)
• Aces Express vs. New Lenox Lightning (Wrigley, 11 am)
• San Jose Sting Gold vs. D-Bat Tulsa Shootout (Ebbets, 11 am)
• TXFC Fastpitch vs. 3n2 Strike Zone (Tiger, 11 am)
• Texas Storm vs. Michigan Finesse (Fenway, 11 am)
• Texas Bombers vs. Texas Blaze Gold-Slimp (Wrigley, 11 am)
• California Raiders vs. Firecrackers Gold (Ebbets, 1 pm)
• Ohio Outlaws vs. Texas Sudden Impact (Tiger, 1 pm)
• Louisville Sluggers vs. Houston Power (Fenway, 1 pm)

Byes:

• EC Bullets-Schnute vs. Hurricanes/Gametime winner (Wrigley, 3 pm)
• American Pastime Gold vs. SJ Sting/D-Bat Tulsa winner (Fenway, 3 pm)
• San Diego Power Surge vs. TXFC Fastpitch/3n2 Strike Zone winner (Wrigley, 5 pm)
• St. Louis Chaos vs. Louisville Sluggers/Houston Power winner (Fenway, 5 pm)

TUESDAY POOL PLAY RESULTS:

• St. Louis Chaos 5, DeMarini Athletics 1
• TXFC Fastpitch 0, Louisville Sluggers 0
• East Cobb Bullets-Schnute 4, San Diego Power Surge 1
• Texas Bombers 4, Louisiana Voodoo 1
• D-Bat Tulsa Shootout Gold 4, Firecrackers DFW 1
• Texas Sudden Impact Gold 6, Michigan Finesse 1
• Houston Power 6, Rock Gold 6
• American Pastime Gold 4, Wagner’s 3n2 1
• D-Bat Tulsa Shootout 4, Firecrackers DFW Gold 1
• Louisville Sluggers, San Diego Power Surge 0
• St. Louis Chaos 6, Louisiana Voodoo 6

Still to come:

• TXFC Fastpitch vs. East Cobb Bullets-Schnute
• Texas Bombers vs. DeMarini Athletes
• San Jose Sting vs. Aces Express
• Firecrackers DFW Gold vs. Texas Sudden Impact Gold
• D-Bat Tulsa Shootout Gold vs. Michigan Finesse
• Indiana Magic Gold vs. Wichita Mustangs
• Gametime Stars Gold vs. New Lenox Lightening
• Gold Coast Hurricanes vs. Ohio Outlaws
• California Raiders Gold vs. Texas Storm
• 3n2 Strike Zone vs. Texas Blaze Gold