Photos: 10 advance at Jr. Women’s open tryout (1/3)

Photos: 10 advance at Jr. Women’s open tryout (1/3)

Jan 3, 2015 by Brentt Eads
Photos: 10 advance at Jr. Women’s open tryout (1/3)

The Jr. Women’s Team tryout for the 27 invited players begins today at Bill Barber Park in Irvine, Calif., but on Friday 95 elite first-year college and high school players from across the nation participated in an open tryout with the hopes of being invited to return today.

Players were broken into groups by position and worked out for the entire day—from approximately 8 am to 6 pm PST and 10 were asked to return for the competition this weekend to try to grab one of 17 spots on the team… here are the 10:

Emily Griggs, a freshman at LSU, was one of the standouts Friday at the open tryout for the Jr. Women's National Team.
Emily Griggs, a freshman at LSU, was one of the standouts Friday at the open tryout for the Jr. Women’s National Team.

1. C Jocelyn Alo (2017, OC Batbusters-Haning/Stith, Cal commit)
2. SS/UT Chelsea Seggern (2016, Texas Blaze Gold, Tennessee)
3. IF Savannah Hovath (fr., Cal State Northridge)
4. C Paige Halstead (2015, Explosion, UCLA)
5. SS Cassidy Boyle (fr., South Florida)
6. P/UT Madilyn Nickles (2016, All American Sports Academy, UCLA)
7. MIF Sydney Romero (2015, OC Batbusters-Haning/Stith, Oklahoma)
8. OF/SS Jessica Garcia (2015, All American Sports Academy, Oregon State)
9. OF Emily Griggs (fr., LSU)
10. P/1B Dallas McBride (fr., New Mexico State)

Team coaches, including Head Coach Tairia Flowers, head coach at Cal State Northridge, and Tim Walton of the National Champion Florida Gators, worked out the players who did positional drills such as outfielders being hit ground balls and throwing to third and hitting, where batters would get eight balls swinging away.

Overall, it was a Who’s Who of elite club talent featuring dozens of Hot 100 players from the Classes of 2014 through 2016.

Standout pitchers, for example, ranged from Mariah Lopez, the top player in the 2016 Hot 100 and Oklahoma-bound player for the OC Batbusters – Haning/Stith National Champions, to Gia Rodoni, the 2015 Baylor signee with the California Grapettes, Maddie Seifert of the St. Louis Chaos, a 2015 pitcher signed with Penn State and Brittany Finney, a 2015 hurler for Explosion and another Oklahoma signee.

It was difficult to tell who stood out because of the limited reps, but one player who did impress in practically every drill was Emily Griggs, the freshman at LSU who showed a strong arm in the outfield and good skills out the plate.

Her father, Mark Griggs, the head coach of the Wichita Mustangs, was there watching her compete as were several other top club coaches including Greg Schnute of the East Cobb Bullets, Bruce Richardson of the So Cal A’s and Bret Denio of Explosion.

Here are some photos taken during some of the early drills Friday morning: