A lot of big school commits this week covering three in the Big Ten as well as a two-sport star staying at home to play in the SEC conference… 

 

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*** Bill Conroy, head of the Beverly Bandits organization out of Chicago, e-mailed last night to say that Kelly Welsh, a 2015 middle infielder/outfielder, has verbally committed to attend the University of Wisconsin.

Kelly plays for Team DeMarini 16U based in Ohio and is also a good student with a 3.8 GPA and 27 ACT.

The incoming senior plays hit .500 with 20 RBI and 42 runs scored.

I did a write-up on her on January 9 that said:

A player on the rise to watch out for is 2015 middle infielder/outfielder Kelly Welsh from St. Joseph High in South Bend, Ind.

Kelly had played on the Michiana Mystique teams the last three years before recently deciding to play for the Beverly Bandits 16U DeMarini Team this summer.

She recently attended the 2014 Banditfest after being invited by Joann and Derek Allister. Kelly helped lead her team to the state semi’s the last two years as a speedy lead-off hitter.  Her numbers: .420 average as a sophomore after hitting .510 as a freshman.

At the club level she hit .515 with an on-base percentage of .552.

 

*** News from the DeMarini Zephyrs camp is that 2017 middle infielder Kendyll Bailey has committed to Missouri.

She attends Grain Valley High School (Mo.) and is also a D1 caliber basketball player and just turned 15 in April and is already 5-foot-10 so she has a high ceiling to get even better in both sports.

Says Zephyr Head Coach Ryan Taylor, “Kendyll is the baby of the young group, although she doesn’t play like it.  ‘KB’ has the ability to play Div. 1 basketball but has a true passion for softball.  She’s very athletic and owns the middle infield with her soft hands.  Kendyll was second on the team in batting average and has gap-to-gap power but doesn’t strikeout. She is a double and RBI machine with very quick hands.  She makes everything effortless.  ”

She had also done her homework when picking a college, visiting the campuses of LSU, Florida State, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Oregon among others.

Kendyll batted over .400 last fall at the O’Fallon DeMarini Invite Sun Classic and Southern Forces Showcase where she drew a lot of attention.

 

*** Ashley Ross, a 2015 pitcher for Explosion, one of the top teams at the 18U level, has committed to Illinois.

Ashley was No. 96 in our Hot 100 for her class and had originally committed to Boston College.

According to Coach Bret Denio, she is a versatile athlete who can play several positions but is a top level pitcher.

“Ashley is a gamer who can hit for power, play first and best of all, pitch,” Coach Denio says. “She throws consistently in the 61-62 range with a great curveball and screw ball. She has always played at the highest level at any age group and her teams are always top 10 teams with her leading the way. I expect big things from her the next two years.”

 

*** I spoke with Will Tomasello, the head of the Georgia Impact organization on Thursday and he told me that 2017 catcher/third baseman Niki Carver, who plays for Georgia Impact-Jeffreys, had committed to Ohio State.

Here’s a skills video on the incoming sophomore:

 

Incidentally, Will has been busy running the Atlanta Legacy Showcase the past few days although we hear early Saturday games have been rained out.

Hope for the best the rest of the day as this tournament has great teams and we’ll do more on it down the road!

 

*** Thanks to Head Coach John Fitchjarrell of the EC Bullets-Fitchjarrell program who alerted me that we needed to add the following players to the verbal list:

— OF Emily Robertson (2014, Georgia College and State)
— P/3B Caroline Reilly (2014, Rhodes)
— P Megan Wolinsky (2014, Union)
— OF/1B Catherine Evans (2015, Valdosta State)
— 1B/P Anna Awald (2015, Georgia Tech)

 

*** More verbals (note: some of these were in the latest Master Verbal List update but we hadn’t mentioned on the front page!):

— OF Bailey Watson (2015, Sam Houston State)… plays for Texas Firecrackers
— 1B/3B Abby Krzywiecki (2016, South Alabama)… plays for Finesse-Dreher
— P Evvie Buehlman (2016, Maryland-Baltimore)… plays for Chaos Gold
— 2B/SS Emily Vela (2016, UNLV)… plays for Sudden Impact-Davis