The weather was Southern California perfect and the talent was extreme as the So Cal Athletics Invitational kicked off Friday at Los Alamitos (Calif.) High.

There were several colleges coaches in attendance representing schools like Florida, Long Beach State, Notre Dame, Tennessee and Washington and one of the benefits of the event was there were only two fields with play going on and they were side by side.

I was able to catch about half the games today and came away with the following observations…

 

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— The best player I saw all day was Amanda Lorenz of the OC Batbusters. I saw the junior outfielder in three at-bats: the first was a shot between first and second, the next at-bat was a bouncer over third base and the third was a gap shot for a double where she impressed me with her wheels.

The hits were keenly observed by a Gators assistant coach too.

Lorenz is big-time with outstanding bat control and speed. One club coach was talking with an SEC assistant and pointing to Lorenz said, “That’s the No. 1 player in the country right there.”

 

— Two of the three hits by Lorenz were off arguably the top pitcher in the country, Kelly Barnhill of the East Cobb Bullets but for the most part Barnhill was outstanding.

The Bullets only gave up one run in two games against two of the most talent-laden club teams in the country: the OC Batbusters and the So Cal Athletics, the four-time defending PGF National Champs.

Barnhill reportedly wasn’t throwing as hard as she has and, understandably, it’s young in the club season. But she still was blowing the ball by hitters and racked up strikeout after strikeout, again, against two of the best teams in the country.

She goes up and down really well and I saw several outstanding hitters chase bad pitches because she sets up the batters so well.

 

— In the second game for the Bullets, Barnhill went toe-to-toe with South Carolina-bound pitcher Haley Copeland for the A’s and the movement on her pitches was daunting.

The senior had great spin and movement on her pitches and one college coach was heard to say, “This is one of the best pitched games I’ve seen in a long time.”

Copeland and fellow senior Selina Taamilo (UCLA) have big shoes to fill replacing Delaney Gourley, who as a freshman helped Florida win the WCWS this year, but if Copeland is as good the rest of the summer as she was today, the A’s will be able to make a serious run for national title No. 5 in a row.

— The Texas Glory brought 21 players to the tournament this weekend and Head Coach Kevin Shelton said his pitching has been a bit inconsistent so far, but beating a talented Gold Coast Hurricanes team 8-0 may have been the surprise of the day.

Then again, Canes coach Marty Cooper admitted this was the first tournament of the year for the team that had to fly coast-to-coast so maybe its just a case of the team getting the kinks out.

Another note about the Hurricanes: they are the only team out of the 14 that won’t be staying through the end of the games on Sunday. Some of the players have to get back for school and the team will head out soon for another tournament in New York.

Cooper, who’s also an outstanding high school softball coach, will have the team peaking by the time Nationals come around, but I bet the big Texas Glory win is also because Coach Shelton knows how to prepare his team well.

The Texas coach was the only one I know of that flew his team in today as opposed to yesterday and was accommodated with two later games.

Tomorrow Glory will play three games to help get experience.

 

— If there was a surprise team today it may have been Texas Sudden Impact, which beat two very good, high profile teams in the Corona Angels and the Firecrackers.

What could help Impact go a long way is it has two outstanding young pitchers in junior Abby Langkamp (Baylor) and sophomore Nicole Mendes (Oklahoma).

Coach Glenn Bennett has a balanced squad and could be a sleeper come Nationals time.

 

— The Firecrackers lost to Sudden Impact, but Coach Tony Rico has another outstanding team and is strong across the board.

One of the players I was curious to watch was infielder Taylor Van Zee, who was playing third today. She made several good defensive players and looks college ready in many respects.

The word that comes to mind whenever I watch her play is “smooth.”

 

— I like what I saw of Explosion today, Coach Bret Denio has his team executing well and could have easily won the opening game if pitcher Ashley Ross hadn’t been victimized by some bloopers that fell in for hits.

She will be a good compliment to junior pitcher Brittany Finney (Oklahoma) and what’s impressive about the Explosion is their strength up the middle with Paig Halstead (UCLA) behind the plate, Vanessa Shippy (Oklahoma State) at short or second and outfielders like Carly Thomas (Illinois) and Lovie Lopez (Oregon State).

Another thing to watch with Explosion is the experience and leadership: 10 of the 14 players on the team are in the 2014 class and the other four are juniors.

No youthful inexperience here…

 

— The Beverly Bandits, on the other hand, are youthful as five players from the PGF 16U National Champions have moved up to play on the Gold team.

The Bandits made some errors today but you can expect Bill Conroy and staff to have this tightened up quickly.

Pitcher Taran Alvelo, the Ohio Gatorade Player of the Year, looked imposing even with a knee brace on, supposedly more of a precaution as she had a scare in the first high school game when she covered first and had the runner fall into her knee.

She was throwing heat and will keep the Bandits in pretty much every big game and tournament.

Washington Head Coach Heather Tarr was sitting behind the backstop and was watching intently how her future hurler was doing.

Jenna Lilley (Oregon signee)—she of the four Ohio state titles in four years—provides senior leadership and provides a big bat and solid defense at third base.

 

— And those are just some of the quick observations I made while enjoying catching up with players, parents, coaches, fans and friends during the day.

More exciting play to come tomorrow and Sunday… can’t wait!

— Brentt Eads

 

 

Friday’s Results

Texas Sudden Impact 3, Corona Angels 2

Explosion 4, Texas Impact Gold 4

Beverly Bandits 9, NJ Intensity 6

Texas Sudden Impact 7, Firecrackers 3

Corona Angels 7, Texas Impact Gold 5

Explosion 5, NJ Intensity 2

Firecrackers 4, Beverly Bandits 0

OC Batbusters 1, East Cobb Bullets 0

So Cal A’s 0, East Cobb Bullets 0

OC Batbusters 7, So Cal Choppers 3

So Cal Choppers 1, Wichita Mustangs 1

Texas Glory 8, Gold Coast Hurricanes 0

Gold Coast Hurricanes 3, So Cal A’s 1*

Wichita Mustangs 2, Texas Glory 0

 

* = revert back score… A’s had gone ahead 5-3, but game called due to darkness and 3-1 score was final