A lot happening this week as we had more than 20 verbals come in from all over the nation.

We have that list, but first profile an Oklahoma senior who is a state champ in another sport and a Florida sophomore who says why she chose a Midwest school despite it being 17 degrees below zero on her campus visit!

 

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*** File this one under “late to the party” category: Nicole Pendley is a senior pitcher/outfielder from New Mexico who signed with Oklahoma last fall but for some reason we didn’t have her on the Master Verbal List until this week.

And that was due to an astute reader who noticed the omission (thank you David… you know who you are!).

If the Pendley name sounds familiar it’s because she’s the younger sister of current Sooner Shelby Pendley.

The younger sibling attends Rio Rancho High in New Mexico and is a great athlete, winning the Class 5A javelin competition this month with a state meet record throw of 142 feet.

The good vibes must have run through the family that day as sister Shelby was hitting two home runs and pitched the Sooners to a win over Texas A&M in the NCAA Regionals.

Just hours after the track success, Nicole pitched her own team to a state softball championship.

“It was a crazy day,” she told the Albuquerque Journal. “When I woke up, it felt like Christmas. Right now I’m just so happy I was able to do this with all my teammates, but yeah, it was a long day.”

Nicole was also a 1^st team All-Stater as a junior when she set the school’s single-season home run record with 19.  She also hit .600 and stole 42 bases to show she is a multi-tool threat with speed, power and ability to hit for average

She’s heading into her sixth year play for the New Mexico Sundancers, which tied for 33^rd at last year’s PGF Nationals.

 

*** Bailey Whalen, a 2016 pitcher with the Florida Power Black, is headed to Northern Illinois and will have the benefit of going with her club teammate, 2016 outfielder Kayla Scaperrotta, who will be going there with her.

Bailey has been playing softball since she was six years old and began pitching lessons with Joann Ferrieri, who won a Gold medal on the US National team and also won a National Championship with Cal State Fullerton in the WCWX, when she was eight.

Today, the pupil has become the master as Bailey is giving lessons to several softball pitchers in her Palm Beach area.

She has been a member of the Florida Power Black program, coached by Jeff Lantz, for the past four years and prior to that played with the Palm Beach Gardens Lady Gators travel team for five season and when she was 13 won Tournament MVP at the FAST Nationals in the 16U division playing for the older Lady Gators team.

The Florida Power Black team has qualified for ASA Nationals all four years Bailey has been on the team and they have won two ASA State Championships.

Bailey was first seen by one of the coaches of Northern Illinois University at the Fireworks Tournament in Colorado in July of 2013 while she was visiting to watch a player from another team Florida Power Black was playing.

The NIU coach spoke with Bailey’s head coach and told him they would be watching her and to keep them informed of her schedule and progress. Bailey filled out the online questionnaire for NIU and began communicating via email with the coaching staff.

Head Coach Cristina Sutcliffe came to quite a few tournaments over the following season and watched Bailey and the team play and it was also at this time that the coaching staff noticed Kayla, a hard-hitting, fast outfielder, as well.

Both girls were invited to the NIU Winter Camp held on the campus this past January although it was a frigid 17 degrees below zero!

“Bailey fell in love with the campus, the team, and, most of all, the coaching staff who made her feel welcome, at ease and at home immediately,” says her father, John Whalen.

“We were only at the first lunch break of the camp when Bailey told us that she wanted to commit to NIU.”

A verbal offer was made the last day of the camp but the Whalen family decided they needed some time to discuss and think it over.

“Bailey had received quite a bit of interest from other schools, including some big ones,” her father continues, “and we felt she should at least wait some amount of time and not jump on the first offer. We met the family of another NIU pitcher Alex Frenz who is a 2015 commit and will be there the year before Bailey and they hit it off immediately and now speak nearly every day.”

“Ultimately Bailey’s mind was already made up and there was very little we could do or say to change it – not that we (father and mother, Beth) wanted to, we both really likes the coaches as well—so on March 18^th, Bailey notified Coach Sutcliffe that she would accept the invitation and become a member of the Husky family.”

“It was one of the proudest moments of our lives and after all the hard work and dedication, she had finally reached one of her main goals—to play Division 1 softball. The process was long, arduous, and most of the time frustrating. We would get great comments and looks from coaches and then they would simply fall off the earth We were happy for Bailey and since her travel team is so close with all of us, we still worry for each other and hope that everyone can experience the happiness we have.”

On the high school level Bailey plays for one of the top programs traditionally in the Sunshine State, Palm Beach Gardens High, which competes in the 8A division.  She has been the starting pitcher since her freshman year and won the district, but as good as she is, she has a lot to live up to as her mother won four state titles in a row at Palm Beach Gardens.

“Her mother’s picture on the state-winning teams hangs above her locker in the locker room so at least there no pressure there,” laughs the athlete’s father.

*** More verbals:

— 2B Alexis Alvino (2015, Coastal Carolina)… plays for Team Long Island-Gold
— OF Carlie Comeaux (2014, Louisiana-Monroe)… plays for Maniax
— P Kallen Leeseberg* (2015, Marist)… plays for Georgia Fire-Downs
— P Meggie Dejter (2014, Towson)… plays for Cougars Fastpitch
— IF/OF Christi Flanigan (2014, Abilene Christian)… plays for Nemesis Elite
— IF Peyton Hedrick (2014, Abilene Christian)… plays for Nemesis Elite
— 3B/C Shannon Laing (2014, NW Florida State)… plays for Iowa Premier Gold
— P/OF Bailey Lange (2015, Northern Iowa)… plays for Iowa Premier Gold
— C/1B Kendyl Lindaman (2016, Minneosta)… plays for Iowa Premier Gold
— P Stephanie Marlowe (2015, Liberty)… plays for Charlotte Magic
— P/1B Paige Mills (2014, Utah State)… plays for Arizona Storm-Brun
— SS/3B Logan Schaben (2016, Iowa State)… plays for Iowa Premier Gold
— OF Gabby Scherle (2015, Wisconsin)… plays for Iowa Premier Gold
— OF Kendall Sides (2017, Alabama)… plays for Birmingham Vipers-Chapman
— P Rachel Smith – Iowa Premier GOLD- 2015 /  Northwest Missouri State
— P Emily Sorem (2015, Lehigh)… plays for NW Bullets Gold
— C Julia Valenzuela (2016, Cal State Fullerton)… plays for Firecrackers-Brashear 16U
— C Zoe Wood (2015, Liberty)… plays for Carolina Stars Elite

* = check in Friday when we’ll have a Player Profile on Kallen!