We have a nice blend of club, high school and college today as we profile a Jersey girl not going too far from home.  We look at how the high school scene has some schools with eight or more games under their belts while some top schools won’t play for another 3-4 weeks.  Finally, we honor the collegiate players of the week including a pitcher who’s the USA National team….

 

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PLAYER PROFILE: ARIELLE COUSO

Grad Year: 2015
Pos: OF/2B
High School: Hillsborough (N.J.)
Club: New Jersey Cheetahs
Stats: travel 2012: batting average of .417, on-base percentage of .542
Honors: 2013 N.J. Sectional champions; All-County
College: Rutgers

 

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StudentSportsSoftball.com: You’re a junior and anymore it seems like that’s late to commit… were there worries that it was getting “late” in the recruiting process and you hadn’t committed?
Arielle Couso: Yes, but I wanted to make sure that I was going to the right place and loved the college.

 

SSS.com: It’s somewhat strange to think about Rutgers being in the Big Ten but the competition will be awesome… was that a decision in your committing to the Scarlet Knights?
AC: Being in the Big Ten was not the reason for me choosing Rutgers because I loved the school before. It is huge, in a city, and my brother had already gone and had a great experience. That being said, however, having the opportunity to compete at the Big Ten level is the icing on the cake.

 

SSS.com: How did Rutgers find you and what was the process like until they offered?
AC: I went to a number of their camps and started emailing them in my freshman year. I also performed in front of Coach Nelson and Coach Ryan, when she was still coaching, in a Rise Ball camp scrimmage. The process was still stressful though as any recruiting process tends to be.

 

SSS.com: When did you decide to commit and what led into the decision?
AC: I decided to commit after I went through with my overnight visit. I was able to see the team scrimmage each other, attend hitting practice, and lift. In addition to that, bonding with some of the players, ensured me that I would have a great experience.

 

SSS.com: How did you tell the coaches, in person, on the phone, on an unofficial visit?
AC: I told the coaches during my meeting at the end of my unofficial visit.

 

SSS.com: Was Rutgers one of the schools you had liked before starting the process?
AC: Yes, before even starting to browse and look into other universities Rutgers was a school that I could see myself at.

 

SSS.com: Did you and your family do anything to celebrate your college decision?
AC: We went out to eat at a diner and had a celebratory meal and my mother also purchased me plenty of apparel.

 

SSS.com: How far away from home will be?  Was distance a factor in your decision at all?
AC: Distance was most definitely a factor in my decision. I was not going to be comfortable being away from my family and dog for a long period of time. I also did not want to miss any holidays with them so it is great that Rutgers is only 20 minutes away from my home!

 

SSS.com:  What do you think (or have others said) are your strengths as a softball player?
AC: Others have said that my strengths as a softball player are my ability to hit almost any kind of pitch, even balls when I tend to get too eager. Also, once I am comfortable with my team I have an extreme passion for the game. My father even has to resort to signaling me from the stands to stop cheering because I have a tendency to lose all my energy too quickly and create headaches for myself by screaming too loudly.

 

SSS.com: What’s been the moment/experience you’re most proud of in your softball career?
AC: The moment in my softball career that I am most proud of occurred in a game when I was facing my friend’s team and no one on my team was hitting the pitcher. When I came up to bat I found myself in a 3-1 count. The coach of the other team screamed from the dugout to the pitcher, “You better not walk this girl!” I kind of looked back and nodded and the next pitch I hit a double to the fence. This taught me that sometimes I can utilize anger to my advantage.

 

Quick Hitters (short answers)

 

What do you want to major in?
I’m undecided.

Fill in the blank… I’m happiest when: ________________
…. I am running the bases.

Favorite movie:
Remember the Titans.

Favorite place in the world:
The beach.

Best way to chill off the field:
Sing to myself.

What type of bat do you use (and do you like it)?
Zeno, I LOVE it.

Who always makes you laugh?
My friends

What’s something unusual or different about you that few know?
I have an acquired sense of humor!

If you were stranded on a desert island and could only take one thing with you, what would it be?
Bread

In one sentence, describe the best thing about playing softball?
Taunting the catcher on the bases!

 

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HIGH SCHOOL SOFTBALL: VERY DIFFERENT SCHEDULES!

It’s funny how the high school softball schedules are so diverse when it comes to playing games.

Here are some examples:

*** The No. 2 team in our FAB 50 Preseason Rankings, Mission Viejo (Calif.) plays its first official game on Saturday, March 9 in the Best of the West tournament.  Many

*** In Ohio, however, the No. 5 team, Hoover of North Canton, doesn’t play its first game until April 1.

*** That’s a big contrast to schools in North Carolina and Florida, where several have already played multiple games.

— No. 6 Alexander Central of Taylorsville, N.C. is 3-0, led by Vada Sherrill, daughter of Head Coach Monte Sherrill, has had a tremendous start going 10-for-13 with eight steals in the first three games (no wonder SEC schools are knocking on her door!).

— Having played even more games is St. Thomas Aquinas of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., which has jumped out to an 8-0 record as the team has scored 83 runs while the Raiders’ pitchers have allowed only one run (a nice 0.17 ERA)!

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RECRUITING NEWS:

*** One reason the Midwest starts so late is the weather can be horrible… we got a nice note from Perry Peterson, the Head Coach at Barrington (Ill.) High as well as the head of the Barrington Hurricanes 18U team.

He said, “The Barrington High School softball season has begun this week with indoor tryouts.  The weather in the Chicago-land area is just terrible.  It is snowing again today and we have multiple inches already on the ground.  The scheduled home opener on March 17th looks like a long shot , but we hope to get started towards the end of the month.”

But that’s not why he was writing—Coach Peterson passed on the good news that Keenan Dolezal, a 2015 pitcher who plays on both his club and high school teams, has committed.

“Keenan verbally committed to a Division I athletic scholarship to Loyola University in Chicago last week,” the coach said.

In a release sent out by the school, it was stated that “Keenan has played in 49 varsity softball games during her first two high school season.  The Fillies have an overall win-loss record of 66-10 during those seasons.”

During Keenan’s impressive sophomore year, Dolezal shined on the pitcher’s mound.  She finished the season with a 29-2 win/loss record, 0.87 ERA and 239 strikeouts in 200 2/3 innings.”

“Keenan threw eight shutouts, two no-hitters including a perfect game versus Fremd High School to clinch the 2013 M.S.S. West Division Championship for the Fillies…. one impressive figure states that opposing batters hit only .153 vs. Dolezal during the 2013 high school campaign.  Another feat worth sharing is of her 3,260 pitches thrown in 2013, 65.8% were thrown for strikes.”

 

*** Courtney Shea signed with Auburn in November, but according to her mother, Beth, “She signed in November but waited to have her signing ceremony on the 20th of February so football friends could come.  It actually was supposed to be the week before but leave it to our crazy weather to postpone it twice!  Snow in Alabama makes things very difficult!”

Courtney is the daughter of one of the funniest human beings I’ve ever been around—Richard Shea, the head of the Birmingham Bolts.  And Beth is one of the nicest coach’s wives I’ve been around… here’s the text of the note on Courtney:

“Courtney Shea, a senior at Mountain Brook High School (Birmingham, Ala.), has signed to play softball at Auburn University. She is the second in her family to sign a scholarship with the Tigers, and will wear the same number as her father, #93.”

“Courtney has played softball since the age of four and has played on the Mountain Brook Varsity team since seventh grade.  She has been selected to the All-South/All-Hoover and the All Over the Mountain teams for the past three seasons. Courtney was also a 2013 All-State first team selection for her play as the Spartans’ catcher and 1^st baseman.”

“Courtney plays travel ball for the Birmingham Thunderbolts.  This season she was named to the StudentSports.com Top 100 Seniors (No. 55).

“Her travel team has taken Courtney to tournaments across the country playing in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, and New Jersey.”

“Courtney is the daughter of Beth and Richard Shea of Mountain Brook.  Her high school coaches are Kaitlyn Griffin and Leslie Batts, and her travel ball coaches include her father as well as Rock Thompson, Katelyn Boyd and Kaylyn Castillo.”

 

*** Decommitting from a college can be scary for a softball player—what if the money is all gone for your class?

That was a concern for Casey Gerhard, a 2015 catcher who’s with the Florida Storm Gold team after playing for the Wagners Sports 55 team that placed ninth at ASA Gold Nationals in 2013.

“Our recruiting process was a little different than others,” her father, Glenn, explains.  “Casey was originally verballed to FSU, but due to some changes we decided to decommit.  We went to a Virginia Tech camp and Coach Thomas liked her and came and watched her at a tournament and then made her an offer.”

“Virginia Tech felt like a really good fit.  Casey really liked the coaching staff and beautiful campus, but the academics were the main focus since they have a better selection of degrees that Casey liked.”

The last two years she has played for Pine Castle Christian Academy (Orlando, Fla.) and led them to back-to-back 2A state finals.  She currently plays for Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.).

 

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COLLEGE NEWS:  PLAYERS OF THE WEEK:

*** The Oregon Ducks  improved their record to 18-2 over the weekend at the Diamond 9 Citrus Classic in Orlando, Fla. thanks in part to pitcher Cheridan Hawkins (Anderson, Calif.).

The sophomore pitched the Ducks to three shutout wins and entered in relief  to take No. 1 Florida to eight innings before falling 2-1. Through 24 innings in the circle, Hawkins gave up just one run (unearned) and struck out 49 batters, averaging just over two Ks per inning.

For her efforts, Hawkins has been named the USA Softball Collegiate National Player of the Week the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of America and USA Softball announced today.

“This is a great honor for not only Cheridan but for the Oregon softball program,” said head coach Mike White. “I know she will be the first to credit others on her team – she is that type of person and teammate. A true competitor who settles for nothing less than her best effort every time she toes the rubber.

Hawkins was 3-1 on the week with a perfect 0.00 ERA, 49 strikeouts and just five walks in 24 total innings in the circle helping the Ducks move up from No. 6 to No. 5 in this weeks ESPN.com/USA Softball College Top 25 poll.

On Friday, facing an Auburn squad with just two losses on the season, Hawkins struck out 12 batters and allowed just three hits to shut out a Southeastern Conference (SEC) team that was averaging nine runs per game.

Friday evening, with the Ducks clinging to a 1-1 tie with the No. 1 Florida Gators, Hawkins was called on to pitch three innings of relief. The sophomore rang up five of the first six batters she faced before allowing the game-winning run in the eighth.

On Saturday in her second start of the week, Hawkins went the distance, tossing seven scoreless innings, scattering three hits with 16 strike outs in the 2-0 Oregon win. It was the fifth shutout for Hawkins and the seventh complete game of the year for the lefty. Hawkins rung up 16 batters for the second time in as many days on Sunday as Oregon defeated Illinois State 2-0 to close out the Diamond 9 Citrus Classic.

With the three wins, Cheridan improved her yearly record to 10-2 and now holds a 1.00 ERA with eight complete games and six shutouts. This is the first USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Week honor for Hawkins and the first for an Oregon Duck since Jessica Moore earned the award in Week 13 of the 2013 season. The Ducks return to action this week, March 12-15, at the Rainbow Wahine Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii.

2014 USA Softball National Collegiate Players of the Week
Week 1 (Feb. 6-9): Kylee Lahners – Washington – Jr – Infielder– Laguna Hills, Calif.
Week 2 (Feb. 10 -16): Aimee Creger – Tulsa – Sr – Pitcher– Yukon, Okla.
Week 3 (Feb. 17-23): Ally Carda – UCLA – Jr – Pitcher – Elk Grove, Calif.
Week 4 (Feb. 24 – March 2): Cheridan Hawkins – Oregon – Sophomore – Anderson, Calif.

 

*** Junior pitcher Lacey Waldrop of Florida State University has been selected as the Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division I National Player of the Week for games played from February 24 through March 2.

“I’m really excited to get the award,” Waldrop said. “I could not have this kind of success without the support of my teammates. They make some great defensive plays behind me and are always scoring a bunch of runs. That allows me to be calmer in the circle so I don’t have to worry about the pressure situations. Knowing that they will always have my back really helps me with my confidence.”

Waldrop, the Atlantic Coast’s Conference’s reigning pitcher of the week, tallied a 3-1 record with a 0.64 ERA and 29 strikeouts over 22 innings of work while guiding the ninth-ranked Seminoles to a pair of road wins over ranked Southeastern Conference squads. The junior hurler got her efforts started on Wed., Feb. 26, at then-No. 25 Auburn as the Chester, Va., native allowed one earned run and K’ed eight over seven frames as FSU prevailed, 5-4. On Saturday after striking out 10 and scattering five hits during a 7-1 victory over Houston at the Easton Crimson Classic in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Waldrop suffered a tough defeat to No. 11 Alabama, permitting just a single tally and striking out nine in a razor-thin, 1-0 loss. She rebounded from that effort, however, gaining revenge over UA on Sunday in front of 2,822 fans at Rhoads Stadium by twirling four shutout innings with two K’s as Florida State topped the Crimson Tide, 5-1.

“I am extremely excited for Lacey and all that’s she’s worked for,” Florida State head coach Lonni Alameda said. “From the end of the season last year through this past fall her vision has been to be a big time contributor and lead this team. We are all about the big picture of the team, but to be nationally recognized for her individual efforts is a great honor, and we are very proud of her.”

Overall for the 2014 campaign, Waldrop owns a 10-2 record with a miniscule 0.59 ERA, seven complete games and 86 strikeouts over a team-leading 71 innings. Next up for Waldrop and the Seminoles is the start of ACC play as FSU ventures to Charlottesville, Va., to face Virginia in a three-game set over March 8-9.

 

Selected Top Performances

Florida’s Lauren Haeger earned SEC Player of the Week honors after batting .412 (7-for-17) with seven runs scored, four HR’s and 11 RBIs at the Diamond 9 Citrus Classic in Orlando, Fla.…South Alabama’s Farish Beard reaped Sun Belt Pitcher of the Week accolades after posting a 3-0 mark with a 0.00 ERA and 36 strikeouts over 18 innings while also tossing her second career no-hitter during a 15-strikeout effort against UTSA…Charlotte’s Jessica Plemmons hit .650 (13-for-20) with four doubles, two HR’s and 13 RBIs to earn Conference USA Player of the Week…Alabama’s Kaila Hunt batted .500 (7-for-14), blasted two HR’s and drove in four, but also walked eight times as she reached base successfully in 15 of her 22 total plate appearances to earn Easton Crimson Classic All-Tournament Team honors…Missouri’s Taylor Gadbois batted .556 (10-for-18) with five stolen bases and also plated the winning tally to finish off a two-out, six-run seventh inning rally past Illinois State…Summit League Player of the Week Dani Pugh of IPFW batted .467 (7-for-15) with five extra-base hits, including three HR’s, and 14 RBIs to lead her team to a 5-0 record and the Mercer Bear Classic title…New Mexico State’s Staci Rodriguez, the WAC Player of the Week, batted .700 with five HR’s, 10 RBIs and a staggering 2.200 slugging percentage at the Eller Media Stadium Classic in Las Vegas, Nev….N.C. State’s Renada Davis, the ACC Player of the Week, hit at a .462 clip with three HR’s and seven RBIs…Eastern Illinois pitcher Hanna Mennenga was 4-0 from the circle with 40 strikeouts and permitted just a .135 opponent batting average over 28 innings of work at the CSU Tournament on her way to being chosen as the OVC Pitcher of the Week…DePaul’s Mary Connolly, the BIG EAST Player of the Week, batted .875 (7-for-8) at the Eller Media Stadium Classic with three doubles, a triple, a HR and seven RBIs…Georgetown’s Megan Hyson, the BIG EAST Pitcher of the Week, was 3-0 with a pair of two hit shutouts and a no-hitter (over Stony Brook) while striking out 16 over 19 frames at the 49er Invitational in Charlotte, N.C….Georgia State’s Taylor Anderson hit .474 (9-for-19) with a double, two HR’s and six RBIs to reap Sun Belt Player of the Week accolades…Big Ten Player of the Week Tatum Edwards of Nebraska batted .500 (6-foe-12) with a double, a grand slam HR and seven RBIs at “The Preview”…Tulsa’s Aimee Creger was named Conference USA Pitcher of the Week after tossing her fifth career no-hitter in a 3-0 win over Creighton…USF’s Sara Nevins, the American Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week, registered a 3-0 mark with a 0.42 ERA and 23 K’s over 16.2 innings, including a win over then-No. 15 Stanford…Baylor’s Kaitlyn Thumann batted .462 (10-for-17) and extended her streak of reaching base safely to 40 straight games during play at the Gulf Coast Classic in Gulfport, Miss….West Coast Conference Player of the Week BYU’s Katie Manuma blasted two HR’s and knocked in four to help hand then-No. 2 Tennessee its first loss (6-3) of 2014.

2014 Louisville Slugger Division I National Player of the Week
Feb. 11 – Griffin Joiner – Kentucky – Jr. – C – Hopkinsville, Ky.
Feb. 18 – Bryana Walker – Washington – Sr. – P – La Quinta, Calif.
Feb. 25 – Anna Miller (Co-) – USC Upstate – Sr. – P – Portland, Ore.
Ally Carda (Co-) – UCLA – Jr. – P/UTIL – Elk Grove, Calif.
March 4 – Lacey Waldrop – Florida State – Jr. – P – Chester, Va.

 

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Players, parents and coaches:  want to know the best way to get us info on your favorite player?  Fill out our Recruit Form link and complete.  It comes directly to me (Brentt) and you very likely could see the info used somewhere on our site!

 

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