We kick off February down in Florida profiling a team that has FAB 50 potential written all over it.  We then head north to go to the Carolinas and profile a pitcher who’s going to her “dream school” in the SEC.  We learn more about a Midwest two-sport athlete and finish with 15 more verbals to report!

 

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FAB 50 TEAM TO WATCH:  ST. THOMAS AQUINAS (FLA.)

One of the top teams in the Sunshine State this year looks to be the defending Class 7A state champs, St. Thomas Aquinas out of Ft. Lauderdale.

Six starters return for Head Coach Bryan Baucom including two of the top 25 seniors in the country in lefty pitcher Meghan King, who was ranked No. 25 in the 2014 Hot 100 and has signed with Maryland and battery mate Gwen Svekis, who is headed to Oregon and was ranked No. 16 in the 2014 Hot 100.

King pitched a one-hitter in the state championship, a 1-0 win over Tampa Freedom last year, and Svekis was the Florida Class 8A-7A-6A Player of the Year.

That duo makes up two of the seven seniors who are college bound and nine seniors overall for the Raiders.

“I think we can be as good as we were last year and they have to understand that no one is going to hand it to them,” Coach Baucom told the Sun Sentinel

Last year, Aquinas won the vaunted Blue bracket at the Kissimmee Klassic and will best tested again early in what some feel is the best high school tournament in state history.

The Klassic runs April 3-5 and could include the following top teams (only 16 will make the bracket):

• Aquinas
• Harmony
• Niceville
• Columbia
• Central (Phenix City, AL)
• Coral Reef
• Gulliver
• Hagerty
• Bradford
• P.K. Yonge
• Countryside
• Pembroke Pines Charter
• West Orange
• Cypress Bay
• Chamberlain
• Canterbury

 

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PLAYER PROFILE: CAYLA DROTAR

Grad Year: 2016
Pos: pitcher/corner infielder
High School: Hartsville High (S.C.)
GPA: 3.8
Club: Carolina Elite 18U Gold (Genovese)
Stats: 2013: 17-3 record, hit .500 with eight home runs; 2012: 25-1 record and winning pitcher in 3A state championship game
Honors: MaxPreps National Freshman of the Year; 2013 3A State Player of the Year; three time All-State player, won 3A State Title in eighth grade, started varsity since seventh grade
College: South Carolina

 

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StudentSportsSoftball.com: You’ve started varsity since the seventh grade… that had to be wild going against players who were sometimes five years older than you!  Describe what that was like…
Cayla Drotar: It was very different. I never pictured myself growing up and starting on the varsity in seventh grade. One thing about it though, I learned who I was as a player and who I could compete against and with. Those older girls helped me throughout everything. Especially knowing how good I really was.

 

SSS.com: In the eighth grade you won a state title and out-dueled Carley Hoover (Stanford), the 2013 Gatorade Player of the Year… what do you remember about that match-up?
CD: I remember being so determined to outdo her it wasn’t funny. All the talk and focus was on her and I was just a small-town pitcher who didn’t get recognition for my accomplishments like she did, but I finally did my thing to the best of m ability and my talent.  I did it and I couldn’t have been more proud of myself.

 

SSS.com:  You committed to the Gamecocks in the eighth grade… why commit so early?
CD: I’ve had a lot of people ask me this question and my answer is, “Carolina has always been my dream school.” Whenever I found out the University of South Carolina liked me, I jumped on the offer. It was like a dream come true. It was truly an honor committing to my dream school.

 

SSS.com: Had you checked out other programs on unofficial visits?
CD: Yes, online but not physically. When the University of Alabama, UCLA and others asked I had an open mind because those are huge schools, but my heart was always set on South Carolina.

 

SSS.com: Where did the South Carolina coaches first see you and then how long until they offered?
CD: I was 12 years old, at a tryout for the Carolina Elite against an 18U Gold team from Georgia. Coach Janelle Breneman was sitting in the stands and had an eye for me. That’s when it all started. It was then less than a year when they offered.

 

SSS.com: What do you remember about committing… what was going through your mind and body (nerves, excitement)? 
CD: Nothing was going through my mind, really, at that point and time. But I tell you, after that, I was the most happy person on this planet! I achieved my life goal, committing to a SEC/D1 program and it being the Gamecocks. I couldn’t have been more excited.

 

SSS.com: Give us a scouting report on you as a pitcher: what do you throw and what’s your “out” pitch?
CD: I throw a fastball, change up, slow drop curve (tea cup pitch), curve, drop curve, screw, rise. My best pitch is my drop curve.

 

SSS.com: Describe your emotions around telling them; were you more nervous or more excited?
CD: I was more excited because growing up I never knew I would actually play softball and literally go to college to play it. It was honestly a blessing to me.

 

SSS.com: How far away from home will be?  Was distance a factor in your decision at all?
CD: It’s one hour and fifteen minutes away and, yes, it was a factor. My first question I asked on my visit was, “Will I get to go home on the weekends?”

 

SSS.com:  You’re a talented hitter as well as a pitcher… will you also bat in the SEC or strictly pitch?
CD: Yes, I will be hitting, pitching and playing the corners.

SSS.com: When did you first realize you had the ability to play at the college level, was there an “aha” moment when it clicked for you?
CD: In Colorado, when I was in the eighth grade; I knew then and there I was ready. Also, when Lisa Fernandez said she was impressed with my pitching and playing ability.

 

Quick Hitters

What’s something funny you’ve seen happen on the softball field?
When I was playing in Lexington, in a pick-up tournament, I was pitching in the championship game, I threw a screwball that screwed in a lot and the girl hitting jumped back, started crying and yelled, “ I ‘bout peed my pants.” I laughed so hard!

Fill in the blank… Nobody is better than me at: ________________
… texting.

Do you have any softball superstitions or rituals?
I always draw my cross before I step in the batter’s box. I have to have dirt on my hand before every pitch. Every time I get behind in the count, I always talk to my Mama (Grandma) in heaven.

What’s playing in your earbuds now?
“When She Calls Me Baby “ by Jason Aldean

Activity you wouldn’t be caught dead doing:
Basketball, because I am horrible at it.

Dream job:
Coaching at the University of South Carolina. Move over Coach Bev, haha.

Least favorite characteristic in people:
Self-centered. Rude. No respect for themselves or others.

What type of bat do you use (and do you like it)?
Easton Mako. YES, I LOVE!

If we surveyed your friends, how would they describe you?
Fun, outgoing, funny (at times), “beast at softball.”

What’s something unusual or different about you that few know?
I’m the type of person that has always been the underdog. I am the girl with the humble heart and would give you the shirt off her back.

What’s one thing about being from South Carolina you’re proud of?
The hospitality and sweet tea and the best travel ball team in the state, the Carolina Elite!

If you could jet to anywhere in the world for a weekend, where would you go?
Jamaica.

Do you see yourself as a role model (why or why not)?
Yes because I am willing to help others in need.

What’s a topic in the world today you’re passionate about?
 Trying to get softball back in the Olympics because that is my dream to be on the team… oh wait, it will come true!

 

 

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RECRUIT SPOTLIGHT OF THE DAY:  ALEX SORGI

High school: Henry Ford II
City: Sterling Heights
State: 
Mich.
Grad year: 2015
Club: Michigan Batbusters – Vitale 16U
Position(s): outfielder/shortstop/pitcher
Height: 5-6
GPA: 3.8
Measurables:
Home to 1st: 2.56 (clocked at University of Wisconsin Camp)
Home – Home: 10.91 (clocked at Purdue Camp)
Pitching: 60 mph (clocked at Gillis Combine)

Stats & Honors: started varsity in softball and basketball (guard) as a freshman

Softball — Sophomore Year:
Honors: All-State (HM), All-County(1st Team), All-Region, All-District, All- Conference, All-Academic, Metro Detroit All-Area (2nd Team), Ford II Offensive Player of the Year, Macomb Daily Player of the Week, All Tournament Team – Boyne Tournament, District Championship, Regional Championship
School Records: Most Steals (53), Most Runs Scored (50), Most At Bats (128)

Softball — Freshman Year:
Honors: All-Region, All-District, All-County (2nd Team), All-Conference, All-Academic
School Records:  Most Runs Scored in a Season (38)

Basketball — Sophomore Year:
Stats: 9.9 ppg, led the team in steals
Honors: All-County 4th Team, All-County Defensive 1st Team, All-Conference HM, All-Academic, team won the District Championship

Basketball — Freshman Year:
Stats: 9.5 ppg led the team in steals
Honors: All-County HM, All-Conference HM, All Academic

College: Bowling Green
Other Offers: “several other D-I schools”

 

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RECRUITING NEWS:

*** Last week we told you about Kaitlin Buff, the 2016 pitcher who’s now with the four-time defending PGF National Champion So Cal A’s.

Kaitlin had a really good year with the OC Batbusters McNee team last year doing well in Florida and in Colorado won the Future’s Championship game that was televised.

At the 14U PGF Nationals in July, she pitching 36.2 innings with a 0.96 ERA and led the Batbusters to the title game where they lost 3-2 to Team Mizuno-Campbell and Oklahoma-bound pitcher Mariah Lopez in a down-to-the-wire game.

Her father, Mike, explains, “Kaitlin starting getting a lot of interest after the season. George Washington was at all three events. We were talking with GW for probably two months before her visit not wanting to rush things and doing our homework on all possibilities.”

“She had a lot of contact with them over that time and it was really her top choice. Kaitlin really wants to be part of building their program which they are doing a great job of doing. She loved the campus and the young coaching staff they have is great.”

“Coach Dan (Sperl) really did a great job recruiting her. She really wanted to verbal in person so she did. It was the most excited I have ever seen her.”

Also, as a freshman at Narbonne High in Los Angeles, the left-handed thrower was the starting pitcher, team MVP and earned 1st team All-League, and 2nd team All-City honors.

 

*** Sydney Anderson, a 2015 centerfielder who plays for the Ohio Stingrays that won the Ohio 16U ASA championship last summer, has committed to Toledo.

Sydney is the lead off hitter and can soft and hard slap along with straight hit with power. She committed just yesterday to the home-state MAC school.

 

*** Riley Plogger, a 2016 outfielder for the So Cal Athletics-Quarles (18U team), verbaled to Utah State the weekend before last according to her mother, Lee Ann.

She explains how the SoCal sophomore ended up committing to the Aggies.

“Riley met Coach Steve Johnson last year at a SoCal Auburn camp.  They spoke a few times and he continued to follow her.  When he took the head coach job at Utah State in June, she started researching the school.”

“Having always thought she wanted the warm humid weather, she was unsure of the cold climate.  However, after a visit this January she fell in love with the snow-filled campus. She also knew she would love to play for Coach Johnson and his new staff.   She is interested in a degree in Special Education, and they are ranked top in the nation.”

“Riley also loved the small town and school spirit at Utah State and she always wanted a college with a football program. She had some interest from other schools, but when Coach Johnson told her he wanted her to be an Aggie, she just knew it was where she wanted to be.”

The Michigan star was Rookie of the Year and the only starting freshman on her Redlands East Valley high school team last year where she helped the Wildcats to an undefeated season.

Off the field, Riley is a photographer for the yearbook and was voted sophomore Homecoming Princess. She’s also a scholar athlete and maintains a 3.75 GPA.

 

*** More verbals:

— C/UT Sidney Bottino (2015, Western Illinois)… plays for Illinois Chill Gold
— C Madison Cousineau (2015, Mississippi State)… plays for Tennessee Fury 97
— C/1B Jessica Dmochowski (2015, Northern Kentucky)… plays for Miami Valley Xpress
— P/OF Hannah Fisher (2017, Harding Univ.)… plays for Arkansas Heat Gold
— C/UT Aileen Garcia (2016, Texas-Arlington)… plays for Impact Gold (Texas)
— 2B/3B Sydney Ginsberg (2014, Yale)… plays for New Jersey Gators Gold
— SS Kelsey Horton (2015, New Mexico St.)… plays for So Cal Filly’s Gold
— P Kinsey Liscio (2016, Western Carolina)… plays for Atlanta Vipers
— 2B Ashlyn Long (2016, Western Carolina)… plays for Carolina Stars Elite
— MIF/OF Stephanie Merwin (2016, Utah Valley)… plays for Washington Angels Gold
— P Hannah Todd (2017, North Carolina)… plays for Georgia Impact-Jeffreys
— IF Whitney Walton (2016, Texas-Arlington)… plays for Impact Gold (Texas)
— 3B/C Destiny Weber (2016, Penn State)… plays for Ohio Outlaws

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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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If you’d like to submit information, forward to brentt@studentsports.com.  Also, follow us on twitter at @SS_Softball.