We’re inching closer to the weekend and, equally important, the end of January which always seems to have 41 days in it!  Focusing on softball talent, we roll out some more standout 2016’s to watch and profile a Georgia Bulldog fan who’s still a Dawg fan even though she’ll be playing softball for a conference rival!  We check out a California girl who’s Pac-12 bound and also look at a video interview we did in October of a star freshman who has pulled the trigger on her school of choice…

 

*****

CLASS of 2016: PLAYERS TO WATCH (cont.)

We continue our early look at top sophomores with more players in the spotlight who come highly recommended!

*** As mentioned yesterday, we have several good coaches in Texas who are great evaluators and one said the Texas Bombers have a trio of ‘16’s to watch for:

1. P KyLee Decock (Texas Bombers Gold)
Throws 65-67 and had an amazing fall season going 10-1 and beating some of the Top Gold Teams in the State of Texas. KyLee was coming off an injury that kept her off the field for the entire 2013 season and then roared back this fall to earn a ton of offers after her great fall season. She is verbally committed to The University of Texas at San Antonio. She is without a doubt one of the top 2016 pitchers in the state of Texas!

2. P Sidney Holman (Texas Bombers Gold)
Throws 65-67 mph and as well had an awesome fall season. She was an OnDeck Camp invitee this last year and will have a huge impact going into the 2014 season. She is a tall 6-foot pitcher with long levers that will only look to get better. She is in the recruiting process now and has interest from (Ole Miss, Abilene Christian, Sam Houston, Houston Baptist and others)

3. IF RyLee Rodriguez (Texas Bombers Gold)
RyLee is an infielder that has amazing power! As a high school freshman last year she was voted as the “Newcomer of the Year” in Houston as she hit .514 with 54 RBI and 14 home runs. She can flat hit and has amazing power to all fields. Rylee also verbally committed to the University of Texas at San Antonio.

 

*** A scout from the Midwest tells us to keep an eye on IF/OF Madison Douglass from Clinton Prairie, Ind. and a member of the Indy Dreams – Hackerd/Montgomery team.

“This kid has size, speed and power,” our contact says.  “She can play anywhere in the infield and outfield and can hit the ball around 275 feet.  She is uncommitted as of now, but that could surely change any day because she is being looked at by some big D1 schools.”
 

*****

PLAYER PROFILE: SAVANNAH HUFFSTETLER

Grad Year: 2015
Pos: middle infield
High School: Lambert (Suwannee, Ga.)
GPA: 3.85
Club: Atlanta Vipers-Akins
Stats: hit .425 with four home runs last fall
Honors: All-County, All-Region and 2nd Team All-State
College: Tennessee

***

StudentSportsSoftball.com: We hear you grew up a big Georgia Bulldog fan until junior high, when you switched to Tennessee… Isn’t that blasphemy in the Peach State? Seriously, what led you to change alliances?
Savannah Huffstetler: (laughs) I am a die-hard Dawg fan and always will be! My goal in my softball career has always been to win a D1 National Championship, and when I started the recruiting process my parents gave me a four-hour driving time “limit.” They said that four hours away was the farthest I could go so I had to find a school that would have the best chance to win a National Championship in that range. Tennessee is three and a half hours and they give themselves a chance to win it every year, so I just went for it.

 

SSS.com: You said you went to Tennessee’s doorstep to work out and impress them… do you think there was one thing you did that led to the offer or was it just impressing them over time?
SH: I actually went to two different Tennessee camps just hoping to get a look. I went in the summer and did well and was invited back for an unofficial. After the unofficial, I stopped receiving emails from the coaches. I would email once and twice a week and never get a response which really got me down.

But I went up to the Christmas camp anyway to give it one last try and I continued to annoy them with my emails until the day of camp! Coach (Ralph) Weekly told me how impressed he was with my determination to keep them looking at me and that most kids, when they don’t get a response, just give up. He said he was just testing me and seeing how badly I wanted to go to Tennessee. I proved to him that I wanted to be nowhere but UT and he appreciated that. He knows I’m going to work hard for him and the team.

 

SSS.com: Once offered, it only took you a second to commit, correct?  What would you done if they hadn’t offered at the Christmas Camp?
SH: If I was not offered a spot on their 2015 roster at the camp, I knew in the back of my mind that, being a junior, it would’ve been time to move on and find a place to play which made the Christmas Camp very scary knowing that it was my last chance.

 

SSS.com: Did you and your family do anything fun to celebrate making your commitment official?
SH: Well it was only me and my dad in Knoxville when I committed at the end of camp, so on the way home I called my mom and told her. She freaked. When I got home there were orange and baby blue balloons in the kitchen and my mom and brothers gave me a hug; I think it was the first time my little brother has ever given me a hug, now that I think about it!

 

SSS.com: Describe your emotions around telling them, were you more nervous or more excited or did you really not have time to think about it?
SH: It all happened so fast. I was just so anxious when Coach Weekly was talking to me waiting for the words to come out of his mouth. Of course he saved it until the end, but when he said, “Would you like to be a part of this team?” I don’t think it was physically possibly for me to say “Yes!” any faster.

 

SSS.com: Will you be able to enjoy the rest of high school and softball now or are you really excited/impatient to get to UT now?
SH: High school is so much more fun now. I get to be a somewhat normal teenager for the little bit that I have left. No more emailing coaches before and after tests. And no more asking my teachers if I can “go to the restroom” so that I can call a coach and then getting in trouble when they wonder why I took 15 minutes. And when it comes to enjoying softball, the only thing that has changed is I have started working much harder, ironically, after committing. But you only get one chance to make a first impression and I’m making sure that when I go to Tennessee, I’ll be ready on Day One.

 

SSS.com:  What do you do on and off the field that makes you an SEC-caliber softball player?
SH: On the field, I give everything I have every single day. I love to dive up the middle and make the plays that were assumed to be base hits right off the bat. My philosophy is no ball leaves the infield without me leaving my feet. Which usually has me being the dirtiest player on the field.

Off the field, I work hard. My weekly schedule is packed to make sure I get better everyday, and not just in softball:

• Monday- one hour with my personal trainer and hit front toss in the evening
• Tuesday- hitting lesson with Ashlye Washingon at the Pitcher’s Mound
• Wednesday- one hour with personal trainer
• Thursday- three hour SAT prep class to try to improve my score
• Friday- off day

 

SSS.com: What’s been the No. 1 experience for you in your softball career?
SH: My high school is very new—it’s only five years old while our rival high school has been open for over 20 years. And, of course, new programs have their struggles. So until this year we had never beaten them. We played them early in the year and lost a heartbreaker 5-4, but we realized we were clearly the better team. The second time around when we played them at home, we made sure to prove ourselves.

We were winning all game and in the top of the sixth they scored two, making the score 4-2. They were cheering like they were winning 10-0. With two outs in the bottom of the sixth I came up to bat. With a 1-2 count I put it in the trees over left center. Making it 5-2. No, the home run didn’t mean anything and we ended up winning 5-2. But it was one of those “step on their throats” kind of moments to let them know that this game was over and it felt so good. We ended up beating them in the region championship this season as well.  Beating your rival is just a feeling that never gets old!

 

Quick Hitters (short answers)

What do you want to major in? 
Early Childhood Education to become an elementary school teacher.

Fill in the blank… I’m happiest when: ___________
… there’s Christmas decorations everywhere you look!

What do you think is the No. 1 issue in the world today? 
People are too sensitive.

Favorite food: 
Macaroni and cheese.

Least favorite food: 
Pickles.

What’s your dream vacation? 
I saw an episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians where they take a trip to Bora, Bora (Tahiti). I have to go there before I die.

What type of bat do you use (and do you like it)? 
I started using a Xeno my freshman year and I’ve have not had a different type of bat since, I love it!

What’s one thing you’d never be caught dead doing? 
Cheering against the Vols!

What’s something unusual or different about you that few know? 
I didn’t get my ears pierced until I was 14 and I only did because my mom made me. Now I can’t leave the house with earrings.

Describe yourself in three words or less:
Determined.

What’s your No. 1 goal for 2014? 
Help my travel team to have a high finish at ASA Nationals.

Other than family, who’s your hero or someone you look up to most?
Peyton Manning (coincidentally a Vol).  He’s been my favorite athlete ever since I can remember. He’s the best and his preparation is unreal. I have a “bigger than lifesize” poster of him in my room on the wall…

 

 

*****

RECRUIT SPOTLIGHT OF THE DAY: NICOLE BATES

High school: Ceres
City: Ceres
State: 
Calif.
Grad year:  2016
Club: Firecrackers-Rico
Position(s):  shortstop/second base
Height: 5-4

Stats, Honors & Accomplishments: “As a freshman I earned 1^st Team All-WAC Conference and Team MVP in softball. The same year I earned 1^st Team All-WAC Conference and Team MVP in basketball too. I was invited and participated in two OnDeck NorCal Jamboree camps and went once to their National Camp. I did not attend this year’s National Camp because I verbally committed to Washington just prior to the event. I played for Nor Cal Firecrackers – Baisdon where we took fifth at 12U Nationals and fifth at PGF as a younger 14U. I played for Coach Mike Baisdon from the age of nine until this past fall (2013) when I joined Firecrackers 18 Gold with Tony Rico. I travel 300+ miles every weekend for practice and games!

College: Washington

Why Washington: “I’ve wanted to play for UDUB since they won the championship in 2009. I love Seattle and have family there. I want to major in Nursing, where UDUB has been ranked No. 1 since 1984. Coach (Heather) Tarr and the entire coaching staff feel like family. UDUB has been ranked in the top 25 pre-season rankings for the last 20 years, which I believe means we will have a shot at another title every year. What could be better?”

What is your favorite bat: Louisville Xeno. I like the feel and the consistency of pop off the bat.
What bat does your team use? My entire team uses Louisville bats and gloves.
What is your favorite brand of cleats? Mizuno
What is the uniform brand you prefer? Gluv

*****

RECRUITING NEWS:

*** Back in late October we saw C/IF Shaye Bowden from Arizona at the OnDeck National Elite Camp and she was very impressive then.

We did an interview with the 2017 standout who plays for the Arizona Hotshots-Householder 16U team and had held onto it because we wanted to get an update from Shaye on how her fall went and also how the recruiting process was going (as you’ll see in the video, she had major visits set with programs like Oklahoma, UCLA, Tennessee and Oregon.

Yesterday we heard from her mother, Sheryl, who wrote to say that Shaye had pulled the trigger and was committed to… Oregon.

Check out the interview done the week before Halloween as she talks about what she was going to look for in a program as well as what she wants to major in…

 

*** The Cal A’s had a pair of 2014’s commit last weekend in 1B Lauren Mara to Austin College and P Magen Luna to Cal State Dominguez Hills.

Lauren is a good student-athlete with a 4.3 GPA and will end up with 12 letters when she’s done at Western Christian High (Upland, Calif.) as she’ll have played all four years in softball, basketball and cross country.

She’s also gotten some great international experience playing on the Peru National Team as well as with the Canada Renegades.

 

*** More verbals:

— OF Monica Pasillias (2015, Arizona)… plays for So Cal Athletics-Quarles
— C Kaylee Ellebracht (2015, Georgia Tech)… plays for Firecrackers-Clarke
— SS/2B Zoe Stavrou (2015, North Dakota State)… plays for Explosion-Borzilleri

*****

EVENT NEWS: CALI NORTH VS. SOUTH CIVIL WAR “FRIENDLY”

Mike Wallace, head of the Central Cal Dirt Dogs 14U team, writes to say:

“We are hosting a special event on March 22 and 23 in Clovis, Calif. This event will pit six top NorCal 14U teams against six top SoCal teams in a six game format. The event will take place at the Buchanan Softball Complex.”

Here are the teams in so far:

North (filled):

Central Cal Dirt Dogs – Wallace
KG Hitters – Kiko
NorCal Firecrackers – Sjolie
NorCal Firecrackers – Baisdon
Cal Nuggets – Woods
Cal Breeze – Cobian

South (need five more):

SoCal Choppers – Moore
?
?
?
?
?

 

“We are looking to fill the SoCal with five more teams. This will be an amazing event. The event is sponsored by Heybucket and will feature some of the top 14U talent in California.”

For anyone interested in learning more or being considered, you can write Mike at: mikegwallace@yahoo.com

 

*****

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!

 

*****

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