Today we look at one of the top pitchers in the 2015 class and someone you’ll be seeing this week in the Hot 100 top juniors.  We also have spotlights on two college-bound juniors and more recruiting news and notes…

 

*****

PLAYER PROFILE: KELLY BARNHILL

Kelly Barnhill is not only one of the top pitchers in Georgia, she’s one of the best in the nation and consistently hits 70 mph on the radar gun… here’s a closer look at the prospect you’ll see later in the week as we unveil the final spots in the Hot 100 2015’s…

Grad Year: 2015
Pos: pitcher
High School: Pope (Ga.)
GPA: 4.37
Club: East Cobb Bullets
Stats & Honors: 

• Junior Year: five no-hitters, one perfect game, 257 K’s, 118 innings, 0.52 ERA, opponent batting average of .070, 16-3 record, All Region 1t Team, All State 1st Team, All State Pitcher of the Year
• Sophomore Year: 11 no-hitters, one perfect game, 329 K’s, 148 innings, 0.70 ERA, opponent batting average of 0.55, 19-5 record, All Region First Team, All State 1st Team
• Freshman Year: five no-hitters, two perfect games, 263 K’s, 115 innings, 0.95 ERA, 17-11 record, All Region 1st Team

College: deciding between Florida and Stanford

 

***

 

 StudentSportsSoftball.com: Let’s start with your velocity… You’ve touched 70 mph (actually I have been clocked as fast as 73mph) on the gun, what do you attribute to having such great speed on your pitches? 
Kelly Barnhill: My pitch speed is the result of natural talent, hard work, dedication, a weighted ball, and hours of practice. I owe a great deal to my father who has always been willing to sit on a bucket catching for countless hours (and bruises) and to my pitching coach, Stacy Tamborra with Champions Fastpitch Academy, who has been so supportive over the years and works with me weekly on both throwing techniques and conditioning.

SSS.com: Describe your other pitches and what you feel is your best complement to the heat?
KB: I’m an up and down pitcher throwing a lot of rise and drop balls. My favorite pitch is a rise ball. But it is always fun to throw batters off balance with a good change-up every once in a while

 

SSS.com: How old were you when you realized you had a gift for pitching?  Was there an “ah ha” moment when you realized you had something special in your pitching gifts?
KB: I have always been able to throw the ball hard but when I was young control was an issue. Many a batter limped to first base rubbing a bruised thigh or calf. As I got older, other players starting asking me where I wanted to play college ball. My dad’s thought was anywhere a scholarship was offered; my thought was as far from Marietta, Ga. as possible! My “ah ha” pitching moment happened two weeks into my high school (freshmen) season when I got my first scholarship offer, a full ride to the University of Georgia.

 

SSS.com: Describe your emotions around telling them, were you more nervous or more excited?
KB: I am never really nervous about a softball game or most things in my life. My attitude is that if you practice hard and always give your best, the game (or anything else) will take care of itself.

 

SSS.com: You’re looking at Florida and Stanford, two great schools… what factors are you weighing for picking one of the two?  Do you have a timeline when you’ll decide?
KB: Well, the location (and the weather) for both schools is very nice. And both schools have great coaching staffs. Academics are very important to me, but I also want to play college softball for a school that has a realistic chance to compete and win the Softball World Series. Both of these schools give me that opportunity and thankfully, both Florida and Stanford have understanding and patient coaches who have not pressured me into making a decision. I intend to decide and verbally commit by the end of the school year.

 

SSS.com:  You’ve played teams all over the country… how do you stack Georgia talent with that of states like California, Texas, Florida, the East Coast, Midwest, etc.?
KB: The talent here in Georgia has improved a lot in the last few years. Many of the girls I play with are good enough to play on any team in any state. I think what we lack here in Georgia is the quantity of players, not the quality. Many of the SoCal teams are so good because of the larger talent pool they draw from.

In the last two years several of the Georgia 16U teams have fared very well at National Premier and the East Cobb Bullets won the 18U Gold ASA National title just three years ago. However, I do have to admit that my favorite tournaments are when I get to go to SoCal and face some of the best hitters and teams in the nation.

 

SSS.com: You’re a high-achiever academically and athletically… what drives you to excel?  Do you feel ultra-competitive not just with others, but with yourself also?  Can that sometimes be a bad thing?
KB: I have to admit, I am a very competitive person. No matter what the game or activity, I want to do my best and win. It is more of an internal drive to preform to the best of my ability. Growing up, my dad’s mantra was “Don’t you want to be the best?” and the answer always tended to be a “Yes.”

 

Quick Hitters (short answers)

 

What do you want to major in and ultimately do for a career?
International studies or business; I want to be either a United States foreign ambassador or working with an international business firm.

Fill in the blank… I’m happiest when:
I’m pitching and my parents are there for support and to cheer me on.

What do you think is the No. 1 issue in the world today? 
Softball not being an Olympic sport…just kidding. World Peace.

Favorite school subject:
Any social studies class…right now AP US History..

Least favorite subject:
Math, not my best subject.

Most fun you’ve ever had:  
Visiting the Spam Museum with my dad during one of our many across the country by car softball trips.

What’s your dream vacation?
Traveling through Europe and Asia visiting historic sites.

What’s one thing you admit you’re NOT good at?
Calculus, followed closely by cooking.

What’s something unusual or different about you that few know?
I have two scars on my left knee from being bitten by a giant anaconda while exploring the amazon jungle (laughs)… just kidding, I got the scars from torn meniscus re-hab surgery last year.

Describe yourself in one word?
Zany, weird, unconventional…I know that is three words but you get the point.

If you were handed a check for $1,000, what would you do with it?
Invest it so it will make more money or buy books.

What’s your No. 1 goal for 2014?
To win the Georgia AAAAAA State Championship.

Other than family, who’s your hero or someone you look up to most?
My pitching coach Stacy Tamborra. She is a great instructor and friend. She knows all the weird quirky bad things I tend to do while pitching and always has a way to quickly fix them.

 

*****

RECRUIT SPOTLIGHT: ALYSSA DICARLO

High school: Mountain Ridge
City: Glendale
State: 
Ariz.
Grad year: 2015
Club: Firecrackers-AZ (Henry)
Position(s):  shortstop/outfield
Height: 5-10
Stats: (2013, high school): hit .532 with a .602 onbase percentage, 58 hits, 66 RBI, 51 runs and 11 home runs.
College: Georgia
Other Offers: Arizona State, Oregon, Stanford, Minnesota
Why Georgia: “Georgia has an amazing coaching staff, a rich softball tradition and a beautiful campus.”

 

***

 

RECRUIT SPOTLIGHT: BAYLEE COOK

High school: Shelbyville Central
City: Shelbyville
State: 
Tenn.
Grad year: 2015
GPA: 4.0
Club: Tennessee Fury 97
Position(s):  outfield/third base
Height: 5-4
Stats: (last two years with Tenn. Fury): .425
Honors: 2013 1^st Team MTSCA All-State, 8-AAA District MVP, helped the Shelbyville Central Eaglettes win the first district championship in school history.
Why Belmont “I fell in love with the school and campus and the coaches.  I want to major in nursing and Belmont is second in the country for the nursing program.”

 

*****

 

RECRUITING NEWS:

*** Nicole Doyle, a 2015 pitcher with the Ohio Outlaws, has committed to Southern Illinois University.

Doyle, a junior at Aurora (Ohio) High School, turned in an amazing sophomore campaign for the Greenmen.  The Chagrin Valley Conference MVP finished 11-0 with a 0.34 ERA and 197 K’s in 82 innings.  She threw one no-hitter, five one-hitters and seven shutouts. She also hit. 395.

Her best of the year was the 1-0 win over Warren Harding in the district semifinal in which she struck out 19 batters.

“She’s unbelievable,” Aurora coach, Jessica McDermitt, said of Doyle.  “There’s a reason she was player of the year in our league.  She came off a back injury (two stress fractures) last year and was just awesome.  Nicole loves to pitch and she loves that rise ball.”

Nicole’s dominance continued through the summer as she didn’t lose a game until Nationals.  Doyle led the Outlaws Silver team to a 9th place finish at the ASA/USA 16U-A National Championship in Sunnyvale, Calif.

Outlaws president Warren Wolff thinks Doyle may be one of the more overlooked pitchers in Northeast Ohio.

“Nicole sort of flies under the radar a little bit,” said Wolff.  “I’ll tell you what, she had college coaches buzzing at Nationals.  They couldn’t believe how she was consistently getting top players/teams out inning after inning.  She is a true pitcher in every sense of the word.”

Nicknamed “The Surgeon,” she visited several college campuses and ultimately chose Southern Illinois, due largely in part to coach Kerri Blaylock.

 

*** Notre Dame likes to go to New Jersey to recruit and signed two excellent seniors from the Garden State in pitcher Katie Beriont of Jersey Nightmare and outfielder Bailey Bigler who’s with Jersey Intensity.

The Irish have picked up another player on the Intensity in second baseman Katie Marino, a 2016 grad.

When we spoke to Head Coach Kevin O’Donnell in the early fall about his team he mentioned Katie and said, “She’s a high level recruit as well and has four major schools looking at her.  She’s come in to fill the void at second and has looked great.”

Apparently Notre Dame coaches thought so too.

*** Look back only two years and one of the top teams in the nation was from Land of the Lakes, the Minnesota Renegades 14U team that took fourth at the ASA A tournament in Sioux Falls.

That team featured several college-bound players including:

• our blogger extraordinaire Justus Perry, a 2016 infielder now with the Birmingham Thunderbolts (committed to Auburn)
• 2015 pitcher Syd Smith of the Wichita Mustangs (committed to LSU)
• 2015 pitcher Emma Hylen with the Minnesota Force (committed to Iowa State)
• 2015 shortstop/outfielder Taylor Chell with the Minnesota Renegades 97 team (committed to Minnesota)

You can now add one more: Malorie Giere, a 2015 C/IF with the Minnesota Force, has committed to Lipscomb

Quite the talented team, that 14U program out of Minnesota in 2011!

 

*** More verbals:

— P Kathryn Carter (2016, Illinois)… plays for Georgia Elite
— OF Katelin Evans (2016, Mercer)… plays for Carolina Elite Team Mizuno (Mercer)
— OF Megan Harris (2015, Ole Miss)… plays for Firecrackers-Texas (Poole)
— 2B/3B/C Becky Malchow (2016, Indiana State)… plays for Indiana Magic Gold
— P Gina Snyder (2014, Purdue)… plays for the Arizona Killer Bees
— P Ariana Adams (2017, Texas)… plays for the Texas Firecrackers-King 

*****

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.