Today’s Daily Update includes a profile of a SoCal player who’s headed to the Big Ten and we also learn of a Big 12 bound recruit who just committed two days ago. We have more verbals and finish up with trip to our archives as we remember a future College World Series MVP back in 2006 when she was commuting two and a half hours for club practice…

 

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RECRUIT PROFILE: ARIANA BELARDE

Grad Year: 2016
Pos: OF
High School:  Los Alamitos (Calif.)
GPA: 3.33
Club: Firecrackers – Catalano 16U
Stats: hit .419 as a freshman
Honors: Honor Roll; Los Alamitos Offensive Player of the Year
College: Illinois

 

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StudentSportsSoftball.com: Tell us how you were first seen by the Illini coaches and then how did they let you know they wanted you?
Ariana Belarde: (Illinois Head) Coach Terri (Sullivan) saw me in the fall of 2012 when she came to watch my teammate, Alexis Carrillo, who has been verballed to Illinois since she was a freshman.  (Firecrackers Head) Coach Ted (Catalano) started talks with Coach Terri and they continued to check up on me throughout the fall.  After the high school break, Coach Donna (DiBiase) came out and saw me and things really started to pick up from there.

 

SSS.com: Tell us about how you decided on Illinois and what were the factors that made it final?
AB: I’ve always wanted to go away to college.  I realized what a great school Illinois is and I could get a fantastic education there.  Coach Terri and Coach Donna are a load of energy and I felt comfortable with them immediately.  Once we visited the school, I knew Illinois was where I wanted to be.

 

SSS.com: What were the circumstances of you telling them it was official… that you were committing?
AB: I went on an unofficial visit with my parents this past summer.  We fell in love with the school, the people we met, and especially the coaches.  They made us feel right at home and assured my parents that the team is a tight-knit family, which is also important to me.  My parents were sold after they met with the head of academics and he told us what a great school Illinois is academically.  That was a huge factor for my parents and for me.

Coach Terri made me the offer at the end of the visit.  She told us to take our time because she knew there was a lot to think about and didn’t want to pressure me.  But I didn’t need much time, I called Coach Terri the morning after the visit with the news that I’d like to commit.  She was so excited…almost as much as me!

 

SSS.com: Any concerns being a Cali girl about going to where it can get a bit chilly in the winter?
AB: Yes!  Snow is not the ideal weather.  I can deal with the cold but I’m not a fan of snow.  I will have to get used to it…fast!

 

SSS.com: What changes, if any, have you seen from your team going from the Batbuster organization to the Firecrackers?
AB: In my short time as a Firecracker, we seem to do a lot as an organization, and I like that.  I’ve also attended a couple of Tony Rico’s talks.  He has a passion for his players to succeed in life, not just softball.  He prepares them mentally and is a great motivational speaker.

 

SSS.com:  What do you think you do best between the lines?
AB: As a lefty that can slap or hit for power, I am confident at the plate and have learned to read defenses very well.  I owe this to Coach Ted.  He was my hitting coach before he became my travel ball coach and he has really brought out a confidence I never thought I had before.

 

SSS.com: When did you know that you had the ability to play at the college level, was it one moment that jumped out?
AB: It would have to be when I received the first college letter from Ole Miss.  I honestly didn’t know I wanted to play in college until I started receiving interest from different schools.

 

Quick Hitters

 

What news do you follow most in the media: sports, world/national/local, entertainment or something else?
Entertainment.

Fill in the blank… You’ll know I’m serious when___________
I stop talking.

You’re at a BBQ… what do you put on your hamburger? 
Ketchup.

What’s something unusual or different about you that few know? 
I don’t like the feel of grass…and I play the outfield!

What scares you the most: spiders/snakes, heights, speaking in front of people, horror movies, other? 
Speaking in front of people.

What’s playing on your iPod/headphones right now?
Sweater Weather by The Neighborhood.

Your most desired gift for Christmas/the Holidays? 
An all black Range Rover (even though I don’t have my permit yet)

If you had one superpower, what would you want it to be?
To fly.

 

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RECRUITING NEWS:

*** Chloe Romero, a 2017, pitcher/utility player for the OC Batbusters-Smith 16U team, has committed to Texas on December 3.

She’s from Helendale, Calif. and was part of the Team Mizuno-Briggs team that finished fifth at PGF 14U Nationals this past summer.

Her mother, Beatriz, told us today how the California standout hooked up with the Longhorns.

“Coach Connie Clark (Texas) first saw Chloe at her pitching coach’s facility (3 up 3 down pitching academy). Her pitching coach, Jale Beliveau, arranged for the coach to see several pitchers back in May.”

“After making an unofficial visit to Texas and being tracked by the coaches, Chloe received and accepted their offer on Dec 3rd.”

“She committed over the phone and her celebration is pending because we had to go watch her sister cheer at a basketball game.”

***  2015 outfielder Lexi Watts, who plays for TNL (The Next Level), has picked Illinois-Chicago.

*** Alyssa Pelegrin, a 2016 shortstop/third baseman with the Firecrackers-Flores team, has verballed to Oregon State

*** Jenna Holcomb, a 2016 outfielder with the So Cal A’s-Richardson, has committed to Tennessee.

*** Alexis Diaz, a 2015 pitcher with Cal Thunder, has verballed to Sacramento State

*** transfer news: shortstop CJ Chirichigno has officially enrolled at Oregon State after two years at Boston College

 

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PLAYER SUBMISSION FORM

Players: fill out our Player Submission Form, whether committed or not, and you may see your info used on our site! 

Name: Alexis Parker

High school: Lees Summit
City: Lees Summit
State: 
Missouri
Grad year: 2015
Club: Originals – Koop
Position(s):  OF
College: Nebraska-Omaha
Other Offers: Wichita State, Kansas, Purdue
Why Nebraska-Omaha: “I really like Coach (Jeanne) Scarpello and what they are doing with the program switching over to D-1. She has been really successful in the past and believes in her girls.”

 

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: MEGAN LANGENFELD

One of the first players we really featured when we started the website way back in 2006 was Megan Langenfeld who would go on to lead UCLA to the 2010 WCWS where she was named the Most Outstanding Player a she hit .706 while going 3-0 in the circle.

Now a grad assistant at Arkansas, back when we published this article on March 20, 2006 she was a senior at Centennial High in Bakersfield, Calif. and a member of the Firecrackers Gold team which she would lead to an ASA 18U Gold National Championship.

Here’s the story we did on her titled…

 

Megan Langenfeld’s long distance traveling pays off

It’s a Saturday morning and All-American Megan Langenfeld gets ready to leave for practice for the Worth Firecrackers Gold, one of the premier club teams in the U.S.  So the senior pitcher/infielder gets in the car with her father, Steve, and they set out for their 2 ½ hour drive!.  Yes, the Langenfeld’s are off for another weekend planned around club practice, but it’s very much paid off as the softball standout realized her dream by signing with her childhood favorite program… go inside to read her rise to national prominence!

They don’t call it “travel ball” for nothing.

A normal club softball practice will cost Megan Langenfeld from Bakersfield (Calif.) Centennial High and her family about $50 in gas, 350 miles on the family car (that equates to about 45,000 miles annually) and an entire weekend from home, half her family and her friends.

But the senior softball star wouldn’t have it any other way.

Today, she’s competing for Centennial High and this fall will begin her college career at UCLA, the school she committed to last summer after taking trips to Stanford and Notre Dame. But really, there wasn’t any doubt where she would end up.

“UCLA has always been my dream school,” she explains, “ever since I was a kid and had posters of Lisa Fernandez, Amanda Freed and Stacey Nuveman on my wall.”

But that’s jumping to the ending of the story: the literal journey of her softball career from her t-ball days at age five to her All-American status today is the fun part of the Langenfeld tale.

Early on, though, it didn’t appear the Bakersfield native would be anything special.  Though her parents, Steve and Tracy, both microbiologists, were athletes in high school, their daughter didn’t appear to have stardom pegged for her future.

“I wasn’t really good at the start,” she remembers sheepishly.

At age eight, Langenfeld began taking pitching lessons and the rest was history… well, not quite.

“I was pretty average then,” Megan admits, “but I could get the job done.”

By the time she reached seventh grade, the young athlete was starting to get local attention as she joined the Bakersfield Babes club team, which would make the occasional jaunt a few hours south to compete against stronger Southern California teams.

“We didn’t win much,” Langenfeld remembers, “but we showed well.”

During one of those infrequent, but impressive showings, Megan caught the eye of coaches on a top SoCal club team, Corona Angels, who soon invited the pitcher/infielder to take the next step and join their program, which, Langenfeld confesses, wasn’t easy.

“It was rough at first,” she explains, “and not just because of the drive.  I’d pitch and play first base but it was a big jump because the competition was so high.”

Tough, maybe, but playing against better players elevated her game as well and for the first time, she saw how far she could go.

“I was pitching well, then,” she states, “and my hitting came along about my freshman and sophomore year.  Suddenly, everything just clicked.”

“Clicked” may be a gross understatement; “exploded” might be a better word.

Langenfeld’s sophomore year saw her move to one of the elite club teams in the nation, the Worth Firecrackers, and she was named the CalHiSports.com’s Sophomore of the Year after hitting .549 with a .902 slugging percentage to accompany a .020 ERA and 327 strikeouts in only 206 innings.

After similar success as a junior on the field and in the classroom—the senior has a 4.1 GPA and is 11^th in her class—everyone in the softball world came calling and, through a series of e-mails, Langenfeld choose UCLA as her future home.

“I hope I get to play first there and not just pitch,” Langenfeld explains, making a  case for continuing her versatility in college. “I would definitely like to hit.”

This season, Centennial High has jumped out to a 7-1-1 record behind its star pitcher and hitter.  Recently, the Golden Hawks won the Mt. Whitney tournament with Langenfeld running her record to 4-1-1 despite having a 0.00 ERA and batting .500.

“The game I lost was on an error; three of my wins were shutouts,” she says humbly.

During her high school season, Langenfeld gets to “rest” when it comes to commuting, although she still will head south to the Firecrackers’ home city, Huntington Beach, on Sundays for team clinics. It’s the club season when the teenager spends most of her weekends living out of a suitcase at the club teams’ practice site.

“A normal weekend then,” she begins, “will start with one of my parents and me leaving Bakersfield about 6:45 or 7 am.  We’ll get to the practice site about 9:30 am to set up and then practice from 10 am to 3 pm.

We’ll drive south to spend the night at my Grandmother’s in Mission Viejo and then have practice 10 to 3 pm on Sunday before driving home.”

A brutal schedule for an athlete, but Langenfeld says, “I actually have the short drive.  There are two girls and an assistant coach on the team who come from Arizona every practice and one girl who drives in from Las Vegas.”

The Bakersfield senior has achieved her dream of getting a college scholarship, but how has the family handled the sacrifice of being gone so much?  Her father definitely looks at the glass as being half full.

“People often ask me how I can do this,” Steve states, “and spend all this money and time for Megan’s softball career, but I ask them, ‘How many fathers get to spend two to three hours of quality alone time with their daughter?’ like I get to every week.”

If there has been one “victim” in the support of the softball player’s drive to the top, it’s been younger brother, Matthew, himself an outstanding baseball player with college potential.

A versatile junior who can play infield and outfield, he’s been to national tournaments himself and has willingly shared the spotlight with his talented sister… but no more.

Tongue planted firmly in cheek, when his sister committed to UCLA last summer, Matthew smiled and announced to his family: “Now it’s my turn!”

 

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EVENT NEWS: NFCA CONVENTION BEGINS

Thursday was the Opening Day of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association “Viva Fastpitch” Convention taking place in San Antonio, Texas at the Marriott Rivercenter.

Here are some highlights:

*** there are nearly 1,300 coaching members in attendance.

*** the highlight of the day was the annual pre-convention seminar as Nebraska volleyball coaching legend Terry Pettit, the founder of Terry Pettit Coaching Enhancement, led approximately 200 attendees through a talk from noon-4 p.m. entitled “Patterns in Extraordinary Coaching, Team Building & Leadership.”

He involved participants in an interactive presentation focusing on four areas:

• Recruiting and Leveraging Talent – learning to recruit your team, institution and community through the culture of your program
• Requiring – requiring the behaviors from your team that gives it the best opportunity for success
• Relating – learning to create a climate of trust around your team and
• Reflecting & Adaptation – learning to evaluate what’s happening as objectively and scientifically as possible in order to recognize the reasons something was or wasn’t successful and make necessary changes to reach your goals.

*** Following the pre-convention seminar, the NFCA Golden Shoe, Diamond Sports Catcher of the Year and National Fastpitch Coaches College Four-Star Master Coach awardees in attendance were honored during the 4:30 p.m. General Session.

*** There were several speakers and presentations given including ones on the state of National Pro Fastpitch by league commissioner Cheri Kempf, the new NFCA recruiting app in partnership with NCSA by former UCLA coach Sue Enquist, opportunities in USA women’s baseball by Jenny Dalton Hill and updates on the Amateur Softball Association and USA Softball from Julie Bartel and Chris Sebren, NFCA Executive Director Lacy Lee Baker on the state and growth of the Association. NFCA President Rhonda Revelle (head coach, Nebraska) with the annual President’s report and Terry Pettit provided the keynote address.

*** The 2013 NFCA Convention program on Thursday includes Caucus Business Meetings (DI, DII, DIII, NAIA, NJCAA, Travel Ball and an Emeriti group)

 

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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.