The inaugural PGF Early Thanksgiving Exposure Workout was held last Friday, (November 22, 2013) and not only was the talent on the field high, so too was the number of college coaches in attendance.

There were an estimated 130 college programs watching the 164 softball players working out at Bill Barber Park in Irvine, Calif. during the hitting, pitching, catching, running and fielding drills that lasted from 4 pm to 8 pm.

Note: there were 296 teams in the Early Thanksgiving tournament itself with over 220 college coaches in attendance so, not surprisingly, the exposure event saw coaches from every major conference show up.

“We set a standard with the PGF and Surf City events and we wanted to test the waters on exposure workouts because of the outstanding coaches we have working with us,” explained Dan Hay, President of PGF and Surf City Tournaments.

“We wanted to get it right so we limited the numbers to 164 even though we had 487 athletes sign up in the first 48 hours.”

“I was impressed with the overall level of play,” said Event Director Mike Stith.  “What was great about the showcase is you had a nice balance of big schools and little schools watching the players work out.

The athletes were outfitted with colored pinnies that corresponded to grad year: green=2014 (seniors), red=2015 (juniors), yellow=2016 (sophomores), orange=2017 (freshmen) and blue=2018 (eight graders) and coaches were given directories that allowed them to follow particular players.

“We had so many coaches come,” continued Hay, “that we ran out of the printed 100 books in the first half hour.  There were four pages of coaches who signed in and we had to run to Kinko’s to print a bunch more.”

***

Here are some of the highlights from the showcase:

*** The players were tested on two running drills: home to first and home to second.

The fastest time in the home to first drill was a 2.72 turned in by Mckenzie Phillips, a 2014 outfielder who plays on the Firecrackers-Snyder team and attends Mark Luther King High in Riverside, Calif.

Mckenzie is a leadoff lefty slapper who plays centerfield and as a freshman and sophomore in high school ran track.  She has a 4.17 GPA and looked to be headed to the Big Ten when a coaching change derailed that, leaving her a steal for someone looking for speed at the top of the lineup.

***  The fastest home to second time was a 5.78 recorded by Jenna Holcomb, a 2016 outfielder/middle infielder with the So Cal A’s.

*** The only player to have the fastest times in both tests for her age group was 2015 outfielder Taylor Covington of the Strikeforce Gold.

*** Here are the top times as recorded by class:

Home to First

2014: 2.72—McKenzie Phillips (Firecrackers-Snyder) CF
2015: 2.83—Taylor Covington (Strikeforce 18U Gold) OF
2016: 2.88—Kalalaelisa Toomalatai (Power Surge 18U-Vincent) SS/2B
2017: 2.84—Kiana Cisneros (OC Batbusters-Marinacci) OF/C
2018: 2.85—Taylor Okada (Lakewood Firecrackers) 2B/OF

Home to Second

2014: 5.80—Brooke Hodgson (New Mexico Sundancers) OF
2015: 5.95—Taylor Covington (Strikeforce 18U Gold) OF
2016: 5.78—Jenna Holcomb (So Cal A’s 18U-Richardson) OF
2017: 5.85—Neli Casares Maher (Batbusters) SS
2018: 5.99—Anna Vines (Corona Angels) SS/OF

 

*** In the hitting drills, one player who shined was Quinn Giesick, a 2016 catcher who was lining shots to the gap.

The pitchers made a game of it where hitters who hit line drives parallel to the ground and into the outfield could keep going… Quinn had eight in a row.

She attends Liberty High in Bakersfield, Calif. where she .454 last year.  She’ll likely play on one of the OC Batbuster teams in 2014, probably either the Briggs or Stith team.

*** A catcher who caught coaches’ eyes during the throwing drills was Emille Erickson from the Arizona Storm Gold-Brun team.

She’s a 2015 grad and according to Mark Campbell, who oversaw the drills, Emille has “tremendous arm strength and a good quick release.  The ball pops when she throws it to second.”

*** Cassidy FitzGerald, a 2017 corner infielder for the So Cal Choppers 16U-Shipman/Ziese team, drew compliments from Stith, who said, “She’s only a freshman, but hits really well and has a great arm.”

*** Stith also complimented Vivian Montgomery, a 2016 third baseman/catcher for Jersey Intensity, on her “impressive arm strength.”

*** One of the impressive eighth graders was Alyssa Podhurcak, a middle infielder for the OC Batbuster-Briggs 14U team.

She attended the OnDeck National Elite Camp in mid-October and has really progressed in the last five weeks, looking completely relaxed in front of all the college coaches watching her and upping her stock significantly.

*** Finally, here are others who impressed and were watched/noted by several college coaches:

— OF Ashley Holt (2015, Corona Angels-Slye)
— OF/2B Hannah Uhler (2015, NJ Breakers Gold-Salvatore)
— SS/2B Nichole Fry (2015, So Cal Athletics)
— 3B/1B Gabby Alvarez (2015, Explosion-Borzilleri)
— OF Taylor Burns (2016, Bownet)
— P/1B Samantha Mejia (Central Cal Dirt Dogs)
— C Lauren Esplalin (2017, OC Batbusters-Smith)
— P/1B Ryan Denhart (2017, OC Batbusters-Marinacci)
— P/1B Analise De La Roca (2017, Corona Angels-Perez)
— P Mariah Mazon (2017, Corona Angels-Perez)
— P/SS Kelsey Munoz (2017, San Diego Power Surge-Berndes)
— P Jessica Patak (2017, Texas Glory-Naudin)
— P/OF Danielle Williams (2018, Sorcerers)