Happy Halloween to all!  This Daily Update is coming to you from Orlando, Fla. where we enjoyed the National Skills Clinic today at the Wide World of Sports Complex.  We have reports from that, including some players who looked good, and some news we heard at the event and around the softball world…

Also, be sure to check back later as we’ll have an action and head shot photo galleries from the workout today…

 

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EVENT RECAP: 2013 NATIONAL SKILLS CLINIC

Todays event, which took place right before games started in the evening for the Sun Classic Fall Showcase, saw 225 girls from around the country come to work out.

What made it cool was the players not only were seen by college coaches, they received onfield instruction from them as well.

The list of schools who had assistants helping in the drills and during the games was impressive; the ones I saw personally included Notre Dame, North Carolina, Boston College and Virginia Tech from the ACC, Penn State and Ohio State from the Big Ten, ASU, Oregon and Washington from the Pac-12, Auburn and Missouri and South Carolina from the SEC to name a few along with Delaware, College of Charleston, Towson and others.

The day started early as registration was from 7-8 am and during the morning the players did fielding drills and defensive work with hitting –including live hitting and soft toss—taking up most of the afternoon.

I had a chance to hang out with some great coaches who were working hard to help the kids and the work ethic of the players was impressive also.

Here’s a list of some of the players that were impressive today, in no particular order (also, there certainly were more and we’ll spotlight those another time):

— SS Kaitlin Okimoto (2016, Firecrackers-Datan)
Confirmed she’s strong on defense and showed good contact with the bat in her early evening game.

— 3B Jenna Ergle (2017, Birmingham Thunderbolts 97-Horton)
Good hitter who used to play in the Firecrackers organization before moving to Alabama.

— C Jordyn Rudd (2018, Indiana Magic Gold)
The freshman is already 5-foot-9 and has a nice frame and fluid movements.  Coaches are saying she’s legit.

— P Victoria Galvan (2017, Jersey Intensity-Conover)
The N.J. tall pitcher showed she can hit impressively as well.  See below for more on her recruiting situation…

— 1B Madison Christiansen (2016, Krunch Gold-Mumma)
Impressed in the defensive drills and hit the ball well against live pitching.

— P Analise De La Roca (2017, Corona Angels-Perez)
Coaches paid close attention to her when she was in the circle, impressive presence and pitches.

— P Taylor Rahach (2015, Central Florida Stingrays)
Saw several coaches write her name down when she was pitching… watch for her recruiting to go up exponentially.

— 1B Taylor Adams (2017, Team Seattle-Smith)
The infielder has a good frame and impressive swing mechanics.

— P Maggie Balint (2016, Pennsylvania Chaos Gold-Spina)
Throws a lot of variety in her pitches and has nice spins and control.

— P Mariah Mazon (2017, Corona Angels-Perez)
Talk about a glut of riches—the Angels 14U team is loaded in the circle.  Mariah can also play several positions if and when needed.

— 1B Madeline Henry (2016, Washington Ladyhawks-Miller)
She’s a lefty who swings the bat really well and is well coached.

— 3B Kirsten McMonigle (2016, East Cobb Bullets-Legere)
Made good contact in all the hitting drills and was impressive swinging the bat all day.

— P Jenna Kniss (2015, California Grapettes)
Solid pitcher who has high ceiling and good intangibles.

 

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NEWS & NOTES FROM THE NATIONAL SKILLS CLINIC

*** Victoria Galvan, who made the list above, was also at the OnDeck National Elite Camp where she impressed a lot of coaches because of her frame and opportunity to be something special.

She looked good again today and her mom, Traci, said this will be it for a while with Victoria as they’re concerned about overuse.  She’ll pitch this week for the Jersey Intensity and then likely hit the hardcourt as she’d a talented basketball player.

Traci, in fact, says she has more interest from basketball programs but has her heart set on playing softball.

Victoria has taken an unofficial to North Carolina and will be taking one to South Carolina too.  Penn State may be coming into the picture as well.  Just a hunch, but I think the Gamecocks could be the one to beat.

*** One of the fun things about an event like the Sun Classic is you get to meet in person coaches, players and parents you’ve only talked to on the phone.

One such case was Dana Fusetti, the Head Coach of the Carolina Elite team.  She told us that two weeks ago 2015 2B/OF Jasmine Palmer committed to Florida State.

“Jazzy is a solid player with strong leadership,” Coach Fusetti explained today. “She caught the coaches’ eyes at tournaments; they’d come up to me and ask, ‘Who’s that player?’  She just has that presence and picks up other players.  We had a tryout where there were girls competing for her position and she’d help them and pull them up.”

“She faithfully contacted Florida State by e-mail over a year and it worked out for her. She will raise the level of play there.”

*** This week we told you of one eighth grader who has committed to a Pac-12 school in Alyssa Pinto, now with the Texas Bombers and in time with the Washington Huskies.

We heard of another player from the same 2018 year who will be Pac-12 bound: Terra McGowan, a C/OF who plays for her father, Jay, on an OC Batbusters 14U team.

Terra is already 5-foot-7 and has a high ceiling and will be one to watch develop over the next several years.  Note: we heard about this verbal and hope to confirm and get more info as the team is expected to play in the Sun Classic this weekend.

*** Word on the street is that Hot 100 OF/SS Ashleigh Hughes of the So Cal Choppers will sign with Arizona.

Ashleigh, you may remember, had committed to Alabama but that didn’t work out so she came back on the recruiting market in early October.

She has a track background and is one of the fastest seniors in the country.

 

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MORE RECRUITING NEWS:

*** Kendal Judge, a 2016 pitcher on the Mizuno Hawks out of Illinois, has verbally committed to the University of Minnesota. Kendal plays for her father, Bill Judge.

Another sophomore on the team, catcher Jessica Cothern, has committed to DePaul.

 

*** 2014 C/OF Celeste Adriano of American Pastime has verballed to San Francisco State (which is having a strong run this week).

 

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FINAL HALLOWEEN STORY:

This morning I posted a piece that had Halloween plans from several players I contacted in the OC Batbuster organization.

One, Andreya Jarvis—a C/3B with the OC Batbusters Briggs team—had said she and her team were going to go to Knott’s Scary Farm, a theme park in Southern Calif., on a team “bonding” night.

She tells a funny story recapping how that evening went and how it helped bring her team together even closer…

First of all, many of the girls hadn’t been to Knott’s Scary Farm Halloween Haunt before, so overall there were a lot of wimps in our group (haha).

First of all, we had our senior, Alex Formby, in a wheel chair because she had a cold, so that was an adventure all by itself.  From the moment we got through the gates, monsters grabbed her wheel chair handles and started rolling her away.

She was freaking out, but we all cracked up watching it.  Just from that, we all knew that this was a great opportunity to bond because we had to rely on each other for protection.

Yes, our team got scared continually like little babies, but we would always laugh it off.  We liked to make jokes about how going to Knott’s was like practice because we were always running, so at times we would actually do high knees inside mazes (inspired by Fa Leilua), which was very odd, but hey… we are softball players after all!

Our group of about 17 split up into two separate groups, whereas one left the park around 10:30, but my group stayed until 2 a.m.

Later on, the wheelchair was left to me, which gave me access to the front of every line which was fun, but whoever was in the wheelchair seemed to be the ultimate scare target.  We all got scared just as much as the others, but again, the fun came from being able to laugh it off with each other to the point of crying.

There was nothing like having a group of girls who all love each other and ALL have a sense of humor (which is rare to find), bonding over being scared, making jokes about how stupid some of us looked being scared, etc.

This team has one of the best bonds I’ve ever seen between teams and honestly, there is nothing I wouldn’t do for each and every one of them.  This night was unforgettable.

Sure we got run down as the night went on, but we got a secnd wind, third wind, fourth wind, etc.

Knotts Scary Farm was definitely one of the best and most unforgettable nights of my life and on the ball field I feel the same way.  It’s a blast playing with these girls; we have fun while we’re out there, but are still serious at the same time.  We get the job done while having fun, which is exactly what this sport’s about.

We like to call each other the Batbuster-Swagbusters, so I think that I’m speaking for every single one of my teammates when I say I absolutely love this team and cannot wait to see what we accomplish together.  I (we) believe we can do anything because of how well our team has bonded and molded together as one.

Especially from being a fresh group of girls, we now know how much fun we have together even away from the dirt.

OC Swagbusters Briggs 18u Gold are a unique group of girls, talented, intelligent, and fun!  We’re out to dominate, and watch us have fun doing it

 

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