This past weekend we attended the Firecrackers & TCS Showdown at Big League Dreams–we’ll have more on that this week throughout the week–but first we profile the Wichita Mustangs, who impressed on the field and off.  We also profile a California girl who will in a year call Baltimore home and look at some other recent commitments…

 

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TEAM PROFILE: WICHITA MUSTANGS

The origin of the Wichita Mustangs began 12 years ago when founder Mark Griggs was coaching his then six-year-old daughter under the Kansas Chaos organizational banner and it was time for his team to take the field for practice.

However, an 18U coach was there first and, though not scheduled to use the field, he  said they wouldn’t leave as “they were using the field and it took precedent over the little kids.”

That led to Griggs, a self-employed investor in oil and gas to not just take his ball and go home, but build a whole new organization.

The Louisiana native created a parent company called 4TK (representing “For The Kids”) and build what is today a 60,000 square foot building that has a full field, a second infield, six batting cages and five pitching lanes.

Best of all, it’s only for the kids who play for the Mustangs so there won’t be any “get off our field” problems here.

The Wichita, Kansas-based organization has two t-ball teams, and a pair each at the 8U, 10U and 12U levels.  There is also one each for the 14U, 16U and 18U levels.

Griggs looks back on that period over a decade ago and credits a current SEC college coach for helping him get started.

“Tim Walton, the Florida head coach, was at Wichita State at that time,” he remembers.  “It was our second year playing and he knew that we were trying to expand and work with older kids so he really helped us navigate the older team waters.”

“We became friends as we both played college baseball and he supported what we were trying to do in the Wichita area.  He was always very generous with his advice, he’d help us out when I had questions and that’s how it got started.”

Coach Griggs explains that there were others who helped the Mustangs program grow and succeed.

“There are a lot of good people in softball,” he continues.  “Coach (Patty) Gasso gave me my first lesson in recruiting and how to do it right.”

The Mustangs have become, along with the KC Peppers, one of the pre-eminent club programs in the Kansas region and has players that come from Arkansas, Minnesota, Louisiana, Minnesota, Oklahoma and, of course, Missouri to play.

The coach says one person is key to it all coming together.

“Without my wife, Jana, being supportive of what I do, we would have a softball organization,” he explains.  “She’s been the most understanding person in the world.  When kids come from out of town, she becomes like they’re second mom, too.”

The Griggs have four daughters, including senior Emily who is on the team and next year will play at LSU.  The youngest daughter, who’s 15-years-old, has special needs and has played softball at various levels.

The coach made a commitment to coach the Mustangs Gold through to high school graduation Emily’s ninth grade class, which includes a few current players.

“Do I want to continue until they’re in college?” Griggs asks rhetorically. “Yes.  Do I want to spend more time with my wife? Absolutely.”

One thing that drives the former college baseball player is his desire to prepare his players for college, not just physical, but mentally and emotionally as well.

“We’ve only had one kid come from the Mustangs who’ve gone to college and left,” he says proudly. “We consider our program as being successful in college preparation so when players get to college they’re as mentally ready as a college sophomore.”

The way the Mustangs do this is to run the program like a college team.  They travel by a sleeper bus owned by the organization—“people say we spoil our players, but I say it’s because we love them,” he laughs—and do things together as a team including meals.

“It’s not because of me, but because we’ve been blessed with our association with Louisville Slugger, Mizuno and Evo Shield that the kids get whatever they need.”

Even the out of area kids don’t stay with their families when in Wichita, they typically stay with host families.

The player discipline is also college-like.

“If a kid forgets a uniform belt,” Coach Griggs explains, “I may have 10 in my bag, but that girl won’t play.  She’ll remember that the next time and will learn that it’s up to her, not me or her parents, to make sure she does what she’s supposed to because it’s going to be that way at the next level.”

“It’s to prepare them for when they get to college so they know what it’s like to eat breakfast and do laundry on their own.”

“We’re building them into young women who can handle life not matter what challenges they may face.”

 

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Here is a player-by-player look at the Wichita Mustangs roster with quotes from Head Coach Mark Griggs:

— OF/1B McKenzie Armand (2015, uncommitted)
“McKenzie played on our 16U team last year, she’s a left-handed power hitter who hits the ball really hard and has a great swing.”

— IF Kelsey Arnold (2014, Oklahoma)
“Kelsey has amazingly quick hands and has great speed. She plays 100 mph and Oklahoma is going to love her. Kelsey’s a great kid and a plus kid to any university.”

— OF/IF Blair Bass (2015, uncommitted)
“Blair was in a major car accident a year ago where she broke both arms and her back.  She wasn’t released until the summer and I’m expecting big things out of her this year as she gets back into it. She has good quickness and instincts and we’ll see how she comes back.”

— C/3B Emma Eck (2017, uncommitted)
“Emma surprised us by started at catcher as an eighth grader on the Gold team.  Pitchers love to throw to her because she’s a great receiver.  Emma has an excellent arm and hit .280 as an eighth grader in Gold ball facing juniors and seniors.”

— OF Emily Griggs (2014, LSU)
“As her coach, I love having Emily in the lineup as she’s a tough out and she hits for a very high average.  She’s an excellent base runner and defensively covers a lot of ground. Emily has a very strong arm, is very quick to get rid of the ball and is amazingly accurate.”

— P/UT Jessi Haffner (2014, Oklahoma State)
“She’s 6-foot-1 and has all the leverage in the world.  She has come on strong in the last 18 months and, being extremely athletic, will pitch and hit in college.  She can play almost everywhere because she’s such a good athletic.”

— C/1B Reagan Hathaway (2015, Texas)
“Reagan is new to the team this year, she played a little with us last year and has a great swing as a left-hander.  She plays catcher and is also a tremendous outfield prospect.  Reagan has a great arm and accuracy and plays hard.  You can tell she loves the game.”

— C/OF Abby Kreuger (2015, uncommitted)
“Abby has a twin sister who pitches on the 16U team and I got a surprise in seeing that Abby was a catcher.  She caught a lot in Gold ball as a sophomore, her learning curve was fast but she has a good release and can hit for power.  She learned a lot last year on handling pitchers.”

— OF Elise Lebeouf (2015, Houston)
“Elise is a left-handed thrower and hitter who played 16U for us last year.  She came into her own over the summer and had several offers but fell in love with Houston.  The coaches there will not be disappointed on and off the field with her.”

— P Abigail Leonards (2014, uncommitted)
“Abigail hurt her foot in high school and pitched for us once and needed surgery. Last weekend was her first weekend back with us.  She throws between 61 and 63 mph and has good movement on the ball and can throw every pitch.”

— OF Taylor Lockwood (2014, LSU)
“Taylor just got on the team after having rotator cuff surgery and not throwing at all last summer.  She’s a speedy slapper with excellent first-step quickness and strong defensive skills.”

— SS/3B Miranda Rohleder (2016, uncommitted)
“Miranda has been one of the most sought after kids since she was 11 years old.  She’s a Big 12, Pac-12, SEC kid who can play middle infield and outfield and can hit for average and power from the left side.”

— SS/OF Taylor Satchel (2015, LSU)
“Taylor played with the Impact Gold 16U last year and we see how she can play anywhere in the infield as well as the corners in the outfield.  She can hit for power and for a very good average. Taylor can fill many roles and does things a team needs her to do.”

— P/1B Sydney Smith (2015, LSU)
“Sydney has been with us for three months and the thing you really notice right off is how her laugh is contagious.  There’s no doubt her personality makes every team better.  On first glance, you also immediately see she can pitch and hit in the SEC.  It’s not hard to tell she can hit at the top levels. ”

 

 

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RECRUITING PROFILE: BROOK MIKO

Brook Miko is the starting shortstop for Blair Ota‘s Irvine Sting 18 Gold team and heading into her senior softball season is three year all league selection and somewhat of a late bloomer… here’s more info on this talented Orange County (Calif.) infielder including the story of how Towson became her future home…

High School: San Juan Hills (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.)
Club: Irvine Sting
Grad Year: 2014
Pos: SS/2B/OF
College: Towson
Stats: holds five single season school records (HR’s, RBI, average, steals and runs) and seven career records through junior year (HRs, doubles, RBI, average, steals and runs
Events: attended the OnDeck Softball Zoom Into June Jamboree; played for the Birmingham Thunderbolts in 2012 (team took 17^th place)

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StudentSportsSoftball.com: How did Towson come into the picture?
Jerry Breig (Brook’s stepfather): Towson first saw Brook at the OnDeck Jamboree prior to the Zoom Into June Showcase this past June.

Later that same weekend they showed up to a couple of games out in Las Vegas during the JO Classic. Her Team (Team Primus at the time) then traveled to Pennsylvania to be one of only two California teams at the Pennsbury Invitational and again the coaches from Towson showed up.

 

SSS.com: When did Towson actually reach out to Brook?
JB: The direct communication started just before Pennsbury and an unofficial visit was planned.  During her trip out East she also visited several other schools that showed interest following the OnDeck Jamboree.

 

SSS.com:  How did they offer and when did she commit?
JB: The day we got home, June 27, Coach (Lisa) Costello (Towson Head Coach) was on the phone with Brook making her an official Scholarship offer.  After a few days of going over all the details of the trip and visits she called and committed. Brook knew from the minute stepped on Campus at Towson that is was the place she wanted to be.

 

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RECRUITING NEWS:

*** Catrell Robertson, a 2015 catcher with the OC Elite and a junior at Huntington Beach (Calif.) Edison High, committed to the Univ. of Buffalo last week.

Her father, Kevin Robertson, tells us that the Head Coach Trena Peel saw Catrell play in the Colorado Sparkler tournament.

“Catrell throws a mean pickoff ball from her knees and the coach caught that. She also hit a home run when the coach was watching.”

The SoCal junior has played for the OC Elite for five years and has been catching since she was eight.

“Buffalo has good athletic support in place to make your kid succeed,” the athlete’s father says. “The coaches clicked with Catrell and were very supportive on her visit. She all at once had interest from several schools wanting her to do unofficial visits so they could make an offer and one good California school left a message the day she verbelled.”

Catrell wants to get into nursing and the coach did not tweak out about that. Coaches have their priorities straight about kids going to school to get an education. Catrell bats in the 400-500  and is a starting catcher with 1^st base as secondary position. Batted 515 freshman year and 410+/- sophomore year on varsity at Edison.

 

*** One of the most underrated 2014’s is Aleshia “Lele” Ocasio, a P/SS who throws right and bats left for Harmony (Fla.) High School.

She was an All-State 1^st team pick and the Country Player of the Year in 2012 as she went 17-3 in the circle with a 0.45 ERA, 178 KS and only nine walks in 125 innings.  Let me repeat that: nine walks in 125 innings.

At the plate she hit .507 with 17 RBI, 11 doubles and 30 runs scored.

Lele plays for the Wagner’s Gold-Dunn team and helped the team finish second at the ASA 18 Gold Nationals in Clearwater, Fla. this summer. She pitched four straight games to lead her team from the loser’s bracket in the Gold Qualifier and threw 56 innings at Gold Nationals to lose to Michigan-bound Megan Betsa 3-2 in the title game.

Aleshia also guested with Jersey Intensity at PGF and helped the team tie for ninth. Also in this very busy year she played on the 2013 Puerto Rican Jr. National Team and led the team in hitting at the Junior World Cup in Canada.

She’s committed to Florida Gulf Coast Univ. and we hear a lot of major programs are starting to come in after her and ask for her to visit their campuses. Definitely a player—and recruiting situation—worth keeping an eye on.

 

*** Finally, some more verbals… a family member close to the Northern Colorado softball team let us know we are missing quite a few commitments from the Bears’ program…

These include:

— C Jenn Jordan (2014, Northern Colorado)… plays for TC Stars
— 1B Rachel Johnson (2014, Northern Colorado)… Colorado Stars-Applehan
— UT/P Lauren Paige (2014, Northern Colorado)… Colorado Styxx
— OF Kaley Garcia (2014, Northern Colorado)… Colorado Quicksilver
— P Kelli Kleis (2014, Northern Colorado)… Miami Stingrays
— 2B/P/UT Victoria Lopez  (2015, Northern Colorado)… New Mexico Sundancers
— C Ari Samaniego  (2015, Northern Colorado)… Arizona Firecrackers-Henry
— IF/UT Cheyenne Talmadge (IF/UT)… Colorado Styxx

 

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TOP UNSIGNED 2014’s

Had a great idea from a top club coach in starting a list of top unsigned seniors.  If you’d like to send

If you’d like to recommend a current senior for consideration, send in your info to us at brentt@studentsports.com.  We’ll take stats, honors, accomplishments, recruiting info, photos and promote as appropriate.

 

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