We’re back in the desert today to check out a storied program for Tucson, Ariz.  We also trip to Northern California where a set of twins tell us about where they’ll be playing together post high school.  We have some recruiting notes and then on this Throwback Thursday travel back six years to spotlight a young hitter who would go on to be a four-year All-American…

 

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TEAM PROFILE: AZ DESERT THUNDER

In 2006, the AZ Desert Thunder team was one of the hottest  in the country as the team, coached by Lance and Kelly Fowler out of Tucson had the nation’s top pitcher, Kenzie Fowler (their daughter), leading the way.

At that time, Shannon Woolridge had an eight-year-old daughter named Brittany playing at the 10U level and wrote the Fowlers expressing an interest in taking on a team.

“The Fowlers had built up the Desert Thunder name and I thought it’d be great to have a younger team under that well-respected name,” Wooldridge looks back today.  “I thought it’d reap benefits for any girl who wanted to be part of our program.”

In time, the Thunder program would continue to go on to national success culminating in winning the ASA Gold Nationals in 2012.

Kenzie Fowler would go on to the Univ. of Arizona where she would win 1^st team All-American honors; she is currently a redshirt senior who sat out this past year to recover from back surgery.

Her mother would stay on to run the program until the youngest daughter, Mattie, finished high school two years ago (she’s currently a junior at Nebraska).

Today, the ASZ Desert Thunder has two 12U teams, a 16U squad and the 18U Gold team run by Woolridge who says, “We stayed at each level and every two years went up the ranks.  It’s now at a point where the majority of the girls have aged out at 16U so we now have a pretty strong 18U team.”

Thought the top age team is run by Woolridge solely now, he’s still respectful of the legacy the Fowlers built.

“They are still around and though aren’t directly involved, they still are indirectly involved,” the coach explains.  “They teach lessons to some players, come out and watch games sometimes and if anyone is interested in starting up a Desert Thunder team they go through the Fowlers.  They have a credible reputation certainly in the state and pretty much everywhere as they were able to compete on a national level.”

Woolridge’s background is interesting: he was a fourth grade teach for seven years and thought that’s where he’d spend his career, but today he’s not only the softball coach of the Thunder program, he’s the coach at Empire High in Tucson and the school’s athletic director.

“I just moved into this job,” he begins. “I was an assistant principal for 11 years prior to moving into this position after being a teacher.  I thought I would teach forever, but a principal encouraged me to apply for the assistant principal position.  It took some adjusting, but eventually I learned to like it but I’ll always be a teacher at heart.”

He admits it’s been a fun ride, especially being so close to his daughter for the last decade and two others who were on that original 10U team: Melanie Cross and Allie Curtis.

“What I love about softball,” he laughs, “is I get my teaching fix on the field.  I like to think that, regardless of the outcome of the game, whether we win or lose 15-0, there’s something to be taught and something to learn.”

“I love my girls,” he concludes, “and they probably don’t realize how much I care about them.  We’re not a super flashy group, but our girls have a lot of heart.  We’ll play loose and have a lot of fun, but I tell them ‘You still gotta play hard.’”

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Here’s a player-by-player look at the AZ Desert Thunder team with comments by Coach Woolridge:

— OF/2B Jordyn Binnion (2015, uncommitted)
“Jordyn is a very good hitter and one of those kids I feel comfortable batting anywhere in the lineup.  If I need some contact, she’ll give that for us.  She’s hit four home runs recently and all have been on a slap hit.”

— UT Maddie Bullington (2015, uncommitted)
“Maddie is amazingly fast, she can flat-out run.  She’s also a terrific kid and is the type to always shake her head ‘OK’ as she soaks things in.  She’s also a tough player who will stick her nose in and not shy away from anything.”

— P Casey Cadenhead (2014, Lamar)
“Casey is one of three pitchers on the team, she has been very consistent since joining the team four years ago.  She hits her spots and gives different looks.  Her bread and butter pitch is her change-up.”

— 3B Monique Castillo (2015, Arizona State)
“Monique’s reflexes are so impressive, she’s a pitcher’s best friend.  We’re not afraid to throw inside because there’s never been a shot to third she shied away from.  At the plate she can hit for power and hit balls in the gap to stretch the field.”

— 1B/C Melanie Cross (2015, Wisconsin)
“Melanie has been on the team the longest in addition with Brittany.  When she tried out for the team at eight, she didn’t hit a ball off the pitching tee, but she was so competitive and driven I had to take her.  She’s one of our best hitters, what impressed Wisconsin is her ability to hit for power.  Melanie must have hit ten to 12 home runs over the summer. She will dig her heels in against any type of pitcher.”

— CF Allie Curtis (2015, Central Michigan)
“Allie can play multiple position but she gets a read off the bat so quickly.  She has an incredible motor and hustles on and off the field.  What Central Michigan liked was when she struck out in a game, she went to her teammate and tapped her on the head to encourage her and immediately sat on the bench and watched the game.  Her intensity lifts everyone up. The team’s just different when she’s not around.”

— C Niki Gonzalez (2014, Mt. St Mary’s)
“Niki is a leader on the field and has a very high softball IQ.  When she’s done, I’d like her to be part of my staff, that’s how comfortable I am with her.  She’s like Allie, always talking and directing traffic on the field.  People have always remarked about her spirit on the field.”

— OF Tazia Hernandez (2015, uncommitted)
“Tazia is a tremendous offensive weapon, she has speed and can bunt and slap.  She’s one of the best base runners I’ve ever seen.  She’ll delay steal on you and has a knack for drawing a throw and has a very high softball IQ.”

— OF Isabel “Izzy” Martinez (2016, uncommitted)
“Izzy joined at the start of the summer. Tucson has very good players but isn’t a hotbed and you don’t have hundreds of girls at a tryout.  I had seen her playing on other teams crashing into walls and having such a competitive spirit that I wanted to have her.  She’s so fast that she wrecks a lot of havoc with her speed.  Isabel ran track last year and will do it again this year.”

— OF Merrilee Miller (2015, Arizona)
“Merrilee has been hurt and I took her on the team based on what I had seen before, but last night at practice she went 3-for-3 and is even faster than I thought.  She recognizes she hasn’t reached her potential and that the work she puts in the next two years will get her to where she wants to be.  She’s not satisfied with where she is yet and that will help her at the next level.”

— P Delfina Morales (2015, uncommitted)
“Delfina has been with us four years, when she joined and had never played club ball before but when she started to pitch I could see that look in her eye, she was competitive.  She works really, really hard not just on her pitching but in her hitting too.  She’s in the 4’s in her GPA and is taking advanced classes.  She’s aiming high and something tells me she’ll end up getting what she wants.”

— UT Alex Rapp (2015, uncommitted)
“Alex is one of our three new players, I’ve seen her grow up and one I wanted always wanted because she’s versatile, can hit for power and whoever gets her is going to be very lucky in getting a really solid player.”

— SS Becca Rodriguez (2015, Ball State)
“We call her ‘Mighty Mite.’  When she was eight or nine I started working on her to get her, she’s an all-around good defender.  She can stretch the field and definitely don’t want to misjudge her because she can hit the ball over your head.  She doesn’t get too high or low, she’s just a really consistent player.  On defense, she has a very quick release.”

— 2B Romy Sandoval (2016, uncommitted)
“Romy is one of those kids not afraid to get dirty. When the game was on the line at the PGF qualifier she was diving for balls and making plays.  She’s strong and can hit for power and is one of the nicest players and always fun to be around.  She has a personality that draws people to her.”

— P Brittany Woolridge (2015, Texas A&M-Commerce)
“Brittany is one of those kids who was meant to pitch. She likes the stage and the spotlight and on her official visit this past weekend she was pitching against some juniors in college and she wasn’t backing down.  She lives and breathes softball and she pushes me to go practice with her, trying to make herself stronger and to be the best pitcher she can be in high school and college as well.”

— OF Robyn Young (2015, Fort Lewis)
“Robyn has a nice, short compact swing.  She is a strong kid and is one of our more improved players. She’s working her way up the lineup and her hitting has improved so much.”

 

 

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RECRUIT PROFILES: Kindra & Maddi Hackbarth

Twin sisters Kindra and Maddi Hackbarth, play of for the California Grapettes and recently committed to Notre Dame.  Kindra is a pitcher/outfielder and Maddi plays catcher and infielder—obviously, both are part of the same 2016 class!

We caught up with the sisters and asked them about Notre Dame and how they’re alike and different…

 

StudentSportsSoftball.com:  How cool is it you’re both going to be playing together for the next seven years of so!
Kindra Hackbarth: Yes, both Maddi and myself verballed to the University of Notre Dame and we are both very excited and still up on a cloud.

 

SSS.com: Tell us about what makes you two different…
Maddi Hackbarth: I am the older twin by two minutes and I am also taller by a couple inches (laughs).  I am a catcher and hitter on my travel team; however my freshman year in high school I played shortstop.  I also played varsity basketball and received the Most Improved Award at the end of the basketball season.
Kindra Hackbarth: I might be a little shorter, but I am a lot faster than my twin Maddi!   I am a lefty speedy outfielder.  I also will, every now and then, move to the rubber to pitch an inning or two, but I love playing the outfield. I can slap, drag and hit for power. I believe they call that a triple threat?

Last year as a freshman in high school I played in the outfield.  I was selected as an All Tourney player in the Nor Cal Classic high school tournament.  I was also given the Offensive Player of the year Award at the year-end awards along with 1^st team All-League.”

 

SSS.com: Obviously you play on the same teams and will be going together to Notre Dame… how else are you alik?
Kindra: Although we play different positions on the field, our passion and love for the game is something that we will share together for the rest of our lives.  We started playing “baseball” at the age of four (the girls t-ball started at age five so we played a year at t-ball with the boys.)

We played together through the league, all-stars, and even travelled to Florida and took third place in the USSSA 10U World Series.  Maddi was named an All-World Player at that tournament.  When we got home from that we tried out for Sarah Norwood‘s Grapettes 12U team. We played two years for Coach Norwood then one year with Coach Kelly Olson at 16U and we have been fortunate to play for Coach Dennis Gomes with the California Grapettes for the past two years.

 

SSS.com: How did Notre Dame come into the picture?

Kindra: We believe Notre Dame first saw us at the OnDeck camp last June in Hemet. We were honored that the Allisters invited us to participate.  They also came to a few of our games that same weekend in Huntington Beach. They saw in our schedule that we were in Colorado and then in Chicago and they watched more games and then invited us to visit the school on our way to our tournament in Chicago.  Maddi had a slight fracture in her thumb from softball so she could not play for a few weeks.

Maddi: We did two college visits that tournament and fell in love with the coaching staff and campus at Notre Dame.  We received our offer when we got back home and went out for another visit just this past month.  The last day of our visit, both my sister and I sat down and talked to the coaching staff. We both felt like we were already a part of the Fighting Irish Family.  We never thought we would be recruited by such an amazing college, it’s like a dream come true.

 

SSS.com: What positions does Notre Dame want you to play?
Kindra: To the best of our knowledge Maddi will be catching and I will be playing in the outfield.

 

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RECRUITING NEWS:

*** American Heritage senior infielder Gianna Arrizurieta has committed to play softball at Penn State according to Steve Svekis of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

“Arrizurieta is a three-time Sun Sentinel first-team All-County selection and plays travel ball with the Gold Coast Hurricanes, coached by her high school coach, Marty Cooper,” he wrote today.

“Arrizurieta will be the third Broward County player in as many years to head to the Big Ten. St. Thomas Aquinas grad Christie Parsons is a Purdue sophomore third baseman, and Aquinas senior left-handed pitcher Meghan King will be attending Maryland.”

 

***  Thanks to Susan R. Rodriquez, Manager of the Lakewood Firecrackers, for letting us know of a trio of verbals we added earlier today to the Master Verbal list:

— C  Samantha Lujan (2014, UC Santa Barbara)
— SS/2B Rachel Rodriguez (2014, New Mexico State)
— P Delainy Thompson (2014, Texas A & M International)

She also let us know that 2014 pitcher Hanna Wynn, who was listed as being headed to Western Kentucky, is now uncommitted.

 

*** We talked to a club coach we really respect and he said Bownet Gold is putting together a pretty good team.  I might add the have some players going to really good schools as well.

Yesterday we told you about 2014 P/UT player Miranda Magana, who has committed to Colgate.  She plays at Santa Paula (Calif.) High and was the Frontier League MVP last year and was 1^st Team All-County by the Ventura Co. Star.

Thanks to the team who sent us another commit: 2014 infielder Rebecca Kubena, who is going to play at Cornell.

 

*** We hear from the Wagner’s M/G program (thanks Jan Greenhawk!) that 2014 catcher Gabby Henson has verballed to Lock Haven University (Pa.).

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COOL PIC OF THE DAY

Rachel Simodejka is a freshman outfielder on the Hofstra softball team and she tweeted out a photo of her new glove made by Louisville Slugger Which. Is. Awesome.

That’s showing your school colors for sure!

 

If you have a picture of anything you’d like to share with the softball world, send it along and we’ll run.  Be sure to explain what it is and the context around it though!

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: RAVEN CHAVANNE

If you follow college softball you know that Raven Chavanne, the infielder for the Tennessee Vols the last four years, was one of the top players in the nation.

She was a four-year All-American and was a top 3 finalist for USA Softball Player of the Year, but back on September 7, 2007 when we published this article on her she was just starting her junior year of high school!

Enjoy our latest trip to the vaults on this Throwback Thursday…

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She’s So Raven

One of the top juniors in the country is Raven Chavanne, a 3B/OF prospect who recently jumped from the OC Batbusters-Myers 16-U team to the OC Batbusters-Haning Gold team. In this Q&A, you’ll meet the speedy slapper who can also hit with power and will have her pick of colleges…

Publisher’s note: Raven has been playing softball since age four and travel ball since age nine. A left-handed lead-off hitter, she has batted over .500 each of the last four seasons and during her high school season doesn’t play softball—she runs on the Newbury Park (Calif.) High track team. Last spring, as a sophomore, she was the Maramonte League champion in the 100 meters and second in the Ventura County Championships. Raven capped off the season by winning her second straight Girls Track Team MVP.

*****StudentSportsSoftball.com: Your name… What’s the story behind being named “Raven?”
Raven Chavanne: Well when my Mom was in the hospital she called my Dad to tell him to come on down because she was about to have me. At that moment my Dad happened to be watching the Cosby Show and Raven Symone’s name came up in the credits. So my Dad mentioned to my Mom, “Hey how about we name her Raven?” So I am really named after “That’s So Raven.”

SSS.com: You’re going from one Batbuster team to another… How excited are you to play for Gary Haning and a program that’s perennially a Gold championship contender?
RC: I am very excited to play for Coach Gary. I’ve wanted to play on this team since I’ve been 10 years old. This week we had our first practice and I loved it.

SSS.com: The Batbusters 16-U team went pretty far this year… Were you satisfied with making it so deep into Nationals or more disappointed you didn’t win it all?
RC: A little bit of both. I was excited that we made it to Sunday because I’ve never played on Sunday before and it’s a totally different atmosphere from the rest of the tournament. I was, of course, disappointed we didn’t win because we were such a strong contender to win it all, but Southern Force and the Cruisers came ready to play and we didn’t. I’m only truly satisfied if we win our final game.

SSS.com: Looking back on your career, what have been some of the high points?
RC: One of the high points have been making both Batbuster teams. Making the Batbusters was a goal of mine since I started playing travel ball so to finally accomplish those goals is a great feeling. Another high point would probably be winning So Cal State two times.

SSS.com: How about low points? Have you had to overcome some crushing defeats, personal slumps or other problems such as injuries?
RC: The lowest point would be fracturing my foot and missing most of last summer. I broke it the first at bat on Sunday at the state championships last June. I knew I was done as soon as I tried to put weight on it.

SSS.com: What stat or stats of yours in your career are you most proud of?
RC: My favorite “stat” would be my GPA last school year. As for softball stats, I don’t keep track of those much these days. As long as we WIN and I’m trying my best, that’s all I care about.

SSS.com: Do you know your stats from this year in h.s. and club?
RC: I’m not sure what my exact stats were this year for club and I don’t play high school softball. I do know my track times!

SSS.com: If you have to do a scouting report on YOURSELF, what would you list as three strengths and, conversely, one area you need to improve?
RC: I’d say three of my strengths on the field are bat control, speed, and mental toughness. One area I think I need to improve is being more aggressive on the base paths

SSS.com: Where are you in the recruiting process? Are you still looking at dozens or schools or narrowing down to a manageable list?
RC: At this point I have it narrowed down to about 5 schools. I’ve have already received one offer but I’m not making my decision until after I take some more visits. My first visit of the fall will be to Tennessee.

SSS.com: What are your main criteria in picking a college? Weigh factors such as softball, campus size, location, strong in areas you want to study, weather, etc…
RC: A big one would be the softball program. I want to go to a school that has a chance in competing, and hopefully winning, the WCWS. The school would also need to have my major of course. As for weather and campus size, that won’t really affect my decision.

SSS.com: Let’s go off the field for a minute… Are you more of an analytical (math) person or more creative (English)?
RC: I’m definitely an English person. Math is that subject that stresses me out.

SSS.com: What would be your dream job?
RC: My dream job would in writing. I would love to write review articles for music, movies, etc.

SSS.com: Finish this sentence… “The thing I like best about me is___________.”
RC: … My sense of humor

SSS.com: And this one… “My biggest fear(s) in life is/are _______________.”
RC: … Flying.

SSS.com: If you weren’t putting all the time you do in softball, what would you be doing?
RC: I’d be playing basketball or soccer since those are the two sports I gave up to concentrate on softball.

SSS.com: Imagine you had $1,000 and one day to spend it… What would you buy?
RC: I would buy a bunch of concert tickets and CD’s.

SSS.com: Finally, in one sentence tell us what softball means to you…
RC: To me, softball is life. I eat, breathe, and sleep softball. There’s nothing like being up to bat with the game on the line. The more important the game, the better.

 

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HOT 100 PROSPECTS: CLASS OF 2014 (Day 7… Friday’s the last day to submit)

We have less than a week before we launch our Hot 100 list of the top 2014’s… it’s not too late to send in your player nominations.

We had some questions about if the list is for committed, uncommitted or both… it’s for any player of the 2014 class.

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 use on the site somehow.

 

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