Welcome to our first of what will be daily news and notes every weekday covering club and high school softball!  Today we look at some roster changes happening across the nation, list some top fall events we’ll be following and ID another USA National Team player who was on the same team as Lauren Gibson…

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TWO 2014 PLAYERS BACK ON THE MARKET

*** Morgan Bohanan, a 2014 lefty hitting SS/3B with Tulsa Elite, decommitted from Wichita State on Monday. A few top 25 programs, including schools from the SEC and Big 12, have expressed interest and requested video.

Tulsa Elite GM Jeff Filali explained today, “She’s a very solid lefty power hitter who can play any infield position. She went to PGF with me last year to PGF and one of the Batbuster coaches told me after we played them twice that Morgan was one of the best batters they had faced in the tournament and they worried every time she stepped in the box.” 

*** Another player that’s now available is 2014 P/IF Emily Sparks of the Birmingham Vipers 18U team.  She was committed to Auburn, but that changed with the coaching change.

Sparks, a lefty hitter who throws right and is from Pelham, Ala., is hearing from some other SEC schools as well as South Alabama.  She has a 3.9 GPA.

“Emily is a well-rounded kid,” Viper coach Jeff Gillespie told us today. “She’s versatile on defense and has a tremendous work ethic.”

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BEVERLY BANDITS UPDATE

The Beverly Bandits – Conroy team out of Chicago is picking up two Pennsylvania players as bringing up six from the National Championship 16U team.

*** Anna Marie Gatti, a 2014 pitcher from Greensburg, Pa., and Jordyn Augustus, a 2014 C/UT from Allentown, Pa. are two new transfers that will join the 18U team coached by Bill Conroy that finished 5^th at PGF this year.

Gatti is headed to Syracuse while Augustus will play at South Carolina.  Both played on the Jersey Inferno team out of Easton, Pa. this past summer

We spoke to Anna Marie’s father, Vinny Gatti, about the switch.

“We played against the best talent on the Inferno and we wanted to segue into college,” he said this afternoon.  “Playing with and against top level competition, even if we have an eight hour plus drive from Pennsylvania to Chicago, means Anna Marie would up her game and help her get ready for college play.”

“The way we look at it is the money we’re spending is a small fee to pay against the pay-off she will get and is well worth it.”

Why the Bandits?

“We’ve been all over—to events in Houston, Colorado, California—and saw that the most reasonable and practical team east of the Mississippi was the Bandits.  The other option was to guest on different teams.  We played against the Bandits in mid-July at a tournament in Chicago and pitched well and I think they noticed her then.”

*** Augustus will have a current and future teammate at South Carolina as that’s where Alexis Mack, a 2015 2B from Brecksville, Ohio, will play.

Mack was one of the stars of the 16U team coached by Jenn Tyrrell that won the PGF National Championship (read about it here: PGF 16U goes Chicago’s way)

The Northern Ohio standout is one of six of the players on that team that will move up to the Beverly Bandits-Conroy team.  Here’s the list of the half dozen:

* 2B Alexis Mack (South Carolina, 2015)
* IF Jenny Behan (James Madison, 2015)
* C/OF Alyssa Buddle (James Madison, 2014)
* SS/CF Marissa Gagliano (Radford, 2014)
* 3B Michaela Schiattman (Miami (OH), 2015)
* P Miranda Elish (Oregon, 2016) note: click here to see a video of Elish after the title win

We spoke to Alexis father, Rex, today and he had some nice things to say about the Bandit program and why Alexis is one of many on the team who commute from out of state:

“If she hadn’t played for the Bandits,” Alexis’s father began, “she wouldn’t have gotten the exposure to (the Univ. of ) South Carolina.”

“It’s been such a great life lesson, you work hard, you make sacrifices—like she didn’t go to a football game or dance at all last year—you work your tail off and drives these distance and then you achieve something as amazing as a national championship.”

 

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BANDIT VERBAL

One final note from the Chicago team: news from the organization is that 2016 middle infielder Cambry Arnold had committed to James Madison.

That means she will be joining Behan and Buddle (see above list) at the Harrisonburg, Va. university.

 

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ANOTHER TEAM NJ FUTURE STAR

On Monday, when we did the From the Archives piece on Lauren Gibson in 2006, we failed to mention that another player on that Team NJ squad who is also on the USA National Team: Kourtney Salvarola.

In fact, Kourtney, Lauren and the entire team did the SPARQ Testing in Nov. 2006 as the article mentions and she (Salvarola) had the fifth highest SPARQ Rating ever measured.

For those that don’t know, a SPARQ Rating is a mathematical formula that takes drills like the 20 yard dash, vertical jump, power ball throw and 20-yard shuttle and crunches them to get an overall measure of athleticism.

To the left is the photo of her that day.  In upcoming Daily Updates we’ll profile some other USA Team members we covered in their high school days.

 

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FALL 2013 EVENTS

It’s not even Labor Day, but it’s never too early to start planning for Fall events…

Tournament	Division	ST	Dates
OnDeck NorCal Jamboree	Classes 2014-2018	CA	9/6/13
Frozen Ropes PGF Regional Qualifier	12U, 14U	NY	09/07/13 to 09/08/13
Organizational Workout Weekend	12U, 14U, 16U, 18U	CA	09/14/13 to 09/15/13
PGF Midwest Regional qualifier-Downers	16U, 18U	IL	09/14/13 to 09/15/13
PGF Midwest Regional qualifier-J&J	14U	IL	09/14/13 to 09/15/13
PGF Midwest Regional qualifier-J&J	12U	IL	09/14/13 to 09/15/13
Sidewinders Tournament	16U, 18U	WA	09/14/13 to 09/15/13
Scout National Senior Showcase	Classes 2014-2018	TX	9/15/2013
SoCals Finest - Fall Kick Off	16U, 18U	CA	09/21/13 to 09/22/13
OnDeck Texas Jamboree	Classes 2014-2018	TX	9/27/13
Field of Champions Fall Invitational	18U	PA	09/28/13 to 09/29/13
Scout Regional	Classes 2014-2018	IA	10/4/13
Firecrackers & TCS present: Showcase at BLD	16U, 18U	CA	10/04/13 to 10/06/13
Best of the West All Star Game	Classes 2014-2018	CA	10/5/13
Ohio PGF Bash	14U, 16U, 18U	OH	10/05/13 to 10/06/13
Scout Showcase Showdown	16U, 18U	VA	10/05/13 to 10/06/13
PGF Gulf Coast Exposure Tournament	14U, 16U, 18U	MS	10/11/13 to 10/13/13
Surf City Fall Showcase	16U, 18U	CA	10/11/13 to 10/13/13
Team NJ Fall Showcase	16U, 18U	NJ	10/11/13 to 10/13/13
West Coast National Elite Futures Camp	Classes 2014-2018	CA	10/17/13 to 10/18/13
Surf City October Showcase	16U, 18U	CA	10/18/13 to 10/20/13
College Bound Showcase Spectacular	16U, 18U	NY	10/19/13 to 10/20/13
Stingrays Invitational	14U, 16U, 18U	OH	10/21/13 to 10/22/13
Scout Regional	Classes 2014-2018	MO	10/24/13
Rising Stars Individual Fall Showcase	16U, 18U	FL	10/24/13
CBS Sports TV TCS Rising Stars	18U	FL	10/25/13 to 10/27/13
Surf City Halloween Showcase	16U, 18U	CA	10/25/13 to 10/27/13
St. Louis Showcase	16U, 18U	MO	10/25/13 to 10/27/13
OnDeck Arizona Tryout	Classes 2014-2018	AZ	10/26/13 to 10/27/13
Nightmare Octoberfest	18U	NJ	10/26/13 to 10/27/13
Scout Regional	Classes 2014-2018	TX	11/1/13
D9 Sun Classic Fall Showcase	14U, 16U, 18U	FL	10/31/13 to 11/03/13
Ronald McDonald Tournament	14U, 16U, 18U	TX	11/02/13 to 11/03/13
East Coast National Elite Futures Camp	Classes 2014-2018	GA	11/07/13 to 11/08/13
So Cals Finest - Tournament of Champions	16U, 18U	CA	11/09/13 to 11/10/13
USF Showcase	Classes 2014-2018	FL	11/09/13 to 11/10/13
OnDeck Phoenix Jamboree	Classes 2014-2018	AZ	11/15/13
D9 Coastal Fall Classic		MS	11/15/13 to 11/17/13
Surf City Early Thanksgiving Showcase	16U, 18U	CA	11/22/13 to 11/24/13
So Cal National Showcase	14U	CA	11/23/13 to 11/24/13
Scout Regional	Classes 2014-2018	FL	12/1/13
So Cals Finest - Feed a Family Tourney	16U, 18U	CA	12/07/13 to 12/08/13
Scout Regional	Classes 2014-2018	TX	12/8/13
D9 National Skills Exposure Camp		CA	12/14/13 to 12/15/13
Scout Regional	Classes 2014-2018	CA	12/15/13

 

— One of the events in the table above is the Jersey Nightmare “October Fest” Showcase taking place October 26-27.  It has some good teams from the East Coast… here’s an initial list of teams expected to participate:

Nightmare Gold

Nightmare Giampolo

NJ Pride Gold

RI Thunder

CT. Charmers Gold

New England Phoenix Gold

Conklin Raiders Gold

Lower South Liberty Gold

Pennsbury Gems Gold

RKE Jaxx Gold

Team Long Island Gold

East Coast Elite Gold

Jaxx Elite

NJ Rocks

Razorbacks

Morris County Belles Gold

Morris County Belles Elite

Delco Diamond Gold

NJ Outlaws Gold

Gators Gold

Gators Elite

Jersey Starfire

North Jersey Outlaws

PA Vypers Gold

Lady Wildcats Gold

East Coast Tsunami Gold

NY Raiders Gold

Rampage Gold

Phila Spirit Gold

NJ Hotshots Elite

LI Sudden Impact Gold

Newtown Rock

Lower South Liberty Elite

NJ Venom-AB

NJ Venom – AC

Jersey Inferno Newborn

Livingston Thunder

Orange Crush

 

***  to send in information, ideas and corrections, contact Brentt Eads at brentt@studentsports.com and follow on Twitter at @SS_Softball