Pictured: Alyssa Garcia, who decided to stay close to home.

We’re excited to announce a key new hire for FloSoftball and we have a lot of other stuff to cover including big-time verbals from two of the top players in their class... so let’s get started!

*** Chez Sievers, a former University of Texas second baseman who played in three WCWS and was named Big XII Freshmen of Year, has joined FloSports and will be the FloSoftball.com Sr. Editor.

 Since college, Chez has coached at Cal State Fullerton, the University of Texas, the Austrian National Team, and UC Riverside.

Most recently, she created, wrote, and produced for smart-softball.com and the Smart Softball podcast along with coaching the Dallas Charge.

We’re excited to have her on board!

*** At the PGF Ultimate Challege a few weeks back, one of the most impressive pitchers we saw at the 16U level was Shea O’Leary, a 6-foot-1 lefty for the So Cal Choppers-Ziese team.

At that time she was strongly leaning to Texas over interest from Arizona State and Ole Miss.

Late last week, O’Leary made it official as she announced she’d be a Longhorn, which was no surprise since one coach said at the Ultimate Challenge that she was leaning “99 percent to Texas.”

The Choppers made it to the Championship Game and O’Leary was the ace who helped make it happene with her great spins.

Last summer she helped the 14U Choppers team win the TC/USA Nationals as well as the Boulder IDT.

*** In September, we did a Rising Star article on one of the top 2019 catchers in the country, Alyssa Garcia, who attends Mater Dei in Chula Vista, California and plays for the Firecrackers Brashear/Thornburg club team.

This week she committed to UCLA after receiving strong interest from other Pac-12 schools like Oregon and Washington as well as national powers like Florida and Michigan.



Here’s the text we did in that article on the standout freshman….



Alyssa Garcia joined the Firecrackers Brashear/Thornburg 2001 team in January of 2015 after playing a season with The Factory Softball out of San Diego.



A left handed hitter with power to all fields, she made an offensive impact right away batting nearly .500 the entire 2015 season while showing her defensive strength behind the dish. 

Alyssa was one of the 100 players chosen by OnDeck Softball in 2014 to attend the June Jamboree showcase in Hemet, Calif. where over 100 college coaches were in attendance. 

According to scouts, that's where she opened eyes and began getting national attention.

Alyss was invited again to attend the 2015 OnDeck Softball June Jamboree in Hemet even though she was already on the radar of many of the top D1 programs in the Nation. 

The 2019 grad did well at the camp as well as at the OnDeck Softball Combine which had 120 college coaches in attendance. 



She also played that same weekend in the Zoom into June Showcase in Hemet where many scouts feel she really solidified her recruiting status as one of the elite ‘29’s as showcased her offensive power and behind-the-plate prowess.  



One coach said confidentially, “She's the type of player who can shut down a running game with the cannon she possesses.  Alyssa has great hands, a great arm and great footwork at third as well as first, which makes her stock even higher being that she’s multi-position player.”

By the time the Colorado Jr. Sparkler tournament took place in July of this year, her reputation was such she was getting recruiting attention from major schools including (alphabetically): Arizona State, Baylor, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon, Stanford, Texas A&M, UCLA, Virginia and Washington (according to her family and coaches).



At 5-foot-8 with a pop time recorded at under 1.7 seconds at several camps, she really exploded at the TC/USA 14U Nationals in Reno two weeks later.

Alyssa hit over .700 at the Nationals and, according to one coach, hit a home run that went an estimated 280 feet.

As mentioned in our column this week, she has several offers and has already visited UCLA with planned trips set this fall to Oregon and Washington with Michigan and Florida also possible.



Now, she’s focused on integrating into high school and helping her Mater Dei High team continue its strong championship run: the school has won CIF banners four of the last five years.

Along with Kinzie Hansen of the So Cal Athletics organization, who is committed to Oklahoma, and Julia Cottrill, who has played for the Wichita Mustangs, Alyssa adds to what is appearing to be one of the strongest catching classes in the last decade.

*** Haley Simpson, a 2018 outfielder with the EC Bullets Biele 16U team, has committed to South Carolina.

The team now has three SEC commits and has another trio with multiple SEC, ACC and Big Ten offers with two more players that have visits lined up to SEC and ACC schools… more to come on those later.

*** The Orion Hunter Teal team is one of the top 14U squads in the country and went 4-1 at the Team NJ Fall Showcase in the 16U age group.

*** Keep an eye on Orion Hunter Teal, one of the top teams at the 14U level.  The team went 4-1 at the Team NJ Fall Showcase playing at 16U.  

The program has a pair of 2019 Hot 100 candidates:

--- P Morgan Murphy, who pitched 15 innings and allowed no runs and only three hits while striking out 14 at Team NJ.  She has had unofficials to Oklahoma, Michigan and James Madison.

--- 1B Logan Saunders, who had four homers and batted over .700 in NJ.  She has interest from Virginia Tech and East Carolina.

The team also has a college level 2018 righty pitcher in EJ Bankson, who had a 1.20 ERA in 16 innings and hit two homers at Team NJ.  She is being recruited by Boston Univ, Colgate and George Mason.

*** Finally, one of our favorite players we’ve ever covered—both on and off the field—has been Aubrey Leach, the infielder who’s now a freshman at the Univ. of Tennessee.

Aubrey—who played for the Sudden Impact Gold team last summer and helped her team win Colorado Sparklers—made the ESPN Sports Center Top 10 with an amazing triple play you’ll see in the video below.

The 2015 Hot 100 player was one of the Louisville Slugger Hit Club 10 invitees and was very well liked by all the participants.

Check out this play: