A lot of player and team info this week, especially with the 2019's as we move towards our launch of the 2019 Hot 100 coming up a week from Monday!

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Dave Lotti always has talent on his Rhode Island Thunder club teams and he’s not afraid to take them across the nation to demonstrate it either.

We spoke to the head coach at the PGF Early Thanksgiving Tournament and he told us about a pair of his 2019 players who may end up at the same university as one is committed and the other is tripping to the Big Ten school soon.

--- pitcher Vanessa Oatley is a strong Hot 100 candidate. She verballed to Penn state in the fall of her 8th grade year and according to Coach Lotti “has faced all the big dogs already and has held her own. She will continue to get better as she is a relentless worker who does not want to play second fiddle to anyone in the country. She's a good size lefty who really can spin it.” Her best pitch right now is her curve which she can work both sides of the plate with and not just away to lefties.

--- another standout freshman is the program is Liana Antonelli, who is a left side of the infield player who can play a solid short and third. Liana is also a good outfielder who has been clocked overhand at 68 mph. Adds Lotti, “This fall was the first time for her seeing legit pitching and she more than held her own and will keep getting better and better the more she sees.”

She visited Penn State in September and is interested in the Nittany Lions. She also has visits set up at UConn, Fordham and Coastal Carolina.

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Staying on the East Coast, another top 2019 to watch this year is Katie Perkins, the daughter of former Georgia Tech head coach Sharon Perkins who now heads the Atlanta Premier-Perkins team.

Katie is a right-side-of-the-infield standout and committed to North Carolina on October 11 of last year.

She helped lead the Premier to a 2nd place finish at ASA 14U Nationals last summer and has been a leading hitter on the team over the past two years.

The Georgia freshman played varsity at high school powerhouse Buford last fall and helped the team to its 9th consecutive Softball State Championship.  She started at first base for around 50 percent of the games including the state title game and is a lefty gap hitter who uses all parts of the field exceptionally well.

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The Beverly Bandits organization always has talent and the 2019 class is no exception.

Top freshmen include pitcher Sydney Supple (Northwestern verbal) and outfielder/utility player Lexi Voss (Michigan), but one who’s starting to draw a lot of attention is Gabi Carra who just completed the OnDeck camp in Chicago on January 2 and earned an overall athletic index of 100.

She was highlighted in the Jamboree Review by Derek and Joanne Allister who said, “2019 Gabi Carra stood out with a great performance.  She is a talented middle infielder with a nice offensive skill set.”

Some of her measurements included 85 on the bat speed, 68 on the exit speed and 63 throwing; combined those reportedly put her in the Top 10 overall tested.

Gabi also had a strong fall on the field with the Bandits 14U Premier team as she compiled a batting average of .419 with 32 RBI.

The freshman has recruiting interests from schools in the ACC, Big East, Big Ten and SEC; she’s made unofficial visits to DePaul, James Madison, Syracuse and Northwestern and is scheduled to visit Wisconsin with others being set up later in 2016.

From St. John, Indiana, she also was a standout volleyball player last year helping her team to a 39-1 record and in track ran in 24 meets and won 62 ribbons while breaking four school records and setting two conference marks.
 
Those close to the Bandits program feel she’s one of the top five players in their organization in the 2019 class and definitely one to watch over the next few years.
 
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Keeping on the 2019 theme, one player we profiled in November in our Recruiting Roundup whose stock continues to climb is Celeste Soliz, an outfielder and lefty slapper who plays for the Angels Premier team from Dallas.

Celeste recently returned from an unofficial visit at University of Michigan following on the heels of trips to Lamar and San Jose State.

She has also received interest from schools Louisiana Tech, Texas Tech, Central Florida, Purdue, Texas State, and several others.  She will be visiting Harvard and Georgia Tech as well this winter.

A lead-off hitter with the Angels, she hit .413 this fall.

Celeste attends Lovejoy High School and finished her first semester as a freshmen with a 3.86 GPA with two AP courses and all other Pre-AP Courses.  She will be the starting varsity catcher on a team expected to go deep in the 5A softball playoffs. During high school fall ball Celeste led the team with a .611 batting average.

Along with playing softball in college, the Texan hopes to pursue a degree in engineering as she wants to develop and create systems or products that help reduce environmental.

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It’s a New Year and we’re looking forward to a great spring in college ball as we’ll be streaming at the Mary Nutter Classic among other top events as well as top club events starting in June.

But events are taking place now and one of the top ones last weekend was the TCS Rising Stars Tournament in Plantation, Florida.

A team that lit it up was the Miami Stingrays 18 Gold which went undefeated (5-0), scoring 32 runs while giving up only six.

One of the stars was 2017 Ole Miss commit Ally Mena who led the offense going 7-for-12 (.583 average) with two walks. She blasted a 230-foot home run to go along with a triple, four doubles and a crucial two-out, two RBI single that drove in the go-ahead runs against the Florida Gators-Jackson.

The 2015 Florida Class 3A Player of the Year finished the tourney with 9 RBIs.

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Another team that is one to watch for and has impressed us is the Virginia Glory Premier-Mertz team (formerly called Team Glory-Mertz 16U).

Mike Mertz’s team beat seven of the top 15 teams in the latest FAB 50 16U Rankings and 14 of the top 50 and finished 50-6 last year including 18 wins over 18U teams.

One player to watch on the Virginia Glory is 2017 outfielder Raina Cooper who is committed to Alabama-Birmingham.  She has blazing speed and for Bishop McNara High in Forestville, Maryland the last two years she’s 40-for-42 in steals.  Last year she hit .403 with six triples, but what is interesting is that she may be one of—if not the—fastest players in the nation.

Raina reportedly ran a 2.47 home-to-first at one college camp… we’ll detail more on her another time!
 
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Finally, we finish on a strong note profiling a top 14U team that will have several players in the 2019 Hot 100: the Georgia Impact-Stewart squad coached by Jon Stewart.

The team had a very strong fall including a 10-0-1 record combining their games in the Scenic City Super Pool (14U) and at the Veteran’s Day Tribute (16U).

For the fall, the team batted .370 and had an on-base percentage of .498.  

This core of the team was started in 8U coach pitch and six of the 14 players now are from the original 8U team.  Based out of Dacula, Georgia, players come from as far away as Arkansas and has attracted top talent because, as Coach Stewart explains: “Our focus is getting these kids recruited over the next 12 months and to continue to play at the highest level.”

Here’s a look at the team with comments from Coach Jon Stewart:

--- OF/1B Kinley Stewart (2019, Georgia Tech)
“Kinley plays all outfield positions and first base.  She has developed into one of our most consistent hitters and hits the ball the right-center gap better than anyone on the team.  Don’t run on her arm in the outfield.”

---2B/OF Aleix Hudson (2019, uncommitted)
“Aleix has been a power hitter for us since she came on the team at eight years old.  She runs very well and is a defensive gem at second base.”

---P Chandler Dennis (2019, uncommitted)
“Chandler is a highly recruited pitcher.  She leads our team in ERA and strikeouts.  She also bats fourth for us with a lot of power in her swing.”

---3B/C Shea Bayreuther (2019, uncommitted)
“She hits for average and has the power to hit the deep ball.  She is super quick at third base and has a 1.8 pop time at catcher.”

---OF Maddie Malvin (2019, uncommitted)
“Maddie does a great job coming off the bench running for us.”

---1B/C Grayson Cruce (2019, uncommitted)
“Grayson is the best first baseman I have seen.  She saves us runs each game with her defense.  She is a solid gap hitter from the left side.  She has a super quick release from behind the plate.”

---OF Jasmine Moore (2019, uncommitted)
“Jasmine has incredible speed and finds ways to get on base consistently.  Once on base, she leads the team in steals and runs balls down in the gap in the outfield.”

---OF Mariah Wicker (2019, uncommitted)
“Mariah started with our team as a shortstop and we quickly moved her to the outfield to take advantage of her speed. She is a very confident player who can hit it in the gap or lay down the bunt on command.”

---SS/OF Jasmine Copeland (2019, uncommitted)
“This 5-foot-10 frame can run very well and has an arm that will scare a first baseman.  I look for great things in the future from her.”

---P/3B Kira Morgan (2019, uncommitted)
“Kira does a great job at third base and hits with confidence. She is a consistent contact hitter and has one of the quickest releases at third base.”

---OF E.C. Taylor (2019, Florida)
“E.C. has great speed and handles the bat very well. This future gator can hit with power or slap.  She is a solid outfielder that can play all three positions.”

---SS/P Sara Mosely (2019, uncommitted)
“Sara is a hard-nosed shortstop that hits third for our team.  She leads our team in homeruns and will steal a base for you.  She pitches in the mid-sixties and plays with a lot of confidence.”

---3B/SS/C Kenly “Fred” Sullivan (2019, uncommitted)
“Kenly can play almost all positions on the field and can hit the left center gap very well.  She is a gritty catcher that will block the plate at all costs.”

---3B/2B Walker Wicklund (2019, uncommitted)
“Walker has been such a treasure to have on this year’s team.  She moves around and plays each position with precise accuracy. She hits the ball very well and hits from either side.  She has speed and is awesome on the base paths.”