Another year has come to an end and there has been no shortage of interesting developments in softball, especially in the travel ball world.

Here's the FloSoftball rundown of 10 newsworthy stories that impacted the fastpitch world in the club space…


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10 - Familiar Names Win Championships

There are some organizations that have been around for decades and continue to place highly and Tony Rico's Firecrackers 18U team has been one of them. This year, his premier team started off the summer slowly but peaked at the right time to win PGF Nationals behind the dominant pitching of Brooke Vestal. And then there is the Beverly Bandits program which has been to a PGF National Championship game four years in a row with three different coaches and four completely different teams. Two of the teams won 16U titles: the 2013 squad coached by Jen Tyrrell and led by current Oregon pitcher Miranda Elish and the 2016 team coached by Bill Conroy and led by pitchers Meghan Beaubien (Michigan commit) and Sydney Supple (Northwestern). And at the USA Softball JO Cup, two long-time Southern powers--the East Cobb Bullets and Atlanta Vipers--made sure the 18U and 16U titles would stay in the Peach State as the championship hosted in Atlanta was won by both Georgia-based programs. And you can't forget about Bruce Richardson's So Cal A's--which won the first four PGF National titles--and took the crown at the prestigious Boulder Independence Day Tournament.

Related: Firecrackers Rico - 18U PGF Nationals Champions

9 - New Faces Make Big Runs

And, as the traditional powers continue to win, there are always new teams emerging and becoming nationally relevant. The Texas Blaze 18U Gold team rose from barely cracking the top 100 teams in the nation four years ago to winning the TC/USA Nationals in New York City this year and looks to be one of the top Lone Star State programs know along with traditional powers Texas Glory and the Texas Bombers. And at PGF 16U Nationals, people were asking if the "SD Renegades" were a new team from San Diego. Nope, the Renegades hail from South Dakota and with only one player committed gave the Bandits all they could handle in the National Championship game, losing by just one run. It's great to see teams from states other than ones like California, Texas and Georgia producing nationally competitive teams. For example, Iowa now has the Iowa Premier program, which won PGF 18U Platinum; Rhode Island has Dave Lotti's Rhode Island Thunder that draws from all over the Northeast, and a program like the Tri-State Thunder from Maryland are rising to be competitive at PGF Nationals and giving young organizations hope that they too can be nationally relevant no matter where they come from.



Article: Team Spotlight: South Dakota Renegades

8 - Oklahoma's Recruiting Run

It must be really good to be Patty Gasso right now. Not only has she established herself as a sure-fire future Hall of Famer after winning another WCWS Championship in this year's thrilling three-game series triumph over Auburn, but she and her staff--including Melyssa Lombardi and Coach Gasso's son, JT--are tearing it up in recruiting top talent. Showing that freshman can come in and contribute right away, as happened this year with infielders Shay Knighten, Sydney Romero, Caleigh Clifton, and Fale Aviu the Sooners are getting elite talent reaching down into the younger classes. In the recently released FloSoftball 2018 Hot 100, Oklahoma got three of the Top 10 players in the class including No. 1 overall prospect Brooke Vestal. And in the following years, 2019 and 2020, OU also has the top rated players in catcher Kinzie Hansen and infielder Jayda Coleman, respectively. Everyone will be gunning for the National Champs, but one thing's clear: the pipeline of talent over the next few years is definitely full and should make Oklahoma always nationally competitive.

7 - Passing of Softball Figures

When you have a community as large as you do in softball, it's inevitable that we will lose some each year but it's always a shock when a coach or player dies, especially when it seems to be before their time due to accidents or unforeseen medical reasons. We lost some good coaches and players this year including:

• Legendary coach Don Dobina, head of the Louisville Lady Sluggers, who passed away unexpectedly at age 63 in November. This summer, he coached the Sluggers to a 2nd place finish at TC/USA Nationals and had just written FloSoftball the week before his passing to praise one of his players for Hot 100 consideration. He was a legendary coach who helped his players go on to programs like Louisville, Kentucky and Alabama.
• Wesley Mann who was an assistant coach for American Pastime, went into cardiac arrest in Colorado during the TCS Sparkler Fireworks tournament while with his team at lunch. He died shortly thereafter, in early July.
• Scarlett Stein, who just days after signing a Letter of Intent with Penn State -- New Kensington, died in December from complications after suffering a heart attack. The Pennsylvania senior was a promising pitcher and played for the Nitro club team. She was only 17.

6 - USSSA Makes Strides at the Elite Level

Many people don't know, even in the softball space, the size and reach of the USSSA organization which has 4.3 million members across all sports and over 23,000 teams in softball alone. This year, USSSA made a big, successful splash in the elite Nationals space producing its first World Fastpitch Championship which was held in Kansas City during July. The event drew top teams from around the country getting prestigious programs like the OC Batbusters--which won the 18U title--and the Texas Glory which, as one coach said, "was a big coop to get such great teams in the first year. The WFC got a good TV game, had solid championships and was overall a really good event." USSSA produced an impressive player-focused event called the USA Select 30 which got elite softball athletes to compete against each other in classes as young as 2020 and 2021. Look for both events to continue to grow and be highly sought after by top teams and players.

5 - PGF High School All-American Game & Louisville Slugger Hit Club

There have been national softball club/high school All-American games before--at the turn of the century the Under Armour All-American Games in Orlando were impressively produced--but nothing has been at the level of this year's game. Following right after four PGF National Championship contests at Bill Barber Park in Irvine, California, the All-American Game featured an amazing array of talent as assembled by OnDeck Softball's Derek and Joann Allister. The coaching staff was stellar: the West team was coached by Jennie Finch, Toni Mascarenas and Crystal Bustos, while the East was coached by Jennie Ritter, Garland Cooper and Suzy Brazney. Each player received custom uniforms. 

Just hours after helping her Firecrackers team win the 18U title, Utah-bound infielder Alyssa Barrera slapped a single up the middle in the bottom of the 7th inning to give the West squad a walk-off 4-3 victory. However, the capper to the first-year event was a play that occurred in the first inning when UCLA-bound outfielder Aaliyah Jordan hit a ball deep that looked for sure to be a home run, but at the last second Georgia signee Ciara Bryant leapt over the 10-foot centerfield fence and, despite crashing into the fence, pulled down the ball to make a play that later that night would be the No. 1 play of the day on ESPN's SportsCenter. Immediately after the event, 10 of the top hitters in the country then began their weekend of participating in the second year of the prestigious Louisville Slugger Hit Club and working with from elite players and coaches like Sue Enquist, Amanda Freed, Shay Knighten and Amanda Lorenz. They were also rewarded with fun activities including a trip to Disneyland, a game at Angel Stadium and a beach bonfire. Now, between the two events, the top players in the country something to shoot for before heading to their respective colleges.

4 - USA Junior National Team Selection Camp

Here we are at the end of the year and this choice for the Top 10 is still unfinished, but it suddenly took on a whole new dramatic meaning on August 3 when it was announced officially that softball was back in the Olympics. Suddenly, the Junior National Team was seen as the entry point for strong consideration and the all-important internal game experience to be considered for the Women's National Team that in three years will be competing for Olympic Gold in Japan. The selection camp takes place this weekend in Clearwater, Florida with an Open Tryout on Friday and then the main Training Camp running over the weekend. About two dozen high school standouts have been invited to compete for a roster spot over the next year including the FloSoftball Hot 100 top picks for the 2017 class (Bri Perez, UCLA signee) and 2018 class (Brooke Vestal, Oklahoma). If anything, the invitational process has sparked great discussion on who has been invited and who should have been invited and has given young softball players of all ages a clear starting point on a key step to realizing the dream of one day playing in the Olympics.

3 - Triumph of the Spirit: Players Battle Through Health Issues

Athletics is a great stage to see the human spirit conquer adversity and in softball we've seen some great examples this year of inspiring players overcoming great trials, especially daunting physical obstacles, that serve to show us how strong the will to succeed can be. Here are three amazing athletes who have battled imposing ailments and come out on top:

• Allyson Melgar is a 14-year-old pitcher and infield for the OC Batbusters '02 team and in July of 2015 she was diagnosed with scoliosis--a curvature of the spine--in two places on her back that had curved at 57 and 22 degrees. In September of '15, she had a six-hour surgery to have two rods and 17 screws inserted into her back to help straighten her back. Three months after the surgery, she returned to the softball fields and after a grueling recovery and rehab process--which included using a stem machine to ease the pain--she made a successful return to competition this year.
• In May of this year, pitcher Kiley Rose of the So Cal A's-Marinakis team, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes after feeling sluggish and tired all the time. On the verge of diabetic shock, she was hospitalized but soon was able to get her blood sugar and diabetes stabilized and make a successful return to the playing fields.
• In July, senior pitcher Taylor Dockins of the So Cal Choppers, didn't feel well playing in the Colorado IDT and was shocked to discover on visiting a local hospital there that she had liver cancer. The Cal State Fullerton signee had part of her liver removed and has had several returns to the hospital for infections and other problems, but was able to attend the PGF Nationals in person and root her Choppers team to a 3rd place finish at the 18U level. She's also been able to return to working out and playing softball and resuming a normal life off the field including a trip with her family to New York City this week. Continually cheerful and optimistic, Taylor has shown that, sometimes, even cancer can have its butt kicked by a determined softball player!

2 - Early Recruiting to End?

Early recruiting: girls as young as 13-years-old and their families are feeling the pressure of committing early or facing the possibility of losing a scholarship offer to another middle-schooler. It's become a necessary evil with no apparent way to fix it, but that may change if one conference gets its way. In October the Ivy League proposed that the NCAA update its rules to prevent contact between college coaches and athletes until the player's junior year in high school. Verbal offers and commits wouldn't be allowed until that time and coaches would be blocked from setting up unofficial visits, making or receiving calls and even discussing recruiting with athletes until the start of the athlete's junior year. The proposal will be discussed at the NCAA Convention held January 18-21 in Nashville. If it passes--and even if so it would probably take a year or two to implement--the new stipulations would have a drastic impact on recruiting as it takes place now.

1 - Big News at the Top

The big changes that impacted softball at the highest levels, meaning international and pro play, had nothing directly to do with club softball and yet everything to do with travel play. How? Because some of the major develops in the sport gives young players new hope to play beyond college or find alternate ways to continue working in softball or sports in general. Here are some of them:

• A year ago the opportunity to dream of playing softball in the Olympics was a hope, not reality. However, when Tokyo was announced as the host for the 2020 games -- remember Japan was the last country to win a Gold Medal in the sport--softball's Olympic return became a much more likely possibility. On August 3, 2016, that all changed and now it looks like the sport is going to be in the international spotlight at the highest level from 2020 on.
• It may have flown under radar for many, but what had been a fairly adversarial relationship between USA Softball and the NPF (the pro league) softened in 2016 as teams from both organizations began playing each other and USA players were allowed to play in the NPF. Today there are players on the National Team who fill the rosters of each of the pro teams. As one prominent coach told FloSoftball, "This is big for the game."
• It may have been a PR move more than an indication of the financial health of the NPF, but when Monica Abbott inked a million dollar contract with the Houston Scrap Yard Dawgs to become the first female team sports athlete to sign a seven-figure deal, it opened eyes in the sports world. With NCAA softball already drawing higher TV ratings in the World Series than its college baseball equivalent and doing better than even NHL hockey playoffs, it suddenly shows that pro softball should be taken seriously and gives younger players the exciting dream that maybe by the time they graduate from college they could play professionally and make a sustainable living doing it.
• Finally, it was great to see that those who have achieved success in softball are able to cross-over into other venues and ventures. One notable example in 2016 was former Stanford All-American and USA National Team member Jessica Mendoza being hired to be a full-time announcer for Major League Baseball games on ESPN. Despite limited social media criticism early on, Mendoza has excelled because she has proven to be articulate, prepared and insightful each time she takes the air. Jessica has represented softball well and shown that, when given the chance, softball players can do almost anything they put their minds to!

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