Queen of Diamonds North...

default

Member

• Jan 3, 2009

• #1

I am very interested in the developements up at Kent State today. And seeing that I'm down here in Grove City at my DD's basketball game and not able to attend, I would appreciate any scores, highlights, players that are attending, how are they doing ect ect ect...lol.

Thanks,
Lee

 

default

Member

• Jan 5, 2009

• #2

Lee,
Not sure about scores, but saw alot of good hitting, fielding and pitching by the attendees. As usual, boatloads of coaches from all divisions, from all over. Saw about 10 games on the fields and only saw three girls break 60 consistently. One from I believe Valley Extreme was throwing heat! Most were in the 55 MPH range. Some ladies cranked a few bombs though that would have been long gone.

Another great weekend by Kirt and his crew and hopefully all had safe travels back to their home states...

 

default

Member

• Jan 5, 2009

• #3

Lots of good competition and attitudes. AND GREAT umpiring!!!

It was fun watching these girls who were strangers for the most part come together and play some good ball.

It was rare to see anyone throw more than 60....but the DD now knows what it feels like to get hit by a 64 mph fastball!!! Sweet bruise!

 

default

Member

• Jan 5, 2009

• #4

Tom,
The girl your referring to from Valley Extreme is Erin Gabriel. She is a freshmen this year and I think she is attending Poland H.S. She played with us in the ASA Nationals last summer. Erin will be one of the top pitchers in high school this coming spring.

 

default

Member

• Jan 5, 2009

• #5

^^^Thanks for the info, as usual sounds like a well attended weekend by both players and coaches. I know we had 6 players in attendence and I was getting updates from several parents.

I have to agree with Outcast, it is fun seeing how all the players are placed on different teams and how they come together to play these games. It's also good to see the MVP's given for both the actual games and cage games.

I also have to agree with Roudyone, Erin Gabriel is a top tier pitcher, and a big reason why the Valley Exteam Blue has been so successful the past couple of years.

Hilliarddad, do you know who the other 2 pitchers that were breaking 60 MPH consistantly were? I was just curious if they were Ohio girls or if they were from other states.

Thanks,
Lee

 

default

Member

• Jan 5, 2009

• #6

The DD had fun playing with girls from Georgia, New York, Pennsylvania and even Canada. Although she wasn't able to make them understand that THEY had accents, not her!!

 

default

Member

• Jan 5, 2009

• #7

I know one was on our team and was from NY Kateland Meade. The other was just looking down at the radar gun and seeing it so not sure who it was. Erin was firing it and many coaches were scribbling on their pads..

It always is fun to watch them mesh together in a day and a half after emailing eachother the last two months.

 

default

Member

• Jan 5, 2009

• #8

Megan F. (not going to spell name correctly) Of Laser Orange was hitting 60 a lot she was on my DD's team and she looked real good.

Agree with the Valley Extreme pitcher big time talent and was throwing heat.

I seen a kid hit 64 a few times and was told she hit 65 but I am not sure where she was from.

 

default

Member

• Jan 5, 2009

• #9

Last year they stopped clocking speeds quoting some sort of NCAA problem that involved college coaches not being allowed to see speeds of the players. They must have taken care of the problem if they were gunning again this year.

 

default

Member

• Jan 5, 2009

• #10

If I'm not mistaken the girls were pitching from 43 feet this weekend. Don't know if that would affect the speeds being registered or not....

 

default

Member

• Jan 5, 2009

• #11

That freshman was very impressive. Awesome job done by Kirt to put this thing off.

 

default

Member

• Jan 5, 2009

• #12

Natalie Bagby, the senior, left-handed catcher from Westerville North, had one heck of a showcase. Saw her gun one speedy runner trying to steal second & had her nailed by 2-3 steps. No real surprise here, as her pop time is a legit 1.7-1.8 seconds. She was 2 for 3 in one of her games, with a rocket shot off the net in deep center & a hard line drive base hit to left.

Not sure who was the all-tourney catcher, but they must have been impressive.

 

default

Member

• Jan 6, 2009

• #13

One of the catchers, the Samantha Santillo, did a awesome job for us on team #7. She threw a couple runners out trying to steal, and had a big weekend with her bat, as well. Very impressive for a sophomore I believe. I didnt get to see the Bagby girl. Best hit I saw was by Aleecia Sunagel, team #11 I believe, I don't know anything about her, but I know off of the all tourney pitcher, she hit one that was picked up by NASA, ball would have been 250 plus easy. My drive from pittsburgh to there, wasn't as far as that ball would have traveled. Funny part, is our first baseman said, stinks to hit a ball tha far and only get a single indoors. lol.

 

default

Member

• Jan 6, 2009

• #14

^^^some great information for all of us "Fastpitch Diehards'!!! Keep the positive info flowing...

 

default

Member

• Jan 6, 2009

• #15

I just wanted to say what a great time I had coaching some of these ladies and how much I learned from them and the other coaches.Team #4 was the team I assisted with and we had a great and very talented group.I here that our two seniors have already been contacted, which is what this weekend is all about.We also had two all tournament players that were sophmores that will definitely be D1 players.I will be the first to say that Stephanie Jones has the strongest arm I have ever seen at the high school level, plus true 2.7 speed home to first.The Miami Valley Express was very well represented by I believe around 11 or twelve girls, which says alot about the organization.

 

default

Member

• Jan 6, 2009

• #16

I only saw 3 girls hit 60 or better and only 2 do it consistantly. Saw a lot of 55 or 56 and a few girls throwing 51-52 this was their fast ball. Kinda disappointing when I personally know a girl who ended up as an alternate and only got to hit in the cages who consistantly hits 58. She was honest on her application. However, for all those who weren't there was no way to hide it. The speed was there for everyone to see and I can guarantee you the college coaches were crossing out those who weren't quite so honest. According to their mini profiles 32 pitchers there were able to throw 60 or better.

On another note, you couldn't have gotten better exposure than there this weekend. Everywhere you turned there were coaches watching. Kirt did a really nice job getting this organized. Everyone stayed on time and rushed on and off the fields.

 

default

Member

• Jan 6, 2009

• #17

One of the pitchers from our team, wasn't even originially picked, but she e-mailed Kirt and pleaded her case and told him that she wasn't lying about her speed, and didn't inflate her numbers, and he eventually let her in.

Most ironic part, is she had an outstanding tournament and finished on the all tournament team.

We where looking for her profiles before she left while talking to her parents and couldnt' find any. After talking with Kirt, he said the must have all been picked up. So that was awesome for a kid, that truly deserved it.

 

default

Member

• Jan 6, 2009

• #18

It would be nice if they invented a lie detector for claimed pitching speeds on applications. I'm sure that Kirt's life would be easier.

 

default

Member

• Jan 6, 2009

• #19

My daughter and me went and watched both days of the showcase. I read about it and thought since we live close to Kent State it would be a good idea to take her to watch it. We were impressed with all the talent that was there. She is a decent pitcher and says she is going to work extra hard to try to make the showcase next year. We sat right between the two fields and watched games for two days except when we left for a while to grab lunch on Sunday. Here are the pitchers we saw who threw 60 or higher.

Erin Gabriel
Megan Flenniken
Deanna Tritinger
Allison Beery
Kaitlyn Meade
Chelsea Ponce

I will say the Gabriel girl was the only one I would say throws over 80% of her fastballs 60. I know there were a few more who threw 60 but I didn't have the names on the rosters until after a couple games when an older gentleman gave a wide-eyed 14 year old his rosters. What a great experience for me and my kid and I couldn't believe it when I got there and admission was FREE.

 

default

Member

• Jan 6, 2009

• #20

Why has all the talk here been about speed? Except for the occasional phenom, that's not what is most effective at 16-18 levels, from what I've seen.