October 24, 2011
What more could we have asked for? The day was glorious. The talent level was high. And almost 90 D-1 college coaches showed up to watch the players do their thing. The attendance at the games on Friday was extraordinarily high. Usually, the workout on Thursday brings out the crowd – as it did again this year. But in years past, the Friday attendance would drop off some. This year, almost every coach who attended on Thursday returned on Friday, and certainly we were appreciative of that support.
Many thanks go out to Kelly Ford, the head coach at Mt. SAC; Bret Denio; Mike Stith; and Ed Gaspar for all their help. Mike handles all the fungo work for us on the defensive end, and Ed handles the pitching chores. Their abilities and personalities go a long way toward making the camp all that it is. Bret is a gentleman with a heart of gold. He loves the game, and his work on the field with the dugout is invaluable. And Kelly is just amazing. Everything about Coach Ford reeks of class and efficiency. It is no wonder that she is one of the premier college softball coaches in the nation.
As for the players. What a great group of young people. And what a talented group as well. The pitching looked incredibly deep. All eighteen of the pitchers are destined to be solid Division 1 players in the near future. The camp was stocked with Middle Infielders, and they did not disappoint us at all. Not only were they very athletic; they were also highly skilled and sophisticated. We think we set a record for home runs in the camp. Kayla Snaer (SoCal Athletics) got it all started with a shot off the scoreboard. Then it became a frenzy as so many players launched it deep. This home run onslaught continued in the games on Friday as Corona Angel 1B Danielle Ingraham went deep multiple times.
In addition to the high level of play, our ODM measurements were a huge hit. We ironed out some of the bugs that we encountered in our NorCal event in Stockton, and the measurements came off without a hitch. Allie Walljasper (2014 SJ Sting) and Infinity Laufou (2014 SoCal Athletics) each popped a bat speed reading of 85 MPH on the Zelocity unit which is very, very good. Lauren Lindvall (2014 Firecracker) and Nyah Rodman (2013 Teamsmith) displayed remarkable arm strength with an overhand velocity of 67 MPH measured on the top of the line Stalker that is used by every Major League Baseball Team. And finally, Coach Rod and Coach Anthony, two wonderful professionals out of the Reno-Tahoe area who run football combines and work with elite Quarterback prospects across the country measured the National Camp athletes’ speed and agility. It appears that in these two short months, the ODM (OnDeck Measurements) are seriously taking off. You can check out the results from Mt. SAC on the link provided.
Now it is off to Phoenix. The Phoenix Jamboree will be held down in the desert on the 11th of November. It will be good to get down in Arizona and see many of the young Arizona players along with a large number who will be coming from out of state. Texas will be well represented at the Jamboree, and we also will have athletes from Colorado, Ohio, and the Northwest. Hope to see you out on the showcase trail, and if you see us please don’t hesitate to come up and say hello.
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