gosaints10

The Bluff City Bombers 14U will be holding tryouts as follows: When: Sunday, August 22nd @ 2:00pm Where: Olive Branch City Park - Olive Branch, MS Address: 8877 College Street, Olive Branch MS 38654 (College Street also known as City Park Drive) Park is approximately 20 miles southeast of downtown Memphis. For additional information, please contact Head Coach Butch Wells. Phone: 901-833-4740 email: bw70@live.com

12U team based in Memphis / Northwest Mississippi has opportunities for players looking for a competitive team. Team plans to play all games for 2010 season and remaining 2009 fall season within the local Memphis area or no more than 2 to 3 hour drive of Memphis area. All positions are welcome. For more information, please contact: Butch Wells Phone: 901-433-4740 Email: bw70@live.com

Here's a couple of drills as suggestions: 1) "Karate Kid" Drill Pitcher practices pitching from a starting position with both arms in the air and the plant foot/leg elevated. It's called the Karate Kid (not a formal name, obviously) because it somewhat looks like scene in the Karate Kid movie. Another way to say it is that the pitcher starts the pitch motion from where they would be normally at full extention of arms. It is impossible to crow hop from this position. Also teaches good leg drive. Do this about 20-25 minutes a day for awhile without letting the pitcher ever throw from their full motion position. I've seen this correct the problem in a matter of days with enough repititions. 2) Bunge Cord Attach a bunge cord to the drive leg around the ankle while pitching in full motion. The drill is actually more designed to improve the push / drive but it has benefits with "fixing" the crow hop as well. It is not necessary to apply much tension in this drill. 3) Practice Pitching Motion without the Ball Simply have the pitcher go through the entire pitching motion without the ball concentrating on ensuring the drag foot never leaves the ground. Implementing penalties such as "push ups" or some other non-desirable activity every time she crow hops during this drill seems to have a positive impact in helping the pitcher quickly make the necessary adjustments.

Sorry...Posted in wrong forum. I re-posted in softball travel teams forum below and couldn't delete from here.

Outstanding college exposure opportunity. Due to injury, 18U team is in need of a strong pitcher to participate in Colorado Fireworks tournament next week in Aurora, CO. The Colorado Fireworks Tournament is one of the premier tournaments in the U.S. Please contact Perry Horton of the Arkansas Phenix at 479-233-9217 if interested in discussing this opportunity. Pool play starts next Wed. Tournament information can be reviewed using the following link. http://www.cofireworks.com/

Outstanding college exposure opportunity. Due to injury, 18U team is in need of a strong pitcher to participate in Colorado Fireworks tournament next week in Aurora, CO. The Colorado Fireworks Tournament is one of the premier tournaments in the U.S. Please contact Perry Horton of the Arkansas Phenix at 479-233-9217 if interested in discussing this opportunity. Pool play starts next Wed. Tournament information can be reviewed using the following link. http://www.cofireworks.com/

1slapper: I don't think you are a part of the Briarcrest team or parents, so please don't pin the smack talk on them. It's not their style. Briarcrest lost to an outstanding GPS team last night...End of story. GPS & St. Benedict should be a fun game to watch.

Would appreciate hearing any scores from this series.

You can get to the complete schedule via this link. Hope it helps. http://scores.dogbark.com/events/297

This is the most comprehensive list I've seen. I'm sure it's not all inclusive and some on here may have already been listed in other posts. ============================================================ Shelbie Barrett - Middle Tennesse State Univ. (Mt. Juliet) Hannah Irwin ??“ Belmont University (Mt. Juliet) Caroline Mason ??“ Lipscomb University (Mt. Juliet) Shelby Morris ??“ East Tennessee State University (Mt. Juliet) Courtney Billington ??“ Lipscomb University (Wilson Central) Katy Ayers - Florida International University (Father Ryan) Riley Mashburn - Trevecca Nazerene University (Father Ryan) Devon Schmidt - Belmont University (Goodpasture) Hannah Brenzie ??“ Belmont University (Pope John Paul II) Chelsea Jones ??“ University of Tennessee-Martin (Tullahoma HS) Erica Duke ??“ University of Tennessee-Martin (Tullahoma HS) Megan Nicole Ryan ??“ Lincoln Memorial University (Hendersonville HS) Shelby Burchell - University of Tennessee (Columbia Academy) Cathleen Hosfield - University of Tennessee (Riverdale) Randa Perry ??“ University of Arkansas-Monticello (Briarcrest Christian) Olivia Andres ??“ Crowder College (Briarcrest Christian) Kelsey Logue - Boston College (Saint Benedict) Morgan Murphy - Auburn University (Saint Benedict) Kristen Emerling ??“ Binghamton University (Houston) Tobie Joy ??“ Middle Tennessee State Univ. (Covington) Cali Overbeck ??“ Ole Miss (Munford) Tera Gwaltney - University of Tennessee-Martin (Ripley) Brittany Yates ??“ University of Tennessee-Martin (Trinity Christian) Hailee Edwards ??“ Union University (Ripley) Sidney McMillin ??“ Union University (Bolton) Melissa Balding ??“ Freed Hardeman (Chester County) Kristen Powell ??“ Tennessee State University (McGavock HS) Susanne Burke ??“ Tennessee State University (Sycamore HS) Annie Martin - East Tennessee State University (Hickman County) Cassie Bollin ??“ Belmont University (Hume-Fogg) Amy Campbell - East Tennessee State University (GPS) Jessica Phillips - University of Memphis (GPS) Kamri Chester ??“ University of Memphis (GPS) C.C. Gordon ??“ Howard University (GPS) Samantha Everett ??“ Tennessee Tech (Baylor) Lexie Whittenberg ??“ East Tennessee State University (Ooltewah) Holly Thomas ??“ Tennessee Tech (Ooltewah) Staci D??™Apice ??“ East Tennessee State University (Halls) Chelsea O??™Connor ??“ East Tennessee State University (Christian Academy of Knoxville) Cassidy Skeen ??“ Tennessee Tech (Powell) Kelly Troglin - Tennessee State University (Red Bank) Sammy Jo Garret ??“ Lincoln Memorial University (Wartburg) Chelley Christian ??“ Lincoln Memorial University (Dobyns-Bennett) Megan Effler ??“ Lincoln Memorial University (Union County) Lauren Whaley - Middle Tennessee State Univ. (Walker Valley)

Truly a great accomplishment by a great group of young athletes. Thanks for representing Tennessee softball in a positive way. This is something they will remember for the rest of their lives. ===================================================================== Off topic, but since it's seems to be a sticking point...here are some additional thoughts on 08's playing 16U. I know lots of rising juniors who are sixteen and lots of rising seniors who are 16. In many cases, they are 2-6 months difference in age. Many rising seniors who are sixteeen were borderline decisions as to what year they were going to start school many years ago. Some parents chose to start their kids as early as they can, some chose to start them later. In the end, rising seniors who were 16 as of Jan 1 are 0-6 months from being rising juniors. Hence, they are as close to the development of a junior as a senior. Perhaps this is why age is used vs. what grade you are entering to determine eligibility. Furthermore, they certainly weren't the only team that was primarily made up of '08 grads. In fact, that seemed to be the rule, not the exception (and verified on another national board). So, it's not like they were constantly playing a bunch of youngsters. I noticed some other teams (Texas Glory, Texas Elite, Georgia Knockouts, just to name a few) that primarily played 18U/18Gold (non-qualifiers) as a bunch of '08's all year long as well that played 16U nationals. By the way, the Georgian Knockouts put the hammer down on a LOT of 18U and some gold teams this summer at several tourneys and didn't make it near as far as the Cruisers. Additionally, while there is a lot of difference between a top level gold team and a top level 16U team, the difference between the elite 16U and a middle of the road gold competition is not that great. Kind of like the difference between your strong D2 school vs. the mid-level D1 schools....there's a lot of D2 schools who are capable of putting the beat down on some mid to lower level D1 schools. So, this team went out and played 18U/18Gold competition most of the summer, played extremely competitively against those teams, got their exposure, and then utilized all that experience gained playing against older kids to go out a win a national championship in the age group they were eligible for. Oh, not to mention they probably got some additional exposure doing it seeing as how one the primary components to getting exposure is you need to play a lot of games in a big tourney to increase the number of chances you get looks. Mission accomplished. Are there better options to getting exposure to the big time programs? Absolutely. Doesn't make it the wrong one. Was this the right decision for that team based on the talent level of the team? They are the best judges of that and I'm sure made their decision accordingly. Will playing in a 16U national get an '08 grad seen/signed to a top 25 program? Probably not, but that course had already been determined for '08s prior to that tourney......and, they had already played in some venues that could earlier in the year. Then again, who knows....the coaches were there and often times talent is judged by potential seen and team need. Realistically, there are only going to be a maximum of 100 players in the entire U.S. & Canada that will get signed to top 25 programs out of the '08 class and many of those were locked up before this summer began. Most of those 100 get taken up by players of the West Coast, Texas, and Florida.....just look at their rosters. It's tough to be a late bloomer these days! Certainly, they didn't hurt their chances with those mid-level D1 programs and other D2, NAIA, and JUCO schools that over 90% of college softball players play for anyway. Congratulations and good luck to these girls......they are certainly going to be playing college ball and getting an education while doing it somewhere in another year.

Congrats to the Cruisers. It is incredibly tough to win this tournament much less do it and go undefeated. The OC Batbusters were the heavy favorites to win so thanks for bringing home the trophy to the "South"!

It's really sad that they wait so long after the season has completed. Mississippi, Alabama, and Arkansas had their's named within a week a two or the state championships. For those girls that graduated in May, they will almost be attending college classes by the time they find out that they were honored in this way. For others, it comes out so late, I think it takes a little bit of the reward of being named out of it. Additionally, it comes out so late that a player can't build their "resume" to add to or improve their exposure opportunities for summer ball because the season is almost over when it comes out.

Anybody know who were the winners and top 3 teams in the 18 "A" championships in the USSSA & ASA tournaments recently?

Correction: Collierville vs. Powell. Collierville beat Munford 5 to 1 last night.