OCTOBER 20 UPDATE

 

COMMITMENTS

Jennie Holtz 2007, Pitcher- All American Sports Academy 18 Gold, Verbally Committed to Mercer University.

Heather Karasek 07 P Wagners , North County HS verbal to Wheeling Jesuit University, WV

Amanda M. Centeno, 3RD, Jets, to Rider University, NJ

Sudden Impact Gold(Texas--Pete Kirchberg

Molly McNeil,  University of Louisiana-Monroe,2007,  1B

Katie Hinton,  Campbell University, 2007  Utility

Katie Beth Sherman, University of Houston, 2007, OF

Alyce Rother, Texas State University, 2007, OF

 

UNSIGNED  2007 SENIORS

Sudden Impact Gold (Texas)  Kirchberg pkirchberg@direcway.com

Karla Rodriguez, Pitcher/1B, St Pius High School-Houston 2007

Carolina Lady Blues Elite
Head Coach Adrian Ochoa ochoa4@yahoo.com

Kayla Hoyle, Outfield    3.52 GPA    980 SAT, has retaken
Mallorey Krodel, Outfield  4.0 GPA   980 SAT, has retaken

 VALLEY INVITATIONAL EXPOSURE TOURNAMENT

Commissioner Mike Wells advises:  “2007 will be the 15th year for the Valley Invitational College Exposure Tournament & NFCA Recruiting Camp.  The dates are June 15-17, 2007.  Our website is www.mrsoftballinc.com    The NFCA Camp will be at the Hillsboro Stadium Complex as will the 18 Gold Division Games. 

 

Last year with had 112 teams participate in the tournament.  We limited it to 32 teams in the 18 Gold Bracket.  36 in the 18A Bracket and 44 in the 16A Bracket.

 

This year we will be adding All Star Games on Friday night following the NFCA Camp.  We are also one of the few exposure tournaments that actually has championship play on Sunday.  We guarantee all teams a minimum of  3 games in pool play on Saturday and a minimum of 2 games in championship play on Sunday.  Each of our three championship brackets breaks into a Gold & Silver elimination bracket so we actually have 6 brackets going on at one time.  Teams that reach the final and 3rd/4th place game in each bracket end up playing 8 games over the weekend.  We have three major softball complexes all within 3 miles of each other. 

 

Our first year we had 32 colleges represented.  Last year we had 57.  It is one of the few opportunities that the college coaches get to see the better Canadian teams from BC and Alberta.

 

 

NEW TENNESSEE STADIUM

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee Lady Vol donor Sherri Lee and her family were celebrated on Friday afternoon during a reception at the Neyland Stadium East Club and a ceremonial groundbreaking at the site of the new Lee Softball Stadium for their majority contribution towards completion of the new facility.  The complex is currently being constructed off Stephenson Drive on the UT campus next to the new Regal Soccer Stadium.  Shovel-fills of dirt were “officially” moved on the new state-of-the-art facility for the two-time Women’s College World Series participant Lady Vol softball program.

“This is a great day for the Lady Vol Athletic Department,” Women’s Athletics Director Joan Cronan said.  “The Lee Softball Stadium will be one of the finest facilities not only on this campus but in the entire country.  Our goal at the University of Tennessee has always been to provide the finest facilities for our student-athletes to utilize during their careers.  This ceremony is about a groundbreaking, a family and a team.  For Sherri Lee to step up and make this commitment means a great deal to the University of Tennessee.  We all want to say thank you to her and her family for their incredible efforts to improve the UT softball program.”

The new Lee Softball Stadium will feature a state of the art press box, private boxes and VIP suites, a digital scoreboard with video playback capabilities, 1,581 seats and three locker rooms.  Each team will have its own locker room facility under the stadium complex.  The Lady Vols will have a 6,500 square-foot training facility directly adjacent with a locker room, film room, player lounge, training room, kitchen, meeting rooms and coaches offices.  The dimensions will be 220’ to center field and 200’ to left and right field.

“This is a dream come true for Lady Vol softball,” Lady Vol co-head coaches Ralph and Karen Weekly said.  “The 6,500 square-foot locker room will give our players and staff all of the possible amenities available today.  The facility will include a theater with the most up-to-date technical advantages with a jumbotron scoreboard.  Sherri Lee and her family have been very gracious in their gifts that benefit all current and future Tennessee softball players.”

“This stadium and this program mean a lot to me personally,” Sherri Lee said.  “I enjoy athletics a great deal, and feel that it is very important for women to have the best available opportunities and facilities in order to compete at the highest-level in athletics.”

ASA BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Stacey Nuveman and Michael White selected to ASA Board of Directors
10/18/2006

Oklahoma City, Okla.---By a vote of their peers, USA Softball National Team members Stacey Nuveman (La Verne, Calif.) and Michael White (Sioux City, Iowa) have been elected as the athlete representatives on the Board of Directors for the Amateur Softball Association effective November 10, 2006. Nuveman and White join former National Team member Amy Hillenbrand (Tucson, Ariz.) who has two years remaining in her term as the USOC Athlete Advisory Committee Representative on the ASA Board.

Nuveman is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and current member of the USA Softball Women’s National Team. She helped lead the U.S. to its first World Cup of Softball title in 2006 and its sixth consecutive ISF Women’s World Championship this past summer in Beijing, China.

White is a current member of the USA Softball men’s national team and helped the U.S. to a gold medal at the 2003 Pan American Qualifier in Guatemala and a gold medal at the 2006 AAU Men’s Fastpitch Championship in Orlando, Fla.

Hillenbrand won a gold medal with the USA Women’s National Team during the 1998 ISF Women’s World Championship in Fujinomiya, Japan. She is a current member of the USA Softball Women’s National Team selection committee that is charged with selecting teams to represent the ASA at various international events including the 2008 Olympics.

These athlete representatives will join 12 other elected officials from the Amateur Softball Association to form a restructured Board of Directors that will consist of 15 members rather than the 34 that are currently serving.

After a vote of the ASA National Council during the 2006 National Council Meeting, the ASA Board of Directors will consist of the President, the President Elect, Immediate Past President, three athlete representatives elected by the athletes, one at-large member elected annually by the Board of Directors and eight territorial representatives that will be elected by the Council delegates from their respective territory during the 2006 ASA National Council Meeting.

The newly formed ASA Board of Directors will hold their first meeting on November 10, 2006 in Colorado Springs at the conclusion of the 2006 ASA National Council Meeting.

NFCA LEADOFF CLASSIC

NFCA Division I Leadoff Classic Field Announced
 10/17/06 - NFCA Release

Twenty of the nation’s top collegiate softball teams, including three that advanced to NCAA Super Regional play, will converge on Columbus, Ga., Feb. 23-25 for the 2007 NFCA Leadoff Classic.

Those three teams, Michigan, Florida State and Massachusetts, lead a list of 17 NCAA regional squads who will compete in the 12th annual tournament at South Commons Stadium and Complex.

In addition to the three that claimed regional championships, Auburn, Baylor, Coastal Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Hofstra, Illinois State, Lehigh, Nebraska, North Carolina, Southern Illinois, Tennessee Tech and Virginia Tech all extended their seasons with regional berths. DePaul, Mississippi State and Seton Hall round out the field of 20 squads that will take part in the 12th annual tournament.

Seven of the squads earned national rankings in the final 2006 USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll, with three teams — No. 10 Michigan, No. 13 Georgia and No. 14 Nebraska — ranked in the top 15. Regional champions Massachusetts and Florida State moved into the final rankings at Nos. 24 and 25, while Baylor and Auburn earned concurrent rankings at Nos. 20 and 21.

Utilizing a slightly different format from years past, the Leadoff Classic features four, five-team pools. The four pool winners will compete in the gold championship bracket, while the second-place team from each pool will compete in the silver bracket. The third-place team in each pool will advance to the bronze bracket, and the fourth and fifth-place finishers in each pool will play in the blue and green brackets, respectively.

For schedule and ticket information, visit the Leadoff Classic homepage.

NEW JERSEY BAT BAN

The Law & Public Safety Committee of the New Jersey Legislature voted 4 to 2 Thursday in favor of sending the proposal to the full Assembly, which could vote on it in December. Four Democrats, including a key sponsor, Assemblyman Patrick J. Diegnan (D-Middlesex), voted in favor while Republicans voted in opposition.

The legislation would ban aluminum, titanium and so-called composite metal bats from all organized baseball and softball games involving children age 17 and under. Players would have to use wooden bats.

The ban would affect more than 192,000 youngsters who play Little League, Babe Ruth, PONY and travel team baseball and softball leagues, as well as players on 370 American Legion and more than 400 high school teams.

Ray Vander May, the Seton Hall University softball coach for the past 10 years, told the panel banning metal bats is not the answer to potential safety problems in girls' softball. Vander May said the answer may be in moving the pitching mound farther from home plate. At present, the mound in Little League girls' softball is 40 feet from home plate. In boys' baseball, the mound is 46 feet away.

"I am adamantly against aluminum bats in the game but maybe we can revisit the softball aspect of it," Diegnan said. After the hearing, Diegnan said any amendment could be made on the Assembly floor.

"In all honesty, I didn't think of the difference in the pitcher's mound in softball," he said. "Moving it back could address the concern in a different way."

A long list of college and youth baseball coaches and officials spoke against the legislation, including Scott Bradley, the Princeton University coach and former major league infielder, and Rick Freeman, a Rutgers University assistant coach. The chief executive of Little League International and the heads of Babe Ruth, PONY League and American Legion in New Jersey were among the opponents. They argued that metal bats are not dangerous to players.

Bradley said metal bats improve the performance of average players and give them encouragement to stay interested in baseball.

"This is about youth baseball and participation," he said. "We are losing a lot of kids to different sports. It is important to keep baseball alive."


rfh

 

 

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