We wrap up our look at the top club teams across the nation in the 14U age division as we conclude the FloSoftball FAB 50 14U Rankings today. 

Each day this week we unveiled 10 teams and conclude here with the elite programs ranked 10-1. Tomorrow, we list the “Next In” teams—those who are next in line to jump into the FAB 50 rankings when it’s updated again.

The deciding factors in the ratings are team performances and results from the summer and fall along with the return of key players and the addition of talented new ones. 

Information was acquired by the FloSoftball staff watching teams in person as well as input provided by club and college coaches.

if we've missed anything or you would like to provide input on your favorite teams and players, send your info/insights to: Brentt.Eads@FloSports.TV.

10—Jersey Intensity

Kevin O’Donnell’s Jersey Intensity program is strong at every level and the 14U age team is no exception, having finished in the Top 15 last year and looking stronger in 2017 with some key additions.  The team had a great fall finishing with dominating performances at the Diamond 9 Sun Classic in Orland and the Surf City Pre-Thanksgiving Showcase in Huntington Beach. Leading the team is OF Jayda Kearney, ranked #21 in the 2020 Hot 100 and a Georgia commit. She is a five-tool player with tremendous power and speed. Also disruptive to the opposing defenses will be 2020 OF Lanay Bates, a James Madison commit who is a triple threat with blazing speed and who should swipe a ton of bases this summer.  P Kate Mulchahey (2020) took the Intensity deep into the week at PGF Nationals last year and has added some more pitches to her repertoire to shut down hitters. Complementing her in the circle will be 6-foot pitcher Jessie Rooney (2020), whose stock is soaring as colleges are discovering her big upside. Add to that duo is a 2021 pitcher in Kayla Gallagher, who has great spin and location to keep batters off-balance. With those three, you will have a dominating staff that should make the Intensity one of the favorites in any tournament they’re in this year.

9—Georgia Impact - Newland

The Impact finished 3rd as a second year 12U team at PGF Nationals two years ago and took 3rd at PGF 14U Platinum Nationals last summer. With pretty much everyone coming back (11 returners), this team is loaded with talent in the all the key spots. Add to that an upgrade in pitching with three new standout pitchers and Scott Newland’s team is poised to have its best year ever. Among the returners are several 2020 Hot 100 players: all-world SS Riley Blampied, an Alabama commit ranked #6; OF Allison Newland, #67 in the Hot 100 and a verbal to LSU and P/MIF Amber Linton, ranked #49 and currently uncommitted but getting SEC and ACC interest as a 5-foot-11 intimidating presence on the mound. Two more committed returners to watch are lefty 3B/2B Zoe Laneaux (Mississippi State, 2020) and 2B Zaquia Dumas (Michigan State, 2020). The new talent expected to take the Impact to the next level includes SS/OF Aniyah Black, who was 1st Team All-State in Georgia as a freshman last fall, and P Leah Powell (2020), who recently moved to the Peach State from Minnesota. She throws in the mid-60’s and has a drop ball that is hard to put the bat on. A sleeper to watch is P Abby Gravlin (2020), a 5-foot-9 new addition who had major Power 5 interest until a broken ankle last February took her off the recruiting map for a bit, but she’s healthy now and has regained her fastball speed at 64 mph with her spin and movement being better than ever.

8—Texas Impact Gold

Great athleticism is the calling card for Cheyenne Mata’s Impact Gold team which tied for 13th at PGF Nationals last summer and didn’t miss a beat in the fall going 30-1-1. Top performances included winning the Arizona Shootout and going undefeated at Ronald McDonald and the Mariucci Invitational. The Impact is deep with players who can play multiple positions and many can run 2.8 home-to-first or faster. Six on the team are triple threat slappers who can dominate the small game led by UT JaNaiya Thomas, a do-it-all player who was one of the first 2021’s to commit when she verballed to Houston.  She has 2.65 home-to-first speed while OF Haleigh Carter (2021); MIF/OF Ryleigh Mata (2021) and OF Mya Holmes (2021) all have speed in the 2.7 range.  Each of the trio is getting heavy interest in-state; in addition, Mata has a pair of offers and Holmes is looking at SEC schools like LSU and Texas A&M. The pitching runs three-deep with Megan Lee (2020), a power pitcher who throws in the mid-60’s; Raelin Chaffin (2021), who hits 63 mph on the gun and has Big 12 offers and SEC interest and lefty spin pitcher Madyson Blake (2020), who was rated #174 in the 2020 class by FloSoftball and has several offers already.

7—Atlanta Vipers - Holbrook

Jason Holbrook’s Vipers squad is loaded with talent, so much so that it has been invited to PGF Nationals this year after finishing 9th at ASA Nationals as a first year 14U team last summer and repeating as the Georgia ASA champs. Holbrook has been a head coach for 12 years and has experienced assistants in Denny Pritchett, who played Major League Baseball with the Cardinals and Emily Payne who competed at Georgia State. The Vipers have perhaps the top one-two lefty pitching duo in the age division with Haley Pittman (Auburn, 2020), a Florida star who has had over 120 K’s in high school ball this spring, and Skylar Trahan (2020), who is also headed to the SEC as she’s committed to South Carolina. Add to the mix P Madison Kerpics, who came over from the Thunderbolts this fall and has committed to Louisville, and you have a staff and team that will be competitive game in and game out. And catching them all will be the #12 ranked player in the 2020 Hot 100, Emily Wilkie, who is committed to Florida. The glut of riches doesn’t stop there: 2020 outfielders Jahni Kerr and Aaliyah White are lefty slappers who can fly and are both being heavily recruited by ACC, SEC and Big Ten schools. Additionally, IF Megan Bloodworth is rated as one of the best hitters in the 2021 class and has visited South Carolina, Alabama and Florida already.

6—Beverly Bandits Premier - Harkness

You pretty much can’t have a Top 10 in any age division anymore without including at least one Beverly Bandits team and for good reason: they’re talented, deep and well coached. Ramsey Harkness returns as the head man for the Premier 14 team and will stay with the team as it moves up through the program. Last year, this Bandits squad went 63-21-1 and finished 3rd at the USA Elite Championship, 7th at PGF Nationals and 9th at the Boulder IDT. The Bandits have a healthy balance of pitching, speed and power. In the circle, Estell Czech, a 2020 committed to Pitt, is a lefty who has only pitched for three years but has as much upside as anyone with her nasty change-up and a nice overall array of pitches. The speed and athleticism starts with CF/2B Hallie Wacaser, a Florida State verbal and the #65 ranked player in the 2020 Hot 100. Speed also comes from 2B/CF Kalista Case (2021) and SS/UT Easton Lotus (2021), both of whom are uncommitted but will see their stock skyrocket this summer. 1B/OF Gabby Altobelli (2020), committed to Wisconsin, is the power threat along with Wacaser and SS/UT Anna Holloway (2021). Another key contributor to the team is 3B/SS Cassidy Grimm (2020, uncommitted), who was #84 in the Hot 100 and is a fierce competitor who one coach says is “as tough as nails and not afraid of anything.” Like many Bandits hitters, she has excellent foot and bat speed.

5—Firecrackers - TJ

TJ Houshmandzadeh played in the NFL and knows talent and how to motivate players; his Firecrackers team was one of five first-year 14’s to qualify for PGF last summer and the SoCal-based program will return again this year. One fellow coach says of the team, “The Firecrackers are very good... they could beat anyone in the country at any time and have proven it.” Over the last year, the Firecrackers won the TCS Fireworks Sparkler NIT and were invited to the Colorado Jr. Sparkler Power Pool.  Good teams attract good players and Houshmandzadeh is finding great talent across California, but for one of his top players he doesn’t have to look far—it’s his daughter, Kennedi, who is a shortstop committed to LSU and ranked #36 in the 2020 Hot 100. She has tremendous defensive range and a great arm and is one of the top middle infielders in the nation. The defense is further strengthened by C Ryleigh Carricaburu, a Michigan verbal who came in at #33 on the 2020 Hot 100 and has the arm to throw out the fastest runners while hitting with great power.  The pitching is anchored by 2020 Grace Uribe, who throws in the low 60’s and at 5-foot-10 is athletic enough to play the outfield and hit from both sides. Uribe visited Texas in January and is hearing from Pac-12 and Big Ten schools as well. Two young 2021’s to watch are P Amanda Johnson, who moves the ball well up and down and has good bloodlines as her mother Debbie DeJohn pitched at Florida State, and 2B/P Taylor Stephens, who is drawing SEC and Pac-12 interest as a pitcher/hitter with excellent athletic tools.

4—So Cal Choppers - Fausett

Gary Fausett, who works with the younger age divisions, and his son, Dean, who typically coaches the 18U Chopper teams, are two of the best teaching coaches in the game and instill sound fundamentals in their players so it’s not a surprise that their teams always seem to finish in the Top 5 or 10 in whatever tournament they’re in. Last year, the Choppers finished tied for 5th at PGF Nationals and finished 2nd at Boulder IDT, losing a heart-breaker when a player committed an error with the Choppers ahead and with two outs in the 7th inning.  Nevertheless, the team will be a favorite to go all the way this year if only because star pitcher Jesse Fontes, the #20 player in the 2020 Hot 100, is back and one of the dominant aces at any level. Fontes throws a screwball and curve and has ice water in her veins on the mound, but Fausett admits the workhorse, who pitched 11 games at PGF last year, wore out at the end of Nationals last summer. However, that shouldn’t be a problem this summer as the team picked up a strong 2020 pitcher in Ava Justman, who has a killer change-up, screw and riseball and is hearing from schools in the SEC and Oregon. She pitched for 3D last summer and stunned one of the PGF 14U Nationals tournament favorites, the OC Batbusters 02 team, when she defeated them 1-0 in the first round of bracket play. The one-two combo of Fontes and Justman should keep the Choppers in most games independent of the offense, but the bats and speed are more than up to the task as well. RF Lauryn Carter is #55 in the 2020 Hot 100 because she can do it all as a five-tool player and is hearing from most Pac-12 schools. Also, keep an eye on a player the Choppers’ coaches are really high on in Allie Enright, a 2021 centerfielder that Fausett says is “special” and “plays like the Tasmanian Devil.” One of the fastest players on the team, she is sought after by schools like UCLA, Cal and Stanford already. And the power game is there too or as the coach puts it, “We have some ball smashers,” such as 5-foot-11 1B Grace Keene (2021) who is a big, tall player who can crush the ball.

3—Tampa Mustangs - TJ

The future is bright for T.J. Goelz’s Mustangs team which finished 3rd at PGF 14U Nationals last summer—the highest finishing first year 14U team—and came oh-so-close to making the championship game as it lost in extra innings in the semis to the Corona Angels. The Mustangs also took 3rd at the Colorado Sparkler tourney, losing to the eventual champion So Cal A’s-Mercado team that not only won that event, but took PGF Nationals as well (and has moved up to 16U this year). This fall, the momentum has continued for the Florida team as it went undefeated at Scenic City and the Elite Florida Classic and finished 6-1 at the Diamond9 tournament in Orlando. Overall, Goelz’s team went 107-22 (.829) in 2016 with a 32-6 mark in the fall. The team doesn’t lose any players although three standouts, C C Kaia LoPreste (Florida State commit, 2019); 3B/UT Jada Smallwood (2020) and 3B/UT Ashleigh Robinson, will play in open age showcases but won’t be at nationals as they aren’t age eligible. Still, the returning talent and new pick-ups make the Mustangs one of the favorites to win every tourney they play in including nationals. Leading the way is the coach’s daughter, Avery Goelz, a 1B/CF ranked #2 in the 2020 Hot 100 and a Florida commit. She is perhaps the most gifted all-around hitter in the class and can do it all on the field. Joining her is OF/UT McKenzie Clark (2020), who has offers from SEC, ACC and AAC programs; SS/2B Kali Reis, ranked #87 in the 2020 Hot 100 and a Central Florida commit, 1B/OF Taylor Woodring (2020), ranked #177 in her class with heavy interest from ACC and Big Ten programs and 3B/C Emma Anthony (2020), who has ACC and Big Ten offers. A promising 2021 to watch will be OF/UT Kendra Falby, one of the fastest players in her class as she was All-State in track as a 7th grader. Falby is a leadoff lefty slapper and great table-setter and is already being heavily recruited. Pitchers Payton Kinney and Devyn Mulligan, who combined to lead the team to the PGF Nationals semis, will be the keys to the team’s success and if the pitching matches the rest of the team’s firepower, the Mustangs could take a national championship back to the Sunshine State.

2—Corona Angels - Tyson

Marty Tyson, the head of the Angels’ organization, always coaches the top 18U and 14U teams in his program and he’ll spearhead this talented group which previously was the Corona Angels-Dom 2020 team, coached by his daughter Dominique. She couldn’t have put together a better team for her father to take into the summer as the squad finished 2nd last summer at PGF 14U Nationals, losing to the A’s-Mercado team which dominated the division with players going to Power 5 schools like Oklahoma, LSU, UCLA, Arizona and South Carolina. The path is wide-open now for a new 14U champion and Tyson will try to get another 14U title following in the footsteps of the 2014 squad, which was led by P Megan Faraimo, a UCLA commit. The 2017 14U team is led by one of the top batteries in the 2020 class, P Sarah Willis, committed to Auburn and ranked #24 in the Hot 100, and C Hannah Lerma, #55 in the Hot 100 and a Central Florida commit. Another pitcher to watch is 2001 lefty Savannah Hooks, who has committed to UCLA and throws hard with great movement. She has been a “go to” pitcher for the past three years and has become an excellent swing-and-miss pitcher. Other elite athletes to watch includes IF Caliyah Thompson (2020), a Tennessee commit; C/OF Ryley West (2020), also headed to the Vols; SS Camyl Armendariz (2020), verballed to Nebraska; 1B Alexi Barroso (2020), a Michigan State pledge and two other 2021 stars-in-the making in 2B Savannah Polamalu, a five-tool slapper committed to UCLA who can play small ball, slap, power slap and swing away, and MIF/OF Sydney Sanders, who recently committed to Arizona State. Sanders is a tremendous power hitter who hits shots to the gaps like an 18U player. Says one prominent club coach, “This team has it all—they can hit, has two of the best 02 pitchers in the country and don’t make mistakes. They have a chance to be No. 1 when it’s all said and done.”

1—OC Batbusters - Campbell

Mark Campbell is one of the top softball coaches in the country, both at the club level—where he’s won National Championships—and in the high school ranks where he always has Pacifica High of Garden Grove, California poised to go deep in the playoffs. A great developer of talent, he had a strong team last year which was a favorite to win the PGF 14U National Championship; however, a surprising 1-0 first-round loss knocked the Batbusters to the loser’s bracket where it had to battle all the way back to the semis where the So Cal team lost 2-0 to the eventual champion A’s Mercado team. Still, Campbell’s team finished with an 8-2 record—the most wins in the age division at Nationals—and gained valuable experience for the first year 14U players who now are motivated to go all the way in 2017. Despite losing some key players from last year’s team who moved up to Mike Stith’s 18U powerful team—standouts like C/IF Sharlize Palacios (Arizona verbal, 2019), P/IF Jadelyn Allchin (Washington, 2019) and SS Maya Brady (UCLA, 2019), there are six 2020 Hot 100 players coming back to make this as one elite club coach put it, “An awesome team and one of the top teams in the country.” After finishing 3rd at PGF, the Batbusters 02 team won the PGF Ultimate Challenge in Salinas, California defeating two other top 15 FAB 50 14U teams and, playing 18U teams at D9 in Orlando, went 4-1. The key for this team and the advantage that could make them the national champions is franchise players at key positions. The power comes from the #2 player in the 2020 Hot 100, Zaida Puni (uncommitted), who has an explosive bat and could be the top long-ball threat in the age division. She hit .458 with a 1.042 slugging percentage including four home runs at PGF Nationals against elite pitching. Speaking of pitching, Morgan Smith, #13 in the Hot 100 and an LSU commit, is a 5-foot-10 great athlete with mid-60’s speed and good off-speed stuff. SS Tiare Jennings, ranked #17 in the Hot 100, has committed to Oklahoma and is a three-sport athlete who is one of the top defensive infielders in the country. Other FloSoftball 2020 Hot 100 standouts include Giulia “G” Koutsoyanopulos, #22 in the Hot 100 and an Arizona commit, who is a standout defender at first base and hits for power; OF Emily Cazares, #62 in the Hot 100 and a Tennessee commit, who is a natural lefty with 2.6 speed home to first and C Camille Marin, #96 ranked in the Hot 100 and who is an advanced catcher with strong blocking skills and pop in her bat. Carin won a PGF 12U National Championship and could be a force in helping Mark Campbell’s team win it all this year. But the long-time coach would be the first to admit that there are dozens of teams who have the talent, fire and motivation to peak at the right time and win it all. It’s a great year for teams at the 14U level and it will be fun to watch come late summer who puts it all together when it counts!

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