Pictured: Amanda Berkley, a junior from Maryland, picked a college close to home.

We’re just hours away from Thanksgiving and on behalf of the entire FloSports team, especially from Brentt, Chez and Sarah with FloSoftball, we want to wish you a very happy holiday and hope you have a lot of fun with family and friends!

Before that, though, we have softball to talk about (we always have softball to talk about!) and have commitments and news from around the nation…

*** Interesting walking around the fields last weekend at the Surf City Early Thanksgiving Showcase as we talked to many club and college coaches and learned that some top players—even Hot 100 players—have either not signed or, if younger, have de-committed and are back on the recruiting market.

It’s a domino effect where a university didn’t get a player it thought it would get and so start looking at others at the position and in the year they need.

Can’t mention names for obvious reasons, but we know some colleges were at the event looking to fill holes in their recruiting classes and you’ll see a handful of elite players going to schools other than where we thought they would.

Stay tuned… as the players make their changes we’ll let you know about it as it happens!

*** Some news concerning younger players from the Surf City Tournament we didn’t get in for our report over the weekend titled “Highlights from the Early Thanksgiving Showcase” piece:

--- We told you about several standouts on the Texas Glory-Naudin team… two more of note are Jaycee Cook, a 2019 P/UT player who has schools like Baylor, Kansas and Texas Tech showing interest.

According to Kevin Shelton, head of the Glory, “Jaycee has good control and keeps the ball down.  She gets ground balls and hits good spots and just gets people out.  Jaycee is good at making adjustments and isn’t overpowering—she’s around 60 mph right now—but gets the job done.”

And to prove his point, we watched her pitch to four batters—all were ground outs to the infield.

Another player of note on the Naudin team is Lindsay Edwards, a 2016 3B/C/UT player who recently committed to Louisiana Tech.

“Lindsay can catch, play third and hits for power to all fields,” adds Shelton. “She also is a leader on the field with her play and example.”

--- The Texas Blaze program has a lot of young talent and last weekend put together a strong 16U “National” team of players who aren’t committed yet.  Watching the team play, here are five prospects we thought looked good:

• 3B/UT Amber Gonzales (2017): She hits well, is great on defense and is surprisingly under the radar but will be an excellent pick-up for someone
• P/OF Regan Dunn (2018): A right-hander who spins well but at the plate is a lefty slapper with speed.  She helps the team win in many ways because of her solid all-around game.
• P Jalissa Alicea (2019): A young lefty with tons of spin, look for her stock to skyrocket over the next year.
• P/UT Taylor Bachmeyer (2019): Taylor is in the 60s already and has schools in the Big Ten and Big 12 looking at her. Her strength may be her competitiveness… she doesn’t back down from anyone or any situation.
• P/1B Kamryn Caldwell (2019): Like Bachmeyer, this righty is in the 60s and getting Big Ten and Big 12 interest.  Her command of the zone is what impresses most at this point.

*** The DeMarini Aces run by Ryan Taylor, continue to produce players going to top schools and the latest is 2017 C/MIF Nicole Duncan, an All-State player from Missouri, who committed to the University of Arkansas.

According to Coach Taylor, “Nicole took several visits throughout the SEC and Pac-12 and found her home at Arkansas.  She fell in love with the campus and the new coaching staff.  Courtney and her staff did an excellent job recruiting Nicole.”

Nicole hit 12 home runs last year to lead the Aces during the club season and in high school ball this fall she hit 14 dingers, only one off the Missouri state high school record.

In other Aces news, 2016 C/3B Lindey Kneib, who had committed to Indiana, has decided to attend Harvard instead.

The Aces overall had a strong fall including going 5-0 at the Veterans Tribute Showcase a few weeks ago in Atlanta.

One of the stars was uncommitted 2017 pitcher Madison Preston who had games with seven, seven and 13 strikeouts and for the fall had 89 K’s in 51 innings.

Says Taylor, “Madison will be lining up her visits with plenty of options to play softball and obtain her nursing degree.”

Another player of note: 2017 Missouri commit Kendyll Bailey hit .426 at the Veterans Tribute with half her hits being extra base hits.

*** Amanda Berkley, a 5-foot-8 right-handed pitcher and utility player in the 2017 class for the Maryland Cyclones, is headed to Mount St. Mary’s.

She attends Sherwood High in Maryland and is a key cog on the Warriors, who have won four straight 4A state titles.

Amanda recently pitched a no hitter in the D9 Sun Classic against Team Florida and earlier helped her team place 2nd in the ASA Eastern Nationals where she pitched four games on Sunday to get the Cyclones to the championship. 

She can also hit and finished the spring/summer season with a batting average of .486 while in the circle she struck out 100 batters in 156 innings.

A starter on the Sherwood varsity team since her freshman year, Amanda and the Warriors set a state record for wins at 83-0 over the last four years.  The current junior batted .536 and earned 1st Team All County honors last spring and was the only sophomore honored.

The Maryland Cyclones have already earned a berth to the 18A ASA Nationals in Indiana and Amanda is excited to play in that event. 

According to the athlete’s father, Larry, “Amanda wanted to play and attend a university close to home so her family and friends could watch her play and with the Mountaineers she has realized her dream.”

***

A young team that’s winning on the field and in the recruiting process is the Carolina Elite 14U Gold team coached by Josh Fisher.

Two standout 2019s—SS/1B Hannah Goodwin and P/1B Bailey Betenbaugh—took unofficial visits to Georgia last weekend.

Another player on that trip to the Bulldogs’ campus was 3B/OF Savannah Huff, a 2018 who had originally committed to USC-Upstate but is back on the market now.

Goodwin and Betenbaugh attended the Georgia football game on Saturday and then on Sunday joined the Elite team in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina to finish out the Battle of the Beach tournament which the Elite won the 14 Gold division by going 8-0.

Josh Fisher’s team outscored the opponents 84-8 enroute to winning the title.

Finally, one more player to watch on the team is 2019 catcher Emily Ayers who blasted a home run in the tournament that went over the 225 foot mark last weekend.

She is receiving interest from The College of Charleston and UNC - Wilmington, both of which she has unofficial visits scheduled for later this month.

***  Speaking of teams to watch, the So Cal Athletics TO-Mercado team lit it up this fall and will be one of the leading contenders to make the FloSoftball FAB 50 Club Rankings which we’ll run in December.

To submit info on your favorite 16U team for consideration in the FAB 50, e-mail: Brentt.Eads@FloSports.tv!

Playing a tough scheduled against top teams—many of the best in the West, especially—the A’s went 35-3-2 for the fall… here are some of the highlights of the team’s big wins over the last few months:

• PGF Shootout: champions going undefeated 7-0-1 with a tie against Beverly Bandits Conroy team in pool play. The win gave the team a paid entry into PGF Nationals for 2016
• Diamond 9 Sun Fall Classic: against a tough schedule went 5-1-1 with the tie being Beverly Bandits DeMarini and the loss being to a 18U team Carolina Cardinals
• AZ USSSA Thanksgiving Shootout: champions going undefeated at 7-0
• Don Battles On Triple Crown: champions going undefeated 7-0 and won the paid entry into Colorado for 2016

*** Another project we’re working on is the 2019 Hot 100 list which is scheduled to be launched in January.

Submit player information to be considered for the 2019 Hot 100 rankings by e-mailing Brentt.Eads@FloSports.tv

One player under consideration is C/OF Celeste Soliz, a lefty slapper and power hitter who plays for Angels Premier club team out of Dallas.

Celeste has led the team in batting average for the two years and as the lead-off hitter last year finished with .393 hitting average and on-base percentage of .517.

This fall she’s improved on her numbers, hitting at a .422 clip and improving her OBP to .546.

Celeste is expected to be the starting varsity catcher for Lovejoy High, the Texas 5A Division Champs last year, in the spring even though she’ll be just a freshman.  She caught for the high school varsity fall ball team and led the team with a .611 average.  

Her skills at the plate haven’t gone unnoticed as she’s being recruited and has had visits to Lamar, Louisiana Tech, San Jose State and more recently Purdue and Michigan.  

Celeste plans on selecting a college by next fall and is highly interested in top engineering programs. She wants to work in robotics or mechanical engineering and build robotic limbs to help people who have lost mobility.

Here is a YouTube link to a series of videos of Celete hitting, fielding and working out:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLurwUDIrWiN...

***

Camryn Michallas 2018 3B/SS from Beverly Bandits Demarini 16 has committed to play at Akron. She had interest from Michigan, Missouri, James Madison and Marshall as well.

***

Another Texan whose stock is on the rise is Rhein Trochim, a 2017 outfielder with the Texas Rapid Fire Gold team who committed to Illinois on October 21.

Rhein was a 1st Team All-state honoree and the 12-6A Offensive MVP as a sophomore and was a 2nd Team All-District outfielder as a freshman.

On the club side, she helped the Rapid Fire Gold win the 2014 Triple Crown Sports Texas State Championship with wins over strong programs like Impact Gold-Jackson, Texas Glory and Sudden Impact.

Rhein reportedly had an offer from Baylor and was being recruiting by Texas as well before she choose the Illini out of the Big Ten.

She also has a promising younger sister, Kadyn, who’s a 2019 middle infielder who plays for the Rapid Fire as well.

***

Finally, one of the fun parts of the job is to write-up “sleepers” who aren’t national names yet, but end up being significant recruits down the line.  Nothing makes us happier than to profile a “Rising Star” and months later see her commit to a big school.

One in that vein is Gracee Dwyer, a 2018 SS/3B/OF who attends University High in Spokane, Washington and plays for the Spokane Mudhens 18U team.

She is getting DI and DII interest after being named a unanimous All-Conference pick out of the Greater Spokane League (fastpitch) as a freshman last spring.

This fall she was MVP of the Fall Slowpitch League (yes, Spokane does both!).

Gracee also showcased her athleticism at an NFCA Camp in Portland this year where she had the top arm speed of any of the 300 athletes.

As a high school freshman, she hit .543 with 30 RBI.

On the club side, she has been asked to guest for other teams in Washington and Idaho and several club and college coaches are giving her praise for her game.

Definitely a player to watch over the next few years…