We’re up to our elbows working on the FAB 50 14U Club Rankings and are tentatively looking at releasing Thursday.

As would be expected, there’s been a lot of movement with teams and players as break-through athletes have been bumped up to 16U and even 18U teams.

A good example is pitcher Megan Fariamo, one of the top 2018’s at any position. She all but carried the Corona Angels – Tyson team to the PGF 14U National Championship last year—so much so that Head Coach Marty Tyson gave her championship trophy!

I confirmed today that Megan will be pitching for Coach Tyson’s 18U Gold team so her presence will be sorely missed on the defending champion 14U team… so if she’s gone and the Angels can’t find a worthy replacement, then many feel that the team most likely to be the 14U favorite heading into the Nationals run this summer will be…

… the So Cal A’s – TO team.

Coached by Brian Tidd, Dave Mercado, Greg Testa and Fernando Ornelas, the strength of the A’s is that most of the players have been together for four years.

Talk about continuity and cohesiveness.

One parent says, “There is very little turn over on this team because the girls are solid, the coaches are solid and believe it or not the parents are solid.  The secret to this team’s success is that it is a group of girls and parents who are not selfish or believe that their daughter is better than the next. It is a true team, with amazing coaches.”

This TO team is part of the Gamers Academy founded by Coaches Tidd and Mercado that has developed some very talented teams and players the past five years including the past two 12U National Championship teams (2103 So Cal A’s – TO and 2014 So Cal A’s – Mercado/Smith).

Many experts feel that he TO team is the one to beat and it all starts with great pitching as the team has three strong hurlers returning in Payton Tidd, who we profiled on Friday in the article Q&A with star pitcher Payton Tidd, Breanna Vasquez and Mia Marinakis.

Here are other players listed by position:

• Catchers: Karissa Ornelas (UCF), Arianna Miranda
• Infielders: Alexis Orozco, Kenzie Bolin (Utah State), Kassandra Torres, Jayda Su’e
• Outfielders: Tera Testa (UCF), Alexa Neil, Savannah Hewitt, Damaria Cannon, Emily Tidd (Utah State)

Click on this link to see the team’s website (scroll down to see players)

Below are some of the major accomplishments of the team for the past three years. Some may question why they’re so highly ranked after not winning in Colorado and placing 7^th at PGF Nationals.

Upon further inspection, the team played games in 21 of the 31 days in July last summer including three seven-day tournaments and was admittedly fairly tired by the time PGF ended.

With the strong corps back, the A’s showed a glimpse of their promise last weekend as they played up and won the February Frost 16U tournament run by Triple Crown Sports in San Diego.

There are a lot of talented teams across the nation who are more than ready to take the No. 1 baton if the A’s-TO team falters, but out of the gate, many are predicting that this team based in Temecula, Calif. has all the ingredients to be the favorite to take a national title in approximately six months.

For the coaches, they simply love to be involved with these talented players.

“I love teaching and coaching this group of young athletes,” adds Coach Tidd. “They truly are family to me, Fernando, Greg and David. They do everything that is asked of them and with more passion than you could imagine. Their success is based on their love for each other and not backing down from any task. They play one pitch at a time and learned early on that nothing is given to them only earned.”

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Here are some of the A’s-TO team highlights from the last two seasons:

2013-2014: (1st Year 14U)

• 2^ndColorado Jr Sparkler
• 3^rdASA 14 U Nationals
• 7^thPGF 14U Nationals
• 2014 PGF Nationals Qualified Texas Qualifier 14U
• 2014 ASA Nationals Qualified So Cal Qualifier 14U
• Champions – SCA’s Mothers day Classic 14U
• Champions – TCS Aprils Finest 14U
• Champions – TCS March Mayhem 14U
• Champions – TCS President’s Day 14U
• Champions – TCS Arizona FroShow 16U
• Champions – Artesia Punishers Balloween 14U
• 3rd Place So Cal Finest Worth Cup 16U

2012-2013: (2nd Year 12U)

• National Champions (PGF) Premier Girls Fastpitch 12U
• National Champions Triple Crown Sports 12U
• Champions – TCS April Finest 14U
• Champions – TCS Presidents Day 14U
• Champions – TCS February Frost 14U
• Champions – American A’s Toys for Tots 12U