Last January, Full Count Softball profiled a club out of Illinois, the Mizuno Hawks and its owner and 16U coach Bill Judge. Click here to read about the history of the team and more background info.

The Mizuno Hawks-Judge 16U team was flying a bit under the radar 11 months ago when we first profiled the Midwest program, but that’s not the case anymore primarily because the Hawks logged a lot of miles this fall to get the players the exposure they need.

Here’s a list of the places the Hawks played over the last few months:

• Texas Mizuno Impulse Invite Showcase, (Dallas Texas)
• Surf City October Showcase (Huntington Beach, Calif.)
• Texas Ronald McDonald Showcase (Houston Texas)
• Arizona Hotshots Invite Showcase, (Phoenix, Ariz.)
• Surf City Early Thanksgiving Tournament (Huntington Beach, Calif.)

Beyond those five key events, Coach Judge and the Hawks also found the time to compete in three more local showcase tournaments as well as winning their early fall ASA/USA National Qualifier tournament making it a total of nine tournaments played this fall!

The Hawks did secure an ASA bid to Nationals, meaning they’ll make the finals for the seventh year in a row.

Next summer will probably be much of the same busy schedule as the team is scheduled to play in the Super 32 bracket at the Colorado Fireworks after taking 2^nd at 12U last year and will attempt to play on the big Nationals stage in California later in 2015.

“We will probably attempt to bid in PGF,” says Judge. “We would like to attend PGF Nationals and see how we do there as well. We have been out to California numerous times over the last three years and have shown well.”

Mizuno Hawks – Judge has had two players recently— catcher Jessica Cothern and pitcher Kendal Judge—participate in the National Elite West Coast Camp produced by OnDeck Softball and one player, Taylor Bowman, who participated in the East Coast National Elite Elite Camp in Georgia this year. In addition. numerous players worked out in the OnDeck Jamborees.

Kendal, daughter of the head coach and a 2016 Hot 100 honoree, is one of five D1 commits on the roster. Here’s a Player Profile done in August 2014 spotlighting the standout pitcher (who several college coaches have already said should be ranked higher in the 2016 Hot 100!).

Three other D1 commits from the team have moved up to 18U or transferred to a different organization.

Here is a list of the current players and their schools as well as those who have moved on or moved up:

Current Mizuno Hawks 16U Players

• Isabell Alexander – Boston University
• Taylor Bowman – Valparaiso
• Jessica Cothern – DePaul
• Kendal Judge – Minnesota
• Alexis Rogers – Tennessee-Martin University

Players Moved On or Up

• Morgan Greenwood – DePaul
• Katie Krzun – Georgia Tech
• Kristen Zarate – IPFW University (Mizuno Hawks 18U)

Judge feels the competitive scheduling and willingness to travel to play top-level competition is paying off for his program:

“I feel interest is rising throughout the collegiate community for the simple fact that the team competes week in and week out against the highest level of competition,” he explains. “We have also been invited to many key smaller venues that garner a lot of exposure from the collegiate community which helps.”

Not bad, he adds, for a relatively small local bunch of girls.

“We are not built like other clubs that draw from a large geographic area. We are more local and do our best to develop and refine our talent.”

As we detailed in our January profile, Judge was a standout baseball player at Brother Rice High School in Chicago, Ill. where he was an All-State baseball player and later was drafted by the Chicago Cubs organization in June of 1988.

“I have been around ball fields, whether it be baseball, or softball, for my entire life,” recalls the Mizuno Hawks leader. “I enjoy teaching the game and developing and training the girls as well as teaching them life lessons to be learned through competition in athletics.”

He explains that it’s taken a different approach than what he was used to in baseball.

“With girls it is a little different than guys, though—as the saying goes, ‘Girls need to feel good to play good whereas guys need to play good to feel good.’ This thought process took a bit to get used to but it is true and we believe in this within the Mizuno Hawks organization.”

Helping add to the confidence of the teen players is the coaching and mentoring of former Arizona All-American Nancy Evans who now is an assistant coach.

“Nancy is great with the girls and they all flock to her. The fact that she is a six-time College World Series National Champion (player and coach), well, you can see why the girls are lucky to have her around for the support she gives them and the wealth of knowledge she brings to the table for them.”

But it’s not just excellence between the lines that is emphasized in the organization.

“We also stress heavily the academic side of it all,” Judge continues. “I always tell the girls to use softball as a means to an end; ultimately, that should be their goal: to get your degree. Softball won’t last forever, but the education they get will last them a lifetime and provide them the proper tools to be successful in anything and everything they do in life.”

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Here’s a player-by-player look at the Mizuno Hawks 16U team with comments by Bill Judge:

— OF/C/U Taylor Ahlgrim   (2017, uncommitted)
“Taylor is one of our most versatile players, she can play outfield, infield, and can catch. She is just an all-around great kid who loves to play the game. We can plug her in anywhere at any time! Taylor attended the Houston OnDeck jamboree this fall.”

— OF/U Isabell Alexander (2016, Boston University)
“Isabell is one of our speedsters who also possesses a great arm from the outfield and has great range. She can play all outfield positions. Isabell is a lefty slapper and our second leadoff in the lineup. She has participated in many OnDeck jamboree events.

— 2B/SS Taylor Bowman   (2016, Valparaiso University)
“Taylor is a tall and rangy player at 5-foot-11. She has all the levers and measureables that major programs are looking for. Taylor hits for power and has great range up the middle, she has great bat speed as well as running speed also. Taylor has participated in the Colorado, Chicago and Arizona Jamborees as well as being identified for the Chicago Top 100 by OnDeck softball.”

— P/UT Sydney Christensen   (2017 uncommitted)
“Sydney came to us this fall and has tremendous upside. She has great movement and spin and when she is right and hits her corners she will become very hard to hit. Sydney will be a valuable pitcher in the rotation this year for us and she will get plenty of innings to show her stuff.”

— C/OF/1B Jessica Cothern (2016, DePaul University)
“Jessica is our top catcher, she hits with great power and has a great arm behind the plate. She and Kendal have been battery mates since the start of their softball careers. Jess works hard behind the scenes with her drills to perfect her craft. She was an OnDeck National Elite Future Camper as identified by Derek and Joann Allister of OnDeck Softball.”

— P/1B/OF Kendal Judge   (2016, University of Minnesota)
“Kendal is a fierce competitor who hates to lose. She always wants the ball in big games and has proven it time and time again. Her spin and movement are what make her great. She is relentless in her work ethic behind the scenes to improve her game. Kendal can swing the bat a bit too. Kendal was an OnDeck National Elite Future Camper and a Full Count Softball 2016 Hot 100 player.”

— OF/U Ashley Horras   (2017, uncommitted)
“Ashley just came to us this fall and is already turning heads in the collegiate community. She is a speedy lefty slapper with great hand-eye coordination and bat control and she keeps the ball on the barrel a long time. She has already attended the OnDeck Houston jamboree as well as the Arizona Jamboree. She is a player to watch in the 2017 class.”

— C/3B Allyssa Demma (2017 uncommitted)
“Alyssa is a great kid who works very hard for us. She is new to the team this year but is probably our most improved player for the fall. She is becoming a very good hitter with great upside. Allyssa was just invited to attend the OnDeck Chicago top 100 jamboree and this is a venue where she can begin to put herself on the recruiting radar.”

— 3B/2B/OF Alexis Rogers   (2017, Tennessee-Martin University)
“Alexis is a tough competitor, she swings the bat real well, hits for power and is one of the smartest baserunners we have. Alexis has tremendous arm strength and should be very solid for us this year. She has participated in the Chicago and Arizona Jamborees as well as the Chicago top 100.

— SS/2B/OF Kylee Walbright (2016, uncommitted)
“Kylee has the measureables that colleges are looking for in a shortstop. She is a smooth fielder with soft hands and has great range up the middle. Kylee was a late fall pickup for us last year but we feel she fit right in and helped the team out tremendously the two last years. Kylee has attended the Chicago Jamboree, the Colorado National Jamboree, the Houston Jamboree, and was invited to the Chicago top 100 prospects run by OnDeck Softball.

— CF/SS/2B Savannah Schipman (2016 uncommitted)
“Savannah is a tremendous athlete and she has all the intangibles it takes to play at the next level. She hits for power, slaps, and power slaps. Savannah has attended the OnDeck Houston Jamboree, and was invited to the Arizona Jamboree as well as the Chicago top 100. She has a good amount of schools looking at her and we feel she will take off this summer.”

— 1B/C/U Madelyn Moore (2016 uncommitted)
“Maddy came to us this fall from the Bandit program and what an all-around great athlete and person she is. Madelyn has the size and raw power most colleges look for in a corner. She is tremendously athletic for her size and we feel she is going to continue to improve her game and refine it. Defensively, Maddy is very smooth, she moves around the bag with ease and is a big target. She attended the Houston OnDeck Jamboree this fall and did very well. We see big things on the horizon for Maddy this summer.”

— P/U Pazley Jensen   (2017 uncommitted)
“Pazley is a gritty competitor who came to us this fall and she works constantly at improving her game. Pazley is a control pitcher who will live off of getting ahead of hitters and pitching to the corners resulting in groundball outs. She also has great downward movement. Pazley will be an added bonus to our pitching staff this year, she is kind of a diamond in the rough for us.”

— P/U Natalye Johnston   (2017 uncommitted)
“Natalye came to us this fall and has tremendous upside. She has great movement and spin and her go-to pitch is her change-up–it is tough to hit when she locates it. When she is right and hits her corners she does very well in games. Natalye with be a valuable pitcher in the rotation this year for us. She has competed in the Chicago and Arizona Jamborees.”