It’s interesting to look at how teams are put together and how they approach their goals of getting exposure while maximizing opportunities to win.

The Firecrackers-Rice 16U team from Simi Valley, Calif. is a young team, but one that pushes itself to play older athletes so they can improve.  We caught up with Head Coach Kayla Rice to find out how this team was put together and, being so young, how it’s performed on the field.  Here’s our Q&A with her…

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StudentSportsSoftball.com: How old is the team and how long have you been associated with the Firecrackers?
Kayla Rice: Last year was the first year of our team in the Firecrackers organization and, although it was my seventh in the program, it was my first year as a head coach. Raaine Datan (my manager) had been in the program going on two years.

 

SSS.com: How did you go about putting the team together?
KR: At our tryouts last year we had 52 kids attend and Raaine and I chose the top 17 that we felt would be great to start this team. We were a second year 14U team, but didn’t want to play kids our own age. We wanted to play older kids, and we did. Almost everything we played in was 16U. The only 14U tournaments we played were PGF (Premier Girls Fastpitch), which is a national tournament.

 

SSS.com: Being that you were playing up in age, how did you fare in competition?
KR: In the fall, we played in two 16U tournaments and came in third in one and second in another. There were a lot of good and older teams in both tournaments, so we were very proud of the girls.

 

SSS.com: It sounds like your players are pretty talented then…
KR: This was the fall before their first season in high school and 16 out of our 17 players made their high school’s varsity teams and started! Raaine and I were really proud that they were using the tools we had given them to start on varsity as freshmen. They all had great freshman years–a lot of the girls made 1st Team for their league, and we had a few who made 1st Team All-County.

 

SSS.com: How did this summer go?

KR: After the high school season, our summer was jam-packed. We wanted to attend two different national tournaments as well as a huge exposure tournament in July. In order to go to the national tournaments we wanted to, we had to qualify. The first one was for 16U ASA Nationals that was held in Sunnyvale, Calif. We attended a qualifier in La Habra and if you stayed in the Winner’s bracket, all you had to do was win five games; if you dropped into the losers bracket, it was a lot more.

We won the first two games 10-1 each game and then we played Firecrackers-Young and lost 2-1. We then dropped into the Loser’s bracket and at that point it’s win or go home. On Sunday, we played San Diego Elite and won 9-1 and San Diego Renegades and won 7-1. We then were able to play Firecrackers-Young, who had lost Saturday night. We ended up beating them 5-4 and made it to the championship game in the tournament. We fell short to Nemesis Elite 4-2, but got the berth to the 16U ASA Nationals.

The next national qualifier was for PGF 14U in Hemet, Calif. We won the first two games of the tournament 5-0 and 13-0 and then dropped a game 3-2. Another double elimination format, we had to win five games in a row on Father’s Day Sunday in Hemet. We would have to play at 8am, 10am, 12pm, 2pm and 4pm and win every single game to get the berth and we did it! That was definitely my proudest moment as their coach. Not many teams could play five games in a row and win them all, but we did.

 

SSS.com: Lot of success for such a young team… what, then, would you say was the highlight of the summer for your team?
KR: The tournament that we played in July is called the Champions Cup and it is held in Irvine, Calif. It is one of the most prestigious tournaments of the summer that is not a national tournament. It has been around since 2004 and college coaches know the best talent is showcased in this tournament.

Again, we went back to playing 16U. In our pool was a team from Australia that helps their girls make the Junior and National Australian teams. We ended up tying them 0-0, but they had sophomores and juniors playing for them and we had all freshman and one eighth grader, so again that was another proud moment for our team to be able to play a great game against an international team.

We got first in our pool, and automatically got a bye (we didn’t have to play the first game in bracket play). This tournament, unlike the others we had played, was single elimination so it was win or go home. We would have to play two games on Sunday and three games on Monday to win the championship.

We won our two games on Sunday night, 1-0 and 4-2 and were able to move on to Monday. We won the quarterfinal game 6-4, and the semi final game 3-2. We had made it to the championship game of a huge 16U tournament as a 14U team. We ended up losing the championship game 4-1 to the KG Hitters from Nor Cal. They are a very good team, and again we were playing against sophomores and juniors in high school, but we couldn’t be prouder getting 2nd place in Champions Cup, especially as a 14U team.

 

SSS.com: Impressive, too, that you qualified for both nationals… had did those go for your team?
KR: PGF was first, then ASA. We did not do as well as we had liked at either of the nationals, but the colleges we had watching our games and following our players was outstanding. Last season was a great year for the girls to lay the ground work on their way to getting their college scholarships.

SSS.com: A lot what accomplished in a short amount of time for a team so young and pretty new… what’s the next year looking like for your team?
KR: This year is the year we anticipate the girls will start giving their verbal agreement to colleges.

We have 11 returners: Rebecca Duncan and Marie Sobel in the circle, Raquel Blanchard and Evelyn Loyola behind the plate and at first base, Amanda Schwartz at third base, Sara Silveyra and Alina Guevara up the middle, Brianna Wise, Ally Spooner, and Bailey Johnson in the outfield and Alicia Gonzalez, a corner who is rehabbing from an ALC tear that occurred November 2012.

We recently had tryouts and picked up six stellar kids: Anissa Padilla, a left handed pitcher with great movement who also has a good bat and plays outfield, Jenna Gorman, a catcher/utility player with a great arm and bat, Julia Noskin, a speedy slapper middle infielder/outfielder, Nala Osorio a corner/outfielder with a great bat, Kaitlin Okimoto, a great middle infielder and a big bat, and Julia Duarte, a quick corner/outfielder with great hands at the plate.

We are back to a 17-player roster and will continue to play in the top exposure tournaments/showcases. We are going to the ESPN Sun Classic in Orlando, Fla in November, the Colorado Fireworks Tournament in Aurora, Col in July, and back to the Champions Cup next July in Irvine, Calif. – this time in the 18U Division.

 

SSS.com: Looking back and ahead, you have to be happy with the direction the Firecrackers-Rice program is headed.
KR: Raaine and I were very proud of our girls and the college exposure they had created for themselves last season and can’t wait to see what this team has in store this season.

To learn more about the Firecrackers-Rice team, click here www.firecrackers-rice.com