Pictured: pitcher Karsen Ochs, a 2019 committed to South Carolina.

This week we go heavily into the 2019 class since, later this month, we’ll roll out our first 2019 Hot 100 Rankings.

And today you’ll see that one SEC school in particular is on a big roll!

Also, we’re in “research” mode for the 2019 class pulling in info from college and club coaches and scouts as well as player and parent e-mails we’ll gladly take so if you have info to submit, forward it to: brentt.eads@flosports.tv

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Alright, let’s get to it… the team that’s really rocking it in the 2019 class is Auburn.

In the last couple weeks, the Tigers have picked up one of the premier 2019 pitchers in the country in Kelley Lynch, a strikeout machine with the East Cobb Bullets team coached by Andrew Biele.

She averaged over 1.6 K’s per innings this year and broke out on the National scene in Colorado when she struck out 15 batters in six innings against one of the premier teams in the country.

Highlights for the summer included the Bullets tying for 5th at Triple Crown Sparkler Junior and winning the Triple Crown Southeast Nationals.

Lynch is drawing comparisons to current Florida freshman Kelly Barnhill, another flamethrower who was the FloSoftball National High School Player of the Year in 2015. One coach even suggests Kelley L. is further along in her career at this point than Kelly B. was at that time.

Don’t be surprised if Lynch ends up in the Top 10 of the 2019 Hot 100… she’s that good.

The Tigers had previously picked up three other standouts: middle infielder Sydney Steele who plays for the OC Batbusters-Campbell team, catcher Macy Simmons who’s from Arizona but plays in So Cal with So Cal A’s-Briggs (more on her in a second) and another infielder in Maddison Koepke who is also with the EC Bullets-Biele team.

Koepke played last summer with the Georgia Impact-Lewis team which finished 2nd at PGF 14U Nationals and led the team in home runs with 15.  She was big in the run to the National Championship game including a huge two-run home run against the Corona Angels in a comeback victory over the defending champs.

Maddison’s big bat also helped Mill Creek High School win Georgia’s 6A championship. She committed to Auburn in December of 2014 as one of the first commits of the 2019 class.

We’ll have an article next week on Macy Simmons as she recaps her recruiting journey up to her Auburn commit.

Suffice it to say now, she had many Top 25 Div. I teams after her after opening a lot of eyes at OnDeck camps including the National West Coast Elite Camp.

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As we start looking at the 2019 Hot 100 process, let’s give you a peak behind the curtain to understand how we do it!

The first step is pulling together info from every source and compiling a master list of hundreds of candidates.  Then that gets whittled down and we start sorting through the players, getting input, talking internally about who we’ve seen, and so on.

There are some no-brainers—players that you know will make the list after seeing them play once… for example a pair who are helping Notre Dame also have a strong class:

--- Leea Hanks is a 2019 outfielder with Jersey Intensity who has committed to the Irish.  A great athlete and student (4.0 GPA, member of Jr. National Honor Society), she helped her team finish tied for 13th at PGF as a triple-threat lefty with 2.6 second speed home-to-first.  

Leea wasn’t the only one on that team headed to big-time schools: her teammates included Olivia Rains, an Oklahoma commit; Jolie Mitchell, a Missouri commit; EC Taylor, a Florida commit, and Alex McManus, a Notre Dame pitcher commit now with the Beverly Bandits (more on Alex in a second).

The Intensity team also finished 2nd at the Top Gun Invitational in Kansas City in 2015 and had the opportunity to play on ESPN3 for the championship.

Leea was also offered by Central Florida and North Carolina besides Notre Dame and took visits to Tennessee, Georgia, Notre Dame, North Carolina, and UCF while also being heavily recruited by Florida, Alabama, Florida State, Georgia, and South Carolina among others.

She committed in November and way back over a year ago—in December of 2014—we saw her talent and did a Rising Star profile on her.

What’s interesting is the great athlete has played softball for less than three years so her ceiling is very high.  

--- Alex McManus made the jump to the Beverly Bandits in time to play for the Bandits Premier 14U in the Surf City Pre-Thanksgiving Showcase.

She showed why she’s so highly touted by going 6-1 at the prestigious event in the circle with 12 innings pitched, zero runs scored and only four hits allowed while striking out 24.

At the plated the Notre Dame commit batted .429 (6-for-14) with three RBI.

All of this without ever meeting any of her teammates prior to the weekend. She got off the plane, went straight to the fields and got to work.

Here’s a spotlight we did on Alex in the fall...

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Then there are the others who aren’t so well known, perhaps, but are still college level players who may just be emerging or have gone somewhat under the radar for various reasons like injury.

Take Presley Leebrick, for example.

She’s a 2019 slapper from Tennessee who plays for Tennessee Fury and, as we noted in a Rising Star profile 10 months ago, had a relative in the Minnesota Twins organization and grew up in the team’s dugout close to star players like catcher Joe Mauer.

Since we first profiled Presley, she had a strong summer season helping the Fury Platinum team play in the Power pools of Scenic City, Atlanta Legacy, and Colorado Sparklers. They also played in the ASA Nationals in Virginia.

The freshman hit .400 (56-140) finishing 3rd on the team in hits and near the top in batting average. She flew from Virginia to California to play with the Birmingham Bolts-Dorsett 01 team in the PGF Nationals where she hit .400 in 5 bracket games (6-for-14).

Over the summer, a lot of schools took notice and she went on an unofficial to the University of Georgia this fall, attending a football game.

The local mid-major schools have come around as Lipscomb and Middle Tennessee Tate have both made it clear that an offer is imminent. Presley has also attended camps in the last year at Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Kentucky and Tennessee

Presley was having discomfort in her knee this fall and was unable to play until she had it scoped two weeks ago to remove a plica band. It is an easy procedure to bounce back from and the young standout will begin running next week.

She is expected to be at 100% by the end of January and definitely should be healed in time to start playing high school softball this spring at Siegel High School in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.  

Here is a video of her at ASA Nationals and PGF Nationals this summer:


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Another strong candidate in the 2019 class is Karsen Ochs, a pitcher and South Carolina Gamecock commit.

She committed on Sept. 26, 2015—just 11 days shy of her 14th birthday.

Karsen also plays the outfield and first base and with the Firecrackers-Brashear last year was part of a 9th place finish. Her home travel team is Firecrackers-Sileo which is based out of Georgia.  

She has been with this core group for four years and has seen a great deal of ASA National and last year, after she completed play at the ASA Nationals in Virginia, she was invited to pitch in the PGF Nationals with Firecrackers-Brashear.

At the time, she had the interest of University of South Carolina, Texas A&M, and the University of Georgia.  She was also told a few other coaches had inquired about her and just prior to receiving the offer from the Gamecocks, Syracuse contacted her about a potential visit.  

However, according to her mother Denna: “Her dream was to play for the University of South Carolina and, thankfully, she was offered an opportunity to make her dream come true!”

Skill-wise, scouts like Karsen’s versatility and offensively her bat speed and power so she’s playing a position when not pitching.

As a freshman at First Presbyterian Day School in Macon, Georgia this fall she was a starter for the Lady Vikings and mostly played outfield in her first year of high school; however, in the GHSA state playoffs, she played left field, pitcher, second and shortstop helping to lead her team to a 3rd place finish in GHSA Class A Private division.
 
As a freshman, she earned 1st team All Region GHSA and won the Academic Award for her team, posting the highest GPA.

During her high school season, Karsen also launched the “Strike Out for Hunger with Karsen Ochs” campaign, resulting in an $1,800 donation to the Middle Georgia Community Food bank.  

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Finally, we’re even going international to look at top 2019s!

Take, for example, Canadian Renee Trotman from Ontario who has been on the the recruiting radar since she led her 12U Amherst Lightning team to a USSSA Eastern Open World Series title in 2014.

Renee was named Defensive MVP of the World Series and went 3-0 in the circle along with playing third base.

Amherst went 67-7 that year and all seven of their losses came against 14U teams. Renee also defeated five 14U teams in the circle throughout the season.
 
The year before playing for Amherst, Renee played 14U in Canada as a 12-year-old. Leading her travel team Pickering Heat to the Provincial Gold Medal, winning the Gold game 2-1 in the circle while driving in both runs and being named MVP of the Province. 

Renee is playing out of Western NY with the NY Inferno 16U Showcase team coached by Chuck Righetti for 2016. Renee was just named one of three team captains on a team with 17 and 18 year olds.
 
Renee will be attending the Canadian Jr. National Camp as an underage player in June, hoping to represent Canada in 2017 in Clearwater, Florida at the Jr. Nationals.
 
Renee was the only Canadian to make any of the USSSA All American teams in the summer of 2015 (she represented the Northeast Region in Orlando).

The pitcher/utility player has taken unofficial visits to Ohio State, Virginia, and Campbell.
She’s attended the UCF Elite Thanksgiving camp and will be at the Michigan camp this weekend (January 9th).

Kentucky, Penn, Florida Atlantic, Detroit Mercy, Illinois and Stony Brook have all inquired about Renee's interest in camping.
 
Renee trains with legendary Canadian Softball coach Bert Harris whose two daughters played at Campbell and UAB respectively.

Her pitching coach is ISC legend Todd Martin and Renee also works with Canadian great Jenna Ciara (Syracuse 2011 and member of the Canadian National team).

And athleticism runs in her family: second cousin Reid Acton plays pro lacrosse for the Georgia Swarm in the NLL and also won a D1 Lax National title at Loyola, Maryland.