Hello Fastpitch Softball Fans,
Last week was a beauty as far as weather went. A bit windy at times but great temperatures and moisture free. Those things combined helped make the 29th Annual Poynette Fastpitch Jamboree a huge success.
Of course there were other great events around the state as well.
This week appears to be filled with some moisture so here is hoping it all comes during the night time hours and that your fields are as easily prepared after rain as those in Poynette.
Saturday marks our 4th Annual JV Fastpitch Jamboree. We have 12 teams in all taking part with two from Stevens Point, two from Wisconsin Dells, two from Poynette, one each from New Berlin Eisenhower, Hartford, Portage, New Glarus, Stoughton, and River Valley. For the most part we will be playing games on four fields with one time slot hosting five games. All games are at the high school or village park in Poynette. The schedule is posted elsewhere on this website so look under the High School Tab and then scroll down to the 2015 JV Jamboree tab.
There were some monumental achievements within the state’s coaching ranks during the past week or so. Glenda Smith of Tigerton notched her 400th career varsity victory as did Jim Kvisto in Hurley adn Tom Drohner in Stevens Point. In Willliams Bay, Head Coach Jeff Kuespert was able to have me remove his name from the list of coaches with 100 victories and retype his name under the 200-win list heading. Congratulations to all three of those coaches. Those are no small feats indeed.
The 2016 Poynette Fastpitch Jamboree is scheduled to take place the first Friday and Saturday of May. That’s the 6th and 7th next year.
Westosha Central’s Kayla Konwent had a big day on Saturday at the Jamboree. She hit not one, not two but three home runs against Waukesha North and followed that up with a crucial home run against Eau Claire North. Those four home runs were numbers 11, 12, 13 and 14 for her on the season. After I saw her play as a freshman at the Poynette Fastpitch Jamboree I wrote about her in the follow-up bulletin. In that bulletin I said that I thought the Badgers ought to be taking a very close look at her then. They did and she will be a Badger. For now, however she is a Falcon for the remainder of this season and all of 2016.
This time, following the Jamboree I’m notifying any college coaches out there that there were several players I’d take a long look at and some not very long and would get on them in a hurry. I believe I’m a very good judge of skills and talent so here are some tips that you may already have gotten. If not, here are just a few.
Jordyn Kleman of LaCrosse Logan. She’s a junior. I have watched this kid pitch and hit since her freshman season at the Portage Invite then as a sophomore in Portage, in Baraboo and at the Jamboree. So far this season I have watched her pitch and hit back in Portage and this past weekend at the Jamboree. What did she do? She was packing heat I’ll tell you that. To boot, that heat was accompanied by plenty of movement and those slants were just that---slants. They were down and in, up and up, up and in, down and in. Hardly a hittable pitch was noted. Speeds? How does this sound. In Portage on a brutally cold day she was popping that optic yellow pill along at 62-63 mph and a couple of 64 mph slants. In Poynette on a warmer day she opened the game against Eau Claire North at 62-63 in the first inning, was up to 64 mph in the second and by the time she really got heated up my radar device boldly displayed 65 and several slants at 66 mph. Folks, that kind of velocity teammed with that kind of movement is Division 1 quality stuff. If I were coaching a collegiate team I’d be sure not to miss out on at least a chance to reel her in.
Abby Long, another junior was impressive in the circle and at the plate. A tall, strapping young player with a killer change up, a nice up and dynamite down and a little curve. She also launched one off the fence in rightcenter when she was the batter. According to my sources, she is the best player in Big Rivers conference. Her offerings were clipping along regularly at 62-64 mph with a change up that slowed up to 42-42 mph. That’s a recipe for success I’d say.
Beloit Turner has a team of sisters. I believe it’s five sets in all. Five of the sisters are freshman if my sources are correct and are more than holding their own for Turner. If the names Packard or Mickelson sound familiar to you it’s because those two freshman names have senior sisters that are bonafide players.
I saw a number of other excellent players of course as well. The change up from the Rice Lake pitcher was pretty effective and she’s also a young chucker. Luxemburg-Casco’s #1 is legit as well.
Home runs? There were lots of them. All the fields save for one have fences at 200 feet. The only one not 200 feet is the JV field at Portage (I wrote about that a week ago).
That’s about it for today. I’m still unwinding here.
Have a great faspitch day!
And as always—
Keep it Rising!
Bob
