The Fastpitch Chronicle

Bob,

Been awhile, sorry to hear about the mishap last weekend, hope you are healing well and back enjoying some of this rare decent weather we've had this week. 

I just wanted to take a second to mention a couple of my former players.

Claire Ryan is playing for Trine University who will be playing for the Whitewater Regional Championship tomorrow afternoon.  After a slow start on the year, Claire came on midway and hasn't let up.  She is hitting .318 on the year and will most likely garner some post season accolades.

Allie Trudeau was named to the All-Freshman team as a pitcher for UIC.  She had a 1.9 ERA in 95.2 Innings of work and struck out 80 girls going 10-3 in 15 starts.

Alice Fitzpatrick made the transition to 1st base this year after a shoulder injury derailed her pitching career and did a very admirable job of handling the glove work as well as relearning how to hit after not getting many at bats in the 5 years since high school. 

Jennah Speth of Delevan also had a heck of a year for UIC as she batted .328 in 116 AB with 6 Hr's and a .552 Slg%.  She earned both All-Freshman team and 2nd Tm All-Conference.

Brittany Moore struggled a bit in her freshman campaign at UIS as she recovered from an off season foot injury that set her back a long way, however, she muscled through and managed to work 28.1 innings and was clearly starting to get back to her old self as the season started to wind down.

Most impressively, however, is the season Kallista Hribar is having for Union Grove.  I have never seen anything like what I've seen from Kallista this season.  She is locked in to the point where it is a shock when she gets out.  She is hitting .741 with 15 bombs in 15 games.  She is slugging an unreal 1.833 with a ludicrous 2.6 OPS.  In addition to her gaudy numbers at the plate, she is 13 for 13 on SB and when you've hit only 13 singles on the year, that is pretty darn impressive.  I've sat and scratched my had as to why people are still throwing to her but it's great for her and for the Broncos as she has carried the brunt of the offensive load for them this season.  I had the great pleasure of watching some phenomenal hitters in my time coaching at the Grove, both on my teams and on our opponents and I would put Kallista's year at the top of the list of amazing seasons. 

Hope the remainder of the year goes well for you Bob!  Keep up the great work and hopefully we will see you at Goodman this year.  It will be nice to be able to sit back and enjoy it this year as opposed to having to babysit the whole time. 

Ryan