The Alicia Update

Alicia attended an Elite Pitching clinic yesterday sponsored by the Knockouts Softball Organization. The clinic was run by Sarah and Ricky Pauly. The goal of the clinic was to improve the players elite pitches like the curve ball, change up,rise ball, drop ball and screw ball. All of the coaches of the Knockouts commented on Alicia's change up as well as Sarah Pauly, a Pro softball player, said " You have a beautiful change up." This was an excellent training clinic. She learned how to slow her change up down,and how to throw the rise ball, which she has not started in her lessons. The Paulys handed out some detailed notes which are very helpful.

Alicia has been working out at Proehlific Park. She practices pitching in their batting cages regularly. Whenever she pitches at Proehlific she draws a big crowd. You can't help but come over and watch because when the ball hits the glove it sounds like a gun is going off. Even the owner Ricky Proehl was watching her and commented on how hard she was throwing. Alicia has already caught the attention of several Division I recruiters that want to see her when she goes up to 16U. This writer assumes their interest is due to her strong arm,speed, work ethic and ability to play more than one position.

Softball is Alicia's life. Today there was snow on the ground and she used this opportunity to practice her sliding and diving back to the base. Plus of course, exercising her arm with a snowball fight. Then later today she will do some weight lifting.

Dead Zone not so dead

There is so much to tell so let's start with an update of this fall season. Alicia's fall high school league won six of their seven games. Alicia's rec team won six of their eight games. She has one more tournament for her travel team, on the weekend of November 20th.

Alicia's team mates have come up with several nick names for her, Smiley and Sunshine. The writer thinks this shows how much her team mates love her and her character. She is always smiling and trying her best. Alicia is a team player, she encourages and supports her team mates.

Alicia has a new pitching coach because she previous coach Vanessa Oakes Williams took a position as pitching coach at UNC- Wilmington. Alicia's new pitching coach is Teri Fister. Alicia's travel team coaches recently evaluated her pitching skills and plan to use her more on the mound. Alicia has several pitches now, a fast ball, change up, screw ball, backdoor screw, a curve ball and is working on a drop ball.

Alicia also has a new hitting coach, Alex Emeterio, a junior on the UNCG softball team.

The month of November is the Dead Zone for High School Softball. It is not very dead for Alicia. She continues to have hitting lessons, pitching lessons, travel team workouts indoors and outdoors and is enrolled in the PSP program for 3 months at Proehlific Park. She also adds in some weight training and running.

Alicia plays second base most of the time because she is the most comfortable with that position. She also plays outfield and will be doing some pitching. Her travel team, TFS-NC is impressed with her speed and arm strength. She has been lead off batter. Her coach said that he usually puts his smartest player at second base.

Yesterday, Alicia attended the UNCC Fall Showcase Clinic. She was very impressed with the campus, the coaches and the players. Alicia was one of three freshmen that attended. The camp had brought in a former major league baseball player to do video analysis on the player's batting swing. The Major League player was impressed with Alicia's hitting mechanics and only gave her some small suggestions.

At the end of the camp they broke the group into two teams. Alicia played second and right field. Alicia showcased herself by catching a fly ball to right field. She also went 1 for 2 in batting. The pitcher from the Cardinals organization was pitching fast but Alicia hit the ball right back at her and up the middle of the field.

Alicia will be attending an Elite Pitching Clinic on December 4th, put on by Rick and Sarah Pauly.

First Team TFS tournament

This past weekend was the first tournament that the new 12u/14u Team TFS has played in together. It was an amazing weekend. The 12u and 14u were combined in this tournament. The parents and coaching staff really were not sure what to expect and everyone was amazed when we placed second in the silver brackett. This tournament was mostly for training purposes.

Alicia had a double and triple in this weekend's tournament. She played second base and out field.

Alicia continues to maintain a straight A average while playing for three softball teams. Her rec team won there game last night.

Playing for Three Teams

We are very busy with softball at the moment. Alicia is playing for three teams. She made the High School SECC league which is made up of mostly last year's Northern High School's Varsity Softball team. This team is run by Ken Dobbins, who coaches for the Power Fastpitch travel team. She is one of four freshman on a team of 14 players.

She is playing Recreational softball for Oak Ridge to get in more pitching time.

She just had her first real three hour practice withTeam TFS this past Saturday. I am so amazed by what she learned in just that one practice. They did many things that I had never seen on any of the other teams she has played for. Next practice she will be given an 80 page handbook and is expected to study it and be tested on it. This team also wants to see any report cards so they know that the players are doing well in school. Coach Dennis said the more he sees Alicia play the more impressed with her he becomes.

Alicia has also be volunteering her time to help train her brother's Mustang league baseball team for Summerfield Recreational Association. The 9-10 year old boys were at first worried that they would hurt "a girl" and some were disappointed when she hit their pitches into the outfield. I am sure they have come to respect her and she really enjoys helping out.

New Team

Alicia has agreed to play for Team TFS 14u of NC. She is really excited about this new adventure.

Unfortunately, now that Alicia has started High school today she can on longer work with Gwen Johnson, Assistant Coach at UNCG. We are currently seeking a new hitting coach.

Update

Alicia just finished her summer rec. league with Paul Stutts as her coach for the Greensboro Girls Fastpitch Softball Association. Her last several games on the mound she had 9 strike outs in one game, 10 strike outs in another game and about 7 in last night's game.

She continues to see Vanessa Oakes Williams as her pitching coach. In the summer, we try to meet twice a week when possible. She also continues to work with Gwen Johnson as her hitting coach , usually once a week. We have currently found that it is very beneficial to her game to visit Ellis Chiropractic Center for regular adjustments.

We are currently looking for a new team since the 14U NC Lady Titans fell apart. Alicia is currently talking with Team TFS, the Knock Outs and the Carolina Fusion 16u.

Paul Stutts, former coach of Grimsley High School's softball team, had these things to say about Alicia.
"When Alicia is getting ready to try out in high school, please don’t hesitate to call me for some BP in January to get her ready. Alicia is a rare athlete that is a team player. Alicia is a coach’s dream."

The Lady Titans played a one day IFA tournament in Dobson yesterday. This is a photo of Alicia sliding into home base. The photographer, mom, could not get a good shot because she was down for the slide one minute and back up the next. So this is of her hopping back up.

Alicia hit a beautiful double off the pitcher, player #9, of the Lady Cyclones. Even though they lost the game, Alicia started a rally and we added three runs. Alicia is currently batting 4th in the batting order. The week before in Concord she hit a triple, which made it to the fence. It most likely would have been a home run if she had not slowed down at second.

Earlier this week she got hit in practice twice in the same spot, on her knee. It blew up like a huge egg but that did not stop her from practicing the next day and then playing her hardest in the tournament yesterday.

Alicia's coaches are very impressed with her. Paul Stutt, former softball coach for Grimsley high school and current rec coach is working extra with her. He wants her to get some playing time with his college age rec team. Her coach Vince Marino as sees alot of potential in her and wants to do some extra one on one with her. Then she has the coach for the Carolina Ice that really wants her to return to their ball team.

End of Middle School Season

The Northern Middle School team ended their season as conference champions. Alicia ended her season with them with 3 home runs.
She is looking forward to playing in the Greensboro Girls Fastpitch Softball Association from May to July. Her coach is Paul Stutt, former Grimsley High School coach.

When school is over she will be attending the Nike Softball Camp at Greensboro College.

In September she plans to attend the Jenny Finch camp in Radford, Virginia.

Update on Alicia

Alicia has had a busy spring so far. She is currently playing for the Lady Titans 14U travel softball team and is finishing up her Northern Guilford Middle School season next week.

In her last several games with the Northern Middle school Nighthawks she had a Double and a grand slam and the very next game she had a Triple and a home run. Out of those two games she had an RBI of 9.

She still continues to attend hitting and pitching lessons with her coaches from UNCG. I have some video of her hitting lessons I need to go through for the site.

She has mostly been playing second base, outfield and DH.


















In May she will be playing for the Greensboro Recreational team where she will get more pitching time in as the only pitcher on her team.

Thank you to all of those who continue to follow her web site. We will try to do better at updating it more often.

Middle school ball

Alicia was excited to make the Northern Guilford Middle school softball team. She will be one of their four pitchers and well as playing other positions.

I have created a page at the top of this blog so that you can check when she is available and when she is playing.

New Softball Year

It has been a long time since we have posted but that does not mean that life was not involved with softball. Alicia has been training all through the winter months. She has been practicing with her new team the NC Lady Titans. Alicia looked at many teams this fall/winter but chose the Lady Titans because they are a very athletic team and work hard in their practices.
Some of the teams she looked at were Team TFS 14U, Carolina Fusion 16U, thought about the HP Heat but the decision came down to what team she was most comfortable with and our family not being sure we were ready to travel to Colorado and other states to play yet.

Alicia has continued her pitching lessons weekly with Vanessa and now has an awesome knuckle ball (currently her favorite pitch). She has also been working with Gwen Johnson on her hitting. There was one warm day in which Gwen had her hitting at the UNCG softball field. Alicia had most of her hits way out in the field and the UNCG field seems much bigger than the fields she usually plays on. Gwen is always amazed at the power Alicia has for the size of her.

Even when the weather was bad, Alicia and her father would be practicing throwing in the upstairs hall. Alicia's mother was worried that their would be holes in the walls but she did not touch a wall. The hall is approximately 38 feet long and 4 feet wide.

In the near future I will post some pictures of some of the tools she uses to practice. Her father made her a balance beam like the one in the softball training video, "The Softball Pitching Edge DVD ,Featuring Cheri Kempf."( put out by Human Kinetics)

Alicia is very confident and excited about this week's Northern Guilford Middle School softball try outs.