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.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
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.
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.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Hitting camp and lessons
This past weekend Alicia attended a hitting clinic at the UNC Chapel Hill campus. This is her in the picture with one of the players and the head coach.
Alicia was very disappointed that her team has taken the month of November and December off from training. She feels it is very important to continue to practice. Alicia's love is softball and though others choose to play other sports she continues to work on her game. Her pitching coach, Vanessa, always stresses muscle memory and when you play other sports you will be using different muscles in different ways. If she continues to work on her softball game her muscle memory with be increased.
Alicia has recently started working with Gwen Johnson, a part time coach at UNCG, to improve her hitting. Gwen was one of UNCG's toughest hitters. She is not only teaching Alicia the skills of hitting but also the mental attitude.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Alicia Stealing bases
This weekend Alicia played in the IFA Winter World Series at Proliefic Park in Greensboro. This first picture is her lead off on first base.
The next picture if you look real close you can see the ball has not reached the batter yet and Alicia is off and running.
When Alicia was on third base there was a passed ball by the catcher of the Triad Power and Alicia came in to score. Alicia was very aggressive on the bases this weekend and loves to steal ( bases that is). :)
The next picture if you look real close you can see the ball has not reached the batter yet and Alicia is off and running.
When Alicia was on third base there was a passed ball by the catcher of the Triad Power and Alicia came in to score. Alicia was very aggressive on the bases this weekend and loves to steal ( bases that is). :)
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Photos from this past weekend
This is a photo of Alicia sliding into home plate to make the game winning run. You can see how far away the ball was. One minute she was on first base and the next she was sliding into home.
The next photo is the Xtreme Rampage 14U team with their third place trophies.
The last photo is of Jamie Gammon, the coach of the Xtreme Rampage giving Alicia her trophy.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Guest Play for Xtreme Rampage 14U
Alicia had a great weekend guest playing for the Xtreme Rampage 14U team. Most of the girls on the Xtreme Rampage will be playing 16U in the spring.
The coach of the Xtreme Rampage, Jamie Gammons and her own coach, Jimmy Edwards of the Carolina Ice, were happy with her performance this weekend.
She helped the team win an important game against the Lady Hornets. Alicia battled on her last at bat and was walked. The next player got a hit and Alicia, with her speed ran from first base to home to score the winning run. The score was only 2-1.
Alicia does not enjoy bunting but she is very good at it. Since she is so fast she can lay down a bunt and in most cases make it to first base.
She contributed three sacrifice bunts this weekend and had a 1000 batting average for the weekend.
Alicia is easy to get along with and had a great time meeting the players of the Xtreme Rampage. She hopes to see them again or even play with them again. After this experience, Alicia feels confident that she can play good ball with the older girls.
They came home with third place in the silver division and were only 5 minutes away from playing in the championship game.
The coach of the Xtreme Rampage, Jamie Gammons and her own coach, Jimmy Edwards of the Carolina Ice, were happy with her performance this weekend.
She helped the team win an important game against the Lady Hornets. Alicia battled on her last at bat and was walked. The next player got a hit and Alicia, with her speed ran from first base to home to score the winning run. The score was only 2-1.
Alicia does not enjoy bunting but she is very good at it. Since she is so fast she can lay down a bunt and in most cases make it to first base.
She contributed three sacrifice bunts this weekend and had a 1000 batting average for the weekend.
Alicia is easy to get along with and had a great time meeting the players of the Xtreme Rampage. She hopes to see them again or even play with them again. After this experience, Alicia feels confident that she can play good ball with the older girls.
They came home with third place in the silver division and were only 5 minutes away from playing in the championship game.
Friday, October 16, 2009
New Tool
Alicia's father recently purchased the RevFire. She had practice last night at the "Chicken House", an indoor facility, and they used the RevFire. Alicia's fast ball was 50mph and her screw ball was between 38 and 39mph. The RevFire also shows the spin rate of the ball. Alicia's spin rate was 16RPS.
A good breaking ball (curveball, riseball, dropball, or screwball) requires at least 19 RPS. Some pitchers
achieve more than 22 RPS consistently with their breaking balls. A few are known to throw riseballs
consistently at 30 RPS. In high school the best breaking balls pitchers typically throw around 23 RPS. There
is more variability in the spin rate on fastballs, depending on the type of fastball thrown and whether the
pitcher is trying to put movement on the pitch. Although the spin rates for fastpitch softball are slower than for
baseball, the effect of spin is more pronounced than with baseballs because of the larger surface area and
higher seams of a softball.
*High School data from National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) recruiting camps.
GENERAL GUIDELINE FOR JUNIOR & SENIOR YEAR HIGH SCHOOL PITCHERS*:
SPIN RATE (RPS)
17.0 – 18.9 Average
19.0 - 21.9 Good
22.0 and more Excellent
*This guideline is for high school pitchers without RevFire based training.
BREAKING BALL SPIN RATE GUIDELINE FOR DIVISION I COLLEGE FASTPITCH SOFTBALL:
SPIN RATE (RPS)
20.0 - 21.9 Average
22.0 - 24.9 Good
25.0 and up Excellent
A good breaking ball (curveball, riseball, dropball, or screwball) requires at least 19 RPS. Some pitchers
achieve more than 22 RPS consistently with their breaking balls. A few are known to throw riseballs
consistently at 30 RPS. In high school the best breaking balls pitchers typically throw around 23 RPS. There
is more variability in the spin rate on fastballs, depending on the type of fastball thrown and whether the
pitcher is trying to put movement on the pitch. Although the spin rates for fastpitch softball are slower than for
baseball, the effect of spin is more pronounced than with baseballs because of the larger surface area and
higher seams of a softball.
*High School data from National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) recruiting camps.
GENERAL GUIDELINE FOR JUNIOR & SENIOR YEAR HIGH SCHOOL PITCHERS*:
SPIN RATE (RPS)
17.0 – 18.9 Average
19.0 - 21.9 Good
22.0 and more Excellent
*This guideline is for high school pitchers without RevFire based training.
BREAKING BALL SPIN RATE GUIDELINE FOR DIVISION I COLLEGE FASTPITCH SOFTBALL:
SPIN RATE (RPS)
20.0 - 21.9 Average
22.0 - 24.9 Good
25.0 and up Excellent
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