Tag Archive for: Maci Boggess

HOT CORNER: WITH SPECIAL GUEST EMMA JOHNSON

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Another weekend has gone by and that means more phenomenal  softball to talk about, and more great talent to highlight. Also on this edition we have a wonderful special guest. The first current college coach to join the Hot Corner. Emma Johnson, associate head coach at Kent State.

We’ll start with some news out of California. The PGF has canceled the All American game that was scheduled for August 1st and to be televised on ESPNU. Previous guest and friend of the blog Riley Frizell was scheduled to play in that game. She’ll still be playing in TCS Nationals in Georgia coming up soon. We’ll stay updated on how that goes.

This edition’s shoutout goes to Belle Hummel. Belle is a 2022 from Lakota West High School. She plays travel for Ohio Hawks 16U Gold-Hutchinson. She hit .494 last season for West with 17 RBI and 2 HR. But what she excelled at his her speed and slapping ability. Definitely capable of hitting the long ball, in fact she hit one this weekend in the Hawks tie with Lasers Teal. The fact that pitcher’s have to at least respect her power while being terrified of her speed makes this 2022 a gem. Keep an eye on Belle because she’s going to do great things.

Friends of the blog

As always we will catch up with our friends of the blog. Let’s start with Ohio Lasers Yellow who finishes their summer this weekend. The Lasers went 3-2-1. Maci Boggess pitched 22.2 innings and only gave up one earned run on the weekend. She struck out 13. Austintown Fitch’s Maddy Taylor hit .467 going 7-15 with 4 RBI. Congratulations to the Lasers on a great summer.

Now let’s see how that offense of USSSA Pride- Scarlet is doing. Yep they’re still explosive. The Pride hit 13  HR’s over the weekend. Sydney Mercer hit 4. Josie Spano hit 3. They’re pitching is still holding strong as well. The Pride has a team ERA of 2.79. Liana Morreale is leading them with an ERA of 2.39 in 67.1 IP. She’s stuck out 68. The Pride went 7-2 on the weekend and have a summer record of 38-9. They’ll finish their summer this weekend at the Midwest Summer Showcase in North Ridgeville

Special Guest Emma Johnson

(Courtesy KSU Athletics)

I am pleasured to welcome the first current college coach to join the Hot Corner. Emma is the newly announced Associate Head Coach of Kent State. Johnson is one the most decorated players in the Kent State program. She won MAC pitcher of the year twice during her career. Her senior season she led Kent State to a 41-13 record. She ranked in the top 5 nationally in strike outs per 7 innings, and had the nation’s third lowest ERA. These numbers helped Johnson be drafted 25th overall in the NPF draft by the Pennsylvania Rebellion, where she spent two seasons.

Johnson has completed her third season as an assistant on the Kent State staff. She was promoted to Associate Head Coach on July 1st.

 

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqNnu5UJ_QA[/embedyt]

 

HOT CORNER: WITH SPECIAL GUEST JESSICA SHULTS

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Welcome back to the Hot Corner! We took a week off on a rather slow weekend with a lot of local travel teams off, but we are back with a ton of softball to talk about after the 4th of July. As always promised this blog will merge local softball coverage with the elite softball world, and boy do we have some awesome guests planned for the month of July. Starting today, as the Hot Corner welcomes former Oklahoma Sooner, and 2013 National Champion, Jessica Shults. 

 

Weekend Recap

 

Now in a normal summer this would be one of the biggest weekends in travel softball. Florida and Colorado both annuals host multiple national 4th of July tournaments. However a chunk of those were canceled due to COVID -19.  Before we check in on teams that are friends of the blog, I want to give a shoutout to Kylie Macy and her Atlanta Vipers-Holbrook team. They took home the trophy in one of the Colorado tournaments not canceled. The Triple Crown 4th of July National Tournament. I’ve been following Kylie for a while. The Georgia Bulldog commit from Grayson High School is a rising star. The Vipers went 10-1 on the weekend and beat NE Gold Perkins 7-2 in the championship. Congratulations to Kaylie and the Vipers! 

 

Now to our friends of the blog! USSSA Scarlet got back in action this weekend at the USA Battle of the Burgh in Cranberry PA. The Pride went 7-1 over the weekend. In case you were wondering, yes their offense is still putting up video game type numbers. They hit 10 home runs over the weekend. Their team total is 50 now in 38 games played. Sydney Mercer is locked in this summer. She’s hitting .549 with 16 HR and 54 RBI. Don’t let their offensive power over shadow the job Liana Morreale is doing in the circle. She’s 8-2 with an ERA of 2.25 and has struck out 51, she’s only walked 19. 

 

Ohio Lasers Yellow went to the Midwest Firecracker Showcase this weekend. You can add another shutout to Maci Boggess’ tab. In their first game of the weekend she threw a gem in the Lasers 1-0 win. Going 5 innings, striking out 6 and giving up 0 runs on 3 hits. Austintown Fitch’s Maddy Taylor hit .333 on the weekend with 5 RBI. The Lasers went 4-2-1 on the weekend. 

 

If you want your team weekly highlighted on the Hot Corner, it’s really easy. Just get in contact with me (Anthony Hartwig) on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram and keep me updated on your team’s schedule and stats. The more teams that are friends of the blog the better! 

 

Special Guest: Jessica Shults

Jessica Shults(18) / Oklahoma Sooners

 

I am very excited to welcome Jessica Shults to the Hot Corner. Jessica is one of the best catchers in softball ever. It’s a short list, and in my opinion she’s on it. She played at Oklahoma from 2010-2013. Here are some of her accolades: 

3 time NFCA All American 

2012 NFCA Catcher of the Year

3 Time Selection as All- Big 12

2013 National Champion. 

 

Jessica went on to be a graduate assistant for Oklahoma from 2014-2016. She was an assistant coach at Houston from 2016-2019. Shults was drafted 3rd overall by the USSSA Pride in 2013. She played in the NPF until 2016. She won a Cowles Cup with the Pride in 2013-2014. She now does hitting and coaching lessons through Gap2Gap.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsHqrnOKkA4[/embedyt]

HOT CORNER: WEEKEND RECAP

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Its Monday, which means there’s a lot of softball results to dive into from the weekend. Ohio holds some of the best travel tournaments in the Midwest. One of the tournaments that rises above the rest is the D1 Fastpitch Outlaws Summer Invitational Showcase.

The Beverly Bandits travel organization is highly respected and their name is all over the Championship list at the Outlaws Showcase. Their Demarini Richards team won the 16U division, and the Beverly Bandits Dorsey team won the 18U. In their 16U division Shelby Westler is a name on that team I’ve been following for a while. A 2022 from River Valley High School in Marion OH Shelby is a catcher/infielder/utility player that can really swing the bat well. On Saturday night she hit a go ahead 2 run HR on the Bandits way to a 7-3 win.

Friends of the Hot Corner the Ohio Lasers Yellow Team also competed at the Outlaws showcase. After a 0-0 tie to start off their Thursday, they beat Finesse 5-2. The rest of their weekend didn’t go as planned as they lost two one run games to Turning2. Maddy Taylor from Austintown Fitch had a couple RBI over the weekend. Maci Boggess still pitches pretty well in the circle throughout the weekend. In 10 innings pitched she only gave up 5 earned runs and struck out 11.

The USSSA Pride Scarlet team wasn’t at the Outlaws Showcase, but had a great weekend at the Sheer Madness Showcase. They won all 8 of their games and were Co-Champions because of the championship game being rained out. They hit 11 more home runs on the weekend as a team bringing their total to 39 on the summer. Sommer Bourne and Sydney Mercer each hit 2 bombs. Maris Barbato got one out to push her weekend total to a eye popping 13. USSSA’s pitching was amazing this weekend too, Tori Long and Liana Morreale each threw no hitters. Morreale did it with every pitch being stressful as the Pride snuck out a 1-0 win over Stingrays 03. The Pride is hitting .432 AS A TEAM! It’s just an incredible offensive lineup, and if they’re tossing no hitters Im not sure what the game plan is playing them in the future. In 30 games they’ve outscored their opponents 231-83. Do the math and that’s an average of a 5 run margin of victory for the Pride. Dominant much like their professional counter parts.

Speaking of USSSA’s professional team, they begin play tonight and I couldn’t be more excited that elite professional softball is back in action. USSSA Pride and Scrap Yard Fastpitch begin a summer tour today where they will play at different events held in each of their headquarters. A season playing each other in exhibition games in front of teams that have come to play in the events their hosting. That may sound underwhelming to the casual softball fan two teams playing each other all summer, but when the two rosters have 95% of the elite softball world on it, and you know their future could very possibly include a league of their own after their non compete from the NPF expires it’s very exciting. Pretty much every player who is on the USA Olympic roster will be represented in this summer tour that is being tagged #BetterTogether. I think that tag says a lot about what the future might hold for Scrap Yard and USSSA. Who knows? You may be seeing some members of the summer tour as special guests to the Hot Corner as the summer goes on. Stay tuned!!

HOT CORNER: D1 SUMMER SHOWCASE RECAP

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One weekend ago at the perfect storm tournament held by Thunder Elite, it was clear that a lot of teams had rust to shake off after going so long without softball. It led to a lot of lopsided final scores over the weekend. A week later it is safe to say all the rust is off. Man what a competitive weekend at the D1 Fastpitch Summer Showcase helps at McCune Park in Canfield, and Field of Dreams in Boardman. The weather was great, and I watched a lot of softballs this weekend, which put me in my happy place.

There were a couple of teams I followed this weekend. Let’s talk about the USSSA Pride Scarlet team containing a ton of local talent. Last weekend their offense was incredible, and they looked just as good this weekend. Maris Barbato leads off for the Pride, and talk about a starting off a lineup with a bang. Barbato hit 4 home runs over the weekend. 3 in three consecutive games. That wasn’t the end of the Pride’s power though, as Sydney Mercer and Sommer Bourne also left the yard. When you combine their poet on offense to really solid arms in the circle, the Pride become an extremely dangerous opponent. Highlights of their Saturday games can be found at the bottom of the page.

The best pitching performance I saw all weekend was without a doubt Maci Boggess for the Ohio Lasers-Yellow. I watched her shut out a really good Wolfpack team to close out the Laser’s Saturday. Then on Bracket Play Sunday she shut out the Outlaws-Harbold. A couple of hours later in the Laser’s next Bracket game against an older more experienced Firecrackers PA-Griffin team, she only surrendered 1 ER on 2 hits. She gave up a leadoff triple that a RBI groundout would eventually score. Unfortunately, the Lasers offense couldn’t find a rhythm and the Lasers dropped the game 1-0. Maci does a fantastic job using both sides of the plate. She also can mix speeds pretty well. She has a great spin on her pitches and when she’s on, she’s super hard to hit. She was the Lasers workhorse over the weekend, and never showed signs of fatigue. Maci is an uncommitted class of 2023 out of Winfield West Virginia. Keep an eye on her as the years go by.

(Photo Credit: Tammy Justice)

On Sunday I took a trip to the Field of Dreams to see the Outlaws Demarini-White team. South Range’s Bree Kohler had a productive first weekend of travel ball in the circle and at the plate. On Saturday she pitched against Ohio Lasers Blue which is widely considered to be not just a top team in the state, but the country. Bree finished with 7 K’s and surrendered just 3 hits. The Outlaws won the game 5-3. The Outlaws also feature PGF All-American, and future Missouri Tiger Riley Frizell. Being someone who has a lot of connections and family in Kansas City who are big Missouri fans themselves, I was very excited to get to see Riley in action. She’s going to do big things in Columbia.

That’ll do it for the recap of the D1 Fastpitch Summer Showcase. My biggest takeaway, especially with the handful of teams that also played in last weekend’s action is how much smoother the players looked after just a week of getting back on the field. I saw a lot fewer errors in the field, pitchers hitting a lot more of their spots, and hitters making quick adjustments to pitchers.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4M6w2ffAZ9U[/embedyt]