Tag Archive for: Ohio Hawks Gold Hutchinson

HOT CORNER: WITH SPECIAL GUEST AILEEN MORALES

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Happy September 1st! Very happy for the Class of 2022s who can now officially be contacted by college coaches. How exciting for all the young players who have gone through a summer of uncertainty. I just want to say that despite the craziness of 2020 so far, you don’t have to rush the process. Everyone makes decisions at different paces. If one of your teammates or friends commits, it doesn’t mean you have to. Whatever school you choose, it has to be the right fit for you. With that being said we have another exciting edition of Hot Corner today. First we shine a spotlight on a 2022 and new member of our friends the Ohio Hawks 16U- Hutchinson, Bailey Manos. And I’m very excited to introduce the special guest for this week Georgia Tech Head Coach Aileen Morales.

Spotlight: Bailey Manos

Bailey is a class of 2022 from Harrison high school. According to stats on MaxPreps, in 2019 Manos hit at an average of .389. She didn’t get much action in the circle in her freshman season at Harrison, but believe me when I say Bailey is a duel threat. She has quick speed out of the left handed batters box. She also has great speed on her pitches. Watching highlights from this weekend on “Hawks Day” it is clear Bailey is not afraid to control the inside corner. She also can throw off speed down in the zone. I’m very excited to see what Bailey will do in the fall season with the Hawks. This edition is also released on her birthday. So happy birthday from the Hot Corner!

Special Guest: Aileen Morales

(Danny Karnik Georgia Tech Athletics)

Aileen Morales played for Georgia Tech from 2005-2008. She remains one of the most decorated student athletes in the softball program at Tech. She was recently put in the Georgia Tech hall of fame. After her time at Tech Morales played with the Puerto Rico National Team from 2007-2010. She also played professionally with the Chicago Bandits from 2008-2009. She went back to Tech to start her coaching experience. She was an assistant coach from 2010-2013. Later on Morales would take a head coaching job at Radford. She took a program over that had won just 12 games in the season before. She orchestrated the biggest turn around in NCAA softball as Radford went 35-26 in her first season. That coaching trend didn’t stop when she took over the helm at Tech. A program on a postseason drought, Morales led Tech to their first ACC tournament birth since 2014. She heads in to her fourth season at Tech in 2021. I’m very excited to have the opportunity to have coach Morales as guest.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHR75Ve1n4Q[/embedyt]

HOT CORNER: WITH SPECIAL GUEST MORGAN HOWE

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Hello fellow softball junkies! It’s another edition of Hot Corner coming at you! In this edition we shine a spotlight on a new member of our friends the Ohio Lasers Yellow team, Holly Zeuch, we recap the Ohio Hawks final weekend of the summer at Scenic City, and our special guest this week is Arizona State alum and a member of the new professional softball league Athletes Unlimited,  Morgan Howe.

Spotlight: Holly Zeuch

Holly is the newest member of friends of the blog the Ohio Lasers Yellow-Easton squad. She is a 2022 pitcher from Mason High School. Holly brings incredible velocity to the circle, and she matches her speed with pretty consistent control. She’ll also be an asset outside the circle where she can easily throw runners out from the outfield. We also can’t let her great pitching and defense overshadow the fact that she has a pretty solid bat. Holly is going to bring some depth to the circle, and the lineup of the Lasers, and look for her to also keep Mason softball near the top of their region. It’s a tremendous softball program that continues to pop out D1 talent. Holly just might be the next in line.

Friends of The Blog

The Hawks had another productive weekend in Chattanooga for Scenic City. The Hawks went 4-2 over the weekend. Kendall Forren hit .583 over the weekend with 10 RBI, including a 2 run bomb. Jena Rhoads Hot .416 with a HR. Belle Hummel went 11/14 at the plate (.786 average) with a home run. On the second day of the weekend Hannah Hunt shines with a 5/9 showing in 4 games with 2 doubles. On day one, Hailey Massaro went just a double away from a cycle with a HR, a single, and a triple. Emma Schutter saw her last time on the diamond with the Hawks. She now heads into her senior season at Centerville as a Dayton commit. Congratulations to the Ohio Hawks 16U Gold- Hutchinson team on a great summer and thank you for being friends of the Hot Corner. We look forward to staying updated on your team in the future.

Special Guest: Morgan Howe

Arizona State plays Lipscomb in the during the Tuscaloosa NCAA Softball Regional, hosted by Alabama, Saturday, May 18, 2019, at Rhoads Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Photo by Vasha Hunt

Morgan grew up as a girl with a passion for playing softball, not so much for watching. When it came to her recruitment, she really didn’t have a understanding of the college softball scene. She didn’t know at Fresno State she was stepping into a program that wasn’t afraid of going up against the powerhouses in the sport. Fresno State was the definition of an underdog story.  After her freshman season Fresno head coach Trisha Ford left the program for Arizona State. Morgan roughed it out at Fresno as a sophomore leading the team with .418 average and earning a 1st team All-Mountain West nod. After her sophomore year Morgan made the decision to ultimately follow her original coach to Arizona State. She was stepping up in the softball world, going from an underdog program to a Sun Devil team that played in the PAC-12 and had plenty of success. Some of Morgan’s accomplishments at Arizona State are:

A career .380 hitter as a Sun Devil, 103 RBI, 20 HR, and a slugging percentage of .654. 2018 2nd Team All-Pac 12.

Morgan is now a graduate manager for Florida softball. She recently signed on to be an athlete in the new professional softball league, Athletes Unlimited. Their season starts August 30th.

 

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

 

HOT CORNER: WITH SPECIAL GUEST BAILEY LANDRY

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Welcome inside the Hot Corner where we talk all things softball every week. In this edition, we spotlight Macy Hamilton from Mansfield Texas, we have a new friend of the blog to follow with the Ohio Hawks 16U Gold- Hutchinson squad, and our special guest this week is former LSU Tiger Bailey Landry.

Spotlight: Macy Hamilton

Macy Hamilton is a 2022 from Mansfield Texas who I’ve been following for a while. Her work ethic and experience is second to none. Looking at her high school stats on Max Preps. In Mansfield’s last full season in 2019 she played in 14 games and hit .312 with 10 runs scored and 8 RBI. She spent time this summer with Impact Gold 18U Middlebrook, and although she had a limited sample size with them she hit .611 with an OBP of .650. She recently accepted an invite to play for Texas Glory Adkins 18U Gold. She’s uncommitted at the moment, but she’s sure to add a lot to whoever decides to add her to their roster.

Friends of The Blog:

Im very excited to welcome a new friend of the blog the Ohio Hawks 16U Gold-Hutchinson. They were kind enough to send over stats and recaps from their week at the USA Softball Junior Olympic Cup. On the first day of the tournament the Hawks went 2-0. Hailey Massaro went 3-5 with 5 RBI. I’m sure you remember Belle Hummel who we highlighted a couple weeks ago, she went 2-4 with 2 walks on day one. The Hawks dropped a game 9-4 on day two. The Hawks won their first bracket game of the tournament on Tuesday 14-1. They dropped their second bracket game 6-2. Hummel went 2-4 in that game. Massaro went 4-6 on the first bracket day. KK Mathis hit a home run in the Hawks 6-2 loss. Kendall Forren went 4-6 on the day with 2 doubles and 5 RBI. The Hawks won their next bracket game 15-2. Mathis hit a 3 run HR in that game. The Hawks saw their week end with a 4-0 loss to end the day on Wednesday. Jena Rhoads has a nice Wednesday though going 2-4 with 3 walks. Hummel finished the final day of the tournament 1-3 with an outfield assist on defense throwing out a runner at third.

Special Guest: Bailey Landry 

Bailey Landry (Courtesy LSU Athletics)

 

Bailey Landry is one of the most decorated players to come through the LSU program, and there have been plenty of talent to wear the Tigers purple and yellow. In her senior season in 2017 she led the Tigers in batting average, hits, total bases, stolen bases, runs scored, triples, and at bats. Bailey finished her career with the LSU record in hits with 293. She is just the second player in LSU history to record two seasons with a batting average above .400. All these numbers led her to be named a 2017 First Team All American. Bailey was then drafted into the NPF playing for the Texas Charge. She spent time with Scrapyard Fastpitch as well.

Bailey is now working with individual lessons both in person and virtual. Information on how to work with Bailey for virtual, or speaking engagements can be found on her site at baileylandry.com

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yf04bTjlkHs[/embedyt]

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]