Shamrocks 14U Pitcher

[MrGreen]

I know this pitcher well. The picture on the website is from late summer 2008. No more glasses, but that is why she got the nickname "The Librarian" from the 14U Hatters Gold in Florida. Not quite as tiny as the girl in the website photo. She does have long arms and is pretty muscular for her frame. Her primary sport before softball was gymnastics.

She currently throws consistently in the mid-60's and has pushed the envelope to 68. Her parents are not overly concerned about showcasing her this year in 16/18U showcase tournaments. It hasn't been necessary. She goes to camps/clinics, and the team plans on attending a couple of showcases this season. The team will play up in everything (for the most part) except ASA national qualifiers. They just finished playing 16 and 18U teams in a Florida showcase (in less than favorable conditions). The goal is to make a serious run in Moline, which is a true showcase anyway.

She has a great pitching coach, and an incredible work ethic. Several (ACC, SEC, Big 10 and 12) D-1 schools, as well as other softball organizations have put the gun (real ones) on her and confirmed speeds in the range of 66-68 mph. Of course she throws less than that too, as it's not all about speed.

 

[jinjet95]

The gymnastics background explains a lot. My daughter's second sport was also gymnastics. She's small for her age, but is very strong for her size. I've had several coaches tell me that they will always look at a girl with a gymnastics background, no matter the size, because they are normally stronger than average.

 

[Renntiger]

The gymnastics background would also suggest that she is way more flexible than average, with great coordination and core strength. When the body doesn't have to fight against its own physical constraints due to stiff joints and sub-optimal coordination, the same muscle energy can be much more efficiently directed at moving the ball. Thanks for the revelation, MrGreen!

 

[jofus13]

If she's the girl I saw pitching for them late in the summer (playing up to 16U in a tournament in Roanoke), then I can confirm that she is pretty good We were playing 14U, but I watched her pitch a game in front of us, and she had good control and movement to go with the speed.

My DD's coach is working with the tall girl from South Carolina now (I think that's the one mentioned a few posts back, that pitched in the LL world series a couple seasons ago), and she is reportedly consistently hitting 67-69 now, and has improved her control and her pitches (like changeup, for example)....of course, being 6'2"+ probably doesn't hurt

 

[kahenaghan]

Out of curiosity..does she pitch with an internal rotation?

 

[lhowser]

Here is a clip of a 14 year old player in eighth grade throwing easily in the lower 60's this weekend playing on my team. I see internal rotation. Probably 5'6" 115 ponds

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[coach41]

WE saw this kid this fall for the Shamrocks, she was dynamite, but it was not just pitching, they hit the ball, team seemed very well coached and the pitcher ( T. Finucane ) was not a big girl but generated alot of speed and our hitters struggled. They were the talk of the town at our tournament and won it all really performing against 16's like it was not problem. When she pitched, no one could hit her and then they hit, early batters had speed and they picked up a slapper from southern VA who was reliable and made it hard on us with runs scored. Props to the pitcher and thou we love to hate them, this Sharmocks team looks like something to keep an eye on, we hope to see them again, earlier threads say they are playing all 16's from here out and that is what we are and want to play them again.

 

[coach41]

Coach

she was gunned recently by DIV 1, real deal program, coaches at a clinic 66.9 on their gun, I know the stories of speed grow long, but its legit here, big time programs are already in the mix for her, she is something...... Nice to have another pitcher like a M. Elliott coming out of the DC Metro area to represent east coast softball

 

[Snakehandler]

I found some action shots in the 2009 Shamrocks archive. Scrool down to 2009 tournament pictures. I think a few of our questions can be answered. http://www.shamrocksoftball.org/14/2009.html First Responders Cup has two pics of her throwing and Oktoberfest has a sequence of her throwing.

 

[CoachJim]

In the sequence from the Oktoberfast she looks like she's illegal, as she's stepped outside the 18inch width of the pitching plate...probably a screwball but...either way, she looks like she WAY outside the width of the plate...