The Corona Angels under the guidance of Marty Tyson have long been one of the top travel ball organizations in the sports and continues to grow and impress across the nation.

One team to watch is the 18U squad led by Noli Snobar with the help of co-head coaches Jessica Ventoza and Taryn Atlee.

Based of Roseville, Calif., the team recently qualified for Alliance 18U Nationals and Coach Tyson proudly says:

“Our NorCal Angels are getting it done!”

Here’s a look at the history of the Angels – Snobar/Ventoza team as told by Coach Snobar himself…

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When we started this team in January of 2020, I don’t think any of us could have imagined where the journey would take us.

We were a 10U team with a local travel ball organization and COVID hit almost immediately.

Suddenly, tournaments disappeared and, like everyone else, we were just trying to find places to play. If someone was hosting a tournament somewhere out in the country, chances were we were going to find it.

We played some truly backwoods tournaments just to get our girls on a softball field!

For the first three years, it was me and three other dads coaching the team. Nothing fancy. Just a group of families and players who loved softball and wanted to compete.

And compete we did.

We won our share of local PGF tournaments and, in 2021, made a run all the way to the championship game at Nationals in Reno.

As the girls got older, though, we knew the team needed to evolve. The game was changing, recruiting was getting closer, and our players needed more than a group of dads who cared deeply about them.

They needed coaches who had been where they wanted to go.

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A New Chapter

At the end of 2023, Jess Ventoza approached me about joining our coaching staff.

Jess, a member of Washington’s 2009 National Championship team, was already the hitting coach for most of our players. We began talking about the next step for the team and, specifically, what organization would give our girls the best opportunities as they entered the recruiting years.

Jess called Dena Tyson with the Corona Angels.

We took the team to Corona in early 2024, and almost immediately we knew we had found the right fit.

The move to the Corona Angels became bigger than just our team. Jess began helping build the organization’s presence in Northern California, which has now grown to six teams.

Then she made another phone call.

Jess reached out to fellow Washington alum Taryn Atlee, who had recently moved back home, and asked her to come work with our team. It took exactly one practice for us to realize we had something special.

Coach T and I became co-head coaches, which allowed Jess to focus more of her energy on growing the Corona Angels’ Northern California chapter.

Taryn brought something to our team that we desperately needed: communication.

She taught our players how to communicate on a softball field at an entirely different level and brought lessons from her own experience at Washington and from playing alongside athletes such as Sis Bates.

But more than anything, Coach T taught our girls how to play the game.

Her energy was infectious and her style connected with our players immediately as she helped change the way our girls saw softball.

During Coach T’s tenure through the summer of 2026, our team competed against some of the best programs in the country at events including Top Gun Maverick, IDT and Alliance Nationals, where we earned a Tier 1 finish in 2025.

In the fall of 2026, Coach T left us for the college coaching ranks at Washington, and we couldn’t be happier for her!

Quite honestly, she was always destined for something bigger.

With Taryn’s departure, Coach Jess stepped back in as co-head coach. She’s brought another dimension to our team. Jess has a toughness about her and an unwavering expectation of greatness from our players.

More importantly, she is one of the best role-models our girls could ever ask for.

There’s also something pretty special about having the person who knows your swing better than almost anyone standing in the third-base coach’s box while you’re competing.

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More Than Softball

I’ve spent six years coaching this group, and when people ask me what makes the team special, my answer really isn’t about wins, tournaments or recruiting.

It’s the people.

We have incredible families. We’ve been very intentional about building a group of selfless families.  Parents support the players. Players support one another. And somewhere along the way, this stopped feeling like a softball team and started feeling more like a family.

We’ve built our program around five core values:

Selflessness. Present. Preparation. Discipline. Toughness.

Selflessness comes first intentionally. You can preach culture all you want, but eventually the players have to own it. These girls do.

Last year, the players started a team Bible study that meets once a month. It’s player-led and has become another opportunity for them to spend time together, talk and strengthen relationships away from softball.

Maybe what I’m most proud of is something that sounds incredibly simple: there are no cliques.

Everyone is everyone’s friend. For a roster of teenage girls who travel together, compete for playing time together and spend countless weekends together, that’s pretty remarkable.

And I think it’s one of the biggest reasons this group has lasted.

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Meet the Team

The current roster includes two 2027 graduates, eleven 2028s and two 2029s. Some have been here almost from the beginning. Others are brand new.

But every one of them has added something important to who we are…

Arden Vines | 2028 | OF | UNLV Commit

Arden is one of our leaders and essentially another coach in the outfield. She’s been our starting centerfielder for three years and has become a beacon of accountability within our program. With an overhand velocity of 73 mph, Arden has won the Alliance throwing contest two of the past three years. More than the arm strength, though, it’s the standard she sets every day that makes her so valuable to us.

Aubrey Reddell | 2027 | OF | Concordia University Irvine Commit

Aubs is one of our newer additions, but she quickly became a staple at the top of our lineup. She’s a speedy left-handed hitter who can hit for power to all fields, making her a genuine triple threat. She’s our table-setter and exactly the type of player you want creating pressure at the top of an order.

Aubrey Joiner | 2028 | C/3B/2B | Uncommitted

Aubrey is an absolute baller and one of the best receivers I’ve ever coached. She’s also a giant ball of positive energy who has become a fixture in the middle of our lineup. Her versatility, receiving ability, bat and energy make her the kind of player who can impact a game in a lot of different ways.

Carissa Wilson | 2028 | UT | Uncommitted

“Riss” is our ultimate utility knife. She can play anywhere in the outfield or either corner, has a cannon for an arm and brings legitimate gap-to-gap power offensively. She might also be the funniest player I’ve ever coached, which makes her value to our dugout nearly as great as her value on the field.

Chloe Huertsch | 2029 | C/OF | Uncommitted

Chloe is our newest addition and has been an absolute joy to coach. She’s bolstered our catching rotation while also showing that she can really swing the bat. She’s only beginning her journey with us, and we’re excited to see what the next summer brings.

Delanie Cloyd | 2028 | SS/3B | Uncommitted

Delanie has Power 4 offensive ability and unbelievable power to all fields. Last summer, she hit 16 home runs for us. Defensively, she’s an absolute dog and has the tools to impact the game on both sides of the ball. She’s a true five-tool athlete and a staple in the middle of our Corona Angels lineup.

Eliana Snobar | 2028 | RHP/UT | Concordia University Irvine

Els is one of our original roster members and one of our leaders. She’s also one of our horses in the circle. She’s pitched on the biggest stages in the country, and whenever we’ve handed her the ball in a big moment, she has answered the call. She’s far more than a pitcher, though. She can swing it and plays a mean second base, too.

Emma Kinney | 2029 | MIF | Uncommitted

Emma may be the toughest out on our entire team. I know because I have to call pitches against her in practice, and I hate doing it. She’s a gap-to-gap hitter with above-average power and our starting second baseman, where her hands really stand out. She’s tough, competitive and an absolute pleasure to coach. Her recruiting future should be a lot of fun to watch.

Gabby Jones | 2028 | C/3B | Weber State University

Gabby is another one of the leaders of our team and has been a backstop for us behind the plate. She’s a pure hitter with gap-to-gap power and might be everyone’s favorite teammate. Gabby’s leadership extends well beyond the field, too. She leads our monthly player Bible study and is a huge part of the culture we’ve built.

Lilah Fountaine | 2028 | 1B/OF | Uncommitted

One word: “beast.”Lilah produces 75-plus mph exit velocity with power to all fields from the left side. She has the type of offensive ability that translates to the next level, but what impresses me just as much is her accountability. She has worked incredibly hard defensively at first base, becoming much more agile and turning herself into a more complete player.

Maddie Stead | RHP/UT | Uncommitted

Maddie is our other horse in the circle. She’s pitched in countless big moments for this team and has consistently answered the call. She’s also a big, strong athlete who can swing the bat with power to all fields. Add an overhand velocity hovering around 70 mph, and Maddie brings an impressive combination of strength, athleticism and competitive experience.

Malina Viruet | 2027 | RHP/UT | Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Malina joined us this season and immediately became a major addition to our pitching staff. She’s a true ace in the circle with a nasty riseball. Offensively, she’s as pure a hitter as I’ve coached. She’s got that classic pretty left-handed swing that’s just fun to watch.

Molly Roseen | 2028 | Corner | Appalachian State University

Molly has been with us for five years, and her energy is the heartbeat of our team. She’s hit third in our lineup essentially the entire time she’s been with us and has developed into a true Division I bat. At one point, Molly went an entire spring and summer striking out only once. She’s consistent, competitive and simply a pleasure to coach.

Ries Maxwell | 2028 | OF | Uncommitted

Sparkplug. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a grittier player than Maxwell. She brings blazing speed from the left side and is constantly putting pressure on defenses. She plays with energy, toughness and fearlessness. She’s the kind of player who can change the feel of an inning simply by getting on base.

Sammie Snell | 2028 | SS | University of Washington

Sammie is another original member of this team and has virtually every attribute you could ask for in a high-level player: size, power, unbelievable range at shortstop and tremendous overall athleticism. But there’s something else Sammie gives us that’s harder to measure: confidence. Her teammates have this feeling that somehow we’re always going to be OK because Sammie is out there. She’s a Derek Jeter-type presence for us, a player whose confidence and steadiness seem to spread to everybody around her. She’s been an absolute pleasure to coach.

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The Part That Matters Most

When you’re coaching 10U softball, six years feels like a lifetime away.

You don’t picture college commitments. You don’t envision competing at some of the best tournaments in the country. You certainly don’t imagine that the little girls running around at those backwoods COVID tournaments will eventually become young women receiving opportunities to play Division I softball.

You just coach the next practice.

Then you look up one day and realize how much life you’ve experienced together.

These girls have grown up together. Our families have grown together. Coaches have come into their lives and left their mark. Players have committed to colleges they dreamed about. Others are still working toward their opportunity.

And through all of it, the identity of this team has remained remarkably consistent.

Selflessness. Present. Preparation. Discipline. Toughness.

Someday, the wins and losses are going to blur together. Nobody is going to remember the score of most of those PGF games or every tournament we played.

But I think we’ll remember the people.

We’ll remember the backwoods tournaments during COVID. We’ll remember Reno. We’ll remember Coach T flying around a practice with that infectious energy.

We’ll remember Coach Jess demanding more because she knew our girls were capable of more. We’ll remember the Bible studies, the hotel weekends, the huge wins and the brutal losses.

And I’m pretty confident we’ll remember that, for six years, we had something that’s incredibly difficult to find in travel softball.

A group of players, coaches and families who genuinely loved doing this together.

That’s what makes this team special.

—Noli Snobar/Head Coach of Corona Angels 18U – Snobar/Ventoza