WRAPPING IT UP IN “THE REALLY GREAT ATMOSPHERE”

Day 3 at the 2024 Clearwater Fall Classic was the last day of the event and was similar to the previous two in that the 18’s and 16’s continued to play games (two apiece) but there was one major difference.

The 14U age division had a final day of bracket play culminating with the Championship Game played at 1:15 pm.

We’ll have a recap of that game below, which featured several outstanding, sure-to-be closely watched players/recruiting prospects.

*** Overall, the 2024 Clearwater Fall Classic was called by several participating club coaches as “one of the best events of the season, if not the entire year.”

Typical of the feedback we got was this comment by Athletics Gold org lead and 18U Head Coach Stacy Tamborra.

“The Clearwater Classic was hands down of the best events of the year,” she told Line Drive’s Brentt Eads on Monday.

“You couldn’t ask for a better way to close out the fall… it was truly the best versus the best in every game. We were missing some kids and coming off of (high) school ball in Georgia so our outcome wasn’t typical for us, but we loved the schedule, the location and the really great atmosphere featured among the top teams in the country.”

“It was a great way to end the season,” Coach Tamborra concluded, “and to remind our athletes what they need to improve in the off-season.”

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DAYS 1 & 2 COVERAGE OF CLEARWATER FALL CLASSIC

Check out our first two days of coverage on-site at the 2024 Clearwater Fall Classic:

• Click HERE to read our Day 2 RECAP (Sat., Nov. 16, 2024)
• Click HERE to read our Day 1 RECAP (Fri., Nov. 15, 2024)

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COMING LATER THIS WEEK: THE CLEARWATER FALL CLASSIC ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAMS!

Line Drive Softball will be honoring top performers at the Clearwater Fall Showcase with the release of our Clearwater Fall Classic All-Tournament Team later this week.

We will be announcing an Overall Event MVP, MVPs for each age division (18U, 16U and 14U) and the All-Tournament Team by age division.

For club coaches of teams that competed over the weekend at the Fall Classic, e-mail Brentt Eads (Brentt.Eads@LineDriveMedia.com) with your top 2-3 performers as well as your pick for the MVP by age division!

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COLLEGE COACHING NOTES

As I mentioned over the weekend, the attendance by college coaches was impressive on the weekend. Most college coaches came on Saturday and Sunday.

*** Tim Walton, head coach for the Florida Gators, was unable to attend Saturday but did sign in on Sunday.

*** Dozens of head coaches all weekend long, at one game I saw four Power 4 head coaches scouting the action.

As mentioned on Saturday, I had a nice chat with Alabama’s Patrick Murphy who said he was there to cover three areas:

1. Say hello to the recently signed 2025’s (last week),
2. Let the 2026’s, who are the next class, know Coach Murph and his staff are there (by rule, they are not allowed to talk them),
3. Scout 2027’s and younger.

The Clearwater Fall Showcase is a great opp for coaches to cross-check younger players, get them on their lists to evaluate more and confirm if they want to continue recruiting them, invite them to campus, etc.

One example: Oregon Ducks Head Coach Melyssa Lombardi was at an Impact Gold 16U – Jazz game and talked frequently with head coach Jazz Jackson Vesely.

It appeared that Coach Lombardi was scouting the Impact Gold’s strong 2027 pitching staff which includes several top prospects including righthander Macie Bryant, ranked as the No. 1 player in the 2027 Line Drive HOT 100 which was released in late July, 2024.

Other 2027 arms on the Impact Gold – Jazz team getting attention are:

• righty Torie Turner, who was ranked No. 4 overall in the 2027 class,
• right-hander Leanna Bourdage, who was ranked as the 13 overall pitcher in the 2027 class,
• promising righty Emma Escamilla who came up big in the 2024 Team1 Elite Club Summer Invitational in June to help the Impact Gold take the title for the 16U division in the summer

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14U CHAMPIONSHIP WITH GREAT BACKSTORY

Unlike the older age divisions, the 14’s at the Clearwater Fall Classic had the bandwidth to play bracket ball and advance to a championship on Sunday.

Before the event began, several top club folks were saying to keep an eye on the Arizona Rising 14U team coaching by Chuck Kobasew and the team lived up to the high expectations making the championship game.

On the other side, the Clearwater Bullets 14U team led by Sean Schultheis, a local team to the event locale, wasn’t even in the tournament a week before it started and was asked in five days prior to the Opening Day when a team from Southwest had to cancel.

Not only did the Bullets represent themselves well, they made it to the championship game!

The star of the game was the Rising’s starting pitcher Rylee Kobasew, a 2028 talent, who got it done with her arm and her bat to lead her team to a 6-0 title game victory.

The starting pitcher, Kobasew pitched a complete game shutout and gave up just four hits over seven innings while striking out two.

With the stick, she hit a two-run homer in the six inning to close out the scoring after he team put three runs on the board in the bottom of the second inning–providing all the offensive support she herself would need when in the circle.

The key hit by AZ Rising was a two-run double by 2029 outfielder Ameliana Mendez, who went 3-for-3 in the game. Also shining offensively was 2028 right-fielder Anita Benites who went 2-for-4 with a run scored.

Another player who impressed all weekend for Rising was 2028 first baseman/catcher Aiden Stell, who hit several home runs, was impressive in the field and went 1-for-1 in the title game with a walk and hit-by-pitch.

In the loss, the Clearwater Bullets team more than impressed by making it to the final game and showcasing college-level talent.

Coach Schultheis had a great line stating:

“We’re playing against teams with players from five, six, seven states and we have kids from five counties… we’re a local team.”

Adrianna Thorne, a 2028 outfielder who batted leadoff, went 3-for-3 and Tayler Tucker, a 2028 righty-pitcher and shortstop, really impressed with her all-around game. Nicknamed “Tuck,” she can in to close out the game and showcased an arm that hit in the mid-60’s with her velocity.

Playing in the 6-hole, she made a diving catch that was one of the top defensive players of the weekend (GameChanger video courtesy of Andrew Bekas):

And, earlier in the weekend, she showcased her power bat skills with a home run over the left field fence:

Her impressive overall athletic skills, combined with the strong one-two punch of Arizona Rising’s pitcher Rylee Kobasew and power hitting first baseman Aiden Stell, show that there’s a lot of talent coming up in the Class of 2028.

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OTHERS WHO IMPRESSED:

*** MIF Capri Mark, ranked #2 in the 2029 Line Drive HOT 100, looks great as a lefty hitter for Jazz Jackson Veseley’s Impact Gold 16U team loaded with 2026 and ’27 talent.

*** The Corona Angels 16U – Slye team has an impressive 2027 pitcher in Arrianna Romero, who looked great on Sunday with multiple strikeouts before having to leave the game after being hit by a come-backer that was drilled into the right bicep on her pitching arm.

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FINAL NOTES OF APPRECIATION FOR THOSE BEHIND THE SCENES:

The weather was absolutely perfect all weekend, the competition was the best and everything—from the umpiring to the more than 200 college coaches who attended to the fields—was first rate.

For a club softball aficionado, it was exciting to see top PGF and Alliance teams facing each other, such as a weekend game that featured perennial powers Birmingham Thunderbolts versus the Corona Angels and tremendous coaches Rocky Thompson against Marty Tyson.

Kudos go out to the Barsalona family, especially; Jim Barsalona, a long-time coach with Team NJ and a skilled event director and producer as well as his wife Carol, and their kids Jeff and Aimee, the later who is Assistant Director for all the family’s events.

I asked Aimee who was behind the scenes in helping produce this tremendous showcase and who should get credit—“Without all these people, the tournament could not happen!”—she mentioned the following:

• “My family”
  • Jim Barsalona, Carol Barsalona, Cara Talmedge, Jeff Barsalona, my niece and nephew Brody and Lily
• Barbara Helweil
• Danielle Kroll
• Chassity Stone
• Trish and Joe
• “All my staff who travel to help run this event!”
• “Our behind the scene technology and scheduler:”
  • Dave Wheeler
  • Dave Sharpe
  • Steve Aquila
• Total Event Services Hotels:
  • Cindy Hubble
  • Ashely Johnson
• “My shirt guy: Rick Rodriguez
• “The folks in Clearwater and at the Eddie C. Moore Complex (the top dogs)!”
  • Carla
  • Earl
  • Maleah
• The Clearwater monitors who keep the parks so clean!!
  • Vince
  • Mike
• “All the people who work with the Clearwater field crew that were able to make this event possible.”
• UIC Dave
• “All our umpires who travel from far away to help.”
• “Our elite Trainer Tommy Craig and ALL the top trainers on location!”
• “Ed who runs all the concessions and their staff at Pinellas Park

Aimee concludes with a very true statement:

“The real hero is my Dad (Jim Barsalona). He is hard working, selfless and is really in this for all the players!! I truly admire him and all he does!”

— Brentt Eads/Line Drive Softball