EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — The pitching circle seemed more like a desert as Madison Schaefer peered in to take the signs at the USSSA Dudley College Showcase recently as temperatures climbed into triple digits.
Parents and college coaches watched from afar in the shade as a hot summer breeze did nothing but kick up dust, providing little relief for the lefthander as she nodded and came to a set. A changeup fooled the batter, and Schaefer capped off a scoreless three-inning outing with a strikeout, in hopes of catching the eye of a scout.
Schaefer, a rising senior at Newton North High, is playing for East Coast Force Gold 18U team this summer, a travel showcase team based out of Milford.
At summer’s end, Schaefer and her teammates will have competed in seven showcases across the Northeast in seven consecutive weekends with trips to Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania. The team plays at least five games at each showcase.
With some 70 teams flocking to some weekend showcases, summer has surpassed the spring high school season as the best opportunity to be seen by college coaches.
“This is where college coaches are coming,’’ said Schaefer, who is still weighing her options between Division 1 and Division 3 college programs.
“The competition is better. These are the selective kids who have decided they definitely want to play softball in college.’’
Just a field length’s away, Elizabeth D’Agostino, Schaefer’s teammate at Newton North, prepped for her second game of the day at the same showcase, with the Mass Drifters.
D’Agostino, a rising senior, is also nearing a college decision and says that the Drifters and program director Carol Savino have helped make the process enjoyable.
“It has made my life so much easier and less stressful than it could have been,’’ said D’Agostino, a shortstop and third baseman. “I know if I hadn’t come to Drifters I would not have gotten the exposure I needed to be able to play in college.’’
Savino, also the varsity girls’ softball coach at Norwood High, has been running the Drifters program for 30 years. She says in the last 10 years, the number of showcases has doubled.
“At first I didn’t think the showcases worked, but they do,’’ said Savino. “There are 15 to 20 college coaches at almost all of these showcases . . . it is a great opportunity to get the girls out in front of better competition.’’
Shawn Smith, founder of East Coach Force, agrees that the talent pool is much more focused.
“Usually every girl on a showcase team is amongst the top four or five on her high school team,’’ said Smith. “College coaches want to see how well a pitcher can do against a lineup with nine good hitters as opposed to high school, when sometimes there are only three good hitters.’’
Seeking to help girls play sofball at the next level, Smith and fellow Milford resident Brad Read started the East Coast Force in 2013. His own daughters, Andrea (C.W. Post/Framingham State) and Shannon Smith (Kentucky) have both gone on to play collegiately after standout careers at Milford. The latter was the state’s three-time player of the year and career leader in strikeouts.
Smith and Read both work outside full-time jobs and do not take a profit from the program. The $2,100 charge goes directly toward showcase entry fees and travel arrangements.
Said Smith, “You will rarely see a girl play at the college level who did not play on some type of showcase team.’’
Ali Atherton, a rising senior at Milford High, has made a verbal commitment to Southern New Hampshire University after making a favorable impression at a showcase last fall.
“I got in contact with the coach in October and by January 1 was committed,’’ said Atherton. “I don’t have to worry about writing coaches and can just focus on pitching.’’
For Atherton’s uncommitted teammates, like Milford High rising junior Jess Tomaso, this summer is a critical time of the year.
After wrapping up at the Dudley Showcase in Connecticut, Tomaso attended a camp at Boston College on Monday and Tuesday.
“It is a crazy time of the year,’’ said Tomaso, who batted .548 with 35 RBIs for the Scarlet Hawks this past spring. “It is a lot, but if you are playing at this time of the year then you have to have a love for the game.’’
Another team present was the Rhode Island Thunder, a program that has boasted a number of Division 1 commitments and carries six teams that play at the 18U level, two of which spend each weekend in the summer at showcases.
“The competition is fierce, so the girls really have to bring their best in terms of their playing ability,’’ said Bill Kazen, coach of the Rhode Island Thunder Gold showcase team that practices in Plainville. “But school is the bigger part of it.
“You get recruited so you can go to a good school and get an education. And while you’re there you get to play softball.’’
With every girl at showcases chasing the same goal of playing collegiately, Kazen’s players know they have to find a way to stand out.
“Everyone is out for the same thing and it pushes you to work harder,’’ said Caitlin McCarthy, a rising junior at Westborough High School who plays shortstop for the Thunder Gold. “If you’re not going to put in the extra effort, someone else is. I want softball to help me get into a school that I might not be able to get into on my academics alone.’’
Heather Holly, a pitcher and rising senior at Hopkinton, recently committed to play softball at Dominican University in Illinois.
“Playing so many games and showcases, you get so many looks from different places that can open up doors for you,’’ said Holly. “Playing for a name like Rhode Island Thunder really helps with that. Coaches come to games expecting an elite level player.’’
Mike McMahon can be reached at mcman92@gmail.com.
