​With three (3) new all synthetic turf fields ready to play on, Travis Fields is excited to be an additional host site for the Texas Bomber Shootout event. The 14u division tournament and championship game will be hosted at Travis Fields March 5th-6th in 2022.
 
The Texas Bomber Shootout event is a rapidly growing tournament that was started 22 years ago. In 2015, this tournament partnered with the Texas Bombers and shifted to the College Station, Bryan, and Brenham communities. With the addition of Travis Fields, Triple Crown Sports is looking to host 130 teams this upcoming year.
 
Triple Crown Sports is a leading tournament and events-based organization. They manage over 200 youth sporting events across the country and have a strong presence with college athletics. They currently own the Women’s National Invitational Volleyball Championship, the Cancun Challenge, Puerto Vallarta College Challenge, and other high-quality events revolving around different sports of varying participant levels.
 
Jonathan Lampl is the Major Event Director for Triple Crown Sports and manages the Fast Pitch Softball division in Texas. He describes his organization as the “wedding planners of sports”. With a wide variety of sports and participant age ranges, they host prestigious events of various designs. Each event is uniquely tailored to their sport and demographic that they are serving with little organizational restrictions.
 
Though a graduate from the University of Texas, Jonathan enjoys hosting the Texas Bomber Shootout in the College Station, Bryan, and Brenham community. “Aggieland is a great growing area that is flexible and easy to work with.”
 
When asked to comment on the new Travis Fields, Jonathan expressed his excitement about being able to expand the tournament to a new complex, which in turn, means opportunities for more teams to participate. This high calibre event sells out every year, so they are excited to offer more team slots for this event.
 
 Jonathan commented that the “turf fields [Travis Fields] are a premium and will help with weather restrictions and have more of a true bounce with the sports.” He is looking forward to hosting this event at a “quality location” with “quality fields.”
 
RCI Sport Management Solutions is excited to be hosting a tournament of this calibre and prestige along with many other tournaments in 2022.
 
For more information on the facility’s events, check out www.rcisportsmanagement.com or email info@rcisportsmanagement.com.

​Name: Sarah Molina
 
Job Title: Basketball Event Director
 
Email: sarah@triplecrownsports.com
 
Family: Married to husband, Oscar Molina. Parents are Julie and Michael Sullivan, who reside in Colorado; siblings Sean and Megan reside in Colorado.
 
Hometown: Sterling
 
College Attended/Graduated: Colorado State University/2010
 
Sports Background: Proudest moment, State Basketball Champions, junior year. Humbling defeat, losing the following year in State Basketball playoffs as a senior to a worse team.
 
Hobbies: Spending time with family and friends, playing and watching sports, camping, hiking.
 
Favorite trip: All of our family Notre Dame sporting event trips
 
How did you become associated with Triple Crown?: Played for Triple Crown travel fastpitch team.
 
What intrigues you the most about Triple Crown?: Sports - the amount of memories and relationships that connect people through sports is amazing to me, and I absolutely enjoy experiencing it every day.

Name: Katrina Magaro
 
Job Title: Fastpitch Event Director
 
Email: katrina@triplecrownsports.com
 
Family: My parents are Tony and Susan Maestas, my brother is Scott Maestas and my in-laws are Joe and Sharon Magaro. I have a handsome husband named Mike (who also works at Triple Crown) and a very talented 17-year-old son named Mason! Our fur crew consists of three dogs and a cat – a Saint Bernard/Black Lab mix named Shia, a German Shepherd/Australian Shepherd mix named Gordon, a very old and crabby Lhaso Apso named Scooper and the sweetest orange tabby named Alan.
 
Hometown: I have had the privilege to grow up as an Air Force “brat” and had the opportunity to live in South Dakota, New Mexico, Sicily, Italy, California, Wyoming and my now home Colorado.
 
College Attended: University of Colorado-Colorado Springs
 
Sports Background: Ever since I started playing softball my one and only goal was to be able to go on and play in college. My proudest moment is getting recruited to play at the next level as a starting freshman pitcher.
 
Hobbies/Outside Interests: I am a lady of many interests! I love to go fly fishing with my husband, hiking, camping, snowshoeing, paddle boarding, reading, crafting, decorating, refurbishing antique furniture, golfing, playing catch, coaching … the list goes on and on.
 
Favorite trip: I have been lucky to take a lot of great trips in my life, but my favorite trip was when we took my parents, Tony and Susan, to go visit my now in-laws, Joe and Sharon, in Pennsylvania to see all of the fall foliage! Little did I know this trip would be life changing for everyone, since this was where Mike asked me to marry him in front of both of our families!
 
How did you first become associated with Triple Crown?: I first became associated with Triple Crown when I was in high school as a player on the VERY new competitive softball team. I then interned for a summer during college and worked with Patty Harsch to help her with slowpitch events. A few years down the road I was hired on full time as a Fastpitch Event Director and have been with Triple Crown for almost 9 years now.
 
What intrigues you the most about Triple Crown?: What intrigues me is being able to see all of your hard work come together and being able to create events where hundreds of teams and families attend, knowing they will have lifelong memories on and off the ball fields!

With the heftiest of the heat index numbers finally receding, the greater Houston area gets much more welcoming in the autumn months.
 
Some of the most enjoyable get-togethers in the region will happen on the softball field at one of the iconic recruiting events on the calendar, Triple Crown’s Ronald McDonald tournament, with ages 14u, 16u and 18u in action Oct. 15-17, 2021. The younger age groups will run Oct. 22-24.
 
Ultimately, hundreds of strong club programs will unleash their fastpitch talent one more time before winter sets in, with college coaches ranging from the NAIA and JUCO ranks all the way through NCAA D-I. On Thursday, Oct. 14, a 14u-18u clinic will be held from 6-9 p.m. at Collins Park in Spring, TX, and there are two NCAA D-I exhibition games on the docket with LSU playing Houston (4:30 p.m.) and Oklahoma State (7 p.m.), on Oct. 16 at Collins Park.
 
The tempo of the event stands out the most, with teams playing either five or six games in a compressed, competitive environment. For Week 1, there are 186 teams booked for action on 34 fields and five complexes; Week 2 features 110 teams on 28 fields and four complexes.
 
Ultimately, the event expects to donate about $30,000 to the Ronald McDonald House charity.
 
“We take a lot of pride in providing a meaningful setting so colleges and clubs can accomplish their goals. There’s a lot of stress and pressure with recruiting, and it’s great to help student-athletes get real clarity on getting to the next level,” said Jonathan Lampl of TCS, longtime director of the Ronald McDonald event. “To have almost 300 teams put us on the calendar, especially after all the COVID-19 disruptions, is a sign that club teams are convinced of the value in getting involved.”
 
Maria Winn, head coach at Galveston College in Texas, will be attending Ronald McDonald for the fourth time this year, something she always wanted to do earlier in her coaching run but had to skip because of other regional events in her sights.
 
“The event is nationally known and brings in a variety of talent for all over the country.
This event has helped me recruit various student athletes that have choose to come and play at my institution,” Winn said. “Anytime you can be out recruiting, it gives you an opportunity to network. As a junior college coach, it gives me the ability not only to network with other coaches about the game but also about my student athletes as well.”
 
Click the link to see the other Triple Crown Fastpitch events slated for 2021 and 2022:
 
Texas - Triple Crown Fastpitch

​Name: Jonathan Lampl
 
Job Title: Major Event Director
 
Email: jonathan@triplecrownsports.com
 
Family: I am married to Paula, my beautiful wife of 15 years, and we have three daughters, ages 19, 30 and 46. We have three grandchildren, ages 11, 15 and 19 years old. We live in Lago Vista, Texas in the Hill Country on Lake Travis, a little northwest of Austin.
 
Hometown: Houston, Texas
 
College: University of Texas, graduated 1978
 
Sports Background (proudest moment and most humbling defeat): Playing baseball all through my school years.
 
Hobbies/Outside Interests: Love to watch my children and grandchildren participate in sports.
 
Favorite trip taken as a child or adult: Visited Italy and China.
 
How did you find or first become associated with Triple Crown?: Started working at TCS in May of 2011.
 
What intrigues you the most about Triple Crown?: The challenge of providing great events that bring families together.

By Kyle Koso
 
Since the growing season in Alaska is a bit of a challenge, it’s smart to assemble every ingredient possible if you want something to spring to life.
 
Even though the seeds for youth softball were planted in the state a couple of decades ago, it’s another thing entirely for a sport to take root and mature in ways that lead to things like excellence in multiple age groups and college opportunities. But the softball scene in Alaska mimics the land itself – rugged and rich with resources.
 
Evidence of that was seen in August of 2021 at Triple Crown’s Great Alaska Showcase, held just northwest of Anchorage at Loretta French Fields, which drew 150 athletes for three days of skill building while putting them in front of college coaches from 15 programs looking to connect with Alaska’s talent base. Year 1 of the showcase was a quieter affair thanks to COVID restrictions in 2020, but the state’s club and high school programs were ready to dive into the opportunity this time around.
 
They had a lot of help from multiple supporters – everything from field improvements to fundraising to feeding and lodging college coaches had to be tackled by local softball fans. The hours of work piled up, but so did the sense of excitement that Alaska softball could create a moment that allowed each player’s talent to shine.
 
“This has been a dream of mine for 20 years; it is gratifying to see so many softball players able to experience a showcase,” said Carl Waters, one of the founders of the Arctic Heat club program, which is essentially Ground Zero for softball in the state. “By holding the showcase in Alaska, a lot of players who would never have the opportunity to participate in a Triple Crown event in the lower 48 were able to experience it here. It did take months of planning and coordination to figure out what could be provided, how it was going to be provided and to have someone plan and execute the lunches and the meals.
 
“A great deal of credit goes to our business partners: Tudor Bing, USA Softball, Unite Here Local #878 who provided affordable lodging, Midnight Sun Rentals who provided the vehicles, Eagle River Parks and Recreation, Coca Cola who provided the drinks, and the Elevation and Krush softball teams who provided pizza on the last day and countless hours of meal prep and cooking.”
 
Once the groundwork for the Great Alaska Showcase came together, it became essential to prepare the grounds, as well. The Loretta French complex had been around since the early 2010’s, and it had some amusing backstory (businesses could sponsor foul balls, where their names were announced whenever a ball was hit out of play), but it needed a fair bit of attention if it was going to keep up with the level of athletic improvement.
 
“By entering into a private/public partnership with Eagle River Parks and Rec, we started refurbishing the fields in 2020. This was a collaborative effort by the Eagle River Baseball, Eagle River Softball, Chugiak Softball and Arctic Heat club programs,” said Dan Traxinger, a coach and parent with the Arctic Heat. “Bill Lierman represented the baseball programs and myself from the softball programs to improve the fields for the youth programs and community. Four fields have been refurbished and over 500 hours of volunteer time was put into building, maintaining and hosting softball functions in 2021 alone.
 
“For the first time in our history, the two local high schools (Eagle River and Chugiak) were able to host their home softball high school games at Loretta French and it offers practice facilities as well. In addition, we hosted the 2nd annual Birchwood Jamboree of which 15 teams from around Alaska attended. The Jamboree was sponsored by local business to keep the cost down for all teams attending, which allowed teams to attend and our underrepresented programs to afford the event.” 
 
College coaches are well-known for going through just about anything to get face-to-face with potential roster fits, and a solid group of recruiters took advantage of all this preliminary work to make the journey up north and attend the showcase. With the local community throwing its energy into making a showcase even possible, and the foundation of player talent continuing to grow, colleges are going to be warming up to the topic of a trip up North.
 
“Just because they are from Alaska, an area more known for dogsledding than softball, players need to understand that it is the heart and effort that they put in, is what will determine what they get out of it,” said Eric Buss, softball head coach at Olympic College in Bremerton, WA. “One of the best catchers I have had on my teams came from Alaska. So, the talent is there, they just need to let others see that and help nurture their skills into an opportunity.
 
“I can say hands down the folks that promoted, set up the facility, provided food and drinks, attended daily and ensured this was a success are some of the most passionate, dedicated, and awesome people I have met in a long time. Seeing the desire in them to do what it takes to put on such a great event there in Alaska was amazing. The fields were in great condition, and based on what we were told on what they have been doing for months to get them that way is nothing short of true love for the kids and wanting them to have the best that they can.”
 
“We were pleased that Triple Crown was asked to get involved in drawing more attention to the player base in Alaska. Of course, we ended up benefiting enormously, as working with the softball community has been so satisfying,” said Stephanie Klaviter, event coordinator at TCS. “There’s a lot more that can be accomplished, as the athletes, coaches and supporters within softball show no shortage of enthusiasm.”
 
The quest continues to make the Great Alaska Showcase even more valuable to players and colleges; reach out to stephanie@triplecrownsports.com for more information.

By Jason Hanes

Making its debut at the Myrtle Beach Summer Nationals, Team Long Island 2024 shook off Wednesday’s rain cancelation to win its qualifying bracket pool with a 4-1 victory over NJ Cheetahs – Voluntad Thursday afternoon.

“We took the rain cancelation as an opportunity to come out quick,” said Team Long Island 2024 head coach Marie Racano. “I think in our second game, we were a little high off of our huge offensive run in the first game. I think we got a little comfortable, not realizing that we were going to have to do it again and not realizing that we were going to have to string our hits together.”

After a 14-0 win in game one of the day, runs would be at a premium in the matchup against NJ Cheetahs – Voluntad. The game would turn in the third inning, however, as three runs came home to give Team Long Island 2024 a lead that would last. With runners on the corners, Bella Cruz would beat out an infield hit to drive in a run, and after the throw to first got away, there were runners on second and third. After a foul out left two on with two out, Sophie Nesturrick stepped up with what would be the biggest hit of the game, pulling the ball into left field to bring home both runners, making it 3-0.

“I knew the pitchers weren’t pitching anything crazy, so I was just looking for a ball that I could hit,” Nesturrick said. “I just wanted to get a pitch that I could hit to bring the runners in and keep my eye on the ball and get it past the infield.”

Nesturrick would also drive in the final run of the game for Team Long Island. With a runner on third following a sacrifice bunt, Nesturrick would lift a sacrifice fly to bring home the fourth run of the game for her squad.

The offensive output also helped take pressure off the pitchers for Team Long Island 2024. “It gives them more confidence. If we’ve got a lead, we can just pay attention to the next hitter and get the next out,” Nesturrick, one of the Team Long Island catchers, said of her pitchers.

Debutants at the Myrtle Beach Summer Nationals, Team Long Island’s squad may not be the deepest, but it is one of the most eager to compete in the event. “All eleven of my girls are ready to go,” said coach Racano. “Whoever is called upon is ready to play a role. We’re looking to make a run here. We’ve never been here before, so we’re very excited to compete.”

By Jason Hanes

Playing most of the game in a driving rainstorm, Indy Dreams ’03 adapted to the conditions and pulled away for an 18-3 victory over Carolina Comets – Wilkes in 18U action at the Myrtle Beach Summer Nationals Wednesday.

“You just do the best you can,” said Indy Dreams head coach Holli Streeval. “Our pitchers dealt with the same conditions theirs did, but we just had a little bit more control over our pitches. There’s nothing you can really do in the rain except pray your hand dries out enough between pitches.”

“You just have to get used to it,” said Hailey Gotshall who allowed one unearned run in two innings of action with three walks and three strikeouts. “You’ve got to do your best to hit your spots as well as you can.”

Patience at the plate helped Indy Dreams get the offense going. Trailing 2-1 entering the bottom of the second, Indy Dreams would score nine times to take control of the game by the scruff of the neck. “We did a great job of not chasing pitches,” coach Streeval said. “We always go with, ‘It’s your pitch until it’s not.’ Of course, we had some walks, but we took advantage when we had the bases loaded.”

Gotshall would have perhaps the biggest blow of the nine-run frame when she doubled to left-center on a 1-0 pitch with the bases loaded. The three-run double would give her side a 7-2 lead. “I was looking for my pitch and let it get in deep,” Gotshall said. “I didn’t chase and I just had good timing.”

The big inning and the rhythm of the offense allowed Gotshall to relax in the circle when she went out for her two innings of relief. “It [helped] tremendously,” she said. “I could just focus on getting the batters and not worry about a run scoring.”

Gotshall would finish with a team-best five RBI with Corin Dammeier adding three runs driven in and two each from Hailey Cripe (Univ. of Kansas commit) and Hailee Howe (Ave Maria).

With one game under their belts, Indy Dreams ’03 can now focus on getting a good seed heading towards bracket play. “It’s always good to start with a win,” said coach Streeval. “You always wish the conditions were better, but if we had started off with a loss knowing we were handcuffed by the rain would have been very tough. Hopefully, we can gain momentum from this and hopefully the conditions will get better.”

By Jason Hanes

There are a variety of different, sometimes forgotten, ways to score in softball. Indiana Shockwaves – Perry seemed to remember them all, using bunts, ground outs, a wild pitch, and a pair of home runs to top Carolina Elite National – Maddaluna, 9-0 (5) to win Pool B in 18U play at the Myrtle Beach Summer Nationals.

While the scoring played a large role in the win, Shockwaves – Perry also got an outstanding performance in the circle from Josie Newman. Working five scoreless innings, Newman struck out 11 batters and walked one while only allowing one bunt single.

“Really everything was working for me; change, curve, and rise. Whenever they were catching on to me by looking more outside, I just came in on them,” Newman said.

Indiana Shockwaves – Perry used a pair of bunts to bring home the first two runs of the game in the bottom of the second. Megan Nichols slid in just under the tag on Charly Koehler’s fielder’s choice sacrifice bunt for the first run of the game. One batter later, a bunt single by Ainsley Phillips would make it 2-0.

“We do that quite a bit,” said Shockwaves head coach Walt Perry. “We’ve done that for the last few years. We’re comfortable doing it and it’s part of our game every day.

“I think when you can create a little havoc on the basepaths, it gets everybody into the game,” coach Perry continued. “The bench gets excited, and it just makes it easier from then on.”

Nichols and Koehler would drive in runs in the third, with a third run coming home on a wild pitch to make it 5-0 after three complete. Then in the fourth, Shockwaves – Perry put the game away. On a 2-1 pitch, Ella White drilled a two-run homer to left to put her side up 7-0. Following a double, Savannah Baker drilled the first pitch she saw over the fence in center for a 9-0 lead.

That would be more than enough scoring for Newman. The hurler would field her position to help record the final out of the game and give her side the bracket victory. “I was just trying to get [outs] however I could,” Newman said. “I’m confident in my defense behind me, so if I could get them to put it in play, great. But a strikeout is pretty nice too.”

The win gives Indiana Shockwaves – Perry a 9:45 a.m. first pitch Friday, with two wins in back-to-back games needed to stay in the championship bracket. “We’ve been here multiple years and know how important it is to get that good seed and not have to stay out here playing all day on those bracket days,” coach Perry said.