On the chilly Saturday Sacramento State softball welcomed 21 eager teenage girls ready to learn and have fun. Although it never warmed up weather wise the 15-16  year olds sizzled with their pitching and hitting skills.

The afternoon gave way to bloopers by the younger girls almost getting drilled by line-drive hits to the outfield or by the girls looking the other way while catching a fly ball.

The pitching and hitting clinic has been going for more than a decade, with many girls coming and leaving the clinics learned and ready for their season. This year was no exception to the girls learning and fixing the kinks in their skills as a softball player.

The girls were in awe when they saw pitchers: junior Taylor Stroud and sophomore Caitlin Brooks demonstrated their pitches to the teenage girls. Whether it was a rise ball, screwball Stroud and Brooks put on a show for the kids, some girls even mouthing a “wow”.

The first group comprised 17 teenage pitchers then broke up into separate groups of two to work on their mechanics of their pitching, some learning how to pitch for the first time in thelives.

Chris Derute, father of 15-year-old Christina, likes the idea of Sac State opening its facility to his daughter, to learn from NCAA Division I talent.

“This is a great opportunity for the girls to have the coaching staff and the players to lend their expertise to help the girls to be better players,” Derute said.

Derute said he hopes that some of his daughter’s friends will come and attend the clinic next year after seeing the improvement of his daughter.

“I wish more of the players from Christina’s high school would be here,” Derute said.

The pitching clinic was filled with comedic situations, especially with younger girls whether they would rainbow their pitches like slow- pitch softball or rifle it in there and completely sail the catchers.

The younger girls inconsistency had the catchers diving and jumping, it even had ex- Hornet Marissa Navarro jumping and diving for the first time since her last game as a Hornet.

Chris Hutchinson said he likes the exposure his daughter and the other kids are having on a college field and being around the team.

“My hope is that she gets exposure to what it takes to be a college player, while building and fostering the relationships with the coaching staff,” Hutchinson said.

Even the younger children’s parents, like Shaun Dawson, really enjoyed seeing his daughter out there learning and getting better.

“I think it’s a great camp and great opportunity for my daughter to learn the basic skills,” Dawson said.

After a short break, the hitting clinic started at noon after a short introduction from the hitting coach Cara Hoyt. Then there were demonstrations from seniors: slapper Kelli Frye and clutch hitting Emily McCormick.

This time, the teenagers had their chance to showcase their talent of hitting by ripping balls to the outfield, with some girls almost hitting it out of the park a couple times.

Christina Derute was one of the participants in the both clinics Saturday and said she was impressed with the Sac State softball facility.

“I like how the people are really friendly to me and that I was not at one place for a really long time,” Derute said.

Derute’s friend, 14-year- old Morgan Bragen, also had fun today- especially during the hitting clinic.

Senior centerfielder Frye was embracing the younger players Saturday enjoying their enthusiasm for the game of softball.

“Teaching softball like the hitting specific clinic; it really helps me see where I mess up when I swing,” Frye said.

Frye said she, that it’s always good to get the opposite side of the spectrum, like teaching softball. It brings back the passion into us players who see playing the sport more as a job.

Strahan said she is hoping after the clinics the kids and parents would come back to check out the team during the season.

“Hopefully the parents and kids loved the camp, so they could come out and see us play,” Strahan said.

Strahan said she likes the exposure the youth girls are getting to the baseball field and the campus as well.

Sac State opens its season next Friday at the Fresno State Kickoff tournament with its first game at 11:30 a.m. versus UTEP.

 

Clifton can be reached on Twitter at @JonesSHsports