Four local Amateur Softball Association teams are poised to sweep the third annual Cottonwood Classic at Riverfront Park on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 24 and 25.
“We have a team in every age group,” said Bo Schults, head coach of the Mean Machine girls ages 14 and under. “The 12[-year-old]s from last year are basically my 14s, and most of the 15 girls on my roster I’ve had for four years.”
Schults is hungry for a Classic win after falling in all four games last year to “some really tough” 12U teams from Prescott Valley, Scottsdale, Surprise and Tucson. This year, he is entrusting in-game coaching of the team to Nate Dixon, an assistant softball coach at Clarkdale-Jerome School.
Add two Verde Valley Heat Elite clubs of girls 10 and 16 years old and under to the pool of nearly 30 teams from around Arizona and New Mexico, and a fast-pitch invitational that filled all eight Riverfront fields and stands in its second year may be even more competitive this year.
“It’s harder to get out-of-state schools to come, but all the parents, siblings and other families and fans of the Phoenix teams come up,” Schults said. “Last year, we just had 21 or 22 teams.”
One of those was the Mean Machine 10U team, which finished second under head coach Jon Cook. Most of those players, including Cook’s daughter Annabelle, a 10U All-American, have since followed their coach to Heat Elite.
For the full story, please see the Wednesday, Oct. 14, issue of the Cottonwood Journal Extra.
