San Diego Elite Fastpitch Travel Softball: Welcome

San Diego Elite was established to provide players from the South Bay communities and throughout San Diego County the opportunity to participate in fastpitch softball at a higher competitive level than that afforded by the recreational leagues.

San Diego Elite 18U is coming off a successful Summer 2011 season that included playing in the ASA "A" National Championships in Normal, Illinois. We are returning key players from our 2011 team and are looking to fill the remaining spots on our roster.

Our goal for 2012 is to qualify for the Premier and ASA National Championships in August 2012.

For more specific information or to set up a workout, please feel free to contact us at 619-504-9395 or sdelite18@yahoo.com

Elite means the best of the best. San Diego Elite is a class 'A' fastpitch travel softball organization. Elite has been in existence since 1996 when it evolved from the 14U Bonita Valley All-Stars who won the 'B' National Championship that season with head coach Bob Aguilar, and assistant coaches Bill Howard, Rod Jensen and Monica Medina. It was the first time that Bonita Valley recreational league had won a national championship.

The following year, the first Elite team was formed with players and coaches from that championship team and jumped straight into 18U class 'A' travel ball. They were a very young, but relentless and determined team.

In 1998, Chaos, a team from Lemon Grove participated in the American Girls National Championship tournament in Buena Park, CA. Two players from Elite, Karina Aguilar and Melissa Twohey, played with Chaos to win the National Championship game that lasted 16 innings!

The two teams merged the following season and immediately became an organization on the rise. Since 1999, teams in the San Diego Elite organization have played in the national championship tournaments of the following associations; ASA, Triple Crown Sports, AFA and NSA with several top 5 finishes.

San Diego Elite had another successful weekend on the softball field. Playing in the SoCal ASA 18U State Championships in Riverside, CA, Elite went 4-1 bringing the 3rd Place trophy back home. The 3rd Place finish qualifies Elite to play in the USA/ASA 18U National Championship Tournament in Normal, Illinois this summer.

Starting play on Saturday morning, Elite took on the California Thunder team from the San Gabriel Valley. After starting off strong with a 4-0 lead, the Thunder came back to score 5 runs over the last 4 innings to take a 5-4 lead going into the bottom of the 7th inning. Elite came back in the last at bat to score 2 runs with aggressive baserunning decisions from Valeria Torres and Julia Shrum to win the game 6-5.

The second game on Saturday had Elite facing the SoCal Breakers from San Diego North County. The Breakers jumped out to an early 3-0 lead after two innings, but then Ashliegh Minter shut the Breakers down retiring 15 of the last 16 batters. Elite came back with 4 unanswerd runs, scoring the game winner in the bottom of the 7th inning.

Playing late Saturday night in their third game of the day, Elite took on Newport Beach Riptide Gold. After Riptide Gold took an early lead of 6-1 in the top of the 2nd inning, Angel Iacovetti came in and retired 16 of the next 18 batters to keep Elite in the game. With a home run from Natalia Rosales and a big 3 runs in the 3rd inning, Elite made it a 6-4 ballgame. Elite was able to get the bases loaded in the 4th but couldn't come through with a key hit to score and eventually lost 7-4.

Sunday morning saw Elite faced with needing two wins in the bottom half of the bracket to win 3rd Place for the tournament. First up for Elite was the East County Gamers from El Cajon. Elite scored first to take a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, but the Gamers came back in the bottom half of the inning with a 3 run HR to take a 3-1 lead. The Elite bats came to life in the 5th inning to score 9 runs and eventually won 10-3.

In the 3rd Place game, Elite took on Xplosion from Menifee, CA. The Elite batters decided to show some power in the final game to make sure there was no doubt who would take home the 3rd Place trophy. With homeruns from Natalia Rosales and Valeria Torres, Elite won the game 10-6 to qualify for the trip to Normal, Illinois.

Another member of the Elite family is moving on to the next chapter in her life as Adriana Angulo has accepted a scholarship to attend Briar Cliff University in Sioux City, Iowa and play softball for the Chargers.

Briar Cliff University is a member of the Great Plains Athletic Conference as a Division I member of the NAIA.  The Elite family is very excited and proud of Adriana and wish her great success on the field for the Chargers and in the classroom as she pursues her degree.

Congratulations Adriana!

With the spring sports wrapped up, the City of New York Athletic Conference announced the names of each sport's All-Stars.

The Hunter College softball team saw their 2011 season end in heartbreaking fashion after falling to Baruch in the CUNYAC championships. Despite falling short of a championship, the Hawks had a strong season, with several players receiving conference honors. Four Hawks were named as First Team All-Stars, including Megan McKenna, Julia Lipovac, Arielle Zieff, and Angel Iacovetti. McKenna led the Hawks in batting average in 2011 with a .388 clip, with Lipovac right behind her at .387. Zieff had a strong year at the plate as well, batting .389, while also providing leadership behind the plate for her young pitching staff. Freshman phenom, Iacovetti not only contributed to the Hawks success with her bat, posting a .250 average with three homeruns, but she also led the team on the mound, going 12-9 with a 1.87 ERA. Christina Baker was also honored by the conference, receiving a selection to the Second Team. Baker started all 38 games for the Hawks batting .247.

Congratulations to San Diego Elite alum Ciara Fraher at University of the Southwest on being named to the Red River Athletic Conference 2011 All-Conference Team. Ciara completed a successful freshman campaign, was named the conference pitcher of the week back in February, and finished with a 12-10 record and a 2.38 ERA. Ciara also contributed to the Mustangs offensively with a .273 batting average, 2 HR, and 25 RBI.

HIGH POINT, N.C.- Conference Carolinas has announced the 2011 Softball All-Conference Team and Queens University of Charlotte has four players named to the All-Conference Second Team. Earning honors for the Royals are seniors Brandy Jester (Georgetown, Del., Sussex Central) and Maria Goode (Charlotte, N.C., Providence) and freshman Kaitlyn Cheek (Richmond, Va., JR Tucker ) and Emily Poulton (Temecula, Calif., Great Oak). Four each of these four players, this is their first All-Conference nod.

Emily completed her freshman season with a .278 batting average, 16 runs scored, 27 hits including 3 doubles and 1 triple. She had 15 runs batted in to go with a .369 OBA and a .978 fielding percentage. The Elite family is very proud of your accomplishments Emily!

Another member of the Elite family has accepted a scholarship offer to play softball at the next level. Julia Shrum has decided to take her skills and continue her education at Arizona Western College in Yuma, AZ.

Congratulations Julia! We look forward to seeing you excel with the Matadors next season!

San Diego Elite won the 1st annual Triple Crown Sports Labor Day by the Bay tournament. In our first games as a team in 2010, with 11 new players on our roster and only 1 practice together, Elite went undefeated in the tournament outscoring our opponents by a score of 51-9.

With outstanding defense played all weekend and strong pitching efforts our team seemed to always come up with the clutch play to end every threat from the opposing team. Our clutch hitting and some timely home runs allowed us to play with a comfortable lead in most of our games.

Now that we have started our season off successfully, we look forward to the challenges as we face tough competitiion in the games ahead.

With a strong showing at 18U Regionals in Beaumont, CA, San Diego Elite has qualified for the USA/ASA 18U "A" Nationals in Hemet, CA to be held August 1-8, 2010. While playing without a couple of key players, and sustaining an injury to our starting catcher in the 3rd game, Elite still faught to win 4 more games on Saturday to finish with a 5-2 record in bracket play.  We look forward to some rest to heal our injuries and make a strong showing in Hemet!!

San Diego Elite Catcher Alexis Sacay has signed her LOI to attend Howard College in Big Spring, Texas. Alexis is excited to continue her education and play softball for the Hawks. Hawks assistant coach Nicole Dickson saw Lexi play while we were at the Colorado Sparkler Showcase and was quite impressed with her play and control of the game from behind the plate. After some conversation later that night between Coach Dickson and Lexi, Howard College Head Coach Kelly Raines flew up the next day to see Lexi play for herself. That night at the All-American game Lexi was offered and accepted the scholarship offer and signed her LOI to attend Howard. This culminated several months of hard work for Lexi as she is coming back from shoulder surgery just 6 months prior to the trip. Congratulations Lexi, all of us at San Diego Elite are proud and excited for you!!

Congratulations to several members of the San Diego Elite family that completed very successful High School seasons. Natalia Rosales, Monica Armas, Ariel Bochniak and Crystal Corona of Hilltop High School finished 22-7 and played in the CIF San Diego Section, Division I playoffs, finishing in 7th place. Elizabeth Vargas helped Bonita Vista High School (21-6-1) finish in 5th place in Division I. Angel Iacovetti helped lead her Mar Vista High School team (21-8) into the Division II playoffs. Gabby Salerno helped The Bishop's School into the Division IV playoffs. 

Several San Diego Elite players were named Union-Tribune All-Academic Team members as well as to their respective All-CIF Division and All-League Teams. Congratulations to all of the following players:

Angel Iacovetti, Mar Vista HS, All-Academic Team, South Bay League 1st Team, South Bay League Pitcher of the Year AND All CIF San Diego Section Division II 2nd Team

Bianca Paraiso, Morse HS, All-Acacemic Team, Eastern League 2nd Team

Brenda Alvarez, Eastlake HS, Mesa League 2nd Team

Elizabeth Vargas, Bonita Vista HS, All-Academic Team

Gabby Salerno, The Bishop's School, All-Academic Team

Lexi Sacay, Eastlake HS, All-Academic Team

Monica Armas, Hilltop HS, All-Academic Team, Mesa League 2nd Team   

Natalia Rosales, Hilltop HS, Mesa League 1st Team

The Australian Olympic/National Softball Team, currently ranked #3 in the world, will play 2 games on Wednesday, June 16th at San Diego State's softball stadium prior to departing for Caracas, Venezuela for the 2010 ISF World Championships.

The Aussies will be playing against StormUSA and San Diego Elite Fastpitch All-Stars in games starting at 5:00pm. StormUSA, a top ranked ASA Women's Major Division team, features All-American collegiate players from around the country. The San Diego Elite team will feature top local players from SDSU, USD, Pt. Loma Nazarene and Loyola Marymount such as Samantha Beasley, Brittany Knudsen, Taylor Hensley, and Corie Goodman.

Come out to the SDSU softball stadium on Wednesday, June 16th to see some of the best international and collegiate softball players in the world in two very exciting games.

San Diego Elite pitcher Ashleigh "Bug" Minter has signed her letter of intent (LOI) with the Rattlers of Florida A&M University. Florida A&M University is located in Tallahassee, Florida. The Rattlers are a NCAA Division I program and competes in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC).

Ashleigh is excited to take this next step in her life's goals. While she is following in her sister's footsteps to go on to college and play softball, she also chose to take her own path and attend the school of her choice. "I chose Florida A&M for the family atmosphere in the softball program," says Ashliegh. "I think it will be easy to become my home away from home."

Two Alumni of San Diego Elite, Danie Benito and Vanessa Adame will be playing in the NAIA National Championship Tournament as members of Dickinson State University. The Blue Hawks, who have been ranked as high as #2 in the national polls, completed the regular season with a 33-11 record. Vanessa Adame, in her sophomore season, is the starting centerfielder for DSU and is batting .426. Danie Benito is a freshman outfielder for the Blue Hawks and has a .375 OBP with 9 runs scored.

The National Championship Tournament will take place in Decatur, Alabama from May 20-26, 2010. Congratulations Vanessa, Danie and good luck to Dickinson State University!!

After returning from a recruiting trip to New York City over spring break, Angel Iacovetti has made her commitment to Coach Boz to play softball for Hunter College next season. Hunter College is located on the upper east side of Manhattan in New York City and is a perennial power in the CUNYAC/ECAC conference of NCAA Division III.

"It's like two dreams are coming true!" stated Angel. "I get to live in New York City and play collegiate level softball. I wanted to go to a college that offered an urban lifestyle, diversity and a change of seasons. Going to Hunter College will give me the opportunity to live that. I love San Diego, but there is no place like New York City."

Angel will be joining a Hawks squad that won the CUNYAC Championship in 2009 and is currently playing the the conference tournament to repeat as champions and advance to the NCAA Division III women's college world series.

Congratulations Angel !!

San Diego Elite earned an early Christmas present by winning the Triple Crown Sports Christmas Qualifier this past weekend in Escondido, CA. This win earns the team a berth in the Triple Crown World Series to be played in Park City, Utah next July.

Our girls played solid, inspired softball all weekend finishing with a perfect 6-0 record, allowing only 5 runs the entire tournament. They started off with 3 pool game wins against CA Lady Knights (4-2), 3rd Degree (2-0) and the Diamond Runners (8-0). Valerie Murray, Ashleigh Minter and Angel Iacovetti each pitched complete game victories on Saturday.

On Sunday in bracket play they started off with a win against the Carlsbad Aces (5-1) with Ashliegh Minter getting the complete game win again. Monica Armas started off the scoring with a monster 300' triple to left center scoring Brenda Alvarez. In the semi-final game, Angel Iacovetti earned the complete game win over 3rd Degree (5-0). Natalia Rosales, Brenda Alvarez and Monica Armas started the scoring with 3 straight shots over the outfielders heads to give Elite the 2-0 lead that they never relinquished.

In the Championship Game against the San Diego Rowdies Gold team, Ashliegh Minter and Angel Iacovetti combined to hold the Rowdies team to 2 runs through 7 innings. The Rowdies team used strong pitching and stellar defense to hold Elite to no score through 5 innings. With Elite down the their last 6 outs in the game, they finally found some offense. Leadoff hitter Bianca Paraiso started the inning off with an infield single, followed by Natalia Rosales reaching on an error by the shortstop. Brenda Alvarez followed up with a booming 275' triple to left center scoring Bianca. Natalia Rosales was called out on a close play at the plate leaving the score 2-1 in favor of the Rowdies. Monica Armas got a single to score Brenda and tie the game and set the stage for Angel Iacovetti. Angel came to the plate and delivered a 300' triple to dead center field to score Monica and give Elite the lead. She then followed up by setting down the Rowdies without a hit in the 7th inning to complete the victory and bring the Championship to our San Diego Elite squad!

The entire San Diego Elite Organization and Family, as well as the softball "community", mourns the untimely loss of Kyrstin Gemar, an outstanding young lady and one of three NAIA powerhouse Dickinson State University softball players who tragically drown earlier this week when their vehicle plunged into a pond on a farm in North Dakota.

Kyrstin, a 22 year-old, 5th-year senior business major and third baseman/first baseman/power hitter on the softball team, played for the Elite Women's Open Team three summers ago and had planned to return to the Elite Women's Team this coming summer. Affectionately called "Momma K" by her teammates, Kyrstin graduated from Clairemont High School and was a two-year team captain and player-of-the-year at Grossmont College before moving on to Dickinson State.

Kyrstin's last official function with Elite was her attendance at the Storm USA team dinner which included the Australian National Team this past summer. "Momma K", you will be sorely missed by your teammates, past and present, including Dickinson State and former Elite teammates Vanessa Adame and Danie Benito, and all those who were fortunate enough to come in contact with you. The San Diego Elite Family extends its condolences to Kyrstin's parents, Lenny and Claire, for their tragic loss.