Texas Peppers News

Job Well Done at Lon Morris Round Robin

The Texas Peppers Gold continued the fall season competition with scrimmage games against Lon Morris College and Northeast Texas College. The 4 games (2 vs each college) took place at the recently constructed new Lon Morris College home field. In the first game we tied Lon Morris 0-0, then lost a close game against Northeast Texas 0-1. In the final two games our bats came to life as we defeated Lon Morris 6-0 and ended the day by defeating Northeast Texas 11-0 in a hit-fest put on by the entire team.

In the pitching circle, the staff gave up ZERO earned runs for the event...giving up only 1 run total in the 4 games played. Combining in this excellent display of pitching were Erin Garcia, Kirstie Curry, Lindsay Klein and Melody Cruz. They each kept their opponents off balance all day. Way to go ladies!

On the offensive side, our bats were alive and well. The ball was hit hard and the team logged several multiple base hits...including Kelly Klein's 3 run bomb she hit over the left-center field fence. Off the bat it was no doubt it was going out! Job well done team on a most excellent weekend of softball.

2007 Fall Season Is Underway!

The Texas Peppers Gold began the fall season competition with scrimmage games against Galveston College, San Jacinto College and the Schutt Avengers. The invitation only event took place at the Galveston College home fields and the weather was a little on the HOT side, but a great day for softball.

Overall we went 2-1 on the day with wins over San Jacinto College and Schutt Avengers, losing a close one to Galveston College that was tied 0-0 most of the game. Late in the game, Galveston managed to get a couple of runners on when their #4 hitter lifted one out of the park...one of only a few hits they had in the entire game.

All in all, the coaches are very pleased with the effort and know that the team will only get better once everyone becomes more familiar with one another. There will always be room for improvement and we believe this group of players we have now can develop into one of the best teams we've ever assembled.

2007 Season in Review

Texas Peppers Gold fell short of our goal of making it to Oklahoma City in 2007, but we accomplished a lot in terms of player improvements, expanding our exposure schedule and having nearly every 2008 grad player receiving a formal scholarship offer from at least one college, with several getting multiple offers.

Those that didn't get formal offers were invited to make official and/or unofficial visits to college campuses this coming fall. It will be a busy fall for each of the 2008 grad players in their attempts to reach a decision on which college program they select, to continue their softball careers with.

In ASA Gold we unfortunately didn't peak together as a team when it counted, but did manage a top 20 finish in the Gold Sector (17th) out of close to 70 teams. Well short of our goal but nevertheless, we are proud of the team's effort.

We want to express our thanks and gratitude to the departing seniors that are moving on to play in the collegiate ranks. These players stayed with Texas Peppers Gold for their entire eligibility, even after signing with their respective schools and not needing the exposure any longer, to do what they could to give back to the team that helped them reach their dream. They rarely missed a practice or event, and led by example through their hard work and efforts on and off the field. This speaks volumes of their integrity and level of commitment, which will take them far in life.

For the returning players who are soon to be HS seniors, all the underclassmen, and the new faces that will be joining the Texas Peppers Gold, we will continue to be relentless in the pursuit to help your dreams become a reality, and extend on our perfect record of every player finishing with this program receiving an offer to play collegiate softball.

2007 Colorado Fireworks

Texas Peppers Gold had another great week at this year's Colorado Fireworks event held in Aurora, Colorado.

Offensive highlights include home-runs by Lauren Parson (grand slam), Allison Hinton (2 HR's), Chastity Skipper, Candace Velasquez, Jennifer Bergeron and Jenny Varteressian. One of Hinton's homers was a 3 run shot and Skipper's was a 2 run shot.

All the players had the opportunity to showcase themselves with several players receiving multiple scholarship offers, while others were notified of legitimate interest and will be contacted soon to set up visits for the fall.

Texas Peppers Gold showed once again that we are one of the choice programs that colleges follow by averaging over 11 coaches per game, with a high of 26 at one game.

2007 Signings & Commitments

Chastity Skipper has made her verbal commitment to Galveston College located in Galveston, Texas.

Galveston College is a Nationally Ranked, Div I NJCAA program that competes in the Region XIV Athletic Conference, and is coached by Ken Delcambre. This year in high school, Skipper helped her team (Texas City) to the regional playoffs and was a team leader in several offensive categories.

Allison Hinton has made her verbal commitment to Blinn College located in Brenham, Texas.

Blinn is a Div I NJCAA program that competes in the Region XIV Athletic Conference, and is coached by Rick Church. Allison will be joining former Texas Peppers Gold players Kelly Gaskins and Caitlin Boyle at Blinn.

Amanda Berry has made her verbal commitment to Millsaps College located in Jackson, Mississippi.

Millsaps is a Div III program that competes in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference, and is coached by Roland Rodriguez. Amanda will be joining former Texas Peppers Gold player Jen McKinley at Millsaps.

Lauren Parson and Kayla Shepherd make their formal verbal commitments to NCAA Div II East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma. The ECU Tigers compete in the Lone Star Conference, and is coached by Destini Anderson.

The picture shows Lauren (left) and Kayla (right) at the ECU campus.