Currently Texas has 4 - 2019 Commitments. 3 of which are hold overs from the Connie Clark regime. Alana Vawter - Staley High School, Kansas City, Mo. listed as Pitcher/Utility 6' 165 Cait Calland - Katy HS, Katy, Texas. listed as a catcher 5'4 Camille Corona - Dripping Springs HS. listed as 2B, 3B, UTL, INF, OF, SS. 5'4" 120 And recently added by Coach White and his staff Grace Greene - Birdville HS, North Richland Hills, Tx. listed as P/1B 5'4" 130 It will be interesting to see if the new staff will stay committed to Connie's recruits. I certainly would believe they would.
Camille Corona committed in January 2017. She sure appears to be a little thing in the picture standing besides Connie Clark.
I could not find when Cait Calland committed but I did find this tweet that showed all the players from the Katy HS softball team that did commit to play college softball. Katy HS must have a super program. Not sure who the other Texas commit is in the picture but Cait is the second from the left.
I know that sophmore commits are common in softball. I just find it tenuous with a new coach coming in. Of course, since Texas has had only one head coach ever, until recently, I don't know how Mike White or the committed players will feel about going to a program where the recruiters are all gone. Yeah, obvs. But thanks for starting this thread!
Could not find when Alana Vawter committed but lots of pictures of her on her twitter wearing Texas year!
I have no idea how accurate it is, but I saw on another message board that nobody from the 2019 class is "safe."
Need to add a 5th commitment to the 2019 class. She is a teammate of Cait Colland at Katy HS and is the other girl I could not find information on in the tweet from Cait. Tori Whillock OF Katy HS She's throwing up the Hook'em sign in this picture.
First confirmed de-commitment for the 2019 recruiting class? Cait Calland Would be interesting to know what Mike White's staff told this class?
The only sad thing to say is that Connie had a very good track record for scouting catchers, so this is a bummer. I went through this young lady's twitter feeds and it's all Texas and then suddenly LSU. So, obviously the change was recent. But the new staff has the right to pick their own players since their jobs are on the line with the players they work with.
A tweet from Danny Davis showing Alyssa Popelka decommitting from Boston U and going to UT Confirmed with the Westwood web site: Alyssa Popelka Commits to UT Interesting, wonder what the 2019 list looks like now?
Well our 2019 class now looks like the following. I do not find any changes from the first 3 commits who where committed to Texas by Connie Clark. Alana Vawter - Kansas City Camille Corona - Dripping Springs Tori Whillock - Katy Grace Greene - Birdville HS, North Richland Hills Alyssa Popelka - Westwood HS, Austin
Trying to do the math here. Google says that Division I is allowed to give 12 scholarships for softball, of course some may be partial. Counting heads, currently UT has 19 players including 6 incoming freshmen (faceless entities on the official roster). And that includes the recent disappearance of Ciera Shick from the roster. Then, according to the fine list you've pulled together.....5 are coming next year and we have 3 seniors on the roster. Let's see.....19-3+5=21. Mmmmm, may have some roster attrition. Not rooting for it, because you get to know these gals and you're pulling for them to be happy to be on the team and contribute for our watching pleasure. But...21?
Very few will be on a full ride. Soccer has the same limitation, but their roster is in the twenties also.
Looks like Camille Corona from Dripping Springs is still on go to join the Softball team next year. She posted this today with a friend.
So the next Connie Clark recruit is going elsewhere! Tori Whillock headed to Tech. That leaves a 4 person 2019 class at this point. Alana Vawter - Kansas City Camille Corona - Dripping Springs Grace Greene - Birdville HS, North Richland Hills Alyssa Popelka - Westwood HS, Austin
Evidently Alana Vawter is not a firm commit to Texas. In this article she says she is choosing between Texas and Stanford. We should know soon!
Was Alana a Connie recruit? If so, I would be surprised/impressed. I would assume so since I would be shocked that Mike White landed a highly ranked player that quickly after taking the job. She also may be waiting to see if her Stanford application is accepted. This happens in football recruiting all the time. A player likes Stanford and Texas and they just hover and are vague as to where they are leaning. Suddenly the acceptance letter comes through and they go with Stanford. And everyone says, "Yeah, I would have done the same thing in his shoes"
Yes she is a Connie Clark recruit. She appears to be very highly ranked in the recruiting circles? Watching Coach White build this team will be fun!
I will say White is working the circuit hard. My daughter is playing at all of the fall showcases where the best play in Texas with many west coast teams playing. I've seen White around all day with the rest of the UT staff at two of them so far with the Texas Gold Cup coming next weekend. I'm sure he'll be there. My daughter is so intimidated by the whole thing. She played a friendly yesterday with players from all around and the two teams coaches were Tech, Virginia, Maryland and OSU. White was there and OU with probably 15 other D1 coaches watching. I enjoy trying to figure out what he is looking for. So far he seems to be primarily looking at pitchers almost all the time.
Very good feedback vol horn! Great perspective from the parent of a player hoping to play at the D-1 level. I believe Coach White and his staff know how to sell themselves and recruit at the highest level.
Another 2019 commit announcing for Texas. London Marder from Humble Atascocita HS. Catcher/3B. I found that she had committed to Texas in August but did not see a formal announcement until now.
So it looks like the former and current list is: Alana Vawter (maybe Stanford) - Kansas City Camille Corona - Dripping Springs Cait Calland - Katy -> Now LSU Tori Whillock - Katy -> Now Texas Tech Grace Greene - Birdville HS, North Richland Hills Alyssa Popelka - Westwood HS, Austin London Marderr - Atascocita And the two transfers from Oregon wouldn't be considered 2019 signees. I wonder if any of those above would come to UT early like Ellsworth?
Bummer! But if my kid had a choice for a full ride between Texas and Stanford? I'd be driving her out to Palo Alto personally. At the last Fall Ball game against Texas State, it took us a while to realize we were sitting behind Camille Corona and her family. The DS softball headband was the giveaway. Updated: Camille Corona - Dripping Springs Grace Greene - Birdville HS, North Richland Hills Alyssa Popelka - Westwood HS, Austin London Marderr - Atascocita Cait Calland - Katy -> Now LSU Tori Whillock - Katy -> Now Texas Tech Alana Vawter -> Flipped to Stanford
The key word here is "acceptance". Was waiting for the academic side to come through first, obviously. I wouldn't have made it (to Stanford) out of high school. More power to her!