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Fireballer Adams brings extra heat to 10U Blaze
The Battlefield softball team may have a great pitcher waiting in the wings in Taylor Adams of Gainesville.There's just one catch: she's just about to enter sixth grade at Bull Run Middle School.
As a player with the Manassas Blaze 10U travel softball team, Adams has thrown two perfect games this season and even struck out 20 consecutive batters over the course of two games, helping the Blaze win more than 30 games this season. At the end of last year, as a 9-year-old, she was clocked with a fastball gunned at 52 mph.
While she may not have hit that mark on every pitch, the fact that she's been able to throw faster this year and add a couple other pitches to her arsenal means her "junk" could just become more potent over time.
Adams said on Sunday that she likes throwing change-ups "because I like [that] the batters think the fastball is coming but..."
Slow-speed strikeout.
Adams threw her second perfect game of the season July 11 weekend in the Bandits Last Chance Round Up tournament in Purcellville, leading her team to a tournament championship with a 5-0 record. Three of those wins were shutouts.
"I think the biggest change this year is, Taylor last year was mainly a fastball pitcher," said Blaze assistant coach Kim Spinks. The second-year coach explained that Adams already has a "very fast fastball."
So during the fall, the right-hander worked with coaches on developing two off-speed pitches. One was an advanced version of a change-up and the other focused on a drop curveball, which does exactly what the name suggests: it falls low and away from right-handed hitters.
"It's a whole new game when people start throwing pitches like that," said Spinks.
That meant catcher Makenzie Bailey had to get up to speed herself at catching new types of pitches that would be prone to hitting the dirt or bouncing off the back of the plate.
"At the very beginning of the season, I think Makenzie was having a hard time getting down on the change-up, getting down on the drop curve because it will really drop and curve. And now they've been working on it enough that Mak's there every time. We have very few passed balls," said Spinks.
Defensively, others have stepped up too.
"First-baseman Megan Quinn managed to pull back-to-back throws from shortstop Krista Panone out of the dirt for force-outs at a tournament the weekend of July 4.
"And that gives Krista the confidence that if she throws the ball, Megan's going to get it; it doesn't matter where the ball's going to be," said Spinks.
Panone's been at her best at the top of the batting line in turn. Her on-base percentage hovers around .800 as she is a speedy slap-hitter with a penchant for stealing bases. She is joined by second-and-third hitters Anika Metcalf and Alyssa Russel as the speedsters of the team, which Spinks credits for early run production in a given game.
Given the level of talent the team has in its battery of Adams and Bailey, even a few runs can go a long way.
"And, you know, you learn over time how to get that drive to want to win every game. And you can see it from the kids. I can see it from Taylor when she's out there on the mound and, you know, she does her three hits on her leg.
And I know she's just focusing up for the next pitch," said Spinks.
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