Over 125 girls from West Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma converged in the Brownfield Cub Field House Green Room over the weekend as the Lubbock Stars Organization put on a softball camp for the girls. Adrianna Perez, who caught for the Texas Tech Lady Raider Softball Team works for the Lubbock Stars and was one of the organizers.
Head Softball Coach Jeff Fabila worked with the group in organizing the event. “This was such a great opportunity for our girls to work with some of the best in the country at what they do. The facilities we have at BISD certainly were showcased this weekend, as well.” Rachel Garcia, who pitched at UCLA and will be a pitcher on Team USA in the next Olympic Games, was the main attraction of the day. Rachel told TownTalk, “I love doing these camps. I love to see the excitement on the girls’s faces as they see themselves improving.”
Helping Rachel were Jade Rhodes – who played at Auburn and now plays on the pro circuit and was a Golden Glove winner last year for her defensive skills, Jamie Juarez – who played at The Ohio State University and now plays on Team Valenzuela and will also be playing for Team USA in the upcoming Olympics, Samantha Show – who played at Texas A&M and Oklahoma State University and currently plays on the pro circuit, and Amanda Fama – who played at Concordia University and will be representing Italy in the 2020 Olympics. The group was also assisted by other up and coming softball players.
The first day of camp focused on defensive skills with much work on foot positioning and movement, as well as glove placement and hand eye coordination. Pitching was also a focus. The second day was all hitting from bunting to base running to hitting the long ball.
Coach Fabila stated, “I tell the girls, if you want to be great, surround yourself with great people. This camp was a prime opportunity to do just that. Lubbock Stars brings the best of the best and these world class athletes invested so much time in our Lady Cub players, as well as the others from around the area.”
Fabila is hoping to make this an annual event. “It was amazing to see an athlete like Rachel Garcia pitch to our girls. We definitely got better this weekend. I appreciate the dedication the Lady Cubs showed in giving up a weekend for this camp.”
