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ABOUT
It’s been a year and a half since Coach Pete Soliz stepped on the field in a head coaching capacity but this Spring he’ll be back on the dirt coaching an Athletics Mercado – 2K9 team based out of Carrollton Texas.
You don’t have to travel too far to ask other coaches about Coach Soliz’s track record of success when it comes to building athletes and helping them get to the next level. In fact,, you can look right in his family— to his daughter, Celeste Soliz, who is a former 14U ASA National Champion, Mexico Junior Olympic and SEC Power 5 conference athlete at Mississippi State under former Sooner great Sam Ricketts—to see how “Coach Pete” can produce high-level talent.
Coach Pete is putting back on the coaching hat, backpack and polo shirt to make another run at a national title and this time he’s got a tenure of experience to help his team shorten the learning curve.
“I feel very fortunate to have such a good group of athletes and supportive families who want to compete at a high level,” begin the coach when discussing his team.
“We’ve picked up some hard workers and they’ve taken to the team culture of ‘hard work beats talent that doesn’t work hard’ really well”, Coach Pete says about team’s hunger for work. “We’ve implemented a point system for workouts… well, extra workouts… that go above and beyond our normal weekly team work and it’s amazing to see these players rack up so many points.”
The A’s recently had a Team White vs Team Black vs Team Gray scrimmage where some of the 16U Athletics Mercado – Olguin pitchers came out to pitch live to them. It was a point system like the Athletes Unlimited implemented and many college teams have since adopted.
Coach Pete details the point system for the scrimmage, “We gave away points for solid contact, moving runners, successful bunts, scored runs, RBIs, defensive stops and much more. Honestly when we first started the girls were a little shell-shocked as they were facing good pitchers who were throwing the ball in the upper 50’s, some touching 60 mph just on 70percent effort. We settled in after the first two innings and were able to score a total of 18 runs through five innings where each team got a total of five at bats.”
What makes Coach Pete so excited about this team? In essence, he thinks they have the right stuff to really go far based on the 30 college commitments he’s already seen make it through his program.
“Overall, I’m very excited about this first year 12U team and eager to watch them grow and develop,” he explains. “The goal is to get back on the national stage and with an All-Star coaching staff the team has assembled we don’t expect that to be a long waiting period.”
Coach Pete will be assisted by Mike Olguin, who has been the head coach of the nationally-ranked 16U Athletics Mercado team as well as two current Division 1 softball players in the summer. More on them below!
Extra Inning Softball Mini-Q&A:
Why did you take a two-year break and are back into coaching?
I stopped coaching in August of 2019 to really focus my attention in supporting Celeste as she entered her freshman year in the Pac-12 s I took off the fall 2019 and planned on taking off the spring of 2020. Obviously, the pandemic hit and it forced a lot of us to make changes. I had always planned on coming back to coaching after a year or two because it is just something that I enjoy and am passionate about. It was later in 2020 that Isaac Doyal, one of the assistant coaches, reached out to see if I’d be interested in betting back in. The timing was just right so last winter I jumped in. My year break was over.
Why this age (12U)?
In my opinion, 12U is the best age group to really guide and steer the athletes to what they will become in the future. When I did this eight years ago, I just didn’t know what I didn’t know. Now more seasoned and experienced I understand how vital it is that this age group receive the proper training, encouragement and push to play the game the right way. By the time their 2nd year 14s and beyond a lot of them are already set on their path. It’s my job at this age to ensure their path is one geared for success. Both as a softball player and a good person, coaches can and do play a role in people development.
You have a pair of DI players helping you… that must be great for the kids!
The two D1 players who will be handling the bases and sort of taking over will be Celeste Soliz at Mississippi State and Rylee Lara of the University of Louisiana Monroe in the Sun Belt. They will be volunteer coaches helping to make an impact on these players lives that will last a very long time.
Do you know which tournaments you’ll play this summer?
Right now, as a first year 12U team, it’s important that we gel and get our feet underneath us. I have our eyes set on the national stage but the tournament scene has changed so much because of the pandemic. We’re seeing USSSA, USA Softball and now the emergence of Alliance Fastpitch play a huge role in where teams are signing up to play ball along with PGF Nationals. We’re definitely gunning for USA Softball Nationals and trying to make a run to Alliance Fastpitch Championship play. Of course, we’ll sign up for the standard events in the fall like the Ronald McDonald or the Texas Cup but I am really wanting to get our girls on the USA Softball fields in Oklahoma so they can see the big stage. That is one wish I could do over with my previous teams, we traveled the nation but never played at the USA Softball Hall of Fame stadium… this team is going to change that.
Here’s a player-by-player look at the team with comments by Coach Soliz…
*** Scroll down to learn more about each of the players on the A’s roster…