It’s always interesting to hear how a recruit on one coast picked a school on the opposite coast.
When two-sport standout Lilian Berry from Fort Defiance, Virginia visited Oregon State the weekend of Dec. 12-13, the pitcher/outfielder ranked in the Top 60 of the 2022 Extra Elite 100 knew it was the place for her.
Why?
Several things fell into place and a visit to the Pac-12 school cinched it for her as she explains in her Inside Pitch blog below.
First, some background on Lilian: she really broke through nationally in 2019 when she dominated at the 16U level recording a 0.45 ERA and hitting .429 that fall with seven home runs and a .939 slugging percentage.
As we noted in her Extra Elite 100 bio:
“Lilian is a fierce competitor who throws a fastball in the 63-65 mph range and has a changeup that freezes batters. She also has a dropball and curve that consistently gets swings and misses. Lilian is also a standout basketball player and led her district in rebounding while averaging 10 points per game.” – April, 2020
Team NC 18U Head Coach Nate Eaton feels Lilian has two primary strengths which helped her earn a Pac-12 offer.
“No. 1,” he begins, “is her ability to pound the zone with speed and then buckle your knees with one of the best change ups you’ll see and, No. 2, she is flat-out one of the most competitive pitchers you’ll see in the circle, she has complete command of the game. Her game IQ is extremely high as Lilian will remember what every hitter does during the game and use that to her advantage.”
https://twitter.com/_lilianberry_/status/1340402643081027593
Here, in Lilian’s word, is her story detailing how she became a Beaver commit…
*****
My softball recruiting journey was filled with lots of excitement combined with quite a bit of perseverance these last several months.
Looking back, my 2019 high school season was very promising as well as were my 2019 and 2020 travel ball season. I was also ranked the 59th player overall and the 29th pitcher in the 2022 class during this time by Extra Innings and 99th overall by FastPitch Network.
That was such an honor because I honestly didn’t know anything about national rankings at that point. I was just putting in the work and felt I was playing really well.
Coaches were showing up at our games and taking notice. especially during the summer and fall of 2019. The winter of 2019 and 2020, I attended numerous camps—many of which were schools and programs that were at the top of my preferred list.
I had a lot of momentum coming out of season and winter camps so I was confident with September approaching (Sept. 1 was when college coaches could first contact prospective student-athletes).
When September finally arrived, it was so exciting but a bit challenging at times having to manage lots of Zooms, calls, texts and starting my junior year of high school. I quickly learned that writing and organizing all of the information was a must!
September 1 was my first day back to high school as well. I remember getting a text from a coach that was at the top of my list while I was in class. I know I am not supposed to have my phone on at school, but September 1st was an exception that I made!
This coach wanted to set up a call at 1 pm that day and I was sitting there thinking: “This program and coach is at the top of my list and I am in class all day. How am I going to pull this off?”
I am not one to miss class and we had a brand-new Athletic Director at our school, Richard Miller, so I was hesitant to ask for permission. That was my first step of coming out of my box a little bit with this recruiting process. I sat there and thought about all of the hard work and time that my family and I had put in and I wasn’t about to miss this opportunity.
I decided to go ask Coach Miller, our AD, and he arranged for me to take that first phone call of my recruiting process. I was so nervous—I don’t even really remember much of the conversation. I think my teeth were chattering from nervousness the entire conversation!
Several weeks went by and some doors closed but others were opening. I was a little discouraged at first but I told myself: “You are prepared for this, even if it is a marathon. Don’t settle if it doesn’t feel right.”
I had been praying for guidance and I trusted that the right situation would arise. I knew that I needed to be patient; I had offers and schools interested but the schools were just not what I was looking for.
The coaches were amazing and some of the best in the country, but at that time I was not willing to move forward with any of the options. I had to constantly tell myself good things come to those who wait. During this process, I moved to Team NC – Eaton and from the beginning Coach Eaton encouraged me not to settle.
He hit the ground running and was updating me every day on the contacts he was making. He was extremely helpful and very patient during this time as well!
Also, for several months, I had been communicating with Ruben Felix [Editor: he runs a player development company called P5 Scout] who I had met at two camps in September 2019 and January of this year. Ruben was that coach that I really had a lot of respect for. We kept in touch occasionally. He already knew the programs and schools that I was looking for and towards the late fall he ended up putting in a good word for me to several coaches.
I got a call on November 10th from Coach Eric Leyba at Oregon State. I only knew three things about their program prior to this call:
The obvious one is that I knew that Oregon was a beautiful state.
I also knew that Laura Berg was the head coach and was an amazing softball player in college and represented the USA in four Olympics in which she earned three gold medals and 1 silver.
The last thing that I knew about Oregon State was that this summer, I competed against Ainsley Lambert who an OSU 2021 commit. She is a really good pitcher with a great presence on the rubber so when Coach Leyba called me, I knew that the program was one that I really wanted to check out.
After Zooms and phone calls with Coaches Berg, (Marcie) Green and Leyba, I knew that I was really interested. Other schools were calling me and things were heating up again in my favor and then I received a call from Coach Berg with an offer. I was pumped!
I had already done the research on the school and the town of Corvallis. A few weeks later we were able to make the trip out to see the campus. Several more phone calls with players and coaches again, I was sold!
OSU’s campus was just the right size and I loved the town of Corvallis! Some of my top schools were in rural areas and that is one of the things that I really like about OSU. With growing up loving the outdoors, my parents and I all knew I would love the mountains and coast of Oregon, which I did.
Several days later I called Coach Berg and told her that I would love to make Oregon State my home. It is such a privilege to be considered to play at OSU and I cannot wait to learn from Coach Berg and staff! Coach Berg has an amazing resume and I am very confident that I will grow as a player under her.
I have to admit that I am very happy that the recruiting process is over.
I am grateful to every coach who spent their time getting to know me, and I really learned so much from all of them. Although I am now a master at editing game videos and sending emails, I am very ready to focus solely on my development and playing before I head out West!
Go Beavs!
Lilian Berry
Fort Defiance, Virginia
Class of 2022
