Lainie Keefer’s Day 2 USSSA Select 30 Blog (Jan. 14, 2023)

Lainie Keefer, a 2028 MIF/C/OF/UT for Indiana Dreams 09, was invited to the USSSA Select 30 National Training Camp this weekend at Space Coast in Florida and she recently agreed to blog about her experience for Extra Inning Softball.

Here’s her blog from Day 1, Saturday, Jan. 14, 2023.

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Today was Day 2 of the (USSSA) Select 30 (National) Training Camp! We started off the day with an 8 a.m. classroom session. During the session, we talked about the recruiting process and how to get noticed by college coaches. One major takeaway from the session was character is more important than athletic ability.

⁦@USSSAFastpitch⁩ S30 Day 1 Evals! ⁦@ExtraInningSB⁩ ⁦@Los_Stuff⁩ ⁦@CoastRecruits⁩ ⁦@LegacyLegendsS1⁩ ⁦@TopPreps⁩ ⁦@IndianaSBLive⁩ ⁦@SoftballPortal⁩ ⁦@OutsideTheGames⁩ ⁦@OTGMediaTV⁩ ⁦@SBRRetweets⁩ ⁦ pic.twitter.com/1EFGLzfpqc

— Lainie Keefer (@KeeferLainie) January 15, 2023

After our first classroom session, we had a “chalk talk” with (former Florida Tech play) Ashley Campbell, Holly Jones, who played at University of Central Florida, and Alex Mace, (a) former player at Florida Southern. The big takeaway from the talk was to start communicating with college coaches soon.

Next, we had speed and agility training with Gionna DiSalvatore, (a) former UCLA and pro softball player, Erica Perez, who is a senior at Rockledge High School, Belle Bonn, who is a sophomore at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and Nick Markum. During speed and agility, we completed running and shuffling with resistance, 5-10-5 shuttles, and progressions with running (which was jogging to long strides to a sprint). This is to make us more explosive on the base path.

Then, we went to infield work with our keynote speaker from last night, Delaney Spaulding (former UCLA shortstop, two-time national champion, All-American, medal-winning Olympian and professional softball player), Ashton Aycock, Raissa Bianco and Gigi Auricchio at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

We worked on short-hops and footwork. With footwork, we focused on getting around the ball and angles to the ball. For short-hops, we worked on showing our palm and putting our thumbs into the ground for forehands and backhands.

We made it! @USSSAFastpitch S30, registered, warmed up and waiting for ODM evaluations. Let’s go! @Los_Stuff @ExtraInningSB @IndianaSBLive @CoastRecruits @TopPreps @OutsideTheGames @LegacyLegendsS1 @SBRRetweets @SoftballPortal @StriveSoftball @OTGMediaTV @indianadreams09 pic.twitter.com/zDAU7dmLIZ

— Lainie Keefer (@KeeferLainie) January 13, 2023

After this session, I was able to talk to Delaney and I asked how many times a week girls my age should be practicing. She told me at least a few times a week. After infield work, we went to the advanced hitting session with Abbey Cheek as our lead instructor. Abbey is a former University of Kentucky player and a current pro softball player for USSSA.

— #54 Lainie Keefer