It was a red-letter day—although maybe orange is the better color of choice here!—for the Beverly Bandits travel ball program on Saturday.
With the verbal commit of talented junior pitcher/first baseman Elana Krause, a Top 25-ranked player in the 2025 Extra Elite 100, it allowed Bandits head Bill Conroy and his coaches, players and families to celebrate an impressive milestone: the 500th softball commit for the Midwest-based club organization over the last quarter century.
That’s right: 500 Bandits players in the last 25 years have finalizing their decision where to play softball at the collegiate level while wearing the prestigious Orange & Black jerseys.
There are no signs of the Bandits slowing down, either; in the last five weeks—since the contact period for the current high school juniors started on Sept. 1—Conroy’s travel ball org has seen the following Bandits’ players commit to Power 5 school and even an Ivy League program:
Class of 2025 Bandits Commits (Since Sept. 1, 2023)
- Gabriella Novickas, CIF, Bandits – Holloway— Georgia
- Kiley Carr, 3B/UT, Bandits – Moran—Michigan
- Jayden Gohs, P, Bandits – Freeland— Louisville
- Hayley Griggs, SS, Bandits – Conroy—Florida State
- Breanna Hanik, OF, Bandits – Holloway/Mack—Penn State
- Melania Luostari, CIF, Bandits – Conroy—Auburn
- Sydney Herrmann, 1B/OF, Bandits – Moran—Dartmouth
- Addyson O’Dell, SS/C, Bandits – Moran—Louisville
- Elena Krause, P/1B, Bandits – Conroy—Stanford
This is, certainly, celebrating individual accomplishment as getting to play at the collegiate level is a dream come true for young players but the Bandits teams—which are now in seven states across the country—have also won consistently at top national levels including recording a totoal of seven PGF Nationals championships.
“This is the 25th year of the Beverly Bandits travel program,” Coach Conroy said earlier today, “although there were three previous years as a recreational program.”
“In those 25 years we have had some amazing athletes go thru the program and the goal I set for the program 25 years ago was to create a program that would be competitive on a national level but also provide an opportunity for these young ladies to attend college on athletic, academic and financial need scholarships that will provide them the platform to be successful in college and beyond.”
“I don’t want to steal Elena’s thunder, but she becomes the 500th Beverly Bandit to commit to college on a scholarship since we started so congratulations to Elena and all the 499 other young ladies!”
“Here is to making it to 1,000!”
— Brentt Eads/Extra Inning Softball
