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We are scouring the Internet and Social Media and keeping our ears to the street for the latest going on in the softball community.
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Here’s our TLI for Friday, April 29:
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EXTRA SPOTLIGHT: LAYNA GERHARD
Uncommitted P Layna Gerhard, #6 in the 2024 Extra Elite 100, recently talked to Extra Inning Softball about playing for Jersey Intensity, playing multiple sports for Tower Hill High in Delaware, recruiting and pitching against Abby Ramirez.
EXTRA SPOTLIGHT Q&A
Name: Layna Gerhard
Hometown: Hockessin, DE
High School: Tower Hill High
Club Team (age group): Jersey Intensity 16U National-BOD
Graduation Year: 2024
Height: 5-foot-9
Position: P
Twitter: @LaynaG_2024
Travel Ball Highlights/Fall Stats: She averaged 1.67 strikeouts per inning this past fall and got the chance to pitch against Beverly Bandits Premier-Conroy and Athletics Mercado – Hovermale.
High School Highlights: Honor Roll and Distinguished Scholar for freshman and first half of sophomore year. Varsity letter for softball and track.
Tell us about your travel team/organization and how you became involved with them?
I play for the Jersey Intensity 16U National team. This is my second year playing for Coach Brittany (O’Donnell), and I have learned so much from her about how to get batters out and what it takes to be a successful pitcher. I’m also getting a chance to pitch for Coach Kevin (O’Donnell’s) 18U National team this summer.
The first time I met Coach Kevin and Coach Britt was also my first time competing at PGF. I was playing for the Delaware Cobras, and I couldn’t believe they not only came out to watch me pitch when I didn’t even play for Intensity, but they also found out what my top college was and brought that team’s coach too!
Can you talk about your high school experience and how you became involved in track and field?
My high school is small and requires us to play a sport every season. Since we don’t have a softball team, I talked a lot with my softball coaches about what sport I could play that would also benefit my pitching. We decided that track was a good choice, and that an event like shot put would be perfect since it uses a lot of the same muscle groups as pitching. Just like in pitching, having a strong core and hips and a lot of body awareness is key to being good at shot put.
Also like pitching, the motion you use when throwing the shot put takes a lot of practice, and small adjustments can make a big difference in the outcome. I had no idea what I was doing when I first started, but I think all the time I spend practicing and understanding my pitching mechanics has helped me see what it takes to be successful at shot put. It turns out I like it a lot more than I thought I would and am working with my track coach to set distance goals for the rest of high school, so I can continue to improve and hopefully compete for a state title in the future!
How do you combine your track and field training with softball?
My track coaches know how serious I am about softball and have been very supportive in letting me combine my pitching and track workouts. For softball, I train remotely with S2 Breakthrough in Chicago. I worked with the trainer there, Karli, on how to explain my softball strength and conditioning workouts to my track coaches to help them understand how it helps me in both sports.
I’m also lucky that my school has an amazing weight room that my coaches let me use to get a little extra weight training in before track practice. Focusing so much on my training has definitely helped me in both sports, and so far this spring I’m seeing my pitching velocity increase and my shot put distances improve!
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