Video: Coach Beth Singleton Talks About Nebraska Gold 18U National Team at Top Gun Invitational (Jordy Bahl’s Club Squad in 2021)

Coach Beth Singelton is one of the most amiable–and successful–club coaches you’ll find in the nation and after her Jordy Bahl-led team won the 2021 Top Gun Invitational and would go on to win PGF Nationals last summer, she hopes to replicate that success this year as the single elimination part of the tournament starts Saturday afternoon.

On Thursday, the Nebraska Gold National team won three games in impressive fashion, defeating three strong 18U teams by defeating Lady Duke – Lamar 2-0 and then topping the Birmingham Thunderbolts – Rocky team 11-3 before beating the Beverly Bandits DeMarinia – Cray by the identical score of 11-3.

One big reason the team looked so strong on Day 1 of the Top Gun Invitational’s pool play was the pitching of Washington senior signee Ruby Meylan, who on Thursday tossed 11 innings in two starts with 13 strikeouts and a 1.90 ERA.

As Coach Singleton explains in the clip below (sorry for the loud background noise as this was shot in the midst of a quad at the Mid-American Sports Complex on Friday), Ruby left today to fly to Washington for summer school and will be gone for the weekend.

“She will be joining us for the bracket games for the rest of the summer,” Coach Singleton explained of the team’s ace who has really looked impressive already this summer.

The team lost two games Saturday but looks solid going into Saturday’s first “playoff” game as the team will take on the PA Strikers.

Another interesting fact about the coach: she is the head coach of NAIA school Midland University located in Fromont, Nebraska and was tabbed to take over last Fall after previous head coach Mike Heard departed. Singleton had been an assistant for six years at the school under Coach Heard before moving into the head coach spot.

Coach Singleton also had DI schools interested in her for coaching positions, but she wanted to stay at Midland to be able to coach at the college level and still be the head of the Nebraska Gold National team for which she’s been the leader for the last decade.

“I love coaching club softball,” she said of her decision to take the NAIA school’s head coaching position.

In this clip, she talks about the Nebraska Gold looking good early at Top Gun, plus happy memories of Jordy Bahl’s time with the club…

— Brentt Eads, Extra Inning Softball