Bad Apples taking a big step up

By Matt Stewart, Correspondent

UPDATED: 08/02/2015 07:01:21 AM EDT

Bad Apples players and coaches pose after winning the Summer Showdown tourney in Sharon
on July 12. COURTESY PHOTO
Sentinel and Enterprise staff photos can be ordered by visiting our SmugMug site.

FITCHBURG -- The Bad Apples U14 AAU softball team is winding down another
successful summer of fun.
Although there are a couple of weeks of tournaments remaining in the season, the Bad
Apples are holding tryouts for next season in the coming month, and are looking for new
talent to join what will next year be a U16 softball team.
The Bad Apples is a local AAU team, filled with players from Leominster High, Fitchburg
High, Monty Tech and Narragansett Regional. The team found its roots from players
who were playing in the Leominster Lassie League at the time, and practices at its home
field at Monty Tech.
"We will be graduating up to U16, with two tournaments remaining this year, they'll
play in Providence in U14s for the last time, and then they'll play as U16s in Tewksbury,"
Bad Apples U14 head coach Mike Pelland said. "We've made the decision to go to U16
and take what is called a showcase team, which changes your tournament schedule
drastically. We weren't a showcase team in the past because we weren't ready for that,
but we've had excellent tournaments this year."
Joining the Bad Apples is a 10-month commitment that gets athletes on the fast track to
becoming college softball players.

Tryouts for the U16 team are open to any softball player of age in the area, and will take
place Aug. 22 at Monty Tech's softball complex from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Cost of
participation varies from year to year depending on the effectiveness of fundraising
efforts, but typically sits around $300, which covers tournament and insurance fees,
equipment and uniforms.
The organization has never denied talent because of finances.
After the August tryouts, athletes practice for three months outside before taking
December off. From January until the start of the high school season, team members
work on fundamentals at indoor venues. Around Father's Day, after the high school
season concludes, the summer AAU tournaments start up. School year practices do not
interfere with high school sports schedules.
Moving up the U16 showcase level exposes high school students to top-end college
coaches. Students can demonstrate their hitting, running, throwing and fielding abilities,
and at this level college coaches can start building connections with student-athletes
and their families.
Showcase tournaments take place throughout the Northeast, from local areas within
the state, including Devens, to New Jersey, New Hampshire, and even the softball
capital of New England, Wallingford, Conn. It is a hotbed of college coaches, where they
have access to a program listing all the necessary information for any potential recruit
(name, school, GPA, SAT), and have instant access and the ability to watch 300 recruits
at once.
"Coaches today don't find prospects on the high school diamond," Pelland said. "They
know that AAU is full of quality players. AAU has exploded over the last 20 years and
coaches know it's an avenue to find players, and U16 is an active level, where coaches
can start to build relationships with the players and their family at the end of their
sophomore year."
The Bad Apples are finishing up the tournament slate with two first-place performances
and a second-place performance in the past month. The Apples won the Wilcox
Invitational the last week of June in Keene, N.H., followed it up with a first-place
showing at the Summer Showdown in Sharon, and then gutted out a second-place
performance at the Brawl at the Beach in Hampton Beach, N.H.
"(Last) weekend was probably the most memorable, even though we didn't win,"
Pelland said. "We didn't catch the ball well, or throw it well, but we bounced back on
Saturday and won two games. We were the sixth seed out of 16 teams, and four times

on Sunday in the semifinals we were down to our last strike and came up with clean
base hits.
"We fell behind in the finals, and had the tying run at second base with one out, but we
couldn't tie it. They played against some tough clubs the last couple of weeks and
played well."
The Bad Apples feature some strong pitching behind Narragansett-bound freshman
Mallory LeBlanc and Fitchburg High pitcher Kammarie Pelland. The infield is stellar with
Megan Hutchinson (Leominster High), Gigi Zarrella (Leominster High) at second base,
Tamara Landry (Leominster High) at catcher/shortstop, and Emma Burkhardt
(Leominster High) at third base.
Monty Tech star Kiera McNamara plays catcher and left field. Other outfielders include
Mykayla O'Sullivan (Leominster High) at center field, Anina Iacaboni (Leominster High)
at right field, and Sara Dupont (Monty Tech) plays both sides of the outfield. Kaitlyn
Walsh, from Rhode Island, completes the roster.
"The players' commitment of 10 months or so and the ability to maintain themselves in
the classroom have brought this to where it is today," Pelland said. "We have some
great student-athletes in this program who will benefit from this exposure."
For more information about the Bad Apples or information about the upcoming U16
tryouts, visit the team's website at www.14ubadapples.com.
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