FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Evan O’Kelly Director of Communications O: (406) 657-2130 E: evan.okelly@msubillings.edu Tuesday, March 8, 2016 Sparks shining bright as Yellowjacket softball pipeline
With six players on its roster from Sparks, Nev., MSUB’s softball team finds a niche of talent that figures to sustain itself for years to come. MSUB SPORTS – Take a trip down to the desert in western Nevada and you’ll find one of the unknown softball hotbeds, ridden with college-ready talent. The fifth-most populated city in the state at 90,000 inhabitants, Sparks is located roughly 15 miles from the border of California, and lies just west of Reno with the Interstate 80 highway cutting right through its center. It is here that the Montana State University Billings softball team has created a self-sustaining network of athletes who have become fixtures among the Yellowjackets’ roster. Now serving as interim head coach, Rebekah Gasner has been there since Day 1, assisting in planting the recruiting seeds in an area that has come to yield some of MSUB’s best players. “We are very fortunate to have developed such a strong recruiting base from Nevada,” Gasner said. “It just seems like the young players from that area are prepared for the commitment it takes to play competitive softball at the college level. They understand the importance of buying into the program and the goals we have in front of us.”
Gasner alluded to the six players on MSUB’s roster who call Sparks their hometown, and who have brought a unique culture and diverse skillset into the Yellowjackets’ program.
MSUB’s six players from Sparks (from left) Cori Gammon, Bella Rovens, Vanessa Almario, Myrissa Prince, Megan Dettling, and Amanda Barham.
When now-senior Cori Gammon signed her letter of intent in 2011, she could never have realized that she was beginning a movement that would last for the duration of her collegiate career and beyond. Soon to follow her was Bella Rovens, the two growing from best friends in high school to inseparable now in their final year playing together in college. The wave continued with MSUB’s 2014 signing class, as Amanda Barham, Myrissa Prince, and Megan Dettling elected to continue their run as teammates by joining the Yellowjackets. Most recently, freshman Vanessa Almario committed to MSUB as the Sparks connection extended to its third class. Rovens and Gammon are the team’s soft-spoken leaders, covering ground in center and left field, respectively, as well as any tandem in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. Now a sophomore, Barham rotates into the lineup as well and when she’s in right field the sparks literally fly across the outfield grass and around the bases at Avitus Group Stadium. Entering the program as a freshman under 2015 senior Aubrey Conceicao is arguably the best thing that could have happened to Prince, as she has inherited the role of starting second baseman and will be a fixture there over the next three seasons. In the circle, Dettling is MSUB’s ace, her reliable right arm holding opposing hitters to an average of just .202 so far this season. Waiting in the wings is Almario, who is enjoying her first year and figures to be a frontrunner to fill into the outfield during her career.
When any combination of the Sparks stars is on the field together, the unspoken connection they share is apparent. Though they are each excelling now for the Yellowjackets, their journey together began long before suiting up in the navy and gold. SPANISH-REED WAR
Standing divided: MSUB’s Spanish Springs players (left) stare down their old high school rivals from Edward C. Reed.
“It’s pretty cool and I hope that it continues. I never really thought that Sparks girls were seen that much unless they played over the hill. Now that they have found this pool in Sparks I hope we keep going back to it to give players who aren’t seen as much a chance.” – Bella Rovens on the unlikely discovery of the softball talent pool in Sparks. Though Rovens and Gammon had different backgrounds for their letter of intent signings – the former at Spanish Springs High School and the latter at Edward C. Reed High – they had developed a close connection by their senior years through playing together on travel ball teams. As teammates on the Nevada Lightning, Gammon and Rovens quickly discovered the chemistry they had not only as outfielders together, but batting consecutively at the top of their team’s lineup. While Rovens’ job was to get on base for Gammon behind her, the teamwork quickly shifted to animosity when the two began playing against each other in high school. “Team and school wise we hated each other, but on the field there were times when Cori would get a hit and I’d have to tell her, ‘good job,’” Rovens commented on the long-standing rivalry between Spanish Springs and Reed. “Our schools went back and forth winning games, but I remember them beating us twice on championship day at regionals to go to the state tournament.” Gammon only shared the outfield with Rovens during travel ball, but her connection to Prince and Dettling runs much deeper into their childhood days. “My very first travel team was with Megan and Rissa, and all of our dads coached
together,” Gammon said. “Megan and I went to the same school, but all the other girls went to our big rival high school.”
Gammon and Dettling as teammates at Reed High (left) and currently with the Yellowjackets (right).
While Dettling and Gammon held the upper hand in the head-to-head series between the schools, Rovens was setting an early example in high school for the players she would call teammates into her college career. “I always looked up to Bella in high school, and we have both always been outfielders together,” commented Barham. “She is a well-respected player who carries herself well, and I look up to her in that aspect. I hope to become a great leader like she is.” Setting their high-school loyalty differences aside when it came time to commit to playing in college, Rovens and Gammon were interested in MSUB through the unique opportunity of both being recruited despite playing similar positions. Both entering the program as slap hitters, they couldn’t have predicted that it was just the tip of the iceberg and that many of their high-school and travel-ball teammates would follow suit in coming years. “It is weird that it has come full circle now, especially since I have known Megan and Rissa since they were nine,” Gammon said. “That’s who I started out with, and when I heard they could be coming here it was kind of surreal. Everyone’s ultimate goal is to end up playing college softball, but it’s amazing we all ended up here in Montana.” All of MSUB’s young stars cited the influence of their older teammates on their decision to commit to MSUB, knowing that the transition to life in college would be eased significantly by having familiar faces as teammates. “I remember
Bella texting and calling me saying that MSUB was interested,” said Prince. “She was definitely trying to get me to come here. Amanda and I signed together, and it was really nice coming up here knowing my roommate already.”
Prince and Rovens as teammates at Spanish Springs High (left) and currently with the Yellowjackets (right).
Almario is the first from Sparks to venture to MSUB without a companion in her graduating class, but agreed with Prince that the connection to the older players has helped dramatically in her adjustment to life away from home as a true freshman. “I just wanted to go to college where I knew some people,” Almario said. “I remember my freshman year of high school I definitely looked up to Bella, because she was the senior center fielder. I knew Myrissa and Amanda coming in and they were a big influence on me too.” A HOMECOMING, OF SORTS For the past seven seasons MSUB’s schedule has started with the Desert Stinger Classic softball tournament at Majestic Park in Las Vegas. Bringing together the top teams from across the west region, the tournament has become a fixture within Division II softball and provides the chance for the Sparks squad to open the year in front of their families. “The fact that we host the Stinger is really cool, and it keeps us near home with our parents and family friends,” Rovens said. “Having all of them there and being able to watch us at the beginning of the year is something we are really fortunate to have.”
The eight-hour drive southeast from Sparks to Sin City is no jog in the park, but for many parents it is the best chance to watch their daughters compete. Gasner is quick to point out that the Sparks families have been some of the Yellowjackets’ biggest supporters since the connection began, a promising sign that there’s more where this quality group of athletes came from. This year’s Stinger is where Gammon and Rovens kicked off their final season together, and have since been one of just two tandems in the GNAC to start all of their team’s games batting in the first two spots in the order (Western Oregon’s Kelsie Gardner and Ryanne Huffman being the other duo). Through 17 games, Rovens leads the team with 10 runs scored and is second with a .390 on-base percentage. Gammon meanwhile has the most hits on the team with 17, and is batting .321 with nine runs and a perfect 3for-3 mark in stolen bases. Prince has taken on her role at second base in stride, ranking second on the team in RBIs (7) and playing perfect defense so far in 51 chances without an error. Now the team’s most dominant pitcher, Dettling credits Gammon’s family with getting her interested in MSUB’s program. “It all started with Cori’s dad bringing up that their team here needed a pitcher,” Dettling remembered. “That got me interested in MSUB, and coming here knowing people I could trust and have played with since I was nine made the transition easier than it would have been otherwise.”
Sophomore Megan Dettling has developed into MSUB’s key arm in the circle while also being effective as a hitter in the lineup this year.
“Several of our young Sparks players had already seen significant playing time last year as freshmen and were able to experience the postseason atmosphere,” Gasner commented with reference to last year’s run to the Division II west region championship game. “Across the board, I am excited to watch all of our young players excel and I hope to continue recruiting from the Sparks area.”
BEE THE LEGACY “Every time we go home and people ask us about playing in Montana, we only have positive things to say. They hear and see how much fun we are having up here and it is what they want. People keep coming so they must know we have something good going on up here.” – Myrissa Prince on the Sparks-Billings connection. In MSUB’s game against Dixie State on Feb. 13, the team’s lineup card featured Rovens, Gammon, Prince, and Dettling batting 1-through-4, with Barham batting ninth to create a series of five consecutive hitters from Sparks. Never before had all five been on the diamond together for the same team, and learning as a unit within the Yellowjacket program has been crucial in their growth as players and people. “A big thing for us is to make sure people keep having fun playing,” Rovens commented on her leadership role on the team. “Cori is done after this year and I only have one more year, and it just goes by fast. No matter what, we need to make sure we enjoy every second of it and make sure all of us are helping each other enjoy the experience.”
Filling roles today with the ‘Jackets that haven’t changed over the last decade, Rovens bats leadoff and Gammon follows in a one-two punch of speed. Their communication is largely unspoken, often times eye contact on the bases or a discreet nod of the head signaling exactly what one’s next move will be to the other. “We don’t even need to talk,” Gammon said. “I just know the balls she can get to and she knows the ones I can get. I don’t think we have ever had a collision.” “Bella and Cori have made a significant impact on our program, not only as players but as strong advocates for MSUB softball,” said Gasner. “They truly bought into the program as freshmen, and opened up several avenues of positive communication between us and their younger teammates.” One of the team’s mantras for the 2015 season is to ‘Bee The Legacy’, a play on words encouraging players to dictate their own futures and take it upon themselves to leave the program in good hands. As a senior leader, this is a concept that Gammon has bought into and focused her energy on achieving. Her scope of influence expands even further than her own team, as other Gammon (above) and Rovens were the first two Yellowjacket programs are starting to pick up on the goldmine that Gammon from Sparks to commit to the MSUB program and Rovens introduced four years ago. Alec Leighton and Dakota Tompkins more than four years ago. are both Reed High graduates who are freshmen on MSUB’s baseball team, and Zack Lessinger is a freshman in the Yellowjacket men’s basketball program after a four-year prep career at Galena High School in nearby Reno, Nev. “The coolest thing was coming in with my best friend Bella, and we have lived together here all four years,” Gammon said. “We are like family and it is cool that we have been able to have this experience together.”
--@MSUBSports | #JacketNation--