Marty Gordon
NRVsports@ourvalley.org
Another Auburn softball player has a scholarship offer under her belt. Kirsten Fleet announced Friday, she has verbally committed to the University of Georgia.
But before Fleet can think about suiting up for the SEC school, she first must attend high school. Fleet also might have some other things on her to do list like learning to drive and attending her high school prom. She is only a seventh grader at Auburn Middle School.
Her father, Brian Fleet, said in his family’s case, it was not too early. He knows people will ask that question over and over, but it was nice to get it out the way.
“Kirsten is more mature than a lot of girls her age and throws almost at the skill level of several that are already in college. So, no it was not too early,” he said.
The Riner 13-year-old plays for the Georgia Impact Fastpitch all-star softball program in Atlanta, driving as much as six hours one-way to practice. The team includes girls from Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky and Florida.
Typically, the team practices twice a month and plays games twice a month. Over the past year, Kirsten’s family visited over 10 schools, and along the way she was keeping score in her own way.
“She came up with a spread sheet of 32 things she was looking for in a place to attend, and Georgia met all of those,” her father said.
Georgia also offers, according to Brian Fleet, a master’s program that his daughter could finish in just five years.
Fleet is listed at throwing 66 miles per hour with a nasty curve and played in the PGF Nationals in California last summer. She currently plays for the Auburn Middle School team. Her personal pitching trainer is Denny Tincher, whose daughter, Angela, starred at Virginia Tech.
She was selected to the USA Elite Select 11-under Futures Team (a showcase where they select the top 30 kids in each grad class) in 2016, and her Impact all-star team finished second in the 12 PGF Premier Nationals last summer.
Kirsten took 11 unofficial visits, which included Florida, Georgia, LSU, Ole Miss, Oklahoma, Michigan St., UVA, Virginia Tech, Auburn, South Carolina and Liberty.
So far, in her middle school season, Auburn has played one game against Galax where she pitched five innings, had 15 strikeouts, no walks and no hits. She is five-for-five at the plate with one over-the-fence homerun, two doubles and two singles.
Kirsten said she was excited about the opportunity and believes it will push her to work harder over the next few years.
“I’m glad to get it over this early and now I can concentrate on playing,” she said.
Brian said the early recruitment is also a measuring stick for his daughter and her development. He said the college visits were a great experience.
Every year, there are more and more stories of scholarship offers being made to seventh and eighth graders.
Rayna Worley, a gymnast at Virginia Techniques in Christiansburg, received an offer from the University of Kentucky four years ago and plans to attend the SEC school in 2020.
Of course in all the cases, the offer is unofficial but most schools do honor it. Under NCAA rules, student-athletes cannot accept scholarships until their senior year and can de-commit any time up until then.
Last week, Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh offered a scholarship to Martin, Tennessee, middle schooler Ty Simpson. At 6’1, 175 pounds, he has plenty of room to grow and learn, but like Fleet, he has a standby for when and if he wants to attend the Ann Arbor school.
Fleet joins a long list of players from the Impact Georgia program to receive such offers.
Another seventh grader on her team, Mia Williams (daughter of former NBA player Jason Williams), received an offer from the University of Florida, who has also given an offer to Impact sixth grader, Alexia Carrosquillo.
The Impact program also had two eighth graders commit to Georgia, two to the University of South Carolina, one to Auburn University, one to Louisiana-Lafayette and another to Liberty. Another 12 in the class of 2021 have also received scholarship offers.
Sophia Tapia, who now plays at Radford University, is an alumna of the Impact program.
