Newman helped Beverly Bandits win national title
Aug. 13—Annie Newman will be a freshman at Daviess County High School this year. She made some impact as an eighth-grader with the DC softball program this spring.
Newman had a major debut in a national tournament last week in California with the Beverly Bandits Futures Norwood 14U team. The organization is based in Chicago and has players from Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana and Missouri. The team is invitation only, and its coach, Scott Norwood from Bowling Green, knew Annie from coaching her a few years back in 6U. The team had invited Annie to play earlier in the spring.
"We were already committed to a local team, Kentucky Chrome, and we were going to finish their season," said Heather Newman, Annie's mom.
The Beverly Bandits called Annie and said they needed a shortstop for the national tournament, and Annie said she was ready to make the move.
"They have to make the decision, we stand there and support," Heather said.
It turned out to be a great thing for Annie and the Beverly Bandits, who won the PGF Platinum national championship in Irvine, California, and went unbeaten in the tournament.
Offensively, Annie hit for a .469 average with 15 hits, nine singles, five doubles and one triple. She produced 16 RBIs and scored 14 runs. Annie didn't strike out in 37 plate appearances. At shortstop, she turned a double play to end a bracket game and made great plays seemingly every game, according to Norwood.
"Annie simply put on a show at PGF Nationals in California," Norwood said. "This was Annie's first tournament with the Beverly Bandits Futures Norwood 14U and she will be a permanent addition to the team for the 2022-2023 season."
That means she will play a fall season with the Bandits heading into her freshman softball season with Daviess County, where she was a starter last spring.
Playing for the Bandits was definitely a different level in a lot of respects.
"It was definitely a surprise," Annie said of her selection. "It's a big step up for me on their team, they have really big shoes to fill. The girls were really good. It can be overwhelming, it's a different environment, you feel the need to succeed. I felt pretty good, I knew what I wanted to do when I came into the tournament. It's amazing that in such a big tournament we did so well. It was a really big achievement for us."
Games were streamed, so there was a lot of video of Annie and the team on social media. Annie tagged college coaches on her Twitter feed with highlights since she knew this national tournament gets a lot of attention.
Heather Newman said there were coaches from Tennessee, LSU and UCLA watching girls at the national tournament games.
The Newmans have been involved in softball for a long time. Older sister Abby was a freshman on Western Kentucky University's softball team after a stellar career at Daviess County. Abby also played high-level travel softball in high school, including with the Louisville Sluggers. Hattie was a teammate with Annie this season at Daviess County.
"We've been down this path before," Heather said. "Annie is the first one in our family to win a national championship."
