Summer Sports Diaries: Blake Bowen and Shelby Vaughn
Four of the area's top athletes — Wooster's Blake Bowen, Norwayne's Shelby Vaughn, Loudonville's Corri Vermilya and Triway's Carter Wachtel — will be providing first-person updates during their busy summer sports schedules.
This week's updates are from Bowen and Vaughn as they continue their quests to become next-level players in baseball and soccer.
These are the Summer Sports Diaries:
Blake Bowen
I play for Ohio Elite 17U and we are based out of Cleveland, with players from Northeast Ohio and the Bowling Green area. We also have players from Buffalo, New York on our team.
So far this summer, we’ve played in the 965 Kent State Invitational, Midwest Prospect League Tournament in Indiana, All Prospect Select at Michigan State, 965 Mendenhall Memorial and have a couple local (events) as well. We traveled to Lakepoint, Georgia and to Cincinnati. We won one of those tournaments and were runner-up in a couple others.
I had the opportunity to go to the East Coast Pro tryout and played against the top kids on the east coast in front of Major League Baseball scouts. When I was there, I hit against Ethan McElvain, a left-handed pitcher who is committed to Vanderbilt University. He has been clocked up to 95 miles per hour, and it was really cool to face a possible draft pick. Also, knowing that I will see him at Vandy (in conference play) was really cool.
This summer, I have worked on driving off-speed pitches and outside pitches to the opposite field. I’ve done a lot of tee work and work in the cage to focus on these weaknesses.
Speaking of Vandy, last year I went to Nashville, Tennessee and my team and I went to this local chicken joint called Hattie B’s. This is by far the best chicken I have ever had and if you are ever in Nashville, you can’t miss out on this place. I look forward to competing the rest of this summer and can’t wait to check back in with you guys.
Shelby Vaughn
This summer has been a crazy ride playing with my NPL club team North FC throughout the summer, where we have competed in tournaments in Las Vegas and Colorado.
In Colorado, we played in the national tournament that we had qualified for by winning our league. We almost made it to the semifinal game but fell short on a last-minute shot in double overtime to KC Fusion. In Las Vegas, we finished 1-1-2 with some high-quality competition we had never seen before. I really enjoy playing against new competition we have never seen before because it gives me new ways to look at the game.
My club is based out of Cleveland, where I play on a 17U bracket. We have girls from Wayne, Medina, Lorain, and Cuyahoga Counties on my team. Playing in different tournaments around the country gives me the opportunity to go against some new faces. I don’t usually remember the faces of the girls I go against, but in our semifinal game in Colorado, there is one girl I do remember. She was a center back for KC Fusion, out of Kansas City, was very tall and athletic and she didn't give up anything. She could read attackers very well and could place a ball anywhere she wanted. I can say she was the only center back I could remember out of anybody I have played against.
Going into my junior year I have thought about things I need to work on and one of those things are not hesitating on shooting with my left foot. I can use my left foot whenever I need to during the game. It is just that quick hesitation to switch to my right foot in that last second. In order to improve this, I have done some workouts in the summer that are just based on my left foot, and I force myself to only shoot with my left. Competing with my club has made me think a lot quicker because the game is a lot faster when you're competing against better competition than in high school.
When I’m traveling for soccer, I go to many new places to eat as well. Some places I have never heard of, but one place I highly recommend is Basil Asian Bistro in downtown Wooster. I will get this any time I can. It has the best honey sesame chicken and fried rice. I know there are tons of fabulous restaurants out there, but Basil will always have my heart.
I have many more busy weeks coming up filled with soccer, but I really enjoyed sharing it with all of you. I hope everything is good back home and I can’t wait for the fall.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Summer Sports Diaries: Blake Bowen and Shelby Vaughn
