Arizona softball coach Mike Candrea recently added a catcher to his 2011 recruiting class — junior Chelsea Goodacre of Temecula Valley (Calif.) High School.

“She is a power-hitting catcher,” Temecula Valley coach Bud Kane wrote in an e-mail. “Very hard-working girl who any coach would love.”

Much like in basketball, softball recruiting among the elite teams has started earlier and earlier, and Goodacre is the second known member of Arizona’s class of 2011. That means they will enter UA in the fall of 2011 and play in the 2012 season … that’s still some time away.

The other known 2011 recruit is outfielder Hallie Wilson from Foothill High in Orange County, Calif. She already is considered the top leadoff hitter in California, and if she can develop anywhere near the last leadoff hitter UA recruited from Foothill High — Caitlin Lowe — the Wildcats will really have something.

One of the senior high school players who is expected to sign with Arizona on Nov. 12 is power pitcher Shelby Babcock of Legacy High in Broomfield, Colo., who last month led her team to a third consecutive 5A state title (they play softball in the fall there, not the spring).

In four state tournament games, she allowed two unearned runs in 24 innings, allowing 10 hits and striking out 32. She and current UA freshman Kenzie Fowler should be a formidable tandem for three years.

Arizona begins the 2010 season Feb. 12 at the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe.

Anthony Gimino can be reached at anthonygimino (at) gmail.com

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 5th, 2009 at 2:59 pm and is filed under Sports. Tags for this post: Chelsea Goodacre, Mike Candrea, Shelby Babcock. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.