HS & Club Softball

Utah Liberty earn 2014 Bright Light Award, presented by Musco Lighting

Utah Liberty Softball

OKLAHOMA CITY —Through their commitment to making a positive impact on their athletes and community, the Utah Liberty Softball team (Sandy, Utah) has earned the 2014 Bright Light Award presented by Musco Lighting and the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of America/USA Softball. This group of 12 athletes, coached by John and Codee Flores, put in over 100 volunteer hours from January 1 through August 31, making them the third team to earn the Bright Light Award. Created in 2011, the award honors an ASA/USA registered Junior Olympic (JO) team that has shown a commitment to its community through service and volunteerism.

“The Utah Liberty family is extremely grateful to ASA/USA Softball and Musco Lighting for the recognition they have bestowed on the Utah Liberty team,” said Co-Head Coaches John & Codee Flores. “As coaches, we are honored to have the opportunity to coach these young ladies and have them be a part of our lives. We cannot even begin to measure the ways these young women and their parents have touched our lives and the lives of so many others. We are extremely proud of each and every one of them.”

The award as well as a Bright Light Award banner will be presented to the Utah Liberty on November 9 during the opening session of the 83rd ASA/USA Annual Meeting in Reno, Nev. Additionally, as the recipient of the 2014 Bright Light Award, the Utah Liberty will receive a $2,000 credit to use toward tournament fees for any 2015 ASA/USA sanctioned events in the United States and 20 Bright Light Award T-shirts for athletes, coaches and staff.

Athletes with the Utah Liberty Softball team try to reach beyond softball diamonds across the United States. Formed five years ago, coaches aim to produce well-rounded young athletes in their pursuit to achieve their dream of hopefully playing college softball one day and to help shape their future success in society. A mainstay of the program is that there is a need to give back to those around us and to strive to achieve good grades in the classroom, which the young athlete have embraced. Causes such as The Wounded Warrior Amputee Softball Team, Brylee in 5 (The Children of the Earth Foundation), The Fight Against Childhood Cancer, The Road Home Homeless Shelter in Salt Lake City, and the Swing for Life Softball Tournament (raising awareness for Breast Cancer Research) are just a few of the causes these young athletes have volunteered at and supported through community service.

“As coaches we cannot begin to say or show how proud we are of the young women of Utah Liberty Softball, and how thankful we are to have the opportunities we have to show support to these great causes,” said Codee Flores. ” They are more than ready to start a two-hour practice early at 8:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning so that they can go and be big sisters to kids with special needs later that day at the Miracle League fields. We never hear them complain and they always strive to show pride and respect to every effort they take on. It is just the opposite with these young ladies; they have started looking for more opportunities and have even enlisted the help of friends and family members when opportunities arise. They realize that there is much more to being a well-rounded athlete and person besides working hard on the field.”

Initiated in 2011 by Musco Lighting, the Yard Sharks 18-Under A team (Carmichael, Calif.) coached by Joe Price captured the inaugural Bright Light Award and followed up with another in 2012. Last season, Team Mizuno-Impulse (The Colony, Texas), coached by Junior Torres, brought the award home to Texas. Applications for the 2015 Bright Light Award presented by ASA/USA Softball and Musco Lighting will be accepted starting next spring. Additional information will be available at USASoftball.com/.

About ASA

The Amateur Softball Association, founded in 1933, is the National Governing Body of softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. The ASA has become one of the nation’s largest sports organizations and now sanctions competition in every state through a network of 76 local associations. The ASA has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to over 165,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than 2.5 million. For more information on the ASA, visit http://www.asasoftball.com/.

About USA Softball

USA Softball is the brand created, operated and owned by the ASA that links the USA Men’s, Women’s, Junior Boys’ and Junior Girls’ National Team programs together. USA Softball is responsible for training, equipping and promoting these four National Teams to compete in international and domestic competitions. The USA Softball Women’s National Team is one of the only two women’s sports involved in the Olympic movement to capture three consecutive gold medals at the Olympic Games since 1996. The U.S. women have also won nine World Championship titles including the last seven consecutive as well as claimed seven World Cup of Softball titles. For more information about USA Softball, please visit http://www.usasoftball.com/.

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