Developing A College-Bound Baseball-Softball Program

When Baseball Softball 101 Director Jason Pagan first came to Las Vegas, it was to help coach the Lady Coyotes at the College of Southern Nevada (CSN) with his long-time friends and colleagues Callen Perreira and Joe Lee. Together with Head Coach Perreira, Lee and Pagan turned an “also played” college program into one that consistently ranked among the top five in the nation. 

“The Lady Coyotes started outperforming players at four-year schools,” says Pagan. “They played so well that even D1 schools wouldn’t scrimmage the team out of fear that we might pull off an upset.” 

In fact, shortly after the 2014 season, several players moved to the next level. Well-known players like Mikela Manewa went to Oregon State University, Tiani Hensley to Utah Valley University, Presley Whetman to Arizona Christian University, and Ariel Frantz to Boise State University. Many of them were known for hitting. Manewa, for example, led the SWAC in batting average (.466) and was selected to the All-Region 18 first team the year prior to being recruited by Oregon State. 

Manewa wasn’t the only success story. CSN has produced numerous All-Region 18 softball players over the years, as well as a handful of NJCAA All-American nominees.

“It felt like a natural progression for Joe Lee and I to start wondering since we could do this for student athletes at two-year schools, then what might we be able to accomplish if we trained them before college,” Pagan said. “What would happen if we trained 12u or 14u players how to play ball like some of these fine athletes? And not just young women. Baseball players too.” 

Pagan and Lee went on to form the Scorpions Baseball and Lady Scorpions Softball programs, which later took on the Bases Loaded Elite moniker to match the name of the cages where their teams trained. Later, Pagan would reform the organization into Baseball-Softball 101, which now trains out of Walk Off Batting Cages. 

“The name has changed several times, but the forward motion and momentum of our program has never wavered,” says Pagan, who has stepped back as head coach to take on more director-level duties. “Helping these boys and girls train to earn scholarships has been a big part of my life and I’m focusing even more of my energy on what should be the ultimate goal of any travel team program.”

To do it, Baseball-Softball 101 has developed relationships with a training facility and tournament programming to help organize more tournaments, more college camps, and more training opportunities to help select student athletes elevate their performance on and off the field. The result has been an uptick in the number of athletes offered scholarships and colleges taking an interest in some of our best athletes at a younger age.

“We have some boys and girls who spend hours at the cages, taking breaks from their workout schedule to study for school,” said Pagan. “It’s inspiring just to be around some of them, especially seeing those who find out colleges are interested in them at 13 or 14 years of age. I’m telling you, these kids are legit.”

Baseball-Softball 101 has two divisions. The Baseball 101 program fields a showcase baseball team. The Softball 101 program fields 10u, 12u, 14u, 16u, and 18u travel teams. On occasion, Softball 101 also helps manage the Walk Off Batting Cages showcase team. Last year, Walk Off fielded 14u and 16u teams that played in a D9 Regional Showcase. This year, Softball 101 will be fielding its own 14u and 16u teams.