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Paulys to highlight local fastpitch camp

FAIRMONT — Fairmont’s newest softball association, Cardinal Power Fastpitch, already is off to a hot start. The organization is hosting a softball clinic on Jan 27-28. It will feature former University of Georgia pitching coach Rick Pauly and his daughter and Akron Racers pitcher Sarah Pauly.

“I feel we have something in Fairmont that now we can take and give to our girls,” said Brian Johnson, the vice president of Cardinal Power Fastpitch. “We know how they (Paulys) do things, now it’s something we can teach.”

Association treasurer John Oothoudt was the point of contact in spearheading Rick and Sarah Pauly’s appearance at the clinic. Oothoudt said he reached out to Rick Pauly via a softball forum website.

“I emailed him and said, ‘Hey can you come to Minnesota?’ I knew last winter they were in Menomonie, Wisconsin, and we had sent a player up there to the clinic and she really liked it,” Oothoudt recalled. “(I asked), ‘This year, when you’re in Menomonie, can you come here?’ He (Rick) said, ‘Yeah, we can do that.'”

Rick Pauly has coached softball on various levels from 14U to college. In May 2014, he was selected to the USA National Team Coaching Pool. Rick Pauly also played softball in his hometown of Menomonie and competed in the U.S. Olympic Festival Games as well as in 11 Amateur Softball Association or International Softball Congress National and World Tournaments.

Sarah Pauly currently plays for the Akron Racers of the National Pro Fastpitch league as one of the top pitchers and Toda Medical, a team in the Japanese Pro League. In 2015, she won her 100th game in the NPF and earned her seventh All-NPF honor, leading the Racers with four shutouts, 10 wins, two saves and a 2.13 ERA.

Sarah was a pitcher in college, playing for Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi. After college, however, she kept going with softball, which took her to Ohio, Washington, Florida, Connecticut and other parts of the world such as Japan and Italy.

Sarah also had a couple softball coaching stints, which included, but not limited to, returning to Texas A&M at Corpus Christi as a pitching coach in 2012 and joining the coaching staff at The College of Charleston.

“It’s her life,” Johnson said.

Johnson and Oothoudt got a sneak peek into the Paulys’ services when the two went to Indiana a couple weeks ago. Rick and Sarah Pauly were part of a softball pitching clinic there, and both Johnson and Oothoudt were pleased with what they saw.

“It was awesome,” Johnson said. “They do know their stuff. … And honestly, going out there to watch them and learn as the girls were learning, we were also taking it in.”

Both Johnson and Oothoudt said that pitching has changed over the years due in part to technology. Softball coaches, pitchers and fans alike now have the capability to record a pitcher throwing and slow it down to study the pitcher’s throwing technique, which is exactly what Rick and Sarah Pauly do.

“They’ve watched the elite pitchers — the best 5, 10 pitchers in the world — and they’ve videotaped them, slowed it all down and then detailed down to the millisecond what their arm is doing, what their hand is doing at various stages of the circular motion,” Oothoudt said.

The clinic starts with an “Elite Pitching for Coaches and Parents” meeting at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 27, at Fairmont Five Lakes Elementary School.

The next day, there will be two clinics. In the first clinics, “Mechanics of Elite Pitchers,” which is 9 a.m.-noon, Rick Pauly will show new and intermediate pitchers the proper pitching mechanics that will increase speed and improve location accuracy.

The second clinic, “Advanced Movement,” will take place from 1-4:30 p.m. Geared toward varsity and college pitchers, Rick Pauly will show the proper technique for throwing pitches like the rise ball, curve ball, drop ball and changeup. Both clinics will be held in the main gym of Fairmont High School.

The response to the pitching clinic has been positive. Pitchers from all over Minnesota and parts of Iowa have already registered. As of Wednesday, there were only three spots left for each of the morning and afternoon sessions.

“People are driving multiple hours to come,” Oothoudt said.

In addition to holding more clinics in the future, Cardinal Power Fastpitch is in the process of remodeling the basement of Gemini Studios into a pitching facility.

“I think this is one of the things that our association would like to do is have nice camps and clinics,” Johnson said.

For more information on the clinics, contact the Fairmont Community Education and Recreation at 507-235-3141, or visit the Cardinal Power Fastpitch website at cardinalpower.club.

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