BASH Sports Academy

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Professional Baseball & Softball Instruction

Our instructors are former and current professional players, college stars and area coaches with years of experience. They all have a love, a passion and a respect for the game that they share with their students while they teach mechanics and fundamentals.

Hank Lott - Master Instructor

Coach Lott is one of the area's top pitching coaches.
Over the past 20 years, Hank has worked with both professional and amateur players. His pitching theories have been developed from working with some of the game’s top coaches, including Dr. Mike Marshall, Tom House, Rick Peterson, Dave LaRoche, Ralph Treuel, John Hiller, Glenn Abbott, Bob Apodaca, Al Jackson, Randy Neimann, Orlando Pena and Tim Kelly.

Hank’s pitching career began at Chicago’s Kenwood High School. In 1984, he led the city in wins, ERA and strikeouts and was named All-City, All-Area, Chicago Public League MVP and Top Lefthanded Pitcher in the Chicagoland Area.

Hank headed off to the Arizona State University and in 1986 was picked by the Detroit Tigers in the 2nd round of the MLB draft (42nd pick overall). He played 7 years in the Detroit Tigers, St. Louis Cardinals and NY Mets organizations, reaching the AAA level before an arm injury ended his climb toward the big leagues.

After his playing career, Hank coached at both the Junior College and Division 1 College level and for the past five years has worked as a major league scout for the NY Mets, Oakland A’s and Kansas City Royals.

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Ernie Young - Visiting Master Instructor

Coach Young offers a level of instruction that is unique in the Chicago area. Currently, he is the hitting instructor for the Great Falls White Sox, the minor league affiliate of the Chicago White Sox. Before retiring at the end of 2007, Ernie played 18 seasons of professional baseball. He spent parts of 8 seasons in the big leagues, including all of 1996, when he hit 19 home runs, while commiting just a single error in center field for the Oakland A’s.

In 2000, he helped bring home the Gold Medal as part of the U.S. baseball team that competed in the Sydney Olympics. Ernie continues to work with USA Baseball as a member of several committees, including one to create the selection procedure for the upcoming 2008 Olympic team.

A Chicago native, Ernie played at Mendel Catholic High School on the south side. Named All-State in 1987, he went on to Lewis University, where he was a two-time All-American before being drafted by Oakland in 1990.

Ernie currently lives in Arizona, but visits BASH as often as possible during the off-season, bringing his enormous experience, expertise and love of the game to ballplayers of all ages.

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Chris Schutt

Coach Schutt has spent his whole life playing baseball. For the past four years, he’s played it in the Minnesota Twins organization. Chris first started pitching as a kid in Park Ridge. He was named All-Conference in his Junior and Senior seasons at Maine South High School. In 2000, Cornell University came calling and Chris went off to play college baseball in the Ivy League. Although he also played centerfield at Cornell, Chris was first and best, a pitcher. In 2003, he capped off his college career by being named team MVP and Ivy League Pitcher of the Year. That same year he was selected by the Minnesota Twins in the 7th round of the MLB draft. Chris’ career is still in full swing, as he continues to climb the ladder towards the big leagues.

Career Highlights:

2003 Unanimous Selection All-Ivy League First Team
2003 Ivy League Pitcher of the Year (1.89 ERA; 80 Ks in 66 IP)
2003 Cornell University Team MVP
2003 Drafted by Minnesota Twins
2003 Elizabethtown Twins
2003 Appalachian League Post-Season All-Star Team
2004 Quad Cities Twins (A)
2005 Ft. Myers Miracles (High A)
2006 Ft. Myers Miracles/New Britain Rock Cats (AA)

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Dan Puente

The pride of the North Side, Coach Puente started playing youth baseball at Welles Park and eventually played his way into being drafted into the Baltimore Orioles organization. As a catcher, Dan graduated from Gordon Tech where he was All-Catholic League in 1999 and 2000. His hard work and talent earned him a scholarship to Bradley University in Peoria where he continued to star, eventually being named the Missouri Valley Conference’s Best Defensive Catcher by Baseball America.

Today, Dan is involved in another of his passions – teaching. He has a remarkable ability to work with students of all ages and all skill levels. And, as a catcher, he has an enormous amount of knowledge to share about every aspect of the game – and every position.

Career Highlights:

2003 Tim Trunk Most Improved Player
2003 All-Missouri Valley Conference Second Team
2004 Preseason All-MVC
2004 MVC Baseball America Best Defensive Catcher
2004 12th Round Draft Pick to the Baltimore Orioles
2004 Bluefield Orioles
2005 Delmarva Shorebirds

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Mickey Scala

Coach Scala's baseball career has taken him from the Chicago area to locales all across the U.S.A. and back home again. His college journey took him to the University of Connecticut, Texas Christian University, Oakton, and finally Valparaiso University.

As a pro, Mickey played both infield and outfield for several minor league teams. In 2002, after signing as a free agent with the Pittsburgh Pirates, he spent time with both the Williamsport Crosscutters and the Hickory Crawdads of the New York-Penn and South Atlantic leagues.

These days, he's back at home in Chicago as an assistant coach for the Oakton College Raiders, as well as teaching baseball to players of all ages here at BASH.

Career Highlights:

1998 - Rawlings Big Stick Award, Top Hitter NJCAA
1999 - 2nd Team NJCAA All American, 3rd base
2001 - Tennesee T's
2002 - Signed by Pittsburgh Pirates as a free agent
2003 - Alexandria Aces

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Kate Madden

Kate Madden started her softball career in her hometown of Aurora, Colorado. As a standout at Smoky Hill High School, she earned a full scholarship to Southwest Missouri State University where she pitched and hit her way to becoming the MVC Player of the Year in her Senior season. That same year, she was named the MVC Tournament MVP after leading the Lady Bears to their first NCAA Tournament berth in 13 seasons. After graduating, Kate joined the Durham Dragons in the inaugural season of the Women’s Professional Fastpitch Softball League, pitching, playing infield and batting leadoff for the North Carolina team. She finished second in the race for the batting title with a .343 average as the team’s leadoff hitter and also played in the infield. An injury cut short her professional career after that season.

Career Highlights

1996 - Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year
1996 - Set league records for batting average (.450), hits (86), runs scored (60) and stolen bases (37)
1996 - MVC Tournament MVP
1997 - Hit .343 for the Durham Dragons (Women's Pro Softball League), 2nd highest average in the league
1998 - Hired as assistant softball coach at Georgia Tech
1999 - Named Head Coach of Georgia Tech's Lady Jackets team
2002 - ACC Coach of the Year

In 1998, she became the first full-time assistant softball coach at Georgia Tech University. After just one season as an assistant, Kate was named Head Coach of Tech’s Lady Jackets. In 2002, her Lady Jackets compiled a 52 – 18 record, earning her the Atlantic Coast Conference Coach of the Year award.
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Sam Incandela

Coach Incandela graduated from Fenwick High School with honors and as captain of the baseball team in 1995. From there, he attended Indiana University as a recruited walk on for the varsity baseball team. In 1996, Sam was part of the Big Ten Tournament Championship Team that advanced to the College World Series Regional Tournament. He went on to have a great career with the Hoosiers, where he was named to the Big Ten All Academic Team ’97 – ’99. Sam was named captain of the team during his senior campaign, and at the conclusion of the year was named team MVP.

After Sam’s playing days ended, Coach Morgan asked him to stay on at IU as a coach. Sam worked with the infielders, outfielders, and served as assistant hitting coach until 2001, when he left to become lead hitting instructor at one of the top baseball academies in Chicago’s south suburbs.

In 2003, Sam was recruited to head coach a summer team comprised of collegiate players from all over the country. With his assistant coach, former big leaguer John Cangelosi, the team won championships in both of the leagues they competed in.

Currently, Sam is head coach of the nation’s #1 ranked 16U team.

Many of Sam’s students are now playing in college or in the minor leagues. His commitment to excellence, attention to detail, and respect for the way the game was meant to be played makes every lesson a fun, rewarding and memorable experience for players of all skill levels.

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Estuardo Mira

By the age of 16, Coach Mira was Rookie of the Year, pitching in the Guatemalan League. Three years later he was the league MVP.

Estuardo pitched for the Guatemalan National Team in two Centro American Games, two Pan American Games and two World Tournaments.

In 1996, he came to the United States to play baseball for Iowa Central Community College. His 9 - 4 record helped the Tritons reach the Division II Junior College World Series. In ’97 Estuardo went 11 – 1 with 104 strikeouts in 101 innings, leading his team to the NJCAA Division II Finals.

Estuardo went on to Southern Arkansas University, where, as a relief pitcher, he set the record for most saves in a single season.

For five years, he taught pitching to youth ballplayers in Guatemala City and served as the pitching coach for the Guatemalan Little League National Team, which competed in the World Tournament in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Career Highlights:

1991 – Rookie of the Year, Guatemalan Baseball League
1994 – Most Valuable Player, Guatemalan Baseball Leauge
1996 – First Team All-Region (Iowa Central Community College)
1997 – First Team All-Region (Iowa Central Community College)
1997 – Set Iowa Central single season records for Most Wins, Most Strikeouts and Most Innings Pitched
1997 – NJCAA Division II World Series All-Tournament Pitcher
2000 – Set Southern Arkansas University record for Most Saves in a Single Season

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