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Former National Scouting Report prospect Amber Flores has risen from obscurity to the top in everything she’s pursued in softball, academics, and life. She is an extraordinary person in every sense of the word. Her infectious, positive attitude and upbeat approach have catapulted her to unexpected heights.
A native of Southern California Flores is proud of her roots. She grew up in Calexico, California, about a mile from the California-Mexico border.
“I love where I am from and I’m proud to say I grew up there,” said Flores, 27. “Some people would say it may not be the best neighborhood to grow up in, but it defined me, it shaped and molded me into the woman I am today.”
Calexico is about 122 miles east of San Diego and 62 miles west of Yuma, Arizona. The name is a portmanteau of California and Mexico, which, like that of its adjacent sister city of Mexicali, emphasizes its identity as a border city. Calexico has nearly 40,000 residents. The city’s strategic location is seen by many as the prime link between the interior of Mexico and the major markets along the west coast of the U.S. and Canada.
Flores came by softball naturally. Her father, Alex, was a baseball coach and usually took her along with him to practices and games. That’s where she fell in love with baseball, which segued into a love for softball, too. She started playing organized softball when she was 12.
In the summer of 2003, between Flores’ freshman and sophomore years at Southwest High School, NSR area scout Matt Rand entered her life. Rand saw her play in a travel softball tournament and was impressed enough to approach the Flores family.
“She was a raw talent, but there was no question in my mind that Amber had extraordinary potential as a college softball prospect,” Rand recalled. “Her hand-eye coordination, bat speed and power were far above anyone else in her age group. When I spoke to Amber and her parents and got to know them, I knew that I wanted to help this girl and her family. They were just the very best people and I knew from experience that something special lay ahead for her if we could put her in front of college coaches.”
Turns out he was right.
“Matt first got in touch with me when I was a freshman,” Flores said. “Until then maybe two or three schools had contacted me. Once NSR sent out my video to coaches, everything really started to pick up. I felt very fortunate. During the time when I was getting recruited there was no early committing like there is now. We didn’t commit in eighth grade. I started to get heavily recruited my junior year.”
After a number of official visits, Flores finally committed to school whose campus she had never seen — Oklahoma University.
“I had some good offers,” she recalled. “I was not a top recruit by any means, but was fortunate to have the offers I did. My final four came down to OU, Arizona State, Illinois and San Diego State. I knew pretty early on that OU was an incredible program. I took a visit to the other three schools and it did not feel right. They were all great programs, but I just felt they were not for me. I hadn’t actually been to visit OU, but something about it I just knew it was for me. The coaching staff did a great job with my recruiting process. They made me believe right away that it was the place for me.”
Sight unseen, Flores took the 1,214-mile, 18-hour trip from Calexico to Norman. Little did anyone know, but history was about to be rewritten in Sooner Softball Nation.
Flores burst onto the NCAA Division I scene and flourished as a player and student. In her four-year career at OU, she accumulated more team accolades and postseason honors than any Sooner softball player or Big 12 Conference player before. She was a three-time consensus All-America; four-time first-team all-region selection; three-time All-Big 12 performer; two-time Big 12 Player of the Year; six-time Big 12 Player of the Week; and three-time finalist for USA Softball’s Collegiate Player of the Year.
She’s still in the record books for the Big 12 and Oklahoma for home runs (56) and Oklahoma career records for walks (163), extra-base hits (99), slugging percentage (.701) and on-base percentage (.524). She ranks in Sooner history for batting average (.369), runs scored (232) and total bases (455), runs batted in (179), and hits (239).
Flores also worked hard to receive her Bachelor’s degree in Sociology, something she and her parents had dreamed about for years.
When Flores reminisces about her college softball career, you can hear the pride and enthusiasm in her voice.
“It was the greatest experience of my life,” she exclaimed. “Playing at the elite D-I level is full of ups and downs. It’s hard. It’s physically and mentally demanding and it’s time-consuming. But it truly is a privilege. I feel lucky to say I played at OU.”
Flores’ outstanding career had many highlights. As she recounted some of them, it was apparent that she holds several of those memories in a special place.
“There were three moments that will always stick with me,” she recalled. The first time I put the uniform on for a fall ball game. My parents were in the stands, and it was a great feeling. I was proud to show them that we were all living our dreams. It was not only my dreams coming true but it was theirs as well. The second was my senior year. My parents came up for a weekend to watch my graduation. That weekend I graduated from OU with my B.A., we won the Big 12 Tournament, and I was named the Big 12 Player of the Year. The last moment was when I graduated from OU with my Master’s Degree. I never in my wildest dreams thought I would had earned and Bachelor’s, let alone a Master’s Degree. It was the proudest moment of my life thus far looking into the stands and seeing tears roll down my parents face as I walked across the stage.”
Following her brilliant college softball career, Flores was selected by the USSSA Pride with the fifth overall pick in the 2010 National Pro Fastpitch draft. She played a couple seasons for the Florida Pride. Then she returned to Norman to pursue her Master’s in Education, setting the stage for her college coaching career.
Today, she brings that same positive attitude and determined success formula to work as the head softball coach at Seminole State College in Seminole, Oklahoma.
“I love my job,” said Flores, who enters her fourth year at the helm. “It has been a privilege for me to coach here. Sure, if one day I became a D-I coach, that would be great, but all I’m focused on now is this team and school. If all that happens in the future, then I’ll deal with it when it comes. For now, I love it here and have no plans to leave. It’s a great place to work and I love my players.”
Flores already has surpassed expectations by leading the Seminole State program to national prominence. In only her second season as head coach, she guided the Lady Trojans to a 43-12 record and a berth the NJCAA World Series. Last year’s team (48-11) advanced to regionals as the N0. 1 seed, but was unexpectedly knocked out by Carl Albert State College, 1-0.
Flores also leads the team in community service. She and her players wrap Christmas gifts and raise money each year for local nursing homes in Seminole as a part of the Adopt A Grandparent program.
More than a decade after being discovered by NSR, the little-known softball player from a California border town continues to make her mark. As a record-setting college player, accomplished student or outstanding coach, Flores is living out her dream every day.
No longer is anyone surprised.
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National Scouting Report is dedicated to finding scholarship opportunities for athletes who possess the talent, desire, and motivation to compete at the collegiate level. We’ve helped connect thousands of athletes with their perfect college.
Making us proud .keep on keeping on
Needs updating – Lauren Chamberlain career HR’s, etc.
Hey Tom, thanks for catching that! We will update this article. We posted this story about NSR softball player Amber Flores back in 2015. She is the current head softball coach at Seminole State College and had an impressive career with the Sooners.