RANKINGS
EVENTS
I COMMITTED
COLLEGE
ABOUT
This week we have a lot of strong performances in the Midwest as high school ball is going full speed, but for our Player of the Week we head to the Lone Star State for an SEC-bound infielder who had another great week in a season of big accomplishments…
*****
Extra Inning Softball’s National High School Player of the Week
While many of the “cold weather” states have just gotten started, many states including Texas that have been playing for a while are approaching the playoffs and we’re seeing some outstanding players step up and elevate their game.
One of those is infielder Trinity Cannon of Forney (Texas) High who has been on fire of late.
Last year she helped the Jackrabbits take the 5A state title and she’s been even more impressive this year.
Even though her team is often run-ruling opponents and the junior doesn’t get as many at-bats as she might otherwise have, Trinity has had a very efficient year as she’s hitting .649 with 12 home runs—which leads the Dallas area—and has 46 RBIs and 12 doubles for the No. 12 team in last week’s Extra Elite Eighty high School rankings.
Forney is currently 23-2 and last week won their only two games by 11-1 and 18-0 scores. Still, the Texas A&M commit went 4-for-5 with three home runs, seven RBIs, four runs scored and was named the Dallas Morning News Player of the Week.
This is just the continuation of a streak that has seen her hit 11 home runs in her last 14 games in which she’s batting a sizzling .719 with 34 RBIs.
How much better can she get?
“Trinity is special,” her 18U club coach, Kevin Shelton of Texas Glory, explains. “She is an off-the-charts talent who is all about team. She’ll play wherever she is asked to and excel. Trinity can bunt, hit behind a runner and drive it out of the yard. She is super powerful and has base stealing speed. Above all, she just wants to win and will do whatever the team needs to accomplish that. Even among some of the best players in the country, she stands out. She is also a joy to coach.”
Her high school coach, Pat Eitel, agrees.
“She’s been doing it [hitting home runs] most of the year,” the Jackrabbits’ coach told the Dallas Morning News. “She’s been really focused on her hitting. There’s nobody that works harder each week on trying to get it perfected. It’s obvious she’s having a great year offensively for us.”
The talented infielder and prolific hitter is looking forward to getting Forney back to the state championship game.
“Our team has stepped up this year and has really pushed to get better every practice and every game,” she says. “We know teams are gonna come out and play their best game against us because they know what we have accomplished!”
So what has she done to put up such impressive numbers this season?
“Personally, I have worked on being positive in the field and being vocal to let my teammates know that they have someone by their side to pick them up when they make a mistake but also let them know they have someone to celebrate with in the good moments!” Trinity explains.
“I think we get better and better and closer to our goal of going back to state every game we play! We are always looking to make that next play and score the next runner that winning is the big prize of putting all the little pieces and effort together.”
She admits she’s always looking for an opportunity to fine-tune her hitting, too.
“If we don’t have practice because of bad weather or some other reason, I try to find a teammate or my little brother to go hit with me. I just want to get quality reps and work on the little adjustments that can help me fix what I did in the last game. I think our team has had a phenomenal year with hitting and executing runs when we needed them. I am excited to see what the rest of the season will look like!”
Runner-Up Players of the Week
* Perhaps the most impressive statistical performance for the week was turned in by freshman shortstop Lauren Harris who stars at Woodlawn (Illinois) High and went 12-for-14 (.857) with five home runs and 14 RBIs in five games along with no strikeouts versus an on-base percentage of .895 and an OPS of 2.895. The Louisiana-Lafayette commit is batting .608 in 18 games this season and has nine home runs overall with 25 RBI and only one strikeout in 66 plate appearances. A standout in volleyball as well, Lauren was ranked in the Top 15 of the 2022 Extra Elite 100.
* Gabby Coffey, a freshman from Prosper Texas, was recently profiled here on the Extra Inning Softball site shortly after it was announced she had made the Brazilian Jr. National Team. The Prosper (Texas) High standout who is committed to Mississippi state went 5-for-7 (.714 average) with six RBI, a home run, triple and six RBI.
* Nicole Kratz, a freshman third baseman for Boyertown Senior (Berks Co., Pennsylvania) High, batted .818 last week with a double, triple, home run, eight RBI and 11 runs scored and is now hitting a sizzling .740 for the season with a pair of home runs, 27 runs scored and 22 RBIS for her Keystone State team.
* Angela Zedak, a senior pitcher from Marist (Chicago, Illinois) High who has signed with Northwestern, went 2-0 last week and in 10 innings had 13 K’s and a 1.56 ERA. She also batted .500 for the week with six RBIs and five runs scored in two games. Making this even more impressive is that she faced three Division I pitchers going to Michigan, Arizona and Pitt.
* Tanya Windle, the National Player of the Week honoree for the week of March 11, 2019, is continuing her hot hand for Cactus (Glendale, Arizona) High as she went 12-for-16 last week with a home run, five RBIs, and four runs scored. For the season, the standout freshman outfielder/second baseman is hitting .654.
* Mazie Macfarlane, a senior outfielder and leadoff batter for Whitney (Rocklin, California) High had seven games last week and led her team to a 6-1 record as she went 13-for-22 (.591 batting average) with a .679 on-base percentage. In 28 plate appearances, she hit .591 with three doubles, a triple, home run, six RBIs and 12 runs scored. For the year she’s is hitting.509 with a .640 on-base percentage as she has 19 walks, 25 runs scored and 15 RBIs.
* Taylor Pannell, the freshman shortstop and third baseman for Rock Island (Illinois) High, continues to be an offensive juggernaut as she went 7-for-9 with a .778 batting average in her role as leadoff batter and had four RBI, three steals and no errors committed on defense in the infield.
* Kaitlyn Brannstrom, a junior catcher/infielder for Portage Central (Michigan) High, had a strong first week of the season as she went 16-for-25 (.640) with four home runs, four triples, a .640 on-base percentage and 23 RBIs including 11 RBIs in one game to set an all-time Southwest Michigan Athletic Conference (SMAC) record. In that game she went 5-for-5 with a home run, two triples and two doubles. Kaitlyn is committed to Purdue.
* Shannon Becker, a sophomore pitcher for Mahopac (New York) High, makes the list for the second week in a row as she went 2-0 with no runs allowed in 18 innings in which she struck out 36 and gave up just three hits. She now has 108 K’s after six games and 479 strikeouts in her career. The 6-foot hurler who throws in the mid 60’s has interest from SEC, ACC and Pac-12 schools.
* Kaylah Nelsen, the sophomore first baseman/outfielder for Santiago (Corona, California) High, may have had the biggest hit of the week last week as the 3-hole hitter hit a two-out, bases loaded walk-off single that helped Santiago defeat the #1 team in the nation, Norco (California).
* Hannah Pfeifer, a freshman centerfielder for Lincoln Way West (New Lenox, Illinois), hit the first varsity softball pitch she saw into the bleachers for a home run and in her second game hit an 8th-inning walk-off double to win the game. Named the Player of the Week by the Chicago Tribune, she was 4-for-5 (.800) with two singles, a home run, five runs scored and six steals.
* Claire Davidson, a junior pitcher/outfielder committed to Auburn, helped her Lakewood Ranch (Bradenton, Florida) High team to several big wins as she hit 8-for-19 (.421) with 11 RBIs and had some clutch hits. In the circle, she went 2-0 with 16 K’s in 14 innings including an impressive complete game win over nationally-ranked Oakleaf. For the season, she is hitting .448 with seven home runs, 25 RBI and in the circle is 6-0 with a save and has 50 K’s in 41 1/3rd innings
*****
Previous 2019 Extra Inning Softball National High School Players of the Week
- April 8: P/1B Sydney Supple (North, Oshkosh, Wisconsin)
- April 1: OF Leea Hanks (Eustis, Florida)
- Mar. 25: P/IF Madison Inscoe (Nansemond-Suffolk Academy, Suffolk, Virginia)
- Mar. 18: 1B/OF Avery Goelz (Lakewood Ranch, Bradenton, Florida)
- Mar. 11: OF/2B Tanya Windle (Cactus, Glendale, Arizona)
- Mar. 4: SS Hallie Wacaser (Bentonville West, Centerton, Arkansas)
- Feb. 25: P Stevie Hansen (Norco, California)
*****
Each week during the spring and summer high school seasons, Extra Inning Softball will honor a National High School Player of the Week.
The honoree will be announced every Monday night/Tuesday morning; cutoff for submitting the nominations is each Sunday at 11 pm EST/8 pm PST.
We’re looking for standouts who excelled in the circle, at the plate or in the field so be sure to nominate your favorite performance(s) by submitting the following:
- Player Name
- Grad Year (example: Class of 2018 or Senior)
- Position(s)
- High school team name with city/state
- Stats for the week (be as detailed as possible!)
- Up-to-date season stats if possible
- Recruiting information if applicable
- Any interesting background on the player
- Action and/or head shots
- If possible, contact info if we’d like more info or quotes
Email your info and photos (1-4 as available) by the cutoff of Sunday 11 pm EST/ 8 pm PST to: [email protected].