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ABOUT
Few in DI college softball are as hot right now as Charla Nichols, the outstanding power hitter in her junior year at Florida.
The starting third baseman hit her fifth home run over her last five games for the Gators and is currently leading the team with 11 home runs and 40 RBIs while her .373 batting average is second best on the team
I have had the privilege to watch Charla going back several years when she was an upcoming standout player from Georgia and saw her play for the Atlanta Vipers, Georgia Elite and the Georgia Impact programs.
In the Class of 2018 she was an Extra Elite 100 honoree in the player rankings; here’s what I wrote of her at that time when she played for the Georgia Elite and was committed to Michigan State (where her sisters played and where Charla would begin her college career):
T-41—Charla Echols, 3B/C, Georgia Elite (Michigan State)
Charla is a gifted hitter who can see the ball well in any competition, in fact, she struck out only once during her four-year varsity career at Northgate High (Newnan, Georgia). Hitting from the left side, she’s a power hitter and consistently puts the ball in play: she was three times named Best Offensive Player and MVP. She committed to Michigan State in the 8th grade and is the third Echols sister to play there. Charla plays behind the plate or at the corners and has an incredible softball IQ. Coach Jacqui Joseph expects her to have an immediate impact on the Spartan squad. A versatile athlete, she also lettered in basketball.
By her senior season, Charla had moved to the Georgia Impact 18U team coached by Patrick Lewis and would take that team, along with many other talented players including current Washington pitcher Kelley Lynch, all the way to the championship win–the first time at PGF Nationals an 18U team from the South had won at that age division.
What’s crazy is Charla and Kelley knew each other going WAYYYYYY back to 2006 when they played in the Sharpsburg Rec softball league and even had their picture taken together!
Another on that Impact team who is with Charla today is Skylar Wallace, the outstanding shortstop who is sitting this year at Florida after transferring in from Alabama.
One of my favorite memories ever of PGF Nationals’ storied history came in that 2018 PGF Championship when Kelley was just on the verge of closing it out in the 18U Premier game against Mike Stiths’ talented OC Batbusters team, which had played five games in the Loser’s Bracket the day before.
I was on the field down the left field line waiting for the game to end and it looked good for the Impact as Kalley–who would be that year’s Gatorade National Player of the Yea–induced a hard-hit shot to Skylar, who stabbed the ball and threw to first, only to have the ball dropped.
Skylar turned her back to the infield and muttered something that was in the ballpark of, “Catch the flipping ball.” Only “flipping” was not the “F” word she spit out!
Charla was a third base and calmed down her competitive infield teammate before Lynch closed the door.
Those three, incidentally, would go on to play for the USA Softball U-19 Women’s National Team which would knock off Japan in 2019 in a thrilling game that would come down to the last player.
And guess who would score the winning run?
Charla!
You can read below our article on that exciting game, which was played on the same field in Irvine, California where almost exactly a year before Charla, Kelley and Skylar had won the PGF 18U Premier title.
Charla would go on to have an All-Big Ten Freshman campaign at Michigan State before moving on to Florida and achieving the great success she’s had the last two years.
And one other thing I’ll say about the current Gator: I don’t know of any other player I’ve ever covered who had such a radiant and joyous smile!
At the 2018 Louisville Slugger Hit Club, which I helped run and it started literally hours after the PGF National Championship, Carla was voted on the other 10 players there as the event’s Best Teammate, showing how well liked she was and how that amazing smile and personality made everyone around her feel that much better about themselves!
No wonder, then, that she’s having such an impact at Florida and has the Gators poised as one of the top teams in the nation this year.
— Brentt Eads, Extra Inning Softball
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WBSC U-19 Women’s Softball World Cup: Team USA Walks Off in Extra Innings to Beat Japan 4-3
Originally published August 17, 2019 on Extra Inning Softball
The U-19 Women’s National Team (WNT) defeated Japan 4-3 in walk-off fashion to win the 2019 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) U-19 Women’s Softball World Cup.
With the win, Team USA became the first team in history to win three consecutive U-19 World Cup titles and now has seven titles overall.
“It’s something I will never forget,” Megan Faraimo (Vista, Calif.) said. “Just the sheer resiliency of this team and the durability is something that I have never experienced before and to come back and win a ball game like this against one of the best teams in the world says a lot about the character of this team.”
It was a back and forth defensive battle through the first seven innings of the game.
Faraimo had nine strikeouts through her first seven innings of work giving up just three hits. Offensively, Team USA was putting the ball in play but wasn’t able to break through the tough defense of Japan.
“This team deserved an opportunity to have a game like this,” U-19 WNT Head Coach, Heather Tarr (Redmond, Wash./Head Coach at Washington) said.
“What an amazing team that Japan has this year. Every inning was a fight and a battle and every inning it was so hard to score runs off of their pitching and their defense.”
In the eighth inning the teams entered international tie breaker play and Japan scored quickly on a double to left field to bring the runner placed on second home.
Japan followed with a single to left field driving in another run to make it a 2-0 ballgame. An error by Skylar Wallace (Woodstock, Ga.) allowed for another runner to score and give Japan the 3-0 lead.
Pitcher Montana Fouts (Grayson, Ky.) would come in and get the final out of the inning.
Team USA entered the bottom of the eighth down 3-0 with Bailey Dowling (St. Joseph, Ill.) on second base. Jadelyn Allchin (Fountain Valley, Calif.) hit a leadoff single to move Dowling to third. Frankie Hammoude (Oakland, Calif.) entered the game as a pinch hitter and sent the third pitch of her at bat over the left field fence to tie the game 3-3.
“When I was walking up to the box all I was thinking was that we just need a small base hit,” Hammoude said. “Coming home to my teammates after tying the game was an indescribable feeling and I couldn’t wait to touch home.”
With two outs, Charla Echols (Newnan, Ga.) hit a triple to deep centerfield to continue the rally for Team USA representing the game winning run.
After going down 0-2 early in her at bat, Jasmine Sievers (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) singled on a ground ball bobbled by the shortstop scoring Echols in the eight inning, comeback victory.
The final out. The dog pile. Team USA ON TOP! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/ToA6UoQVb9
— USA Softball (@USASoftball) August 17, 2019
“This is a dream come true,” Faraimo said. “I used to dream about this moment, so it means a lot. It is such an honor and it feels even better to do it with a group of girls that I really love.”
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WBSC U-19 Women’s Softball World Cup
August 11-17 | Irvine, Calif.
| Date | Opponent | Time | Media |
| August 10 | U-19 WNT 15, No. 5 Mexico 0 | 8 p.m. PT | Box Score | Recap |
| August 11 | U-19 WNT 15, No. 43 Botswana 0 | 8 p.m. PT | Box Score | Recap |
| August 12 | U-19 WNT 8, No. 15 Czech Republic 0 | 8 p.m. PT | Box Score | Recap |
| August 13 | U-19 WNT 12, No. 3 Canada 0 | 8 p.m. PT | Box Score | Recap |
| August 14 | U-19 WNT 6, No. 4 Puerto Rico 0 | 8 p.m. PT | Box Score | Recap |
| August 15 | U-19 WNT 7, No. 6 Chinese Taipei 0 | 3 p.m. PT | Box Score | Recap |
| August 15 | U-19 WNT 1, No. 2 Japan 0 | 8 p.m. PT | Box Score | Recap |
| August 16 | U-19 WNT 6, No. 8 China 0 | 3 p.m. PT | Box Score | Recap |
| August 16 | U-19 WNT 9, No. 7 Australia 0 | 8 p.m. PT | Box Score | Recap |
| August 17 | U-19 WNT 4, No. 2 Japan 3 | 2. p.m. PT | Box Score | Recap |
- Group A: Team USA, Mexico, Czech Republic, Botswana
- Group B: Japan, Australia, Italy, South Africa
- Group C: Puerto Rico, China, Brazil, Ireland
- Group D: Canada, Chinese Taipei, Netherlands, New Zealand
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Extra Star Power: 10 Questions with New Florida Transfer Charla Echols
Originally published June 16, 2019 on Extra Inning Softball
Perhaps it was because it happened during the Women’s College World Series, but the transfer news of Charla Echols, who is joining the Florida Gators starting in 2020 after playing her freshman season at Michigan State, seemed to have flown by under the radar when she announced it on her Twitter account May 23, 2019.
It’s a huge pickup for Tim Walton’s team as the lefty has the potential to be one of the top hitters in the sport.
“We’re thrilled that Charla will be joining our program for the 2020 season.” Walton said in a release issued by Florida on May 27, 2019. “Charla is a professional hitter and has an infectious personality that will rub off on the entire program. I know that she is excited to be a Gator and is ready to get to work. We can’t wait to have her on campus with the team in the fall.”
To new beginnings! Can’t wait for this opportunity! Go gators!!💙🧡🐊 pic.twitter.com/akI4vTroYl
— Charla Echols (@charlaechols) May 23, 2019
Currently, Echols is playing with the USA Softball U-19 Women’s National Team at the Scrap Yard complex in Conroe, Texas and will travel with Team USA throughout the U.S. and then over to Paris for some international experience.
The Newnan, Georgia native really came into her own in the summer of 2018 when she had a huge travel ball season with Patrick Lewis’s Georgia Impact team.
Lewis and noted hitting coach Lincoln Martin told us then that she was one of the best hitters in the 2018 class and Charla, along with several other standout players including Skylar Wallace (Alabama), Julia Cottrill (Florida signee) and Kelley Lynch (Washington signee), had an outstanding summer capped by the Impact winning the PGF 18U Nationals.
She was also a Top 50 recruit in the 2019 Extra Elite 100, played in the PGF All-American Game and was one of the 11 chosen to participate in the Louisville Slugger Hit Club.
As a freshman at Michigan State, Charla played on the same field as older sister, Ebonee Echols, who led the Big Ten team with a .353 batting average with Charla being second with a .344 mark.
The younger sister, however, earned some bragging rights by compiling a team best on-base percentage of .456–just a hair better than Ebonee’s .455. Charla also led the team with 45 hits and 76 total bases and was second in runs scored (45) and doubles (13).
Before the personable and seemingly always-smiling infielder left to play for Team USA this week, we caught up with the Newnan, Georgia native to ask about her big freshman year, why she’s headed back to the South and what she thinks of playing for the Red, White and Blue…
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You’re playing with the USA Softball Jr. National Team this summer… has it sunk in yet?
I’m so excited, it’s come with a lot of emotion because it’s what you dream of as a little girl, playing for your country with “USA” on your jersey.
When you tried out in January, did you think you did well and made the team?
Not the first day, I was really nervous and it wasn’t my best day, it wasn’t what I knew I could do. The second and third days, though, I picked up and did better. I felt when it was done I had a good chance to make the team.
You went to Michigan State where Ebonee was already playing… was that the main factor in your signing with the Spartans? Many were surprised you would leave the South and SEC after your great play last summer.
Ebonee was there when I committed—I was a freshman if I remember correctly. I liked Michigan State a lot as the campus and the coaches were great. There were a lot of coaching changes (assistants) from the time I committed and it was different, but that wasn’t the reason I left; the weather was tough for me to play in, my sister is leaving and it was far from home. Those were more of the reasons why I decided to look at going somewhere closer to home.
Scroll down to read more about Charla and her move to the Gators…
