We announce this week’s Extra Inning Softball National High School Player of the Week awards by honoring a Florida catcher who had a perfect weekend and a Tennessee pitcher who dominated and circle and helped herself at the plate too.
If you’d like to nominate players for future consideration, email us at info@extrainningsoftball.com.
We’re looking for top performances in high school play each week that can be on a single game or cumulative week basis.
***
Extra Inning Softball’s National High School Player of the Week
Paige Pfent (Springstead, Spring Hill, Florida)
Paige, a senior catcher for the Springstead Eagles, had a weekend to remember last week as she reached base 15 straight times over the span of four games.
The University of North Florida signee went 10-for-10 with a pair of home runs, two doubles and also reached base by walking four times and being hit by pitch.
Paige helped her team to a 3-1 record over that span with wins over Bloomingdale, Dunedin, Sickles and Sunlake in the Leopard Tournament.
In those games the senior went 4-for-4, 2-for-2, 1-for-1 and 3-for-3 and equally important scored eight runs and had seven RBI.
Paig now has seven multi-hit games for the season and heading into this weekend had 147 career hits which set a school record and came on her home run against Sickles High.
The future Osprey (that’s a bird, in case you don’t know the North Florida’s mascot) currently has a .579 average for the season with a .686 on-base percentage and has 16 RBI and 18 runs scored as Springstead High is now 12-2 and 6-0 in district.
She also has a 1.026 slugging percentage and impressive 1.712 OPS.
As to why she signed with North Florida in Jacksonville, Florida she told Extra Inning Softball: “When I went there the atmosphere was just kind of fitting for me. I didn’t want too big of a school and I didn’t want too small of a school and it was just in the middle so that’s where I ended up.”
Runner-Up National Player of the Week
Alyssa Arden (White House Heritage, White House, Tennessee)
White House-Heritage senior and Tennessee Tech commit Alyssa Arden had a standout week, both at the plate as well in the circle.
In two games she pitched a shutout and a perfect game against Cheatham Co. Central and Harpeth, respectively, and in 12 innings—the second win was a five-inning mercy game—Alyssa recorded 29 walks, no walks and allowed only two hits.
And, to help her cause, she went 5-for-7 at the plate with six RBI for the Patriots
For the year she is 6-1 with a 0.39 ERA and 83 K’s in 35 2/3rd innings and has five-shutouts and three no-hitters, which follows a stellar junior season when she had eight no-hitters and three perfect games to earn Class AA All-State honors and be named the All-Mid State Player of the Year.
This season Alyssa is also on fire at the plate as she is batting 773 (17-for-22) with four home runs and three doubles and has 12 RBI and four home runs in eight games played. She also has video-game numbers when it comes to on-base percentage (.783), slugging percentage (1.454) and OPS (2.238).
The Golden Eagle signee has set high school records with 998 career strikeouts and 192 RBI as of games completed Friday.
Her hot start isn’t a surprise as she went 24-5 as a junior with a 0.62 ERA and a 26-3 mark as a freshman with a 0.91 ERA. It will be tough to match her junior season domination when she struck out 343 batters in 181 2/3rd innings and only gave up 14 walks and 16 earned runs in 33 appearances.
Previous National Players of the Week:
- March 18: SS/OF Deja Westbrook (Arcadia, California)
- March 11: P Megan Faraimo (Cathedral Catholic, San Diego, California)
