Extra Inning Softball National Player of the Week (May 20, 2018)

We announce this week’s Extra Inning Softball National High School Player of the Week awards by honoring two standout pitcher/hitters who both have some things in common:

• each is the returning Gatorade Player of the Year from her state
• each was also honored over the last two weeks as an Extra Inning Softball Elite 100 prospect in the 2018 class
• and one just pitched her team to a state championship and the other looks to be well on her way to another one!

If you’d like to nominate players for future consideration, email us at [email protected].

We’re looking for top performances in high school play each week that can be on a single game or cumulative week-by-week basis

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Extra Inning Softball’s Co-National High School Player of the Week

Ashley Rogers (Meigs County, Decatur, Tennessee)

It was quite the week for Ashley Rogers, the All-American pitcher and 2017 Gatorade State Player of the Year.

She helped her Meigs County High team to a pair of shutout wins in the playoffs, 6-0 over Chattanooga Central and then 10-0 over Sweetwater in the Region 3-AA final, and only gave up one hit in each game while piling up 18 Ks and 11 K’s, respectively, in the wins.

And on Saturday, her Meigs County senior teammates participated in their high school graduation ceremony, although Ashley didn’t participate for an interesting reason: she attends a small private school– Fairview Christian Academy—and had her own graduation ceremony for her senior class of just seven students!

She gets to play for the Lady Tigers because Fairview Christian doesn’t field a softball team (and you can bet the Meigs County program is more than happy to have the University of Tennessee signee play for the two-time defending state champs).

Meigs County plays today at 3 pm EST against Sequatchie County in a State Section game that was delayed also because Sequatchie had its own graduation ceremony on Friday.

Rogers, a 5-foot-10 standout who was announced this week as the #12 player in the Extra Inning Softball Elite 100 for the 2018 class,  is 24-1 on the season for the Lady Tigers with 308 strikeouts in 132 innings and a microscopic 0.11 ERA as she’s only give up two earned runs (and four walks) on the entire season.

At the plate this week she was officially 0-for-3, but did draw four walks and still on the season has an impressive .513 batting average, a .602 on-base percentage with eight home runs, 21 doubles and 35 RBI in her 25 games played.

Also a standout basketball player who totaled over 2,000 career points for Fairview Christian, but didn’t play this year because of a fear of injury, Ashley feels she and her team are playing well and peaking at the right time.

“Going into the end of the post season,” she told Extra Inning Softball on Saturday, “ I feel each player is doing her job well, and we have used that to come together as a team and win these important games.”

“Personally, in the circle, I feel that I am doing a good job of getting ahead of batters and using all my pitches—I’m primarily a rise ball pitcher, but I have gotten a lot of looking and swinging strikeouts with a curveball this past week— and staying relaxed and focused.”

“Offensively, I’ve been struggling a little bit with getting walked a lot the past few games and not producing the way I would like in the at-bats I get, but my team is doing a phenomenal job of picking me up and producing plenty of runs, making my job in the circle a lot easier!”

Runner-Up National High School Player of the Week

Marissa Schuld (Pinnacle, Phoenix, Arizona)

Another Elite 100 2018 player who is the returning Gatorade State Player of the Year and had a great week, albeit in just one game, was Marissa Schuld.

But what an important game it was.

Playing against a talented Hamilton High team led by Arizona State-bound catcher Macy Simmons, herself a likely bet for All-American honors, Marissa pitched a 4-0 masterpiece in the 6A State Championship game, scattering two hits over the seven-inning complete game masterpiece while striking out 14 and walking just one.

The Arizona signee helped her own cause by going 2-for-4 with a solo home run, her second in as many games as she homered in the semi-final win over Perry High a week ago Friday when she didn’t pitch.

A two-way threat in the circle and at the plate as she also plays the outfield and middle infield, Marissa ended the season with a 11-1 record and a 0.74 ERA while pitching a perfect game, a no-hitter and three shutouts.

Offensively, she was a hitting machine setting career highs with a .574 batting average, 66 hits including 16 home runs and nine triples and tied her career best with 12 doubles and 57 RBI.

The future Wildcat also had a .626 on-base percentage and defensively only made one error in each of her four varsity seasons.

Previous Extra Inning Softball National High School Players of the Week

• May 13 (tie): P Sydney Supple (Oshkosh North, Oshkosh, Wisconsin) /
• May 13 (tie): OF Lexi Voss (Marist, Chicago, Illinois)
• May 6: P Danielle Williams (Amador Valley, Pleasanton, California)
• April 29: P Montana Fouts (East Carter, Grayson, Kentucky)
• April 22: IF Kasey Simpson (Keller, Texas)
• April 15: SS Jayda Coleman (The Colony, Texas)
• April 8: P Megan Faraimo (Cathedral Catholic, San Diego, California)
• April 1: C Macy Simmons (Hamilton, Chandler, Arizona)
• March 25: C Paige Pfent (Springstead, Spring Hill, Florida)
• March 18: SS/OF Deja Westbrook (Arcadia, California)
• March 11: P Megan Faraimo (Cathedral Catholic, San Diego, California)