Extra Inning Softball’s National High School Player of the Week – May 13, 2019

This week’s Extra Inning Softball National High School Player of the Week is a Georgia-bound pitcher who came up big in the Texas high school state playoffs last week and we also feature top performances including a “perfect strikeout game” where all 21 outs were made via the “K!”

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

Sometimes you earn the National High School Player of the Week award by putting up ridiculous numbers and then sometimes you get it by coming up big in a crucial time for your team.

Such was the case last week in the UIL Texas State High School Playoffs as Britton Rogers, the junior right-handed pitcher for the Cypress Ranch (Cypress, Texas) Mustangs, threw a masterpiece in a one game winner-take all playoff game last Friday.

In the Round 3 playoff series between Cy Ranch and the Oak Ridge (Conroe, Texas) Eagles—the team that had just knocked out the #2-ranked team in the nation, Cedar Ridge High—it would be a nail-biter that would last 10 innings.

Rogers, who committed to the Univ. of Georgia, endured a 3 ½ hour thriller scattering four hits while striking out 12 and giving up just one earned run in the 2-1 win.

Asked about her mindset during the game, Britton said: “The first inning is always nerve-racking, but being a one-game series puts more pressure on you to make zero mistakes.”

“After the bottom of the 7th inning and we got out of a second and third, no-outs jam, my shortstop, Ashly Colonnetta, kept saying: ‘Just gimme one more inning, we’re gonna get you a run!’”

“I trust my team to fight every inning. We’re excited to still be playing in this crazy long playoff marathon and know that we’re going to lay it all out there every time.”

Britton also recorded one of the two runs her two would score to advance this week to play Wylie (Texas) High in a three-game series to be held Wednesday, Thursday and, if necessary, on Friday in Waco.

The pitcher’s clutch performance came a week after she knocked out The Woodlands High as she pitched a pair of shutouts, 5-0 on May 2 and 3-0 on May 3. In the two games, the junior only gave up three hits and three walks in 14 innings while striking out 25.

For the season she is 16-2 with 200 K’s in 126 innings of work. Her ERA is 0.39 and the future Bulldog has given up just seven earned runs on the year.

Britton plays her summer seasons with the Firecrackers-Sewell travel lteam out of Georgia.

Runner-Up Players of the Week

* Shannon Becker, a player we’ve featured before, continues to put up great stats pitching for the Mahopac (New York) Indians.

She went 4-0 with an eye-opening 75 strikeouts versus just six hits and one earned this week highlighted by a perfect strike-out game in which she struck out all 21 batters she faced.

In addition, she hit .500 with six singles and was voted as the Yorktown Tournament MVP.

For the seasons she has 14 wins and a 0.29 ERA with 283 strikeouts in 120 innings pitched. Opponents are hitting just .102 against her. Shannon is also hitting .429 in 17 games.

* Another New Yorker who had a great season is Maddie Gallagher, a junior shortstop from Paul D. Schreiber High in Port Washington, New York.

Maddie, who is committed to South Carolina, batted .700 this week in three games, hitting a pair of singles, three doubles, a triple and a home run.

She wrapped up the season with nine home runs in 14 games and finished the season with a .575 batting average and a .633 on-base percentage.

Maddie plays for Tampa Mustangs – Maguire in travel ball and was part of the team that won the PGF 16U Platinum National Championship last summer.

* Mia Holmes is a junior pitcher/utility player for Gaston Christian in Gastonia, North Carolina and came up big in her team’s conference semi-final and championship as she went 5-for-6 on the week (.833) including a big home run and 2-for-3 performance in the title game.

She also pitched two complete games and had 25 strikeouts with no earned runs giving up. Voted the Conference player of the Year, she is hitting .609 with five home runs and has a 7-2 record with 108 K’s and 1.11 ERA in the circle.

Playing for the 2018 state champs, the team is currently in the Elite 8 of the 2019 state tournament.

* Kassie Rhodes, a sophomore left-handed pitcher and first baseman, had a great week leading her Quitman High (Arkansas) Bulldogs to the Class 2A State Championship Game slated for Saturday in Fayetteville.

In three critical playoff games last week, Kassie had 21 K’s in 18 1/3^rd innings with a 0.77 ERA and at the plate hit .428 with three RBs and two doubles.

For the year she is batting .500 with 32 RBI, 30 runs scored and has helped lead Quitman to a 28-5 record by compiling a 1.42 ERA and 107 K’s in 74 2/3rds innings.

Kassie was the 2A MVP as a freshman and is looking to repeat.

* Savannah Pola, a sophomore middle infielder for Godinez Fundamental High in Santa Ana, California, is the Orange County hits leader this year with 59 and leads all of California for sophomores.

Last week she added to the total by going 6-for-9 and had five runs scored, four steals, three doubles, and a home run.

She will likely add to the total tomorrow as Godinez plays in the playoff CIF semi-finals versus Culver City in the Div. 4 tournament.

Against a top junior pitcher headed to the Pac-12, Savannah—who is committed to UCLA— went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and two steals. Her older sister, Keana Pola, a senior at the school went 3-for-3 in the game with a pair of doubles and two RBI.

* Brantleigh Parrot, a freshman at Central Cabarrus High in Concord, North Carolina, pitched the first two games of the North Carolina 3A playoffs and was nearly untouchable.

In Round 1 she faced 20 batters striking out 13 with only one hit allowed as her Lady Vikings won 10-0.  In Round 2 she faced 23 batters with 12 K’s and only one hit allowed with no runs or walks given up in a more narrow win, 2-0. Brantleigh also scored Central Cabarrus’ only two runs.

This coming after a big win over the conference rival for the title in which she struck out 12 of 19 batters and didn’t give up a hit—coming just one error short of having a perfect game.

For the trio of games, the Lander University (South Carolina) commit had no earned runs and in 25 games this year has a 1.46 ERA with 15 wins, 157 K’s and just one loss.

Brantleigh plays for Team NC 16U – Crowe in the summer.

* Kennady Warder, a junior catcher and middle infielder for Bethlehem (Bardstown, Kentucky) High, remains on a hot streak. Last week she went 7-for-11 (.636) and did the same this week as she also had four steals and two RBI.

She is still batting .634 for the year, leading her region average and is in the top 5 in the state of Kentucky through 27 games.  Kennady caught all three games and has not allowed a steal against her this year.

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Previous 2019 Extra Inning Softball National High School Players of the Week

• May 6: C Neely Peterson (Cypress Creek Middle, Wesley Chapel, Florida)
• Apr. 29: OF/IF/P Angela Zedak (Marist, Chicago, Illinois)
• Apr. 22: SS Kali Heivilin (Three Rivers, Michigan)
• Apr. 15: 3B Trinity Cannon (Forney, Texas)
• Apr. 8: P/1B Sydney Supple (North, Oshkosh, Wisconsin)
• Apr. 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)

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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].