Extra Inning Softball’s National High School Player of the Week – Mar. 7, 2023

High school softball is getting back onto the fields across the country and we will honor those athletes who have shined on the field!

Moving forward after this initial posting, we will honor top high school performances nationwide each Tuesday for the next several months and, if you’d like to have a player considered, scroll down to see how to fill out a nomination.

Note also that these players having great weeks will also be in consideration for our Extra Inning Softball All-American Teams to be released later this year!

Games for this week’s honorees were for Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023 through Sunday, Mar. 5, 2023…

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

If there was ever a case for Co-Players of the Week, then this amazing display of pitching by these two outstanding juniors who faced off against each other last Thursday (Mar. 2) warrants both being honored for their domination in what amounted to two full games all in one.

So this week, there are two National Players of the Week:

• Jazzy Francik of Melbourne (Fla.) High, a 2024 grad who is committed to Florida State and was the 2022 Gatorade Player of the Year,
• Julie Kelley, an uncommitted junior who plays for Spruce Creek (Port Orange, Fla.) High.

The duo faced each other in what surely will be considered one of the top games of the season. Or decade for that matter, if you’re a fan of such dominant pitching!

Both hurlers, who just so happen to be teammates on Jeremy Higdon’s Fury Platinum X 18U team and are good friends off of the field, had a pitcher’s duel for the ages.

Melbourne High is the Florida 6A State Champ and visited Spruce Creek in a rematch of last season’s 11 inning thriller which ended with a Spruce Creek High walk-off home run.

This first of two battles between these strong Sunshine State powers—they’ll again face off in six weeks, on April 25^th at Melbourne High at the end of the season—was an instant classic.

The game went 14 innings—in essence, TWO games back-to-back—and lasted four hours and 22 minutes!

Both pitchers had no-hitters through regulation play and the first hit didn’t come until the 8^th inning. Both Francik and Kelley faced over 50 batters and threw 200-plus pitches and combined through 27.2 innings, the hurlers gave up just seven hits and seven walks with no earned runs.

And, get this, they had a combined total of 64 strikeouts as Jazzy had 33 and Julie 31.

How dominating was each pitcher? On 10 different occasions, batters in an inning were sent back to their dugouts in order via the strikeout. Every batter struck out at least twice and five batters struck out at least FIVE times.

As the game progressed deep into the extra innings, there were even rumblings in the stands that one—if not both pitchers—might break the Florida State single game strikeout record of 38 set by Kelsi Dunne, a Spruce Creek grad and Alabama All-American, as each pitcher eclipsed 30 K’s.

The Florida State-bound Francik, ranked #52 in the 2024 Extra Elite 100 and a 1^st Team High School All-American as a sophomore last year, came up just five K’s shy of the record but she also took the loss as Spruce Creek scored the only run of the game on back-to-back errors in the bottom of the 14^th to give Kelley, at least for a few weeks, the bragging rights.

“Jazzy and I joked in the Fall about facing each other again this year,” Julie said after the exciting extra inning win. “We knew it was going to be intense for both of us. From the first pitch, and throughout the whole game, I was focused on just winning that pitch.”

“I focus a lot on the mental game so taking my deep breath before every pitch, focusing in on the batter, and trusting my process before I got onto the mound was really crucial that game.”

“I was also hitting so whether I had a good at bat or a bad one I had to flush it and go out in the circle and get it done. My teammates hyped me up the whole game which really helped keep my energy up!”

On the season, Julie is hitting .385 with a .529 on-base percentage in four games and is 2-0 with a 1.75 ERA with 53 K’s in 28 innings. Opponents are batting just .128 against her.

For her part, Jazzy opened the season with an 18-strikeout no-hitter and, in her first four games of the 2023 campaign, had 77 strikeouts in 30.2 innings with just six hits and no earned runs allowed. Her opposing hitters are only batting 0.61 in the young season.

Friendly foes across the field during the high school season, the talented duo go back a ways and their friendship has strengthened now that they both play for the same travel ball team.

“Me and Jazzy have known each other since we were little,” Julie continues. “We’d see each other at tournaments but never faced each other. We started to get to know each other this past year as we were going to a lot of the same camps and clinics and really got to know one another better this past Fall when we played a tournament together with Fury Platinum.”

“I was pretty new to the team,” she remembers, “and Jazzy didn’t know anybody, so we went to dinner together. I was so excited when I found out she might be joining full time.”

And what did the pair say to each other after the Spruce Creek 1-0 win last Thursday?

“After the game we both told each other how good we did and when we found out we had 64 K’s combined, we were shocked!”

Click HERE to see the “I Committed” profile of Jazzy we featured last October after she committed to Florida State!

Julie, also a member of the 2024 Extra Elite 100, is getting her share of looks from college coaches but is still undecided on where she’ll play in the future.

“I’ve got my heart set on playing at the highest level,” she told Extra Inning Softball earlier today. “I have been on several visits and I’ve been in contact with some programs that are going to be following me through the summer, I am hoping to be able to make a decision then.”

Here is a tweet after the showdown last week from the pitchers’ head coach in club ball,  Jeremy Higdon:

Got this pic 5 hours before my girls finished a 14 inning WAR 👀

Both @julie_kelleysb & @JazzFrancik2024 took a no-hitter into extras

Both held opponent scoreless thru 13 innings 🫠

0 earned runs for both 🤩

Combined for 64 K’s!!!! 🤯

Think we’re excited for the summer? 😎 pic.twitter.com/RWgcxO23Ti

— Jeremy Higdon (@Jeremy_P_Higdon) March 3, 2023

*** Scroll down to read about more outstanding performances across the nation in high school softball last week!

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Nomination Process

Each week during the spring and summer high school seasons, Extra Inning Softball honors a National High School Player of the Week.

Honoree are announced every Tuesday; cutoff for submitting the nominations is each Monday at noon EST/9 am 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 2023 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 info and photos (1-4 as available) by the cutoff of Monday at noon EST/9 am PST to: info@extrainningsoftball.com.

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Previous 2023 Extra Inning Softball National High School Players of the Week

• Feb. 28: P Jayden Heavener (Pace, Fla.)
• Feb. 21: P/SS Lexie Warncke (East Bernard, Texas)
• Feb. 13: OF Gigi Ganje (Aliso Niguel, Aliso Viejo, Calif.)

Extra Inning Softball National High School Players of the Week (Prior to 2023)

2022

• June 14: P Courtney Layne (Appomattox County, Appomattox, Virginia)
• June 7: SS Graciela Dominguez (James Madison, Vienna, Virginia)
• May 31: 1B Macee Eaton (Wheelersburg, Ohio)
• May 24: P Karyln Pickens (North Buncombe, Weaverville, North Carolina)
• May 17: P Keagan Rothrock (Roncalli, Indianapolis, Indiana)
• May 10: SS Teagan Thrunk (Point Pleasant Boro, Point Pleasant, New Jersey)
• May 3: SS Abby Hornberger (Regina, Warren, Michigan)
• Apr. 26: OF Cassidy McLellan (Lakewood Ranch, Bradenton, Florida)
• Apr. 19: P/UT Madison Knight (Patterson Mill, Bel Air, Maryland)
• Apr. 12: OF Chelsea Mack (Brecksville, Ohio)
• Apr. 5: P/IF Madison Inscoe (Nansemond-Suffolk Academy, Suffolk, Virginia)
• Mar. 29: P Rose Malen (Marin Catholic, Kentfield, Calif.)
• Mar 22: P Katie Kutz (Bishop O’Connell, Arlington, Virginia)
• Mar. 15: IF Tanya Windle (Cactus, Glendale, Arizona)
• Mar. 8: P Jayden Nishi (South, Torrance, California)
• Mar. 1: P Marissa McCann (Willow Canyon, Surprise, Arizona)
• Feb. 22: 1B Sydney Lewis (Prosper, Texas)

2021

• June 15: P Eden Bingham(Rustburg, Virginia)
• June 8: P Lauren Derkowski (York, Elmhurst, Illinois)
• June 1: SS Shayne Immke (St. Joseph-Ogden, St. Joseph, Illinois)
• May 25: OF Cassidy McLellan (Lakewood Ranch, Bradenton, Florida)
• May 18: IF Abby Ota (Joel Barlow (Redding, Connecticut)
• May 11: IF Kali Heivilin (Three Rivers, Michigan)
• May 4: P Maya Johnson (St. Joseph Academy, Cleveland, Ohio)
• Apr. 27: P/UT Karlyn Pickens (North Buncombe, Weaverville, North Carolina)
• Apr. 20: P/IF Madison Inscoe (Nansemond-Suffolk Academy, Suffolk, Virginia)
• Apr. 13: P Keagan Rothrock (Roncalli, Indianapolis, Indiana)
• Apr. 6: C Jayla Castro (Rocklin, California)
• Mar. 30: SS Brooke Blankenship (River Ridge, New Port Richey, Florida)
• Mar. 23: SS Rylee Cloud (Fairview, Grant, Louisiana)
• Mar. 16: IF Jenna Madison (Curry, Jasper, Alabama)
• Mar. 9: P/IF Annabelle Widra (Spain Park, Hoover, Alabama)
• Mar. 2: C/3B Elizabeth Moffitt (Prosper, Texas)

2020

• Season cancelled in March due to COVID-19 pandemic
• Mar. 17: P Kenzi Lyall (Alleghany, Sparta, North Carolina)
• Mar. 10: C Maci Bergeron (Notre Dame, Crowley, Louisiana)
• Mar. 3: IF Jayda Coleman (The Colony, Texas)
• Feb. 26: IF/P Micaela Wark (Reedy, Frisco, Texas)

2019

• Jun. 10: P/1B Sydney Supple (North, Oshkosh, Wisconsin)
• May 27: P Aynslie Furbush (Winter Springs, Florida)
• May 20: SS Bailey Dowling (St. Joseph-Ogden, St. Joseph, Illinois)
• May 13: P Britton Rogers (Cypress Ranch, Cypress, Texas)
• 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)

2018

• May 27: P Lexi Kilfoyl (Academy at the Lakes, Land O’ Lakes, Florida)
• May 20: P Ashley Rogers (Meigs County, Decatur, Tennessee)
• 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)