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Inside Pitch: 2022 Extra Elite 100 Infielder Taylor Pannell… On Being Recruited a “Second Time!”

Taylor Pannell, ranked as a top 5 player in the 2022 Extra Elite 100, has known for a while that UT was the place for her.

Taylor Pannell, the outstanding Class of 2022 third baseman for Mojo-Fisher, one of the top club teams at the 16U level, has been a longtime blogger for Extra Inning Softball and it’s been awesome to watch her growth over the last several years.

The junior at Rock Island (Illinois) High, ranked in the Top 5 of her the 2022 Extra Elite 100 because of her stellar bat and glove, had originally committed to Auburn but felt she needed to open up her recruiting again and consequently went through the process a second time.

In her latest blog, Taylor talks about her recruiting this summer, how the start of the Contact Period on Sept. 1 went and why she’s still going to the SEC, just to a different university!

For more of her Taylor’s insights, here are three of her most recent Inside Pitch posts for us:

*****

My name is Taylor Pannell I play SS/3B for Tennessee Mojo 04 – Fisher. I am in the 2022 class and I just committed to the University of Tennessee.

September 1st itself was crazy, there were so many schools that reached out right at midnight.

Taylor says she fell in love with her future university when she was on the UT campus.

I had calls lined up from 8 am to 9 pm every 30 minutes. The next day was just as busy.  It was an amazing experience to go through because that was something I would have never imagine happening the way It did.

But even before September 1st, I wanted to go to the University of Tennessee. When I went there last fall, I fell in love with the campus and the environment there.

A standout moment to me was going to the football game and seeing all the football traditions. I also felt a connection with the coaching staff and players at the camp. Being able to see the winning culture there up close I knew I wanted to be a part of that.

Early spring was the start of the Coronavirus and, with that happening, it caused my high school season to get cancelled, and my summer season to get put on hold until the middle of June.

This summer was supposed to be the biggest summer for recruiting because it was the last time college coaches would be able to watch before I was able to talk to them on September 1st.

Taylor Pannell (right) with Tennessee co-head coach Karen Weekly.

With the college coaches not being able to be there in person, they had to watch all of our games online. When talking to college coaches they even admitted it was very difficult to recruit players that way.

Since this is my second time going through the recruiting process, I thought I would have an idea what it was going to be like this time. I was completely wrong and COVID had a lot to do with it!

I was really excited to go on my five official visits, but with the COVID-19 pandemic you are not able to have planned visits.

Another way the Coronavirus impacted this process was in how college players can get another year to play softball; this affects the college team’s roster size with the 2022s coming in and wanting to play.

With that being said, 2020 ended up being a very strange and hard year, with many softball ups and downs—from everything being shut down, to not playing softball, to Mojo winning nationals, and to ultimately finding the college that was the right fit for me.

Go VOLS!

Taylor Pannell, Mojo – Fisher

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