Week 13 of our 2023 National High School Player of the Week series for the Spring fastpitch season may have had the most impressive performances overall this year as many players are stepping up in the playoffs to help their teams win and advance.
Each week until the end of the Spring high school, we’ll honor top performances nationwide; if you’d like to have a player considered, scroll down to see how to fill out a nomination.
Games are for Sunday, April 30, 2023, through Saturday, May 6, 2023…
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!
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Extra Inning Softball’s National High School Player of the Week
* Sometimes it’s not how big your stats are, it’s how you come up BIG when the pressure is really on.
That was the case last week for junior catcher Maggie Daniel of Spark Park High in Hoover, Ala. The Jaguars were in a crucial Class 7A playoff game against Hewitt-Trussville High—the former Alabama state champs and the No. 2 ranked team heading into the week.
The game was important because Maggie and her Spark Park squad had to win to advance to Regionals next week.
Things weren’t looking good, though, as Spark Park trailed 4-1 in the bottom of the 5th inning. Maggie stepped up to the plate and cut the lead in half with a home run. However, the Jaguars trailed by the same 4-2 score going into the bottom of the 7th.
Maggie and teammate Katie Flannery, an Oregon commit, got on base and, when a teammate doubled, both on-base runners were able to score to tie the game 4-4 and force extra innings.
In the top of the 9th, Hewitt scored to take the lead 5-4, leading to Spain Park’s do-or-die situation.
In the bottom of the 9th, Maggie once again came up BIG—as in game-winning and playoff-clinching big–as she entered the batter’s box with two runners on and dramatically hit a walk-off bomb to clinch the 7-5 victory for the Jaguars and guarantee their bid to Regionals.
Here’s a video clip of the big three-run home run:
“I had a job to do with it being the bottom of the 9th, runners on first and second while we were down a run,” Maggie told Extra Inning Softball earlier today. “I knew I needed a hard base hit to score one of those runs to tie it up, so I was thinking keep it simple. Earlier that day my hitting coach, Rocky Thompson, told me not to let the moment get too big and that’s what was running through my head. I knew off the bat that we had clinched Regionals!”
Maggie plays club ball for Coach Thompson’s Birmingham Thunderbolts 18U club team and has committed to UCLA. Her softball resume is impressive: she is a 2024 Extra Inning Softball Top 100 player, a PGF Futures All American, an NFCA 1st Team All Region Catcher, and an Alabama1st Team All State catcher.
Off the field, the outstanding athlete is also a National Honor Society member and straight A student.
In Area play last week, Maggie went 7-for-10, with three home runs, two doubles and a pair of singles while driving in six runs, scoring eight runs and collected six walks.
Spain Park High head coach Allyson Ritenour recalls the clutch performance in that hugely critical game that went into extra innings.
“Whenever Maggie walks up to the plate I have full confidence she is going to compete every pitch,” says Coach Ritenour. “She is a hard out and handles pressure situations very well. I knew the exact moment she made contact that the ball was gone. We were all excited to celebrate the win together as a team at home plate!”
For her Junior campaign, the future UCLA Bruin is batting a .440 with a .540 OBP, a .845 slugging percentage, and 1.385 OPS. She has had 150 plate appearances with 116 at-bats, and has produced 51 hits, 10 home runs, 13 doubles, and two triples with 39 RBIs, 25 runs scored and an impressive 30 walks drawn versus just nine strikeouts.
— Brentt Eads, Extra Inning Softball
*** 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
- May 2: P Kaitlyn Pallozzi P (Mercy, Farmington Hill, Mich.
- Apr. 25: P Makenzie Freeman P/IF (Hackett, Ark.)
- Apr. 18: P/UT Mallie West (New Waverly, Texas)
- Apr. 11: OF Cassidy McLellan (Lakewood Ranch, Bradenton, Fla.)
- Apr. 4: P/UT Julia Shearer (North Penn, Lansdale, Pa.)
- Mar. 28: SS Ashlynn Campbell (Wetumpka, Ala.)
- Mar. 21: 1B Madilynn George (Rouse, Leander, Texas)
- Mar. 14: OF Aniya Merritt (Lumberton, N.C.)
- Mar. 7 (tie): P Jazzy Francik (Melbourne, Fla.) & P Julie Kelley (Spruce Creek, Port Orange, Fla.)
- 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)
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