Recruiting: 2025 IF Ariel Krueger… 19 College Contacts Before Noon on Sept. 1!

You can forgive high school junior Ariel Krueger if she still looks a bit drowsy today.

The middle infielder from Romulus, Michigan had quite the active Friday and we’re not talking about the afternoon or evening, but rather from midnight through noon.

That was the first day college coaches could contact those in the Class of 2025 and Ariel and her family was kept quite busy getting texts, emails and even FaceTimes while writing down everyone who reached out to her.

Here’s the list in chronological order:

Ariel’s Friday morning (September 1, 2023)

1. Penn State – email with questionnaire 12:01 am; talked to on the phone
2. Duke – Marissa Young FaceTimed at 12:03am; talked to on the phone
3. Jacksonville State – texted at 12:03am
4. Georgia Tech – text at 12:04
5. Rutgers – Called at 12:07am; talked to on the phone
6. Northwestern – texted at 12:14am; talked to on the phone
7. Michigan – texted 12:18 am; talked to on the phone
8. Purdue – texted 1:01 am; talked to on the phone
9. Liberty – texted 1:06 am; talked to on the phone
10. Michigan State – texted 6:16 am; talked to on the phone
11. Pitt – texted at 6:39 am; talked to on the phone
12. Illinois – texted at 7:01 am; talked to on the phone
13. Lamar – emailed at 7:42 am
14. Delaware – texted at 8:09 am
15. Akron – emailed at 9:38 am
16. Clemson – called at 11 am: talked to on the phone
17. Central Michigan – texted at 11:01 am
18. Furman – emailed and Twitter DM at 11:04
19. Northern Illinois – texted at 11:05 am

A standout on Dana Fusetti’s Carolina Elite SC team, her coach raves about the athlete saying:

“Ariel’s strengths are her cannon for an arm, her hitting skills, her high softball IQ and her all-around athleticism. Although she’s primarily a middle infielder, Ariel can play the outfield and third base as well. She has one of the strongest throwing arms in the nation and has topped at 73 mph.”

Coaches Fusetti and Tony Genovese were instrumental in using their strong college coaching contacts to get Ariel noticed and it worked, helped along by her championship-caliber play.

At the high school level, the then-junior helped her Michigan Div. I team make it to the State Championship game and, as the leadoff hitter, led her team in almost every offensive category.

Previously on the club side, she competed for the Beverly Bandits ’07 team which won Arizona Last Blast, Show Me the Money tournaments and finished as Finalists in IDT and PGF Nationals in 2022 and, the year before, won a PGF Nationals Championship with the Birmingham Thunderbolts 07 Kemp 14U team.

Earlier this summer, Ariel competed in the College Bound Jocks 2023 Uncommitted Games with 71 of the top 2025’s and uncommitted 2024’s in the Midwest.

Ariel turned heads of the college coaches when she hit a grand slam to left center in the first game and then hit a solo home run to right centerfield estimated to have been about 240 feet in her second game. She also turned an unassisted double play while playing third base and the more than 40 coaches at the event definitely were paying attention.

It’s always good to have options and by the list below you’ll see that Ariel has quite the impressive list of universities to consider. At last count, she had six campus visits set—including one to Duke she took over the weekend.

Fingers crossed, the talented Midwest prospect is using this holiday to catch up on missed sleep she lost entering the Labor Day weekend!

— Brentt Eads/Extra Inning Softball

Note: if you are a 2025 grad and would like to share your contact list, email to: [email protected]. Some of the info may be used in the bios for the updated 2025 Extra Elite 100 rankings starting Monday, Sept. 11, 2023