Two weeks from this Monday, on March 21, Extra Inning Softball will launch the updated 2026 Extra Elite 100 rankings and one of those who is a good bet to repeat is Emma Bruggenschmidt, the standout 5-foot-11 infielder for Scott Norwood’s Beverly Bandits Futures team.
Emma, who is from Tennyson, Indiana, was ranked #20 previously and had a strong 2021 campaign as she helped her Midwest club team win the Triple Crown Gold Division last June and win a PGF National Championship in July.
A standout student with a 3.9 GPA in honors classes, we told Emma’s story last January of how–when she was 7 years old–her oldest sister, Kate, was killed in an ATV crash between softball games (the original story is below).
Emma was playing in a different softball tournament away from her sister that horrible day, but since then she has done everything in her power on and off the playing fields to honor her beloved sister, including wearing the number 12—Kate’s jersey number—in her honor. She also volunteers most of her free time to support the foundation established in her sibling’s behalf: Play For Kate.
The foundation’s mission is to promote child safety and activities for youth and has done some amazing work including building a playground at a softball field in Boonville, Indiana; donating ATV safety robots and trailers, nd helping a law get passed—HEA 1200 or the “Play For Kate” law–to mandate that all children 18 and under in Indiana wear helmets when riding ATVs.
Emma also volunteers and works to advocate for her sister’s foundation including working at the Play For Kate Memorial Tournament last year that raised over $30,000. According to the athletes’ mother, Ashlee Bruggenschmidt: “Over 80 teams played the game that Kate loved and raised money to support her foundation. It was awesome.”
The event was October 1-3, 2021 and there was also a give-back game in Evansville where the Indiana University softball team honored Kate by wearing PFK visors. The team they were playing, Southern Indiana, used the game to honor their catcher who is battling cancer.
Additionally, Hoosier leadoff hitter Cora Bassett is from the same high school Emma will attend next year, has worn the number 12 in support of Kate’s memory since her passing. The IU team even hosted a dinner and asked Play for Kate to come and speak to their players about perseverance and overcoming tragedy.
“As a mom,” Ashlee continues, “it is crazy that your heart can be shattered but still filled with love. To see the love that Emma carries for Kate is beautiful. She is determined to live one life for the both of them.”
The younger sibling, who is also a talented basketball and volleyball athlete, says she will forever remember and honor her sister.
“I continue to honor Kate by wearing #12 in all the sports I play,” Emma concludes. “I write ‘for the both of us’ on my shoes when I play. Lastly, I honor her by playing like her, working hard, being a good teammate and having a good attitude.”
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Recruiting Spotlight: Top 2026 Prospect Emma Bruggenschmidt Adds to the Legacy of Her Late Sister Kate & the “Play For Kate” Foundation –
Originally published Jan. 8, 2021 on Extra Inning Softball
There’s little doubt that Emma Bruggenschmidt, a 2026 infielder with Beverly Bandits 08 – Norwood, is one of the top players in her class.
As her coach, Scott Norwood, puts it: “Emma is a complete player, a true three-sport athlete, an intense competitor. Her softball IQ is very high and she has a cannon for an arm. Emma is fully capable of playing anywhere between the lines and this young lady is a fierce competitor who always gives 110 percent and leaves it all on the field.”
And she’s playing for a much greater cause, too; one that everyone can support in behalf of the young teenager and her family from Tennyson, Indiana.
When Emma was 7 (five years ago), her oldest sister, Kate, was playing in a different softball tournament in another town. Between games, Kate went with some friends to ride ATVs and was in an accident where the vehicle flipped and Kate was killed.
As their mother, Ashlee, explains: “Since then, Emma has worn the #12 in honor of her sister. She also spends most of her free time volunteering for her sister’s foundation, Play For Kate, whose mission is to promote child safety and activities for youth.”
The foundation has helped build a playground at a softball field in Boonville, Indiana, built and donated ATV safety robots and trailers, helped pass a law get passed in Indiana mandating that all riders 18-years-old and under wear helmets when using ATVs (the law, HEA 1200 or—as it’s also known, the Play For Kate Law—carries Kate’s uniform number).
When not “playing for Kate” on the field and honoring her sister with her athletic talent, Emma volunteers, speaks, and advocates for her sister’s foundation.
“The death of our daughter rocked the softball world,” Ashlee recalls. “There was a parade full of softball players that were bused from different states to her funeral. Umpires and softball organizations did amazing things in her honor and we received an outpouring of messages from softball teams and colleges across the U.S.”
Typical of many a young player looking forward to a bright future, Kate Bruggenschmidt was an energetic, loving, hardworking 11-year-old girl. She loved to play volleyball, basketball, and softball and was equally successful in the classroom as a 4.0 student.
She attended Sharon Elementary School and planned on attending Castle South Middle School in the fall of 2015, and, in time, would have been a star athlete at Castle High School student.
On July 26, 2015, Kate’s Bomb Squad 04 team—the same team that Emma would begin her softball career with— won a travel ball game early in the morning. Kate and some of her teammates went to one of their houses to hang out between games; tragically, Kate would never again see her family or play the game she loved so much.
“With one phone call, in one second, on one ordinary day, our lives changed forever,” the blonde girls’ mother recalls of that nightmare scenario that every parent fears. “As a parent, it truly is the worst thing you can go through. You send your child to a teammate’s house and expect to see them back on the field in a few hours but you never see them again. It is still hard to believe to this day.”
How, how, those of us who are parents wonder, do you ever move on from something so awful?
“Our community, friends and family rallied support behind us and that is how we survived,” Ashlee says bravely. “Emma showed so much courage and strength and has been through a lot in her 12 years. She has persevered and continues to try to honor her sister in everything she does.”
From the tragedy, Kate’s friends and family formed the Play For Kate (PFK) Foundation which is dedicated to being safety advocates for kids and “protecting our most valuable resources, our children.”
The PFK Foundation has built the playground in Boonville, given away 15 scholarships to graduating seniors, formed the IN ATV Safety Coalition, provided free ATV Education Opportunities to parents, kids, and the community, Built Safety Sam (the first-ever ATV Safety Robot) and assisted with the passing of the mandatory helmet law for kids in the state of Indiana on both public and private ground when riding an ATV.
Most recently, the foundation purchased three covered ATV safety trailers to use to carry the trio of new ATV safety robots throughout the Hoosier State. The foundation also assisted in the creation of the free interactive ATV Safety Coloring App that can be downloaded (Spectacular) and the free coloring sheets can be found on www.playforkate.com.
In the future the Play For Kate Foundation aspires to build a buddy ball field in Newburgh for special needs children.
Coach Norwood says he started coaching Emma about a year after the tragedy and has grown to love the family in how they keep Kate’s memory and legacy alive.
“I know the whole family has poured their hearts into the PFK and I think that is what keeps them going every day. Emma’s dad, Eric, he has been an assistant coach with me for two years. They are extremely great people. We play in that tournament every year in the fall and, in 2019, we were there when they dedicated a field in Kate’s memory. Emma doesn’t pitch a lot for me but, for that game and setting, I had her pitch that game. That was very emotional for everyone.”
Those who played with Kate also still honor her to this day. She played with Millie Roberts, a 2022 Extra Elite 100 catcher with Georgia Impact – Jeffreys and Auburn commit, as well as the top-ranked pitcher in the class, Florida-bound Keagan Rothrock, who sported a Play For Kate bracelet when she won a PGF Nationals title in 2019—as did the Oregon Ducks a few years ago when they played in the Women’s College World Series.
No one, however, emulates Kat more than her younger sister.
Emma is a 5-foot-9 versatile athlete who competes in volleyball and basketball as well and in the dirt primarily lines up at shortstop, but can also be found playing third, first, the outfield and even will pitch if needed.
“She is the most versatile player on the team,” says Coach Norwood. “Her stature, aggressiveness, competitiveness, agility, speed and balance is second to none at her age. Emma is a 5-tool player in every aspect of the game.”
The 2026 grad was selected as an MVP in Iowa at the Midwest Nationals and is also a USSSA National Select 30 Player.
In the fall of 2020, she elevated her play, batting .522 for her Bandits team as a consistent left-handed hitter who had recorded a .474 average during the summer of 2020 with a 1.200 OPS and a .520 OBP. At the PGF Gladiator in Columbia, Missouri, the 7th grader was even more in the zone, batting a remarkable .700 (14-for-20) going 2-for-2 vs Impact National Gold Mendoza 08 and 3-for-3 with a walk-off single to win the game against a strong Hotshots (Texas) team.
Emma is impressively tough: the infielder played seven games in the Play For Tay Tournament in Tennessee this fall with a broken hand, which she fractured during the second game, but played on and batted .400 for the event.
Obvious talent aside, the two sisters were similar in many ways. Both batted left-handed and throw right-handed. They both were utility players who were also very competitive and hard workers. Both girls were leaders on and off the field and in the classroom—each made straight A’s in all honors classes and were three-sport athletes (volleyball, softball, and basketball).
Additionally, Kate and Emma were trained by Becky Lis, a Hall of Fame softball player from Southern Illinois, who coached Kate and then after Kate died began coaching Emma and still works with her today.
The sisters weren’t clones, however… they were different in several ways as well.
“Kate was very selfless,” begins their mother. “She would always make the safe play. Kate was smaller and quicker while Emma is taller, stronger, and more mature than Kate was at that age. Emma is fearless, confident and very aggressive.”
Today Emma works out with some of Kate’s former teammates and coaches who, Ashlee Bruggenschmidt says, “continue to push her to be the best she can be.”
Though she was only 7 when her sister passed, Emma still has strong memories of her time with her older sister.
Her favorite memory, she says, was “Of my dad hitting fly balls to Kate and me in our front yard. Kate was always better than me (because I was six years old and she was 10). I would get so mad when she would catch a ball and I would miss it! Some days Kate would help me and on other days there may be a few tears shed over who caught the most balls. We were both very competitive… my dad was always refereeing us!”
Emma also got to be coached by her sister and remembers a funny incident with her sister.
“Kate was helping my dad coach my t-ball team and I was bored on second base. I decided to stick both my hands through my helmets face shield and got my arms stuck. The batter hit the ball and I ran to third with both of my arms straight above my head stuck in my helmet/face shield. Kate was coaching third and was laughing so hard at me. The umpire had to call time so they could get my arms out of my helmet!”
Another memory for Emma she holds precious occurred after her sister’s passing.
“After Kate was killed, softball teams came in buses to her funeral. They had a parade in her honor in front of the funeral home. Teams from Texas, California, Kentucky, Illinois and Indiana sent messages, flowers, and participated in the parade. College softball teams gave my family their #12 jersey for Kate. It was so painful but so beautiful. I wear the #12 for my sister. I will always play FOR Kate.”
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If you want to support Play For Kate, you can play in the annual softball tournament on October 1-3, 2021 in Boonville, Indiana. The tournament typically has 100-plus teams participate in this event and it is highly competitive in the age divisions 8U-to-16U. For more information, got to www.playforkate.com.
