Softball Coverage: Coming Up… the Extra Elite Eighty 14U Club Rankings & 2022 Extra Elite 100 Player Rankings!

There’s a lot going on in the world right now and who’d have thought a week or two ago we’d ever see such dramatic changes in our lives due to a global pandemic virus? Yikes…

As far as it impacts us as softball fans and followers, we see the Good News/Bad News aspects of it as we continue our Extra Inning Softball coverage… let’s get the bad news out of the way first…

The Bad News

For softball players, as with all athletes impacted by the coronavirus, its devastating and heartbreaking that all the work leading up to this year may go for naught. It’s so painful to see these players, especially those who are seniors, miss out on a chance to demonstrate their talents on the softball field.

For us, if softball is shut down at most levels–and that’s the direction it’s headed–we will miss the college and high school in-season conference tournaments, NCAA playoffs and Women’s College World Series, the team rankings/polls, the players of the week and the event coverage. It will be tough for us not putting together everything from All-American lists to Players of the Year to Extra Elite Eighty team rankings and more…

The Good News

We have a lot planned that will still take place!

In the next few weeks, even though almost ALL sports are shutdown, we’ll be gearing up to launch two big projects the next two Mondays:

1. Extra Elite Eighty 14U Club Rankings (starts Mar. 23)
2. 2022 Extra Elite 100 Rankings (starts Mar. 30)

Here are more details…

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1. Extra Elite Eighty 14U Club Rankings

The third of the five Extra Elite Eighty club rankings for the 2019-2020 year–the 14U team rankings–will begin a week from today, Monday, March 23, and run through the week.

Previously, we published club rankings for 18U and 16U…

• The Extra Elite Eighty 18U rankings, which concluded on Oct. 26, 2019, can be accessed by clicking HERE.
• The Extra Elite Eighty 16U rankings, which concluded on Nov. 29, 2019, can be accessed by clicking HERE.

Each of the top 50 teams will have a bio with information including top accomplishments from last year, key returners, new pickups and strengths of the program.

Here’s the schedule of the Extra Elite Eighty 14U Club Rankings starting two weeks from today:

• Mon. Mar. 23, 2020: Teams #’s 50-41
• Tues. Mar. 24, 2020: Teams #’s 40-31
• Wed. Mar. 25, 2020: Teams #’s 30-21
• Thu. Mar. 26, 2020: Teams #’s 20-11
• Fri. Mar. 27, 2020: Teams #’s 10-1
• Sat. Mar. 28, 2020: Teams #’s 51-80

These rankings will feature the teams projected to be the elite club teams with the best chance to win tournaments this fall and nationals next summer.

Over the next few months Extra Inning Softball will also feature Extra Elite Eighty Club Rankings covering the 12U and 10U age divisions as well.

Submitting information:

Coaches who would like to nominate their teams can email [email protected] for more information. The deadline for submissions is Wednesday, March 18 at 6 pm EST to ensure teams are considered.

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2. 2022 Extra Elite 100

The updated 2022 Extra Elite 100 rankings are the next installment of the prestigious Extra Elite 100 series.

The extensive coverage begins Monday, March 30, 2020 and for the following three weeks will include:

• the 2022 Extra Elite 100 ranked prospects with bios and photos,
• the players ranked #’s 101-500,
• a spotlight on the top player in the class,
• position rankings (pitchers, catchers, infielders, outfielders)

This is an interesting class as almost 90 players in the 2022 class committed before the early recruiting legislation was implemented in April of 2018.

You can see last year’s 2022 Extra Elite 100 by CLICKING HERE.

Here is the schedule of all the upcoming releases for the 2022 Extra Elite 100 rankings:

• Mon., March 30, 2020: #’s 100-91
• Tues., March 31, 2020: #’s 90-81
• Wed., April 1, 2020: #’s 80-71
• Thu., April 2, 2020: #’s 70-61
• Fri., April 3, 2020: #’s 60-51

• Mon., April 6, 2020: #’s 50-41
• Tues., April 7, 2020: #’s 40-31
• Wed., April 8, 2020: #’s 30-21
• Thu., April 9, 2020: #’s 20-11
• Fri., April 10, 2020: #’s 10-1

• Mon., April 6, 2020: Extra Elite 100 #1 Player Spotlight
• Tues., April 7, 2020: #’s 101-200
• Wed., April 8, 2020: #’s 201-300
• Thu., April 9, 2020: #’s 301-400
• Fri., April 10, 2020: #’s 401-500
• Mon, April 13, 2022: 2022 class position rankings

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Submitting information:

If you would like to submit a player to be nominated, send us player stats, honors, individual and team accomplishments, recruiting news (signings, trips, contacts, etc.), human interest insights and a head shot and, if available, a good action photo.

Forward the info to: [email protected] by 5 pm EST on Wednesday, March 25, 2020 to ensure athletes are considered before the lists are finalized.