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Get on board with Extra Inning Softball’s regular feature, The Last Inning!
We are scouring the Internet and Social Media and keeping our ears to the street for the latest going on in the softball community.
To contribute information, insights, thoughts or content ideas, email us at [email protected] and also [email protected].
Here’s our TLI for Friday, Mar. 4:
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EXTRA ELITE PROFILE: MARISA BRYSON
AASA 14U-Bryson MIF Marisa Bryson, #20 in the initial 2026 Extra Elite 100 (2021), recently talked to Extra Inning Softball about her temporary team, winning a Gold Glove Award and fielding with Olympians….
EXTRA SPOTLIGHT Q&A
Name: Marisa Bryson
Hometown: Woodland, CA
Middle School: Douglass Middle School
Club Team: AASA 14U-Bryson
Graduation Year: 2026
Height: 5-foot-4
Position: SS/2B
Nickname: Ris/Risa
Twitter: @marisabryson15
Honors: #20 in the 2026 Extra Elite 100 and 4.0 GPA.
Travel Ball Highlights/Fall Stats: Helped her team to a 25-7-1 record, batted .402 (29 of 97) with 9 doubles, 2 triples, 1 HR and a fielding percentage of .927.
Tell us about your travel team/organization and how you became involved with them?
All American Sports Academy’s most famous alums are Olympians Ali Aguilar and Bubba Nickles. My older sister, Lauren, played in the organization for Bryan Merrida 18 Gold and is now playing for Gina Carbonatto at Santa Clara. I wanted to play for the same organization as my sister.
Can you talk about your recent Golden Glove Award effort?
It is awarded on a weekend basis for the player that stands out defensively in PGF 1st to 3rd tournaments in Stockton. I had the opportunity to play shortstop, third base and CF. I made multiple plays this weekend with three that stood out. I ranged from shortstop and caught a pop up in short left field, snagged a hot line drive at third and the highlight was a head-long dive to catch a pop up in foul territory at third base!
Our temp team has five players that all play middle infield on our regular teams. It was fun to experience new positions this past weekend. My temp team UNITED is a combination of mostly AASA-Bryson and Universal-Macias. We are both PGF-bound teams this summer. Our older teammates are freshman in high school. So we combined for this short three-month period. We are all 8th graders and had only one practice before playing our first tournament. We took 3rd out of 20 teams. I felt like we really came together as a whole and played really well! Our first tournament together was a huge success in our book and being selected with the Golden Glove Award made it even better.
Do you have a secret talent/skill?
I Love to cook! One of my favorites to make is Fried Rice and I make a good Banana Bread.
What’s your most memorable softball story?
Having the opportunity to take ground balls this past year with Ali Aguilar, my sister and Coach Merrida as she (Ali) prepped for the Olympic games in Tokyo. It was a once in a lifetime experience!!
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NEWS & NOTES
***Emma Simon will represent 16U Team Israel at the Triple Crown International Challenge June 24-26 in Colorado.
“I had to miss last year’s Sparkler tournament because of an injury, so I can’t tell you how excited I am to play this year, and now with this amazing opportunity to also play in the International Challenge,” Simon said. “I know there were a lot of very good players who applied, so being selected by the coaches, especially Coach (Justin) Kaplan, was a real honor. I also want to thank my travel ball coach Jessica Bilz for her help in the process.”
Simon said she appreciates the opportunity to play with and against some of the top players in the country.
“The International Challenge is important to me for a lot of reasons,” Simon said. “Of course, it’s an opportunity to play more games with some of the best players in the country, and softball provides an amazing opportunity to meet so many people with different backgrounds. So having new coaches and teammates from all over for a few days will be fun and give me a chance to learn a lot.”
“But being able to play on this team will be a little bit different because it’s a way to honor my family. My dad and grandparents tell stories of what their families had to go through generations ago, just to be able to live freely and without fear. And I know my life is so much easier than theirs, so I feel like being a part of this team will be a way to celebrate them.”
I’m honored to have been selected to represent Team Israel in this summer’s @COSparkFire International Challenge. Thank you to coach @justinbkaplan for the opportunity. I can’t wait! @EC05Bilz @TCSFastpitch #COSparkFire #PlayTCS pic.twitter.com/y7fpOpcI1S
— Emma Simon (@EmmaSimon2024) March 2, 2022
*** Scroll down to read how a 2025 Extra Elite 100 standout channels Michael Jordan & Wayne Gretzky plus a touching video clip of Luke Skywalker (aka Mark Hamill) you will definitely want to check out!