RANKINGS
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ABOUT
Last week we reached the top of the mountain and the #1 spot was give to a pitcher while Layla Lamar of the Lady Dukes was selected as the #1 position player and #2 overall.
The sophomore, we wrote in part at the time this was announced last Friday, was honored with the following:
Layla was so good so early, she committed to Tim Walton and Florida when underclass players still could. Her father, Coach James Lamar—himself a college athlete who played football at Indiana—knows something about what it takes to play and excel at the college level.
He says: “Layla is the definition of a competitive athlete on and off the field. Her passion was a major component to her success this season.”
That success was of the “comeback” variety, as Lamar had something to prove this season coming off of an ACL and Meniscus surgery. The numbers reveal how her return went: she batted .423 on the season with 15 home runs in only four major national tournaments at 18U including PGF Nationals and at Top Club where she hit a home run off the #1 player in the 2021 Extra Elite 100, Jordy Bahl.
Overall, Layla’s presence at the plate, her consistency and with coaching from her mom, Marissa Young, the Duke Head Softball Coach, it’s put Layla ahead of where she was pre-injury.
She’s also improved on defense with the weekly training from West Coast legend, Robert Young, and her arm strength has increased to the upper 60’s and her speed on the bases is in the upper 2.6-2.7 range.
Layla is in the gym four days a week with her sister, Jolyna Lamar, the No. 2 ranked player in the 2025 Extra Elite 100 rankings, and you can be all but assured there’s some insightful softball discussion going on around the Lamar dinner table these days!
In today’s Throwback Look to the past, we go back to three years ago to look at when the young athlete was one of the very last to commit before the Early Recruiting Period rules kicked in.
Here’s our story on how this fantastic softball player with great genetics ended up committing to one of the powerful skills in the nation.
— Brentt Eads, Extra Inning Softball
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Inside Story: How, When & Why 6th Grader Layla Lamar Verbaled to Florida
Originally published April 24, 2018 on Extra Inning Softball
On Sunday, Extra Inning Softball broke the story nationally that power-hitting infielder Layla Lamar of the Lady Dukes 14U team committed to Florida seemingly right before the new NCAA no-recruiting contact rules begin on Wednesday.
There were two things that made this story especially interesting: 1) Layla became just the second 6th grader to commit, not coincidentally both to the University of Florida and 2) her mother, Marissa Young, is the head coach of Duke University and many thought Layla would end up playing at the ACC school.
The athlete’s father, James Lamar, who’s also her head coach on the Lady Dukes and a former football and baseball player himself at Indiana University, called us this afternoon to give us the scoop on how Layla’s recruiting went down and what led to her committing to the Gators.
Check out his comments which are surprising in some areas…
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On when Layla committed…
It wasn’t this past weekend as it may have seemed… the photos of Layla with the Florida coaching staff weren’t taken over the past few days—the Lady Dukes were actually playing in a tournament. The photos were taken the weekend of Saturday, April 14 when Layla and James visited the Gainesville school to watch Florida sweep a pair of games from South Carolina, 7-0 and 3-0.
“We had a great visit that weekend,” James began. “That was when we fell in love with the coaching staff and we knew it was the right place for her. There was a change in Layla’s personality after that, there was a sparkle in her eyes.”
“We came home on that Saturday night and Layla went to a birthday party where she spent the night. Sunday morning we got a text from the mom hosting the party saying Layla got up at 6 am to run sprints in the park. The visit made such a different in her, she wanted to do what it would take to sacrifice and be like the Gator players to do whatever she could to improve.”
On how she committed…
As fired up as Layla was after her impressionable Saturday with the Gator coaches and players, she didn’t commit on campus. It was a few days later that the deal was closed and, as far as exciting commits go, this one was rather business-like according to James.
“We loved our trip but didn’t commit there,” the coach reveals. “We talked about it after the trip for a couple days and when it was apparent that it was what Layla wanted and we felt it was the best opportunity for her as her parents, I called Florida Assistant Coach (Aric) Thomas and said, ‘We are all in.’”