RANKINGS
EVENTS
I COMMITTED
COLLEGE
ABOUT
Earlier today, the NFCA announced the 15 finalists for the 2021 NFCA / Schutt Sports DI National Freshman of the Year award which will be pared down to three on May 27 and announced on June. 1
One of the 15 is a talented player and writer who we got to know in 2018 when Alana Vawter blogged for us and shared her recruiting journey as she looked at Stanford, of course, and also top programs like Texas.
Today, the second-year freshman from Missouri is 20-8 with a 1.23 ERA and has 131 K’s versus 34 walks in 165 innings; this after she went 9-1 with a 1.48 ERA in 2020.
Two weeks ago, she was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week for the second week in a row after pitched 22.1 shutout innings with 12 strikeouts in a series against Oregon State.
Alana was also tearing it up three years ago when she was named a Top 25 honoree in the 2019 Extra Elite 100… here’s what we wrote about her back on October 24, 2018 when the rankings were released:
T-21—Alana Vawter, P/UT, Jersey Intensity (Stanford)
Alana is a great athlete who’s been 1st Team All-Conference at Staley (Missouri) High in softball, swimming and track, but her future is in softball as she’s a fireballing pitcher and a feared hitter. As a senior she went 17-3 with a 0.79 ERA and had 141 K’s in 131 2/3rd innings while batting .549 with 10 home runs, 28 RBI, and compiled a .656 on-base percentage and a 1.755 OPS. She helped her team to a Class 4A state title as a freshman and committed to Texas in 2016 when Connie Clark was the coach; she was re-offered by new Longhorn coach Mike White and tripped to Texas the weekend of November 2 and to Stanford November 9 and committed to the Pac-12 school during her visit to Palo Alto.
Below are some of the articles we featured in the Fall of 2018 as she was looking at where she would ultimately sign and how that Christmas there was a lot of Cardinal colors and clothes being enjoyed!
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Signing Recap: Alana Vawter… “A Cardinal Christmas In the Vawter Household!”
Originally published Nov. 20, 2018
Alana Vawter had quite the decision to make in the last month when it came to picking where her future would be not only going to college, but where she would play softball.
As she detailed in her great “Inside Pitch” blogs for us–including one on the factors in her BIG DECISION and the one on where she ultimately committed–it came down to Texas–where she had originally committed to in 2016 when Connie Clark was then the head coach–and Stanford, which became interested in her once Jessica Allister became the new Cardinal head coach.
The outstanding pitcher/hitter from Kansas City ultimately took two official visits to the universities and made up her mind earlier this month.
She talks here about what Signing Day meant to her and her family and what she’ll be doing for the next year…
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Name: ALANA VAWTER
Club Team: New Jersey Intensity-KOD
High School (City/State): Staley (Kansas City, Missouri)
Position(s): pitcher/utility
College: Stanford University
1. Where did you sign your Letter of Intent last week?
I signed my Letter of Intent at my house on Wednesday morning!
2. That sounds like it was fairly quiet… did you do anything at your school to get recognized?
My school did a ceremony with the 14 athletes signing in my class.!
3. Did you and your family do anything special to celebrate your signing with Stanford?
To celebrate I made cupcakes the night before and then we had dinner with some family friends over at their new house the night of.
4. We’ve profiled athletes who were committed to the schools they signed with for over four years… as you’ve detailed in your blogs, you were a little more recent!
I publicly committed to Stanford on November 11th (2018) after I got accepted on November 1st… two dates I will never forget!
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Breaking News: Extra Elite 100 Pitcher Alana Vawter’s Dream Deferred… How She Ended Up Committing Over the Weekend
Originally published Nov. 12, 2018
Last weekend (Sept. 8-9, 2018), Alana Vawter, a senior at Staley (Missouri) High, took an official visit to the University of Texas where she had been committed since 2016 when Connie Clark was the head coach. When Clark resigned this summer and Mike White took over, Alana’s recruiting opened up again and she also considered Stanford where she took an official this weekend.
The outstanding pitcher and power hitter ranked in the Top 25 in the recently released Extra Elite 100 was one of only two standouts in the 2019 Extra Elite 100 who hadn’t finalized her decision heading into the final weekend before the Signing Period starts Wednesday–the other is top-ranked pitcher/hitter Kelley Lynch–and in an Inside Pitch article on THE BIG DECISION Alana talked about what she was facing in narrowing her college choice down to two.
After her visit to Stanford, the decision was made and in this latest first-person Inside Pitch Alana recaps how the factors in her decision went all the way back to 2014.
And the winner is…
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Flashback to 2015.
My family, mom, dad, two brothers & myself, were vacationing out in California for Spring Break. We had just flown into San Francisco and wanted to explore around some so we decided our first stop would have to be Google. My mom and I rode around the closed campus on Sunday afternoon on the “Google bikes.”
After we were done playing around we wanted to drive by Stanford University because, well, it’s Stanford University.
It’s absolutely insane to me that even as an 8th grader, thinking about college and college softball, I knew there wouldn’t be a better place for me. Simply being on campus sparked a fuel in me, and I knew I wanted nothing less. As recruiting went on, Stanford would be my “Number 1.”
However, my “Number 1” school was short lived. After reaching out to the coaching staff they made it very apparent to me that there was no room for me in the 2019 class–they had already committed a pitcher.
So, I moved on.
Although Stanford was the dream, college softball was the even bigger dream. It was time to start looking at different options.
Entering my sophomore year, Summer 2016, I begin playing with the New Jersey Intensity- Hawkins team. I traveled to Colorado for the Boulder IDT and then to PGF where we ended with a 3rd place finish in the Premier division.
That tournament was the biggest eye-opener for me. To see not only all of the college coaches but also the best of the best from all over the country for the first time was an unforgettable experience.
After my PGF performance, Coach Connie Clark from the University of Texas showed interest in me and wanted me to go down for a camp. That fall, after high school softball in Missouri, I made the trip to Austin for the DIRT camp, a phenomenal experience. After reaching campus I knew that UT and Austin would make me so happy and would be a good fit for my college career. Shortly after the camp, my offer came–on my 16th birthday–and I committed.
So just like that I was set. As a sophomore in high school, with my braces on and my inability to drive a car alone, I made my college decision and didn’t look back.
All was fine and dandy until May of my Junior year when Coach Clark resigned. Not knowing if my offer would stay standing, my recruitment doors were “open” very much on the down low.
Coincidentally Stanford had gotten a new staff nine months before.
Playing with Coach Kevin O’Donnell and the Intensity this year at PGF, the name Stanford came up. My first “Number 1” school was once again an option. I was so giddy and excited… I had to make the trip.
The campus is absolutely breathtaking, the weather unbeatable, the academic programs extraordinary, the people absolutely unreal.
Push comes to shove and here I am, a senior in high school, only three days away from signing with my dream university from 8th grade.
I’m so incredibly grateful for everything that has led me to where I am today; I absolutely wouldn’t have it any other way!
I am officially committed to Stanford University and I’m not looking back. The pen is almost on the paper… GO CARD!!!
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Inside Pitch: 2019 Extra Elite Pitcher Alana Vawter on… THE BIG DECISION!
Originally published Nov. 3, 2018
Alana Vawter is ranked as one of the most coveted players in the 2019 class–she came in the Top 25 in the recently released Extra Elite 100–and has a big college decision facing her in the next few weeks: will she commit to the University of Texas, where she is on an official visit this weekend, or will she end up attending Stanford University where she visited unofficially the weekend of September 8-9 and will see again “officially” next weekend?
A two-way threat as a heat-throwing pitcher and dangerous power hitter at Staley (Missouri) High, Alana won a Class 4A state title as a freshman and went 17-3 with a 0.79 ERA and batted .549 with a .656 on-base percentage as a senior this fall.
In her second blog for Extra Inning Softball (be sure to check out her first one titled Why Alana Vawter Loves College Football, Underdogs & Softball) Alana talks about what factors go into choosing the right college, what questions to ask and, ultimately, what is the most important thing you should feel after making your choice.
*** Note: we will be delaying the announcement of the top 2019 college recruiting classes as the final decisions of Alana and Kelley Lynch will greatly impact the final rankings. Stay tuned for their picks and which college softball programs came out on top (release of the list TBD)!
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College: that big and scary place you think of as a kid. That place that you look up to, that you see in your future, but that’s just it—it’s the future.
And then, before you know it, you’re a senior in high school—just like me—and you realize it is time to choose a college. Time to pick the place that you want to spend the next four years. Time to make the biggest decision of your life up to this point.
So how? How does one make this super impactful decision? There are so many factors that go into a college decision—especially when you add in wanting to play college softball—and the majority of people prioritize them differently. But ultimately there are the “universal questions” that should be taken into consideration for anyone heading to the next level.