RANKINGS
EVENTS
I COMMITTED
COLLEGE
ABOUT
Have you ever wondered in regards to recruiting rankings how accurate they ultimately end up being?
Working in the high school sports world for, well, let’s just say a long time I’ve been around recruiting rankings–both on the team and player side–in many sports including football, baseball, basketball, volleyball, and several others in addition to softball.
It’s been almost five years since I did my first top 100 rankings in softball and it started with the Class of 2014.
On November 19, 2013 the company I worked for at the time, Student Sports, published the top player bios from that class and thought it would be interesting–as we just finished the Class of 2020 top 100 last Friday–to do a Throwback Thursday and highlight the Top 20 from that class.
As with any rankings as time reveals, there were some hits and misses; in a later Throwback Thursday we’ll run the complete 100 (note: two future Oklahoma star pitchers, Paige Parker and Paige Lowary, made the list but were not in the top 20!).
— Brentt Eads, President/Executive Editor (Extra Inning Softball)
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Student Sports Top 20 Recruits
By Brentt Eads
Nov. 19, 2013
We finish our look at the top 100 players in the 2014 class… we’ve spotlighted 10 each day in our countdown from 100 to No. 1. Here are the top 20!
The seniors were chosen based on input and feedback from college and club coaches. Criteria for choosing and ranking the players including performances at the club and high school levels and projecting how they will play at the collegiate level.
#20… Taurie Pogue (SS, Washington Ladyhawks)–Cal Berkeley
Taurie is a power-hitting infielder with a strong arm, but her top attribute may be her leadership. She’s vocal in motivating her teammates and helps every kid on her teams. Taurie is always positive and lifts everybody around her. Physically, she has a major college arm and good range, possesses an advanced knowledge of the game and elevates her game in pressure situations. She’s been on college teams’ radar since the eighth grade when she got her first offer (Northern Colorado) and committed to Cal as a sophomore. The Idaho star was a MaxPreps Preseason All-American in 2013 after hitting .551 with 31 RBI and 12 home runs in 2012.
#19… Alexis Osorio (P, Corona Angels)–Alabama
Alexis’ main pitch is a rise ball and she can throw the low and the high rise, similar to former Tide pitching great Kelsi Dunne. You need to jump on her early because she gets stronger as the game goes on. In the PGF Premier Nationals she shined against top competition, going 2-0 with a 1.35 ERA and 27 strikeouts in 20.2 innings of work. She was 1st Team All-State Underclass by CalHi Sports and 1st Team All-Area despite splitting playing time with fellow senior Sarah Costlow, a George Washington-bound pitcher.