OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – Highlighted by Valerie Cagle, Maya Brady and Skylar Wallace, USA Softball has officially unveiled the Top 50 Watch List for the 2024 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year.
Cagle was the recipient of the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year in 2023, while Brady and Wallace joined Cagle to form the three finalists for the award.
Jordy Bahl (Nebraska), Jayda Coleman (Oklahoma), Tiare Jennings (Oklahoma) and Kiki Milloy (Tennessee) occupy spots on the 2024 watch list after being named a top 10 finalist for the honor last season.
Also named to the watch list were Addison Barnard (Wichita State), Kayla Beaver (Alabama), Sydney Berzon (LSU), Ciara Briggs (LSU), Alyssa Brito (Oklahoma), NiJaree Canady (Stanford), Nia Carter (Arkansas), Jada Cody (UCF), Erin Coffel (Kentucky), Cassidy Curd (Duke), Michaela Edenfield (Florida State), Kendra Falby (Florida), McKenna Gibson (Tennessee), Megan Grant (UCLA), Kinzie Hansen (Oklahoma), Stevie Hansen (Oregon), Rylin Hedgecock (Arkansas), Alex Honnold (Missouri), D’Auna Jennings (Duke), Reagan Johnson (Arkansas), Jayda Kearney (Georgia), Taryn Kern (Stanford), Lexi Kilfoyl (Oklahoma State), Jenna Laird (Missouri), Emma Lemley (Virginia Tech), Mariah Lopez (Utah), Kelly Maxwell (Oklahoma), Nicole May (Oklahoma), Ruby Meylan (Washington), Mac Morgan (Texas), Sara Mosley (Georgia), Dariana Orme (Baylor), Korbe Otis (Florida), Autumn Owen (North Carolina), Sharlize Palacios (UCLA), Maddie Penta (Auburn), Taylor Pleasants (LSU), Emma Ritter (Virginia Tech), Stephanie Schoonover (Kentucky), Mia Scott (Texas), Carlie Scupin (Arizona), Allie Skaggs (Arizona), Alana Vawter (South Carolina), Shelby Walters (Georgia) and Jordan Woolery (UCLA).
The 2024 Top 50 Watch List features student-athletes from 28 universities with three-time defending national champion Oklahoma leading the way with six honorees. UCLA has four players on the watch list and Arkansas, Florida, Georgia and LSU each placed three players on the list.
Six conferences are represented on the watch list led by the Southeastern Conference (SEC) with 21 student-athletes included followed by the Pac-12 Conference with 11, Big 12 Conference with 10 and Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) with seven. Also represented is the American Athletic Conference (AAC) with two and the Big Ten Conference with one.
Cagle had a historic season for the Tigers to earn USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year honors in 2023 as she set a school record with 83 hits and added 19 home runs and 15 doubles. She led the ACC in RBIs (57), batting average, hits, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and total bases.
The two-way star had a banner year in the circle as she finished the season with a 1.56 ERA through 38 appearances and 30 starts. She struck out 188 batters in 193 innings and had 25 wins, eight shutouts and three saves.
Through 193 innings of work, she struck out 188 batters while only allowing 23 extra-base hits and limiting opponents to a .182 average. She posted eight solo shutouts and three combined to finish with 25 total victories and three saves.
Wallace, who was named the NFCA Player of the Year in 2023, ended her season as the only player in the nation with 65 or more hits, 70 or more runs, 55 or more RBI, 50 or more walks and 30 or more stolen bases.
Wallace had one of the best individual seasons in Florida history as she set new single-season school records in batting average (.447), slugging percentage (.980) and on base percentage (.595). She also finished ranked inside the top 10 in stolen base percentage (.968 – 2nd), runs scored (72 – 5th), triples (8 – 3rd), home runs (19 – 5th) and walks (51 – 6th). She also reached base safely in 55 of the 56 games played.
Brady was named the Pac-12 Player of the Year after posting a career season for the Bruins. She was the conference batting champion with a .448 average, and had a .886 slugging percentage, a .515 on-base percentage, 77 hits, 12 doubles, three doubles, 18 home runs, 63 runs scored and 59 runs batted in. She walked 25 times and struck 19 times in 172 at-bats.
Brady spent the summer with the United States Women’s National Team at the 2023 WBSC World Cup Group Stage in Dublin, Ireland. She started at first base in all four games and drove in five runs and scored four to help Team USA punch its ticket to the XVII WBSC World Cup Final.
COPYRIGHT © 2024 Extra Inning Softball TM
Check out our other EIS links:
