Each Tuesday for the next several months Line Drive Softball is honoring top high school performances nationwide with a National Player of the Week and others who are named Runner-Up Players of the Week.

If you’d like to have a player considered, scroll down to see how to send in a nomination.

Games are for Sunday, March 30, 2025, through Saturday, April 5, 2025…

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Line Drive Softball’s National High School Player of the Week (April 8, 2025)

*** Ava Phillips, a 2027 right-handed pitcher for Rosary Academy in Fullerton, Calif., is only in her second year of pitching but you’d never have guessed that based on her success this early in her career.

… and at one of the top high school tourneys in the country last week, no less.

Pitching at the Michelle Carew Classic Tournament in Southern California, she started three games and pitched in two others to go 3-0 with 24.2 innings pitched while striking out 19, recording a 1.42 ERA and limiting the opposition to just a .195 batting average against.

For those unaware, the Michelle Carew Classic Tournament is the premier high school tournament in California, where top-ranked teams from the whole state converge to put their talent to the test.

Seven of the top 25 California-ranked teams participated in the tournament, spanning from Northern California to the Southern border. This is the first appearance in the Carew Classic by Rosary Academy in nearly 15 years.

At the Michelle Carew Classic, Ava was selected as the Tournament Most Valuable Pitcher and now has a 11-2 record (both loses were by one run on fielding error) for the season.

Additionally, she has 66 strikeouts in 72.2 innings on the season with a 1.25 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP while opposing hitters have batted only .206 against her.

In addition to playing softball, Ava works as an instructor at The Range Pitching Academy in Anaheim, California, and provides individual pitching lessons to younger female athletes.

Last season, Ava led her Rosary Royals varsity team to a 2^nd place finish in the heavily talented Trinity League in Orange County. It was the school’s highest finish in the Trinity League in the last 10 years.

As an interesting note off the fields, Ava is an active member of the Girl Scouts of America and is currently working on her Gold Award [equivalent to the Eagle Scout]. Her project is focused on developing a mental and physical skills training program for young female pitchers that can be universally administered and applied

An interesting softball tidbit: Ava secured the win at the 2024 PGF Premier National Championship game against Breakers Lab Keusch last Summer and during her team’s run to the championship, Ava was credited with 5 wins and 0 losses in 7 games pitched.

She recorded 16.1 innings and did not give up a single run the entire tournament while holding opposing batters to a dismal .091 batting average.

Her pitching victories came against the tough competition of Hotshots Nelson 14U, Unity Amsler/Johnson 14U, Birmingham Thunderbolts Alford/Rocky 14U, Atlanta Vipers Gold 09 Cresnhaw, and Breakers Lab Keusch 14U.

Over the past two years, Ava has pitched 47.1 innings in the PGF National Championship while not allowing a single earned run and holding opposing hitters to a .126 batting average.

In the Fall, Ava transitioned to 18U where she now plays for Firecrackers Select Rico/Brashear.

Off the athletic fields of competition, Ava enjoys hanging out with her friends and family in her downtime and going to the beach!

@AvaPhillips2027

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Runner-Up Line Drive Softball National Players of the Week

*** Remie Smith a sophomore pitcher for East Jessamine High in Nicholasville, Ky., was a two-way force last week as the right-hander played in just two games, but dominated in both of them.

With the stick, she had seven at-bats and produced a .571 batting average with a .625 on-base percentage with a home run and four RBIs.

In the circle, the 2027 grad pitched 10 innings over two games and went 2-0 with 18 strikeouts versus four walks and had a 0.00 ERA.

For the season so far, Remie is batting .452 with three home runs and three doubles in 31 at-bats. Pitching-wise, she has 54 K’s in 40.2 innings pitched and recently recorded her 300^th career strikeout in her varsity career.

In the summers, she plays travel ball for Jeremy Tackett’s Louisville Lady Sluggers and will compete at top summer events including the Team 1 Elite Showcase, the Colorado 4^th of July, the Triple Crown Nationals and the Alliance Nationals.

*** Addie Vercellino played in one game for her GRACE Christian School in Raleigh, N.C. but, wow, did the 2029 grad have a great day, especially when you consider she’s an 8^th grader playing up against older competition.

In the one contest, Addie went 4-for-5 at the plate with six RBIs on three singles and a double. With her arm, Addie pitched six innings and gave up just two hits with no runs allowed and a tremendous 15 strikeouts.

For the season, Addie is hitting .438 with a .640 on-base percentage and has eight walks versus no strikeouts.

In the circle, she has tossed 29 innings and recorded a 4-1 record with 49 strikeouts.

Addie plays travel ball for the Carolina Cardinals Red team.

*** Gabriella Shadek, a senior catcher at Immaculate Heart Academy in Washington Twp, New Jersey, had her first week of high school and came out of the starting gates on fire.

Behind the plate, she threw out the pair of would-be base stealers and also had two pick-offs at first base.

The Duke commit also was dangerous at the plate as she batted .625 with three home runs, two doubles and was walked six times—most on intentional walks. Her slugging percentage was at 1.750.

One of Gabby’s homers was measured at approximately 300 feet. When not on the softball fields, Gabby usually can be found playing ice hockey.

*** Danika Spinogatti, a senior catcher from Montverde (Fla.) Fla., played in five games last week and faced three of the Top 10 teams in the Sunshine State as well as Orange Beach (Ala.) High.

She went 8-for-16 with a double, triple and two home runs.

Danika had four walks to give her a .619 on-base percentage and also drove in 11 rins in the five games.

This was all done at the Roger Jones Kissimmee Klassic where Montverde would lose an ITB thriller to Orange Beach High in the finals but Danika would be named Tournament MVP for her defensive prowess behind the plate including throwing out and picking off runners in big spots.

A signee with Florida State last year, Danika has already broken the career records at her school in home runs and triples—both set this week—as well as RBIs, doubles and walks.

For the season, the catcher/infielder has played 17 games and in 49 at-bats has a .531 batting average with a .635 on-base percentage and seven home runs and 29 RBIs.

Danika went into her final year of high school softball with some big goals:

• break all the school records,
• lead her team to a second straight State Title
• be named Gatorade POY in Florida. 
• her summer goal is to play in the PGF All-American Game.

*** Cayle “KK” Barbe, a sophomore from Trinity Catholic High in Ocala, Fla. and a member of the Unity – Amsler/Johnson 16U team, continues to have a huge season in the Southwest.

Last week, KK pitched two games and was the lead-off batter in the team’s three games.

Her totals: 2-0 as a pitcher with 25 K’s in 12 innings, a 1.16 ERA and batting-wise she hit .417 with a 1.000 slugging percentage, two home runs and five RBIs.

*** Taryn Ashenfelter, a sophomore pitcher from Kennard-Dale High in Fawn Grove, Pa., recorded her 200^th career high school strikeout this week and, to make sure the game was doubly memorable, she hit three home runs in that game!

For the week, she went 3-0 and in 17 innings pitched had 36 strikeouts, a 1.60 ERA, a 0.824 WHIP and a .172 batting average against.

She wasn’t just dominating in the circle, however; Taryn also tabbed .667 with a 1.198 OBPS as she went 8-for-12 with the three homers, a pair of doubles and nine RBIs.

For the season, the Super Soph is 8-0 with her arm and has 93 K’s in 52 innings pitched with a 0.81 ERA, a 0.827 WHIP and a .183 batting average against. Offensively, she’s batting .500 with a 1.471 OBPS, three home runs, 13 RBIs and, impressively, has not struck out once all year.

*** Lila Manfredonia, a standout freshman pitcher for Independence (Ohio) High, was yet another pitcher/hitter who got it done at the plate and on the mound.

In three games, Lila had 11 plate appearances and batted .556 with a .636 on-base percentage and of her five hits, one was her first over-the-fence home run going opposite field.

In the circle, the Buckeye State hurler had 34 strikeouts in 14.1 innings and gave up just five hits and one earned run for a 0.49 ERA and allowed only a .098 batting average against.

Lila was also flawless in the field, not making an error in two games pitching and one at first base.

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2025 Line Drive Softball National High School Player of the Week

• April 1:  Mia Hemenway (Tallahassee, Fla.)
• Mar. 25: Norah Jacques (McLean, Va.)
• Mar. 18: Gracyn Needle (West Palm Beach, Fla)
• Mar. 11: Anna Hinde (Charlotte, N.C.)
• Mar. 4: Hannah Jo Sullivan (Brandon, Miss.)
• Feb. 25: Molly Davi (Hilo, Hawaii)
• Feb. 18: Lulu Adrian & Finlee Williams (Melissa, Texas)

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Nomination Process

Each week during the spring and summer high school seasons, Line Drive Softball is honoring a National High School Player of the Week.

Honorees are announced every Tuesday and the cutoff for submitting the nominations is each Monday at noon EST/9 am PST.

We’re looking for standouts who excelled in the circle, at the plate or in the field so be sure to nominate your favorite performance(s) by submitting the following:

• Player Name
• Grad Year (example: Class of 2025 or Senior)
• Position(s)
• High school team name with city/state
• Stats for the week (be as detailed as possible!)
• Up-to-date season stats if possible
• Recruiting information (if applicable)
• Any interesting background on the player
• Action and/or head shots
• If possible, contact info if we’d like more info or quotes

Email info and photos (1-4 as available) by the cutoff of Monday at noon EST/9 am PST to: Brentt.Eads@LineDriveMedia.com