Each week for the Spring season, Line Drive Softball is honoring top high school performances nationwide with a National Player of the Week and others who are named as a Runner-Up Player of the Week.

More and more states are wrapping up their 2025 seasons, but we’ll continue to do the National High School Player of the Week as appropriate.

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

Games are for Sunday, June 1, 2025, through Saturday, June 7, 2025…

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Line Drive Softball’s National High School Player of the Week (June 12, 2025)

*** Kendall Shockley, a junior pitcher and middle infielder for JR Tucker High in Henrico, Virg., was impressive with the bat and her arm last week as she shined in two games.

In the pair of contests, she hit .667 with a .778 on-base percentage and went 5-for-5 in stolen base attempts. In the circle, the 2026 grad pitched 10 innings and had 11 strikeouts with no earned runs.

Kendall continues to have a strong season as she’s hitting .568 with a .678 on-base percentage in 17 games played. In the circle, she has a 2.018 WHIP with 54 strikeouts in 73 innings pitched.

Additionally for the season Kendall has a .952 fielding percentage and she was recognized as her team’s MVP.

Off the field, Kendall is on track to graduate next year with her Associate’s Degree. She founded the Women in Business Club at JR Tucker High School and is a member of both the Mathematics and English Honor Societies there.

— Brentt Eads/Line Drive Softball

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Runner-Up Line Drive Softball National Players of the Week

*** Sometimes it’s not how big you play, but when you make the big plays count.

Gina Coppola is an underclass outfielder at St. Joes High in Trumbull, Conn. and in a pair of games before reaching the Connecticut State Bracket she came up huge in both contests.

Against New Canaan High in the semi’s, she hit a solo home run in the 4^th inning of a 1-1 tie to help her team win 2-1 and advance to the FCIAC Championship against Darien High.

In that FCIAC Championship Game, the nail-biter went 14 innings with both side’s pitchers going the final10 innings not giving up a run.

In the bottom of the 14th inning, with two outs and runners on first and second, Gina hit a two-strike three-run walk-off homer to help her team win the Championships.

For the season, Gina has hit four home runs with 20 RBIs. Last week she was perfect in the field and for the season has a .933 fielding percentage.

Gina has a 4.0 GPA and is taking Honors Courses as a sophomore. In her junior year, she will be taking AP courses and a UCONN course as well.

She not only is a talented softball player but is also a talented volleyball player. She also plays for the CT Stars Fastpitch Kafka 16U team led by Head Coach Krystal Kafka.

*** Rylee Schmidt has had a breakthrough junior season as the middle infielder at Westfield High in Chantilly, Va. where she anchors the infield and “brings energy to every game,” per one of her coaches.

She also plays second base for the nationally competitive Starz Gold National 16U – Bunn team and is praised for her speed, instincts, and relentless hustle.

Rylee’s 2025 high school season has been marked by a major leap forward in performance and leadership. She was named All-District Shortstop and Offensive Player of the Year, and she broke both the single-season and career home run records at Westfield.

Last week, she added to her strong season stats which includes a .426 batting average on 27 hits and her nine home runs puts her in the Top 10 in the state of Virginia prep play. She also has scored 27 runs and driven in 25 others.

Rylee carries a 3.9 GPA and is also a varsity swim and dive standout who is a state qualifier in those sports. She’s also active in the National Honor Society, the Christian Leadership Club and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

*** Austyn Kinch, a Class of 2028 first baseman for Mineral Point (Wisc.) High, came up big in a pair of Sectional games helping her team qualify for State.

She batted .444 going 5-for-9 and had a home run and triple with a 1.444 OPS. Austyn also drove in four runners and was perfect in the field.

The stats, however, only tell part of the story.

In a 7-1 sectional semi-final victory over Cuba City, she went 2-for-5 against last year’s state runners up and conference foe who returned most of the team’s players including an all-state pitcher. However, all her at-bats were productive including a slow roller to third where she forced an overthrow to first base allowing two runs to cross the plate.

In later innings she hit a running scoring single and a two-RBI triple to the base of the fence. In the victory, five of Mineral Point High’s runs were scored on balls Austyn put in play.

In a 7-0 sectional final victory over Waterloo, Austyn went 2-for-4 with a single and a solo home run to give the Pointers up 3-0 and an eventual win to earn a trip to State, it’s first in the last 12 years.

For the season, Austyn is hitting .480 with a 1.665 OPS with 10 home runs, five triples and seven doubles. She’s driving in 44 runs and also has a .944 fielding percentage.

She was also ranked in the Top 50 of the recently released 2028 HOT 100 rankings.

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2025 Line Drive Softball National High School Player of the Week

• June 3: Coral Williams (Norco, Calif.)
• May 27: Rylee Schmid (Chantilly, Va.)
• May 20: Jenna Mannon (West Jefferson, Ohio)
• May 13: Erin McDaid (Smithtown, N.Y.)
• May 6: Ariana Lugo (Round Rock, Texas)
• Apr. 29: Gabi Novickas (Chicago, Ill.)
• Apr. 22: Camryn Fisher (Ellington, Conn.)
• Apr. 15: Madi Doty (Grandview, Texas)
• Apr. 8: Ava Phillips (Fullerton, Calif.)
• Apr. 1: Mia Hemenway (Tallahassee, Fla.)
• Mar. 25: Norah Jacque (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 Mondays at noon EST/9 am PST to: Brentt.Eads@LineDriveMedia.com