We continue our Spring of 2026 series honoring outstanding performances by recognizing a National Player of the Week and others who are selected as a Runner-Up Player of the Week.

Each Tuesday through June we’ll recognize and highlight top accomplishments nationwide. If you’d like to have a player considered, scroll down to see how to send in a nomination.

Games are for Monday, March 30, 2026, through Sunday, April 5, 2026…

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This was the hardest week of the season so far to pick a National Player of the Week as there were some huge performances stat-wise that are jaw dropping…

*** In Idaho, Addy Herrera, a 2028 pitcher/corner infielder at Cole Valley Christian in Meridian, Idaho, had four home runs in one game and came close to tossing a no-hitter in a 28-1 blowout win.

A fun side note: the last home run of the four was caught by her brother outside the playing field.

During the week, she batted 9-for-13, a .692 batting average, with 16 RBIs.

— Interestingly, that was the second four-homer game in less than a month in Idaho!

In March, McKenna Chavez—a senior shortstop at Capital High in Boise, Idaho, who’s a two-time 1^st Team All-State honoree—had a quartet of homers in one game and now has 15 home runs in 14 games with a .795 batting average and 36 RBIs.

The BYU signee also has 19 walks to give her a .869 on-base percentage.

Must be something in the Idaho air that aids these tremendous hitters!

*** The NFCA North Region Player of the Week was Hallie Schwieterman, a 2027 infielder at Jay County’s (Ind.) High, who was perfect going 10-for-10 with six home runs, two doubles, 18 RBIs and an unheard of 3.000 slugging percentage in two games.

She played in two games with three home runs in one and three additional dingers in the other along with a pair of doubles.

For the season, she’s played in three games and is hitting .867 with an .875 on-base percentage and 19 RBIs.

*** We’ll have more later regarding another NFCA Regional Player of the Week who is having an All-American caliber season so far…

… but this week we’re going in a different direction, honoring someone who had a big week facing strong Central California pitching who are trying to avoid at all costs giving her something to hit.

… and how one intended walk ended up doing severe damage…

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Line Drive Softball’s National High School Player of the Week (April 7, 2026)

*** Karmen Vazquez, a 2026 catcher at Hanford (Calif.) West High, is one of the top catchers in the country regardless of class.

In the 2026 HOT 100 published in October, the LSU signee was selected to be in the Top 10 of the senior class, ranked No. 6 because of her strong arm, prolific bat (she had a prep career average of .517 coming into her senior year with 37 doubles, 19 home runs and just seven strikeouts in three years) and high game IQ.

So why is all of this relevant? Because, simply, Karmen doesn’t get anything to hit.

As her father and club head coach with the Central Cal Dirtdogs, Marco Vasquez, explains:

“No one will throw to Karmen, but she has found a way to get at bats. For the season, she is batting .459 with a lot of walks.”

Her reputation proceeds her and pitchers know throwing over the plate is deadly, so she sees a lot of respect in the pitches that come her way… which makes last week’s stat-line that more impressive.

In four games last week, she batted .714 with three home runs—one a grand slam—had nine RBIs, four walks and no strikeouts.

But what helped push her over the edge in terms of being named the National High School Player of the Week is this play below.

Let’s set it up first, though” bases loaded and the pitcher tries to throw outside, but the pitch is too much near the plate. She missed her spot trying to walk Karmen.

Here’s what happened:

Grand slam.

Here’s what she did in each game:

• vs. Buchanan: .667 (2-3), 4 RBI’s ,1 home run
• vs. Highland: .500 (1-2), 4 RBI’s, 1 home run, 1 walk
• vs. Sanger: 1.000 (1-1) 1 walk
• vs. Clovis: 1.000 (1-1) 1 walk, 1 RBI 1 home run

Karmen is already in the California record books for most doubles in a game (4) and is on pace to be in the books for career doubles as she has 47.

What, we asked her, helps her not pick up bad habits when being pitched to carefully?

“I’ve just learned to be patient and wait for the miss,” she answers.

“I had to learn to be OK with the walks and stopped swinging out of the zone–that is what was causing me to pop up or swing and miss–so I just step in the box with a plan and attack my pitch.”

“I’m looking to hit the line drive over the infield or trying to hit the long ball.”

Then, she summarizes her patient approach with a great closing line.

“You can do a lot with just one pitch,” she concludes.

Opposing pitchers beware: don’t make a mistake with that one pitch or Karmen will make you pay for it.

*** Kylie Black, a senior lefty pitcher at Chattanooga (Tenn.) Christian, traveled with her team to Alabama to play in the Paradise Showdown against some of the top teams in that Southern state.

Going 4-0 in five appearances, she helped her team win the championship as she pitched 22.2 innings with 50 strikeouts of the 90 batters she faced.

She allowed just four runs for a 1.26 ERA, a .926 WHIP and a .150 BAA.

Kylie has a 11-1 record this year with 115 strikeouts in 62.1 innings or 1.85 K’s per inning.

A commit to Lipscomb University, the 2026 grad has been All-State in softball for the past three years and also was named DII-AA Pitcher of the Year last season (where she also pitched a one-hit shutout in the State Championship game with 12 K’s). 

Kylie also plays volleyball and served in Student Council & Key Club at her school.

*** Justyce Malone, the 2029 slapper who plays both the infield and outfield, went 7-for-7 for her Prosper Malone (Texas) High team.

In a game on March 31, she went for 4-for-4 with a double and then on April 2 went 3-for-3 with a walk and a RBI with four steals.

Her stat line for the two games, along with a 1.000 batting average and a 1.000 on-base percentage along with a 1.143 slugging percentage and a 2.143 OPS.

*** Haley Schmitti is a promising freshman right-handed pitcher/shortstop at Katy (Texas) High who pitched in two games last week—both shutouts—and she went 10 innings with no earned runs and just two hits given up.

In the pair of wins, she recorded a .059 batting average against with a .300 WHIP.

For the season so far, the 2029 grad has competed 56.1 innings with 107 K’s, a 0.75 ERA, a .639 WHIP and a .152 BAA.

Already in her accomplished career, Haley is two-time USA Softball High Performance Program invitee, being invited as a pitcher in 2024 (and making the final athlete pool for the team selection) and was invited as a pitcher and shortstop in 2025 where her coach for the event, Sis Bates, said she was the most exciting player to watch at the event and “had a bright future.”

Haley was in the 18U age group (one of the youngest only turning 15 on Dec. 30) playing with and against many D1 commits.

Out of 95 pitchers (13U-18U) at the event she recorded the most strikeouts (18Ks) and the third lowest BAA (.097) and WHIP (.556) behind Macie Bryant, a 2026 National Team member signed with LSU) and top 2028 pitcher, Tara Tarnowski.

Haley pitched nine innings over three games with 18Ks, just three hits and three earned runs allowed, a .097 BAA and a .556 WHIP.

Haley is also a standout student. She has a 4.29 GPA in Pre-AP / Gifted and Talented classes with aspirations to go to medical school.

*** Kennedy Bradley of Melissa (Texas) High, a senior third baseman who is signed with Florida, went 5-for-6 and all of them were extra-base hits with two home runs and three doubles.

Along with her .833 batting average, she compiled a 0.889 on-base percentage with a 2.333 slugging percentage and a 3.222 OPS.

*** Staying down in Texas, another senior who shined was Zoe Hawthore of Eagle Mountain High.

The McLennan College bound outfielder also went 5-for-6 with two home runs, two doubles and a single.

She had a .857 on-base percentage, a 2.167 slugging percentage and an outstanding 3.024 OPS.

*** Keke Jordan, a 2028 catcher for Boyd Buchanan School in Chattanooga, Tenn., called last week “a great stretch of competition and growth” and that was evident in a busy week on and off the field.

On Tuesday, she helped Buchanan top the No. 2 team in the state and district rival Silverdale Baptist Academy with a home run to help her team move to No. 4 in the state.

Later last week, she had the opportunity to attend an invite-only softball camp at the University of Oregon, which caused her to miss Thursday’s district game and the first two games of a high school tournament on Friday, but after flying back early Saturday morning at 1:15 am and getting home around 4:00 am, she rejoined her team for the remainder of the tournament with an 11:30 am game time.

Despite the quick turnaround, she hit four home runs that day and over five games for the week she had the five home runs, a .462 batting average, a .588 on-base percentage, a 2.204 OPS and a 1.615 slugging percentage.

In 20 games this year, the talented young player is hitting .452 with a .538 on-base percentage with 10 home runs, nine doubles, two triples, nine walks and 27 RBIs.

*** At the top of today’s post, we mentioned the NFCA Southeast Region selection announced yesterday.

It’s dual threat Layla Ogden, the senior pitcher/hitter for South Warren (Bowling Green, Ky.) High who continues to put on a show on both sides of the ball.

Layla’s dual-threat ability powered her team offensively and kept opponents off balance on the mound. Week after week, she continues to show the combination of consistency, power, and precision that makes her one of the state’s top players.

She played in 10 games for the week and had 19 hits in 33 at-bats with a .575 batting average thanks to six home runs and a tremendous 26 RBIs—a good season for many.

Layla was also tough in the circle as she had five wins—four of them shutouts–with 28 K’s in 21 innings with a 0.00 ERA.

*** Sierra Cook, a senior centerfielder/third baseman for William T. Dwyer High in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., batted .727 on eight hits in 11 at-bats at The Kissimmee Klassic last week where she was named the Outstanding Offensive Player of the tournament.

She’s currently on a strong nine-game hitting streak which has seen her go 15-for-27 with a .556 batting average and a .618 OBP.

In that span, Sierra has hit three home runs with 11 RBIs.

So far in the 2026 high school season, she’s played in 17 games with a .440 batting average, 19 RBIs and a .500 on-base percentage.

A two-time Florida 6A All-State player and a three-time All-Palm Beach County honoree, Sierra is also a standout wrestler and has twice been the district champ at the 129-pound weight class.

Sierra is also strong academically with a 4.18 GPA.

*** Charlotte Schrand is a 2030 grad who plays against players up to four years older than her at the prep level, but that hasn’t slowed own the infielder at Living Water (Indianapolis, Ind.) High.

Last week she hit two home runs including a grand slam to compile a .667 batting average and a 1.833 slugging mark.

She had seven RBIs across the pair of games and also was perfect defensively with a 1.000 fielding percentage.

For the season, the young standout is hitting .583 with a .615 on-base percentage and has four home runs with 14 RBIs and hasn’t made an error on the left side of the infield playing third and short.

*** Aynslee Bright, a 2028 catcher/infielder who plays first base for Mt. Juliet (Tenn.) High, played in the 24th Southern Warrior Classic hosted by Riverdale High School.

She led her team to a 6-1 finish, including a grand glam and multiple multi-home run performances as she went 11-for-17 with a .647 batting average and a .739 on-base percentage.

Aynslee smacked five home runs in the seven games with 16 RBIs.

For the season, the sophomore is batting .390 with a .507 OBP and has six home runs and 25 RBIs.

In the summer, she plays for the D1VISION Platinum 16U team.

— Brentt Eads/Line Drive Media

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Previous 2026 Line Drive Softball National High School Player of the Week

• Mar. 31: Morgan Maxwell—West Forsyth (N.C.)
• Mar. 24: Siena Greenlinger—Chaminade College Preparatory (West Hills, Calif.)
• Mar. 17: Presley Kilgore— Rains (Emory, Texas)
• Mar. 10: Emma Pynes—Cornerstone Charter Academy (Belle Isle, Fla.)
• Mar. 3: Avery Howerton—Whitesboro (Texas) High 
• Feb. 24: Krimson Calhoun—Thompson (Alabaster, Ala.) High
• Feb. 17: Lolo Gamble—Dripping Springs (Texas) High

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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.

The posts are published every Tuesday and the cutoff for submitting the nominations is each Monday at 5 pm EST/2 pm 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 2026 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 (where possible)
• Recruiting Information (if applicable)
• Any interesting Background Info on the player
• Photos: action and/or head shots (as available)
• If possible, Contact Info (player, parent, coach… if we’d like more info or quotes)

Email info and photos (1-4 as available) by the cutoff of Monday at 5 pm EST/2 pm PST to: Brentt.Eads@LineDriveMedia.com