If they did softball trading cards like they do in baseball and other sports, you’d want to collect as many of Layla L’Hommedieu as you could get your hands on.

The pitcher from Wichita, Kansas is tearing up the 12U ranks for her Aces Fastpitch team with no signs of slowing down.

As sports broadcaster Dan Patrick used to say of dominating pro athletes:

“You can’t stop her… you can only hope to contain her.”

Layla is a power pitcher who is already throwing in the low 60’s—she was hitting 57 mph as a 10-year-old which is even more impressive when you learn she had only started playing softball two years before at age 8.

The Midwest standout doesn’t just throw heat, she mixes it up with a variety of spins, too. Amazingly, she already has over 800 strikeouts at the 12U level and is also a threat at the plate having hit over .500 consistently over the last four years.

Aces 12U National Kansas Head Coach Travis Davis, who has had a front row seat to the young athlete’s dominating rise, is a believer.

“Layla is a special player,” the travel head coach says. “She is consistently throwing in the low 60’s and will hit 64 mph but also has great spin and movement on her pitches.”

So far in her young career, the Class of 2031 star has already earned numerous awards, including being named a USA All-American for the second year in a row and this summer will represent Kansas in the USA All-American Games.

She was also instrumental in helping the Aces make the Elite 8 in the Alliance Nationals last year with the goal to advance even further in 2026.

Following that successful summer run, Layla’s fall season was even more successful individually as she collected 201 strikeouts with an ERA of 1.57 and she hasn’t missed a beat in 2026, either.

In the first three tournaments this year, Layla recorded more than 100 strikeouts—which is made all the more impressive when you learn it was mostly playing up against older competition.

• In the first tournament, her Aces team played 14U and finished second.
• The second tournament was at 16U and her team once again finished as runners-up.
• The third tourney was a seven-game guarantee in Oklahoma City and Layla led her team to the championship win.

All told, in the trio of tournaments, Layla pitched in 13 games with 69 strikeouts in 33 innings and finished with a 0.55 ERA and a 0.71 batting average against.

Her pitching dominance, however, is just half the story; Layla is also a tremendous contributor at the plate.

“She’s a great hitter,” Coach Davis says, “and, in the Fall, we played in 67 games. In more than 160 plate appearances, Layla hit .472 with 60 RBI’s and 22 extra base hits.”

Collectively, she batted .538 with a .568 on-base percentage and a 1.363 OPS in that trio of tournaments.

Although she didn’t start playing on the field officially until she was age, Layla show signs at an early age—a very early age—that she was interested in the ball-and-bat sports.

Her mother, Jenna, talks about an experience the youngster had when she was barely out of diapers.

“I realized she had a love for sports when we took her to her first Kansas City Royals game at age 2 and she sat and watched every second of it. I knew then she was different.”

Later, playing baseball, her mom remembers: “She would smash the ball even with boys pitching against her.”

Today, softball is Layla’s one and only sport, but it’s not like her parents didn’t try to get her into other activities. Efforts to do so could go hilariously wrong.

“I really wanted her to be a dancer,” Layla’s mother remembers, “and I put her in dance class, but at her recital she was the most ungraceful little girl and even knocked a girl over while twirling around!”

Impressively, she’s a standout student with a 3.8 GPA and is very involved in her church. Off the field, she loves to cook and following fashion, but her sport of choice remains her primary passion.

“Softball is everything to me,” Layla begins.

“It helps me express myself in ways I can’t explain. I love the way I makes me feel when I am successful—I love the satisfaction of getting a hit or a strikeout while pitching—but I also learn a lot from the times we lose or struggle.”

Coach Davis speaks highly of who the talented player is when in uniform or not.

“Layla has a high softball IQ and when we’re playing, she will make adjustments in the middle of an at-bat, but not only is she a great softball player, but also a great kid who works really hard.”

One key aspect that the athlete attributes to her success is her spiritual side which provides the support she needs in good times and bad.

“Staying grounded in my faith helps me both on and off the field,” Layla explains. “I can have bad days on the field and off the field, but God is always there for me.”

The future is indeed bright for this young talent, but she knows that you can never stop working or improving.

When asked what she wants to improve on I her game, she says simply:

“I want to increase my velocity!”

As if opponents didn’t have enough to fear when facing the pre-teen, her potentially throwing near 70 mph would indeed make her inevitably printed rookie card worth a fortune.

— Brentt Eads/Line Drive Media