A lot of great softball is being played right now at the college and high school levels and that has us excited for the next class evaluations in our popular HOT 100 series!

Coming up in two weeks: the 2029 Line Drive HOT 100, which has officially been open for nominations over the last month, but note that time is running out to submit recommendations for deserving candidates.

The player NOMINATION DEADLINE is NEXT Monday, May 4 and then the following Monday, May 11 the 2029 rankings begin.

• Click HERE to access the NOMINATION form.

Subsequently, each weekday for a two-week period we will honor deserving prospects via our countdown of 10 spots each day following this schedule:

• #’s 100-91 (Mon., May 11, 2026)
• #’s 90-81 (Tue., May 12, 2026)
• #’s 80-71 (Wed., May 13, 2026)
• #’s 70-61 (Thu., May 14,  2026)
• #’s 60-51 (Fri., May 15, 2026
• #’s 50-41 (Mon., May 18, 2026)
• #’s 40-31 (Tue., May 19, 2026)
• #’s 30-21 (Wed., May 20, 2026)
• #’s 20-11 (Thu., May 21, 2026)
• #’s 10-1 (Fri., May 22, 2026)

Some pointers for those filling out the nominations online:

• Parents: you’re the best, but you cannot nominate, sorry (you can send stats, honors, etc, just not suggested ranges).
• Nominations should come from club/high school coach, trainer or someone else who works with the athlete.
• Be sure to send a head shot to accompany player bios. 
• ID which city and state the player lives… use state codes such as TX, FL, AZ, etc.
• Include stats, honors, top accomplishments and anything to verify athlete’s standing. 

Following the Class of 2029 rankings, the Classes of 2028 and 2027 will follow later this year… here’s the complete schedule for the rest of 2026:

• 2028 Line Drive HOT 100: Aug. 17 to Aug. 28, 2026
  • nominations officially open on July 1
• 2027 Line Drive HOT 100: Oct. 5 to Oct. 16, 2026
  • nominations officially open on Sept. 15

The Line Drive Hot 100 is spearheaded by Line Drive Media Executive Editor Brentt Eads, who began the softball player and team rankings format 20 years ago and in that time has done over 50 grad class rankings.

Each class is updated several times leading up to the players’ high school graduation and transition into college.

For more information, email: Brentt.Eads@LineDriveMedia.com.