The 2025-2026 Gatorade Softball State Players of the Year – for every state plus the District of Columbia – were announced this morning

The Gatorade Softball National Player of the Year will be chosen from the state winners and announced soon.

Last year in softball Hannah Wells from Coahoma (Texas) High was the honoree. Click HERE to read the announcement naming Wells, who was the Texas Gatorade State Player of the Year, as the 2024-2025 national winner.

The Gatorade Player of the Year award recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field.

Also, every Player of the Year also receives a grant to donate to a social impact partner. To date, the Gatorade Player of the Year program has provided more than $6.4 million in grants to winners across more than 2,200 organizations

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Each state finalist is a candidate for the prestigious Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year award.

The 2025-2026 Gatorade Softball State Players of the Year

Click on “State” links to access each state’s press release

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The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction 12 sports at the high school level:

• football
• girls volleyball
• boys and girls’ cross country
• boys and girls’ basketball
• boys and girls’ soccer
• baseball
• softball
• boys and girls’ track & field

The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which uses experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and determine the state winners in each sport.

Since the program’s inception in 1985, Gatorade Player of the Year award recipients have won hundreds of professional and college championships, and many have also turned into pillars in their communities, becoming coaches, business owners and educators.

To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, check out past winners or to nominate student-athletes, visit the Gatorade Softball State Player of the Year website; Facebook at www.facebook.com/GatoradePOY or follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Gatorade.