Each Tuesday 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.

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

Games are for Sunday, April 20, 2025, through Saturday, May 4, 2025…

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Line Drive Softball’s National High School Player of the Week (May 6, 2025)

*** Let’s start out with a fun softball question… say, a player smacks three home runs in a week of preseason games, mid-season games and post-season playoff games.

Are the trio of homers of equal value factoring in when they were hit?

Technically, yes, but you must admit that when you hit’em is as important as that you do hit them. For example, with your team leading 10-0 smacking a home run isn’t as strong as if your shot ties the game 1-1 in late innings… wouldn’t you agree?

That’s the case for outstanding sophomore infielder Arianna Lugo, who plays for the PSJA (Pharr San Juan Alamo) Lady Bears, which is an early college high school that competes in the Texas 31-6A division.

In four playoff games, including three regional quarterfinal series games against Cedar Ridge High out of Round Round, Texas, Arianna, or “Ari” for short, put up stellar stats: a .667 batting average, a 2.667 OPS, and a 1.917 slugging percentage, for starters.

Of her eight hits, five of them were home runs as she drove in nine RBIs and scored eight runs herself.

Here are clips of each of the longballs:

Head Coach Alyssa Garza sings the praises of her dangerous Class of ’27 hitter.

“Ari has been my most consistent hitter all season,” the coach begins. “She thrives in pressure situations and consistently delivers in big moments. When the game is on the line, she’s the one I trust to step up and come through with a clutch hit.”

Yes, but FIVE home runs in four games?!?

“Ari is seeing the ball so well, no matter what’s thrown at her,” Coach Garza continues, “and she finds a way to make solid contact.”

Coach Garza says she sympathizes with the opposing pitchers and coaches who struggle to find a way to shut Ari down.

“She’s just that kind of competitor and she’s amazing to watch,” Coach Garza concludes. “Most coaches say after the game that they have no idea what to throw at her because she hits everything hard!”

Last year, Ari was named 1^st Team All-District and the Offensive MVP for the Texas 31-6A district. She’s even won an Alliance 14U National Championship in club ball and was named the MVP. For her team at that time, the Bombers, she batted .501, hit nine home runs with 64 RBIs in 52 games.

Going back to last week’s playoff action, you know you’re hot when you have a four at-bat consecutive home runs streak stopped by an intentional walk!

We reached out to Ari’s father, JJ, to ask what his daughter’s most memorable moment was in the playoffs last week.

“Ari’s best memory from this weekend was being on-deck and speaking to her friend, Amerie, who hits before her in the lineup and telling her to trust all the work she had put in and that Amerie was meant for this moment.”

“Amerie is a monster, and went on to hit a two-run double to put us up by one run and changed the momentum of the game. Ari then came up right behind her and hit a monster two-run home run to put the game away, but she loves pouring confidence into her teammates and then seeing it come to life in such a big moment.”

— Brentt Eads/Line Drive Softball

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Runner-Up Line Drive Softball National Players of the Week

*** Norah Jacques is a familiar name to this year’s National Player of the Week honors: she won the award on May 27^th and has been a Runner-Up a few times too (that bodes well for her to make the 2025 All-American team at the end of the season).

Last week, the Virginia standout pitched in three games including two 7-inning complete games in district play for her Langley High School team.

Norah won both the complete games, including the game on Friday against Langley’s cross-town rival, McLean High School (ranked in the most recent Line Drive Softball Super 70 National High School Rankings, and a team that was undefeated until their loss to Langley).

In the game against McLean, which Langley won 1-0, Norah threw seven innings, struck out 13, walked none, and didn’t let up a run (note: McLean is averaging more than 10 runs a game this season against opponents other than Langley). 

For the week, Norah had 29 K’s in 16 innings pitched allowing nine hits, two walks and no earned runs. Offensively, the talented athlete contributed by hitting .500 with a 1.683 OPS and two home runs.

Also this past week, Norah crossed the 200-strikeout milestone for the season and the 450-strikeout milestone for her career (which has consisted of less than two seasons as she’s only a sophomore).

*** Sophie Sivon, a freshman pitcher and utility player at Perry (Ohio) High, showed her two-way skills as she pitched a seven inning complete game shutout with five strikeouts and was on fire at the plate hitting .571 while driving in three runs.

Sophie carries the most innings in the circle for her team as a freshman and starts at third base when she’s not pitching. She’s a tough out too as she hasn’t struck out in her last 17 games.

She also played varsity basketball for Perry High as a freshman. 

*** Another standout frosh from the Buckeye State is Moira Wonders, a Class of 2028 pitcher for Berkshire High in Burton, Ohio.

Last week she tossed 12 innings with 19 K’s highlighted by a perfect game in which she had 10 strikeouts. It was the first perfect game at Berkshire High in 18 years!

Moira has surpassed 125 K’s in her Freshman season and has also been dangerous at the plate as she’s batting .375 and stroked the walk-off RBI in her perfecto.

She’s also a three-sport letter winner, competing in volleyball and basketball alson with softball.

*** Sophie Klawitter is an impressive student-athlete on and off the field for Peotone (Ill.) High.

An effective pitcher/hitter, the junior with a 4.22 GPA had three complete game wins plus a save in the circle and had 48 K’s with a 0.70 ERA and a .100 batting average against.

She also hit .571 with a .786 on-base percentage to give her now a .423 batting average with a .577 on-base percentage.

For the season, Sophie—who plays club ball with the Beverly Bandits 16U – Otto team—now has 251 strikeouts in 119.2 innings pitched, which is second best in the state for most strikeouts on the season.

Impressively, she is first in Illinois prep ball with four no-hitters and two perfect games.

As mentioned earlier, Sophie—who committed to the University of Louisville last year—is involved in the Special Olympics.  In March 2025, coordinated and led the first Cool School Polar Plunge at her high school to raise awareness and money for Special Olympics athletes.  

The plunge raised nearly $30,000 and far surpassed all goals set for their first-year plunge!

*** Emma Davies, a freshman pitcher/infielder at Ursuline High in Youngstown, Ohio, hit a big milestone this week: 100 strikeouts in just 50 innings so far in her initial varsity season.

She had 23 K’s in 11 innings pitched and also went 5-for-8 at the plate for a .625 batting average as she hit two doubles and scored six runs.

For the season, the talented underclassman has a 1.90 ERA and a batting average against of only .187 as she has 103 strikeouts in 52.1 innings pitched. Offensively, she’s batting .354 with a .404 OBP.

Emma is also leading the team in most runs scored (19) as the leadoff hitter.

The frosh has attended several D1 camps in the winter including ones at the University of Virginia and Princeton University and is being followed on “X by” many Division 1 coaches already.

Emma has a 4.0 GPA and for club play competes for the Newtown Rock National 14U Kiskurno/Garveyteam  and will be playing in several top tournaments this summer including The Sparkler in Colorado, East Coast Showcase in New Jersey, Atlanta Legacy in Georgia, and PGF Nationals in California.

*** Ava Calciano, a senior shortstop at Cape Henlopen (Del.) High, has helped her team start off 15-0 and ranked No. 2 in the state.

Last week in three games, she batted .500 with two home runs, including a walk-off against the No. 4 rated team in the state.

Her OBP was an astronomical .769 thanks to seven walks, three of which were international (yes, that’s respect!).

Her slugging percentage thanks to the homers and a double was 1.667 and her OPS at 2.436.

For the season she’s hitting .526 with a .705 OBP and has 22 walks, a fielding percentage of .960 thanks to just two errors in 50 changes at shortstop.

She has 22 walks and is a perfect 16-for-16 in steals.

Look for the Univ. of Connecticut commit to set several career state records as she has played 70 prep games so far and has 109 runs scored, 71 walks, 96 hits, a .478 batting average, 56 steals and 41 extra base hits.

Ava is also a standout volleyball player and two-year captain who led Cape to its first-ever Henlopen Conference Championship this year.

She was also 1st team All State in softball last year (2024).

*** Sophomore Analia Lopez, a pitcher/outfielder for Rio Mesa High in Oxnard, Calif. pitched a pair of complete game wins and in Ga me 2 recorded her 200^th strikeout of the season.

She gave up just two earned runs (ERA of 1.0) and also batted .500 for the week.

For the season, Analia has pitched all her team’s league games and is 15-4 with 201 K’s in 141.2 innings pitched. She has a 2.27 ERA and is a threat offensively as well as she’s hitting .515 with six home runs, 22 RBIs, 25 runs scored, 13 walks and 11 steals.

The talented California athlete also plays for Team Mexico during the summers and is commendable in that she works with younger players at her local rec league and gives pitching lessons to young players just beginning their pitching journey.  

*** Kyla Hamby, a sophomore shortstop at Alexander Central High in Taylorsville, N.C., went 6-for-7 in two games last week and reached base safely in 7-of-8 at-bats thanks to a walk.

For the week, she batted .857 with a 2.000 slugging percentage, a .875 on-base percentage and scored seven runs and drove in seven more to be named to her Conference Tournament’s All-Tournament Team.

Last season as a freshman, Kyla was all conference, all tournament, the tournament MVP, all district, all state, the District 7 Player of the Year and the 4A West Player of the Year.

This season Kyla leads AC High in almost every offensive category: she is second in home runs with 7 and in 26 games has 51 hits ,14 doubles, 18 walks, 33 RBIs and 35 stolen bases, and has scored 49 runs while hitting for a .600 average. 

Last week she surpassed her 100th career hit as a sophomore.

*** A pair of teammates for the Indiana Magic Gold – Bennett/Goddard squad is tearing up the prep softball scene in the Hoosier State.

Travel ball battery-mates catcher Haley Schatko and pitcher Grace Swedarsky are proving very hard to stop this season.

— Haley is a 2026 catcher at Noblesville (Ind.) High who also can play the corner infield position and in seven games last week, hit .524 with a 1.085 slugging percentage and a 1.660 OPS.

Defensively, she threw out the only runner who attempted to steal on her.

For the 2025 season, the Western Michigan commit is hitting .408 in 16 games with five home runs, 20 RBIs and an OPS of 1.300.

One coach who knows her well states:

“Haley is the kid you want behind the plate or on the corner bases, and especially on your team – she has an infectiously fun attitude along with a killer competitive spirit – be that on the field or in a juggling competition.”

“She has worked incredibly hard to get to where she is now and has a bright future ahead.”

Haley also has an older sister playing college softball and provides catching lessons for other aspiring young softball players in the community. 

— Grace, who goes by the nickname “Swedes,” is a junior pitcher at Hamilton Southeastern in Fishers, Ind. and went 2-0 last week as she pitched 14 innings and struck out 30 while walking just four, giving up only three hits and didn’t allow a run.

The hurler tossed two complete game shutouts this week against strong competition with a WHIP of .500 and a BAA of .062.

A Virginia Tech commit, she is 9-2 on the season with 138 strikeouts in 68 innings pitched and has only allowed seven earned runs all season so far.

Grace has picked up where she left off last high school softball season as the 4A State Champion. 

Says one coach: “Her accolades continue to pile up and she continues to improve her craft

*** You know you must be really, really good when an opposing team whom you recently defeated is nominating you for National Player of the Week consideration!

That’s the case for outstanding senior pitcher Ansley Bennett of Summerville (S.C.) High who as the state’s 2024 Gatorade State Player of the Year.

Last Friday, on Summerville’s “Senior Night,” the Univ. of South Carolina Gamecock signee pitched a perfect game with 17 strikeouts against West Ansley High after topping the same team two nights earlier by a 6-2.

Simply just perfect.

Ansley pitches her first perfect game and her second no hitter of the season!

17 K’s on the night!#GoBigGreen | #VilleMentality pic.twitter.com/qRRHFcABUB

— Summerville Softball (@SummervilleSB) May 3, 2025

It was her second no-hitter of the season as well for Summerville, which jumped out to a 24-0 record this year and was ranked No. 7 in the nation last week in the 2025 Line Drive Softball SUPER 70 High School Team Rankings.

*** Natalia Draghi, a sophomore middle infielder and pitcher for Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Conn., pitched two back-to-back no-hitters with a combined 30 strikeouts and only five walks. 

She added another 7 K’s in a third game that got rained out in the 4th inning.  That gave Natalia a total of 37 strikeouts for the week with a WHIP of .357.

And if that wasn’t enough, she also batted .800 (going 8-10) with three RBIs.

For the 2025 campaign, Natalia has pitched in 13 games with 186 strikeouts in 85 innings, a WHIP of 0.718 and ERA of 0.150 and has helped her cause by batting .604 with 26 hits.

The 2027 grad has even stolen 11 bases in those 13 games.

A strong student-athlete, she has a 3.9 GPA and, in the summer, competes with the Empire State Huskies 16U National team which has a powerful pitching staff so she gets a lot of fielding reps. 

Says one source close to the East Coast standout:

“If you ask her, the position Natalia plays best is MIF, but if you look at her pitching stats, it is a tough call!”

Another fun fact: she earned the nickname “The Dragon” from a team who faced her in the circle during this high school season!

*** Sophomore right-handed pitcher Caroline Baker of San Pedro (Calif.) High pitched 12 innings last week and had 20 K’s against just one walk. Her ERA was a strong 0.75 and her WHIP .705.

The highlight, however, was a 5-inning perfect game in which she struck out the final 13 batters she faced—talk about being in a grove—and had a secondary highlight as she notched her 100^th strikeout of the 2025 campaign.

For the season, the Golden State athlete now has a 1.68 ERA, a 1.21 WHIP with 108 strikeouts and just 17 innings in 79.1 innings pitched.

In another game, against defending L.A. City Section champions Carson High, she struck out seven in a 7-inning win in which Caroline allowed just one run.

Caroline is receiving interest from college programs where she’s attended camps in the Power 4 Conferences.

On the club side, after helping her previous team win the 2024 14U Alliance Super Cup and get to the Tier I finals of the 14U Alliance National Championship, Caroline joined the BSC Bengals Briggs 16U team coached by Bengals founder Roseann Briggs.

*** Jessica Cherms is a senior third baseman/outfielder at El Dorado High in Placentia, Calif., batted .500 with five RBIs last week to put her season average at .431 with 26 RBIs.

Known for her power, speed and great arm, she will be attending the Univ. of Montana next year to play softball.

As one coach put it: “Jessica was recruited to play outfield for college but currently plays a hot third base.”

When not playing prep ball, the 2025 grad competes for the West Coast Lady Dukes under Head Coach Jeff Blanco. 

*** Addison Smith, a sophomore righty pitcher for Jefferson (Rockford, Ill.) High had a strong week in the circle as she pitched 15 innings with 31 strikeouts while only giving up one earned run and a 0.96 batting average against.

For the season, the Midwestern standout has 108 K’s in 69.1 innings pitched and hit a milestone—300 career strikeouts—with half the season to go.

Addison plays for the Chicago-based Elite 16U National team and, an excellent all-around athlete who also plays volleyball, she was her school’s first ever freshman varsity softball player to make All-Conference.

*** And, finally, Ella Tweed, a 2030 right-handed pitcher for Lucy Beckham High in Mount Pleaslant, S.C., is a promising young pitcher to watch on the East Coast.

In a pair of games last week she threw 9 innings and had 22 strikeouts and for the season has 50 K’s in 33 innings pitched.

Ella takes from the same pitching instructor, Rita Lynn Gillman, who has tutored two National Players of the Year in Valerie Cagle and Lacey Waldrop.

The young athlete was a 2025 USA All-American at the 12U level and is already a starting high school varsity pitcher at just 12-years-old.

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2025 Line Drive Softball National High School Player of the Week

• April 29: Gabi Novickas(Chicago, Ill.)
• April 22: Camryn Fisher(Ellington, Conn.)
• April 15: Madi Doty (Grandview, Texas)
• April 8: Ava Phillips (Fullerton, Calif.)
• April 1: Mia Hemenway (Tallahassee, Fla.)
• Mar. 25: Norah Jacques (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.comMa