We wrap up extensive look at the updated 2027 Line Drive HOT 100 player rankings for now by spotlighting the No. 1 ranked prospect, Kaylee Hodges.

This class will also be updated again next year so know that there will be significant changes still to come in the future.

We counted down over a two-week period each range of 10 spots… here are the links to each day’s posting: 

• #s 100-91 (Aug. 25, 2025)
• #s 90-81 (Aug. 26, 2025)
• #s 80-71 (Aug. 27, 2025)
• #s 70-61 (Aug. 28, 2025)
• #s 60-51 (Aug. 29, 2025)
• #s 50-41 (Sept. 1, 2025)
• #s 40-31 (Sept. 2, 2025)
• #s 30-21 (Sept. 3, 2025)
• #s 20-11 (Sept. 4, 2025)
• #s 10-1 (Sept. 5, 2025)

Line Drive Softball also profiled:

• Prospects #’s 101-Plus (On the Bubble)
• 2027 Class – Position Rankings
• 2027 Class – Regional Rankings

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Labor Day… the holiday designed to help us rest from our regular work life and this year it fell on Monday, Sept. 1^st.

For many, it was a chance to get some time off from work or school, a chance to rest for a bit or do something fun outside the regular routine of life.

For Kaylee Hodges, announced on Friday, September 5 as the Line Drive Softball No. 1 prospect in the Class of 2027, Labor Day was anything but a day off.

For the outstanding high school junior at Matoaca High in Chesterfield, Va., Sept. 1^st was a busy day of answering phone calls and talking to college coaches who would love to bring her into their program.

That Monday kicked off the first day that college coaches could directly contact prospective recruits and Kaylee’s cell phone was burning up with calls from coaches at—would you believe—37 different softball schools?

The list of the universities that reached out ranged from ones close to home—the University of Virginia and James Madison, for example in her home state, to those on the other side of the country like Stanford and Loyola Marymount in Calif.

… and everywhere in between.

In the middle of the country, from the Wisconsin Badgers to the Texas Longhorns; in the Sunshine State alone, Florida, Florida State and Florida Atlantic were each represented.

Besides the Gators and the Longhorns, other SEC schools that made contact included LSU, Tennessee, Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, Ole Miss and Arkansas.

Even Ivy League schools such as Harvard and Brown reached out to appeal to the student-athlete with a 4.5 GPA.

Here’s the complete list in no particular order: 

• Purdue
• Georgia
• Tennessee
• Oklahoma state
• Indiana
• North Carolina
• South Carolina
• Georgia State
• Kansas
• Texas
• North Carolina State
• Clemson
• Indiana State
• Harvard
• Florida
• Alabama
• Florida State
• Wisconsin
• Georgia Tech
• Utah
• Ole Miss
• Cal
• Missouri
• LSU
• Duke
• Ohio State
• Auburn
• Arkansas
• Stanford
• Virginia
• Florida Atlantic
• Baylor
• Penn State
• Brown
• Loyola Marymount University
• Georgia Southern
• James Madison

The phone calls began at midnight from the early birds trying to show how dedicated they are in making Kaylee a recruiting priority.

After a few conversations, Kaylee says she went to sleep at 2 am until the calls began once again, from 10 am to 8 pm. The following day, Tuesday, Sept. 2^nd, was a school day so the college coaches waited until she was home—at 3:30 pm—and then kept her phone busy until 8:30 pm that night.

So how many of those three dozen interested coaches have offered? Kaylee admits she’s not quite sure.

“I haven’t had time to count the offers,” she admits. “I had deleted all my contacts before Sept. 1 and now they’ve filled up again. I’m just trying to keep up!”

Was it annoying and tedious to be tied to her cell phone for two days? Not at all, she replies.

“It’s really fun for me to see this as a positive and great opportunity to open a new journey up,” Kaylee explains.

“I’m a people person and like to talk to others so I enjoyed talking to all the coaches interested in me. I don’t stress over things I can’t control, and it was nice knowing so many appreciate what I can do.”

The stats and honors certainly attest to what she’s so highly coveted.

Earlier this year, Kaylee was named the 2025 Virginia Gatorade Player of the Year – mind you, this after only her high school sophomore season – and she shined equally impressively on both the prep and travel ball circuits.

For the Matoaca (Va.) High Warriors, Kaylee was a two-way threat striking out 256 in 105 innings (2.43 K’s per stanza) with a microscopic 0.27 ERA while hitting .476 and producing a .623 on-base percentage.

In club action, she averaged 1.25 K’s per inning with a total of 171 strikeouts in 137 innings pitched to go with a 0.86 ERA.

So what makes this current junior from Chesterfield, Va., the No. 1 player in her class?

In the circle, she can spin the ball effectively in all quadrants and has a riseball that is her knockout pitch.

“It’s the easiest pitch for me (to throw),” Kaylee adds.

The 2027 phenom began playing softball at the tender age of 6 years old after some pleasant early memories throwing the whiffle ball at age 3 with her Papa (grandfather).

“He loved throwing with me and that’s where I first got my love for the game—from my family.”

Her father was also actively involved in the early years for Kaylee and she says one of her earliest memories was a comical episode where she was playing shortstop at 8U but had a first baseman who wasn’t also trustworthy in catching tosses her way.

Kaylee’s Dad was her coach and told her to roll the ball to first when she fielded a grounder in the 6-hole… that’s exactly what she did: she rolled the ball to her first baseman.

Kaylee went through all the early throwing experiences of coach pitching, underhand toss and soft toss and then at 10U she began to pitch full-time.

At 12U she added a drop ball to her repertoire and by 14U, the athlete says “something clicked” as she started to fine-tune her rise and curve with the ability to spot the ball on and off the plate.

“I remember thinking, ‘Dang, I really enjoy this!’ and ever since then, I haven’t had to think too much. I’ve had success with the drop ball low and out and the rise ball in on the hands.”

It also helped that she’s had some of the top pitching coaches around, first with Lacey Waldrop, the former Florida State All-American and current Univ. of Houston assistant coach, and then Rick Pauley, a former Men’s Fastpitch ASA All American who has been a pitching coach at the pro level in the NPF.

Today, she also works with Coach Jordan Stevens in the Team NC program who she credits for helping her get to where she is today.

“I generally think they’re the best people ever,” she begins.

“I’m biased, but I think Coach Pauley and Coach Stevens are two of the best pitching coaches around. Coach Rick has taught me all that I know, and Coach Jordon takes info from Coach Rick and incorporates it into my training so both coaches know everything I do.”

Kaylee says there are two off-the-field activities she’s also involved in that she believes have helped her become the softball player she is today.

First, she’s a black belt in Taekwondo and is so advanced that she helps teach younger students working on their white and blue belts.

“Taekwondo,” she explains, “has taught me discipline, how to be a leader and to be honest in all your work. If you cheat, then you’re cheating yourself.”

The other activity is music.

“I play the piano, a lot of people don’t know that,” Kaylee continues. “It’s helped me in sports with my finger dexterity, and it also works with my rhythm and timing.”

There are two other components that help make the East Coast athlete one of the best in her sport.

Along with her natural athleticism comes Kaylee’s intelligence and smarts.

She has a 4.5 GPA on a 4.0 scale thanks to taking four college courses including dual enrollment Business Management and Pre-Calc along with AP Language and Composition plus Environmental Science.

For those keeping score at home, that’s seven classes with two dual enrollments and two Advanced Placement ones.

Impressive.

Then, there’s the internal drive and competitiveness that can’t be taught but is crucial in driving the best towards greatness.

“Honestly,” Kaylee reveals, “I think it’s in me to where I have a burning desire to succeed, but I’m not afraid to fail to get better. I believe success is not possible without failure and that’s OK: you fail until you succeed, and you get better as you go.”

“I’m very competitive and that drive to excel is my whole fight.”

“My motto is ‘Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.’ Yes, you can have all the talent in the world, but you have to have the drive to get it and I generally want to push myself to do what it takes to get to the next levels of success.”

Today, Kaylee is working hard on a team she loves, Team NC, coached by Brian Bowman. The standout pitcher/hitter says that she’s known the coach, his staff and players for “one-third of my life and Brian’s family feels like family to me.”

One of the Virginia native’s low points in her career came when she had left Team NC for a while and then, on top of that, hurt her back. The injury forced her to the dugout for four months and she admits she felt lost.

“I went to another team where I didn’t know anyone,” she recalls, “and I then realized what I had with Team NC. We are like a family in that we get along and are supportive of each other, sharing our love and having it reciprocated back.”

Family is huge for Kaylee in multiple ways.

Along with her great love and respect for her parents, she has an older sister who plays soccer and says she “has taught me in life to change the way you look at things and the things you look at will change.”  

Kaylee has a large extended family and, not only do her parents come to every single game, she also has involved family across the country.

“At Alliance (Nationals) in Indiana this year I had 30 people come out and support me,” Kaylee recalls.

“I had family from Ohio and Indiana come out to watch and cheer me including uncles, cousins, grandparents… everyone came out! We even had friends of family—people I haven’t seen since I was young—come out to support me.”

Not surprisingly, as Kaylee looks closely at what she wants in her college softball experience, family-like close connections will be vital to what she seeks.

“I’m looking for a family environment and want to be close to my teammates and coaches as I’ll be with them the majority of the time.”

The athlete’s faith is also important in her life and something she looks to build upon and factor in her decisions.

“As I got closer to Him,” she says of her relationship with God, “I saw my abilities become more focused and I became more driven. My faith helps me appreciate and love what I do in life.”

She says her favorite Bible verse is Matthew 19:26 which proclaims: “… with God all things are possible.”

For the teenager who lives in Chesterfield, Va., just minutes from farmland and small-town living, being recognized as a great athlete with dozens of college coaches beating down her door (if only figuratively through cell calls, texts and emails) is great and exciting, but it’s not, she stresses, the most important thing in life.

“Wherever I go,” Kaylee concludes, “I want to go in as a good person and come out as a better one—better athletically and academically, yes—but, most importantly, I want to come out as a good human being.”

— Brentt Eads/Line Drive Softball