Facing a great slapper to open a game can be a nightmare for the opposing defense.

Now, imagine facing two of the best at it back-to-back and you get why Athletics Gold Head Coach Janet Olson is excited about her team’s fortunes in 2025.

In April, Line Drive Softball honored outfielder Lindsey Desjarlais as a Top 50 player in the 2029 Line Drive HOT 100 player rankings.

Part of her bio read:

“Offensively, she can place the ball anywhere as a highly skilled slapper and Head Coach Janet Olson explains: “Lindsey’s ability to place the ball from the left side, whether a slap, a bunt or somewhere in between is among the best in the 2029 class.

Today, the Athletics’ top of the lineup is even more dangerous thanks to the pickup of 2030 standout Hayden Smith, a true lefty and speedy outfielder who slaps with power and placement very well depending on the situation.

Hayden and Lindsey both joined the strong A’s team in mid-2023 and immediately made a huge impact. 

“Have a back-to-back duo like this is ridiculous!” laughs Coach Olson.

“For example, we won the Bolts 5 Star Showcase this Fall in Alabama—it was our final tournament of the season—as Lindsey batted .800 and Hayden hit .750, including getting four of our six hits in the championship game which we won 1-0.”

They just didn’t get hot in one weekend; their coach stresses how they were consistently getting on base all year.

“The two accounted for over half my hits and runs scored last year over 100 games and even more this Fall,” Coach Olson says. “They’re literally unstoppable and are a ‘dynamic duo’ that I could talk about for days!”

Expect Smith, who wears #10 on the field and usually hits first in the lineup, to be highly ranked when the Class of 2030 is launched for the first time early next year (look for the Hot 100 Player Rankings schedule for next year to be released in the upcoming week).

Not only is she a great outfielder, Hayden is also a pitcher with excellent movement on her screwball and curve ball.

“We utilize Hayden as a closer because she’s a true gamer,” Coach Olson explains. “Be it bases loaded, no outs, tie game or whatever the situation, she shows up big in the big moments! Hayden is the gritty girl who will do whatever is asked of her, she hates to lose, and craves competition and challenges. She’s a workhorse and pushes herself to be the best whenever she steps onto the field.”

Lindsey, the taller of the two standout outfielders, wears #4 and is also skilled at other positions including second base and catcher.

She ended the Fall of 2024 with the highest batting average on the team, batting .560 in 53 plate appearances with a .585 OBP, and was second in runs scored with 18.

“Lindsey’s highlight of the Fall,” Coach Olson believes, “was batting .667 at the USSSA Fall World Series and leading the team offensively to a 5th place finish. She ended our huge bracket win going 3-for-3 with three RBI’s.”

“Lindsey is an amazing teammate,” the A’s coach adds, “and is a huge cheerleader for all of her teammates. She is the mom of the team and is every teammate’s biggest cheerleader while working hard including carrying all the equipment, coming early and staying late.

At the plate, the hitter’s specialties include bunting and placement slapping, but she is working on her power slap as well.

“Lindsey is an extremely smart and analytical player, and you can see her mind working as she surveys the field before stepping in the box. She has scenarios and game plans mapped out in her head before each pitch.”

Together, the two slappers atop the A’s line-up accounted for half of the team’s hits in the Fall and one-third of the team’s total runs, making them the perfect 1-2 leadoff punch to get the Athletics Gold team offense rolling.

This Fall season, the duo continued their offensive tag-team batting .562 and .500 in 26 games mostly against older 2010 teams and nationally ranked 2011 teams.

Coach Olson stresses that the girls “are similar in many ways in that they’re both very analytical and very supportive of one another, too.

“They feed off each other, but they’re also extremely competitive with one another! It is 100 percent the definition of ‘healthy competition.’”

Hayden and Lindsey, however, didn’t start off the year being No’s 1 and 2 in the lineup, when they first played together.

“At the beginning of last fall season (2023), I separated them at opposite ends of the line-up,” their club coach recalls.”

“I was against having back-to-back lefties and they were both batting about .500. Then, I tried batting them first and second in one game and they both batted 1.000, so I kept with the back-to-back method.”

The two teammates hit .477 and 483 for the year, which consisted of 100 games over fall and spring against some of the best competition in the Southeast. 

“Not only do they feed off of each other,” Coach Olson believes, “but they act as a spark for the rest of the team.”

“Hayden leads off with a choppy slap in the gap or a line drive to the outfield and Lindsey bunts her way on. We thus have two runners on with no outs for our No’s 3, 4 and 5 hitters which puts us on the board in the first inning almost every game we play.”

“When Hayden and Lindsey get on, the energy of team spikes and the confidence trickles down throughout the rest of the lineup!”

It looks to be a dream one-two leadoff punch for years to come in the Athletics program, but the girls’ winning ways are not just limited to their play between the lines.

“Both girls are the perfect teammates,” Coach Olson concludes, “with amazing and supportive families. Hayden and Lindsey are an absolute dream to coach.”

— Brentt Eads/Line Drive Softball