Pictured: Lily Bergstrand of Impact Cayol National 18U – Richard is a 2026 outfielder and speedy lefty slapper from Prosper, Texas who’ll head north to play for the Spartans in the Big Ten.

This is Brentt Eads of Line Drive Media…when I first started in sports media, I worked primarily in football and boys basketball recruiting.

It was (and still is) common for a recruit in those sports to “decommit,” i.e. give a verbal commitment to a university or college but then have a change of mind, back out of the original commit and eventually end up somewhere else.

It’s a process I haven’t seen too much in softball, but this week there are some examples of players changing their plans for a variety reasons.

Perhaps it’s a trickle-down effect from the Transfer Portal, where a college player goes to another program and the new school where the high school player who had committed may no longer need a younger player so they pull the offer or the recruit may see there’s more competition than previously expected and wants to look elsewhere for a better fit.

Along those lines, it could be simply that the prospect has received what she, her family and perhaps her coaches feel is a better fit, perhaps financially or perhaps for the opportunity to play at a higher level of competition.

Interestingly, this week we’ve had some of these moves from incoming seniors:

*** Tegan Schuler, a 2027 outfielder with Illinois Chill – Quinn, had originally committed to Michigan State last September before announcing this week that she’ll be signing with North Florida now:

*** Harlie Reich, a 2027 outfielder with Tri-State Thunder Gold, who had originally committed to Kent State in the Mid-American Conference (MA), posted last week that “Due to circumstances outside of my control I will be reopening my recruitment process and I am looking for a new home to continue my academic and athletic career.”

*** Johanna Galvan, a 2027 pitcher and infielder with Athletics Gold – Tamborra, had originally committed to Minnesota but announced on June 8 that: “After careful consideration I want to open back up my recruiting…”

Perhaps these are just random changes that are coincidentally happening at the same time, but it will be interesting to see if this becomes a bigger trend in the future.

eel free to email any commit info to: Brentt.Eads@LineDriveMedia.com.

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Here are a few of our recent additions who shared their happy commit news via social media…

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If you know of a commit AT ANY LEVEL, email Brentt.Eads@LineDriveMedia.com to get the verbal added to our Master Commit Spreadsheet

NOTE: We publish the updated list weekly–every Sunday.

• Sundays Only (through Sept. 1): check out our updates on the latest verbals since the previous update + our “master list” of all those who have committed since Sept. 1 in primarily the 2027 & 2026 classes.