We have a lot of high school news including record-setting performances along with some recruiting news!

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STAT STARS

*** Brittany Finney from Bishop Carroll High in Wichita, Kan. already had an amazing high school career heading into her senior season this spring.

A Full Count Softball 2014 All-American and USA Today pre-season All-American after going 12-0 as a pitcher last year with a .553 batting average, Brittany led her team to its fourth straight state title.

The Oklahoma commit made history yesterday when she set the Kansas high school state record with her 26^th home run in her career.

The senior has played in 76 games so far and still has 14 regular season games left and as many as five in the post-season. Brittany hit five homers her freshman year, four as a sophomore, 12 last year and has five so far in her first six games.

It’s important to note that Kansas limits teams to only 20 regular season games.

What’s interesting is last year, Brittany didn’t hit a home run in her first dozen games, but had an explosive finish, clubbing all of her 12 in the final 13 games.

Yesterday, she had a monster game hitting three home runs and going 6-for-6 with a double and two singles in addition to round-trippers.

Her first shot was a first pitch line drive directly over the center field fence. Her second at bat she clocked a 3-0 pitch to right and her final home run of the day was on an 0-2 pitch that she crushed to right center.

The pitcher, who plays for the Explosion club team in Southern Calif., did OK in the circle as well striking out 12 in the four-inning run rule game although she did walk in a run, her first allowed run of the season.

From a state that has produced great players like current College Player of the Year candidates such as Alex Hugo of Georgia and Kelsey Stewart of Florida, it’s quite an amazing individual accomplishment…

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Here are some more great high school performances and accomplishments:

— Another preseason All-American pitcher, Tara Trainer of nationally ranked Lebanon (Ohio) High, has started the year off with a ban, throwing 19 K’s in a no-hitter last week.

She also had two doubles and drive in four RBI.

Like many teams in the Midwest and East, rain has postponed some games, but through her first two games Tara had 33 K’s in 14 innings for a 2-0 record and is 6-for-8 at the plate with four doubles.

— IF/OF Cayla Kessinger of Saugus (Calif.) and a Missouri commit is on fire the last week. She hit .682 in five games at the Michelle Carew Classic and this week went 3-for-6 in a double-header of non-league games.

All three of her hits were home runs and she had five RBI on the day. Good day at the office…

— Kelsey Oh, the outstanding sophomore pitcher committed to Boston College, plays for the preseason No. 1 ranked team in New Jersey, and she is having a great spring.

She has pitched 29 innings so far and has 63 K’s with only nine hits allowed. Despite allowing zero earned runs, she is 4-1 but she’s the type of pitcher you’d want in a game that counts.

On Wednesday she had 14 strikeouts in a five-inning no-hitter.

Also, a freshman to watch on the team is infielder Sarah Tafett who has gone 10-for-18 with 10 RBI and six extra base hits with zero errors in the field so far.

— Elissa Brown, a 2016 infielder from Elmore Co. High in Eclectic, Ala., has had a great first half of the season.

The Alabama commit is hitting .543 with an on-base percentage of .619 with 11 RBI and 32 steals in 25 games played.

Last year as a sophomore she had 62 steals in 38 games.

— Pat Moore, the talented 2017 pitcher from Oregon committed to DePaul who we profiled as a Rising Star in November, had a weird game for her South Medford team.

The lefty pitched Tuesday against Grants Pass (11-0) and threw a no-hitter with 12 strikeouts, so you’d expect a win, right? Well, Pat and her team lost 301 as she walked several batters in an Oregon rainstorm and the ump wouldn’t stop for a rain break!

Still, her team is 10-1 her ERA is a sterling 0.66 and she has 148 strikeouts in 74 innings.

— Isabella Curtin, a 2018 centerfielder/shortstop for James Madison Memorial out of Madison, Wisc. who was in the “2018 Next In (No’s. 101-200)” has had a great start to her varsity career.

Hitting lead-off, she leads her team in batting average (.550), runs (8), steals (6), hits (11) and on-base percentage (.609).

Her team has 10 seniors and two juniors; she’s only one of two freshmen on the team but is already making a big impact.

Isabella is getting recruiting interest from Wisconsin, Missouri, Wisconsin-Green Bay and Evansville according to her father, Mike.

— Finally, one player who’s not a Stat Star yet because of bad weather, but one who should shine soon is 2019 Rising Star Bailey Morris of Team Glory – Siedel 14U out of Virginia who we profiled in February.

She writes, “Just wanted to let you know I was invited to the OnDeck Softball’s 2015 Colorado National Jamboree.  I’m very honored to be invited and excited to be recognized as one of the top players in my class. Hopefully we will get to play this next weekend as our first two tournaments have been cancelled because of rain!”

EVENT NEWS:

*** In case you missed the news this week, the PGF Nationals set for this summer has added another age division: 10U.

Here’s the announcement sent from the Huntington Beach, Calif. headquarters:

“We did it!! The PGF 10U Championship is finally going to happen!!!

Yes, and it all starts on July 25th, 2015! This is our Inaugural PGF National Championship Event for the 10U Division and, like always, our Inaugural events are by invite only, no need to qualify.

If you would like to be considered for an invitation, contact Bret Denio bret.denio@pgf-mail.com or Gary Haning gary.haning@pgf-mail.com at your earliest convenience as there is limited space and it will fill up fast.

We will be accepting between 24 to 32 teams depending on the demand. Make sure you share this with your 10U Division and lets rock Southern California as we welcome this younger division to the most competitive and funnest National Championship of the year.”

VERBALS:

*** Morgan Overaitis, a 2018 infielder and utility player for the Beverly Bandits DeMarini 14U team, has committed to Michigan.

She’s a lefty hitter who attends Plymouth Salem High in Canton, Mich. and primarily plays shortstop for the DeMarini team.

Morgan also had an offer from Louisville and had visited those two schools as well as Tennessee and Michigan State. The freshman also had interest from Oregon, Washington, Northwestern, Penn State, Syracuse, Arizona State, South Carolina and Alabama.

The Michigan standout was at Banditfest in January and shined there and is so dedicated to her travel team she travels 3.5 hours to practice.

One final note: Morgan was one player overlooked for the 2018 Hot 100; look for her to be on the list when it’s updated later this year.

*** We had our first 2018 Hot 100 “uncommitted” player we had to change to her school of choice: pitcher Lauren Dvorak of Power Surge Gold – Berndes

Head Coach Scott Berndes says of Lauren, “She went to Northwestern and another school last weekend and loved Northwestern, the softball and the academics as she wants to be a doctor.”

“Lauren is my second player to Northwestern as Lauren joins Summer Hargett (a 2017 catcher/first baseman).

The freshman had played with the OC Batbusters prior to joining the San Diego club recently. She throws in the 62-64 mph range and has defeated several elite club teams in her age division.

*** Sydney Young, a 2016 outfielder for the Illinois Chill, has committed to Bradley.

Says Illinois Chill head coach Gerry Quinn: “Sydney is a left handed hitting outfielder who features excellent speed as the center piece of her offensive production.”

“She has spent the last nine months building herself up as a hitter to compliment her short game skills and become more of a full field threat that can spread the defense.

Sydney is off to an outstanding start in her high school season, hitting well over .500 with 20 stolen bases.”

*** More verbals:

— P Katelyn Buis (Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, 2017)… plays for Indy Dreams-Bell

According to her father, Kevin, “Katelyn committing in January and she feels Coach Montgomery can help bring the best out of her as a pitcher. She said as soon as went on the visit she felt it was the best place for her.”

— P Vanessa Bradford (Alabama State, 2016)… plays for Firecrackers Georgia – Johnson 16U and wrote us yesterday to say she just committed on Wednesday.

— OF Abigail White (Lipscomb, 2016)… plays for Texas Blaze Gold

— P/1B Braelyn Cooper (Liberty, 2018)… plays for Lady Lightning Gold National