Softball gave us some pretty amazing stories in 2015 — check back to see our Top 10 Stories and our Top 15 Club Stories of the Year— and we're looking into our crystal ball and giving you a heads up on what you can expect to see in 2016. From recruiting to college to the Olympics, we're making some bold predictions.

1. Softball will be voted back in the 2020 Olympics

Let’s start with an easy one here. All signs point to yes for softball being reinstated as an Olympic sport for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The joint softball/baseball bid has been the overwhelming favorite since Tokyo officials provided the IOC with a list of sports for addition to the official Olympic program. Softball has one final vote to secure at the Rio games this summer when the IOC will officially decided which, if any, sports are added to the 2020 program.

Fingers crossed because let’s face it, softball needs this. Removal as an Olympic sport has been the worst thing that could’ve happened to the sport. Loss of status as an Olympic sport equals loss of funding from the USOC. Loss of funding for any sport, let alone a women’s sport, is disastrous for its growth and popularity. Softball became nearly irrelevant on the national stage, and in the states the sport has become a fragmented mess from club softball up to the pros/international teams all trying to get their share of the now-limited pot. Reinstatement will bring funding back to the sport and hopefully a more unified community.

2. USA will host another tryout after August and many more pro players will accept the invitation.

Where was Monica Abbott? Why was Lauren Haeger not at the USA selection camp? Why did Shelby Pendley not accept her invitation? We heard all of these questions and more as the USA Selection Camp was approaching and some of the best players in the game weren’t there.

Despite the disappointment that many of the greats turned down their invite, it’s refreshing to see Team USA and the NPF finally working together. The NPF expansion Scrap Yard Dawgs signed three players from Team USA for the 2016 season and for the first time ever, the Dallas Charge and Scrap Yard Dawgs will play exhibition games this summer against Team USA.

Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come because if softball makes it back into the Olympics, fielding a team of the absolute best 18 players will require a cooperative effort between USA, NCAA, and NPF softball.

3. The NPF continues its expansion

The NPF began its league in 2004 with six teams and peaked in 2006 with seven teams before dropping to four in 2010. The league remained at four teams for five years until it added the Dallas Charge as an expansion team for the 2015 season. The NPF then announced at the end of 2015 that it would add another expansion team, the Scrap Yard Dawgs, for the 2016 season.

Expansion seems to be at the forefront of Cheri Kempf’s mind, so the addition of a seventh team for the 2017 season with the announcement coming sometime this year doesn’t seem too far fetched.

4. The SEC will continue its dominance

2015 was the year of the SEC with five of the eight teams in the WCWS coming from the rising power conference. The previous year the SEC only sent three teams to OKC and in 2013 the a mere two teams represented the SEC at the WCWS.

FloSoftball’s Top 25 Preseason Ranking puts six SEC teams in OKC this year— LSU, Alabama, Florida, Auburn, Tennessee, and Georgia. All hail the SEC.

5. Carley Hoover, Kelsey Stewart, and Cheridan Hawkins will be the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Top 3 Finalists

This one was by far the hardest on our list. With so many talented players, it's nearly impossible to predict who will be top 26 finalists, let alone the top three. So we did some digging and tried to use numbers to give us some guidance. 

Since 2002 when the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award began, 14 winners have been crowned and wait for it....12 of those have been pitchers! Only two players who weren't pitchers have ever won, the inaugural winner UCLA's catcher Stacey Nuveman and Stanford's infielder Ashley Hansen in 2011. Texas' Cat Osterman is the only three-time winner, and Washington's Danielle Lawrie and Oklahoma's Keilani Ricketts have both won twice. 

So history makes Kelsey Stewart unlikely, but IF she breaks the career hits record AND Florida three-peats, I think we'll see a fielder win it. 

The legendary Cat Osterman is the only underclassmen to ever win the award, so that make LSU's Carley Hoover unlikely. But, we pulled some career stats on some of the best pitchers in college right now, and their sophomore campaigns tended to be one of their best. Plus, if LSU wins the title (like we predict) Hoover will likely play a large role in the Tiger's championship.

History and statistics make Cheridan Hawkins the favorite. She is an upperclassman pitcher who made the Top 3 finalists last season. So many possibilities, but we're going big or going home with these three.

6. Florida’s Kelsey Stewart breaks the career hits record.

Kelsey Stewart is a verifiable badass. She’s reigning SEC Player of the Year, a two-time NFCA First Team All-American, a four-time member of Team USA, a defensive maverick with behind-the-back plays, and a career .400+ hitter.

Going into her senior season, Stewart has 293 career hits. She hit 90 her freshman year, 102 her sophomore campaign, and 101 last season. The standing career hits record belongs to former Arizona Wildcat Alison McCutcheon with 405. If Stewart is to break that, she needs 113 hits this season. It’s a stretch, but if Florida is to three-peat this year, they’re going to need this level of production from their senior leader.

7. Louisiana-Lafayette’s Lexi Elkins breaks single season home run record.

Since we’re talking records, we absolutely must look at the Ragin' Cajun’s senior catcher Lexi Elkins. Elkins is an offensive juggernaut, with 157 RBIs and a .945 career slugging percentage in two seasons with the Ragin' Cajuns.

She blasted 24 home runs in 2014, then upped the ante last season with 32, a mere five off the current record set by Arizona’s Laura Espinoza in 1995. She led the NCAA last season in dingers, and she’ll do it again this year while breaking the single season home run record.

8. A 2021 player will commit

Early recruitment — bring it up then sit back and listen to the passionate debate among coaches, parents, and players on this hot-button topic. No matter your opinions on 14-year-olds choosing their colleges one thing is for sure, early recruitment is not going away.

Eight 2020s verbally committed to universities during the months of November and December alone! With so many 2020s pulling the trigger, it’s only a matter of time until a 2021 commits this year.

9. ASA/USA will continue to push into club softball

USA softball has already made three bold moves to begin establishing themselves in the club world. Last summer they launched their 18U Junior Olympic Cup— complete with a $100,000 pot— and placed it on the same weekend as PGF’s 18U National Championship, essentially forcing the best teams to choose between the two.

In December of 2015 USA revealed that it would use its own JO Cup to identify players for the Junior National team, then followed that announcement up a week later with the announcement that it will be adding a 16U Junior Olympic Cup to this summer’s lineup. It seems as though there’s a pattern here and we should expect a 14U JO Cup announced sooner rather than later.

10. PGF’s Inaugural All-American Game will spawn a successful series of High School All-Star Games

A couple of years ago, Under Armor produced a high school All-Star Game at the Wide World of Sport Complex in Orlando, Florida. Sadly, it never took hold. PGF is trying it again this year and theirs will be a success, and here’s why— the PGF’s event is tied into its 18U National Championship weekend.

That’s right, PGF has effectively created the hottest ticket in SoCal softball this July when it will combine a National High School All-American game with one of the most preeminent club nationals in the country. Expect PGF to build off this year’s success.