Hot 100 2020s are committing every week it seems like and FloSoftball has the latest information on recruiting news.

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THIS WEEKLY WILL BE WEARING GREEN, NOT ORANGE!

Yes, let's get the obvious out of the way: Regan Weekly is the granddaughter of Tennessee Vols head coach Ralph Weekly and daughter of Marc Weekly, a successful club coach who helped the Birmingham Thunderbolts-Dorsett/Weekly team last year and is now assisting with Regan's new team, Tennessee Fury 16U.

Regan played with the Bolts last year and was listed as the No. 73 player in the 2019 Hot 100.  She's versatile and can play infielder and outfielder with good speed and range on defense.

She had ACC, Big Ten and, yes, SEC interest including the Vols, but she is an excellent student-athlete and chose Dartmouth in the Ivy League.

"Both my grandfather and my dad have always emphasized two things to me and all of my teammates when choosing a college: One, will I get a great education? And two, will I get to play?" 

For me, both of these factors helped affirm my decision to choose Dartmouth.  I am going to play, not just wear a jersey.  Earning a degree from Dartmouth will prepare me for life with the added benefit of playing high level softball under Coach (Shannon) Doepking." ​Coach Doepking and Regan pictured.

Her father says what helped Regan was she had a vision of looking at life after softball is completed.

"The recruiting process has been interesting," Marc Weekly begins. "I am typically on the other side so sharing this experience with my daughter has been very exciting.  I continue to have such enormous respect for all the college coaches who travel the country with limited days trying to nail down the next player for their program."

"One of the many things I learned from my Dad was to 'shrink the process and make sure you recruit the schools as well.'  I think many parents and players can become so focused on 'D-1 or no one' that they may fail to evaluate the overall experience that different schools offer."

"One day every player's collegiate athletic career will end, and where she goes from there will be determined by what she prepared for during college.  So, we wanted to make sure the process was a complete evaluation of all aspects of the schools Regan looked at.  It's easy to go with the first coach and school that show you love, but that may not always the best overall choice for the individual." Marc Weekly said.

"We are so very honored by and thankful to the schools who recruited Regan -- Duke, South Carolina, Furman, Toledo and of course Tennessee.  All of these coaches showed great integrity and were honest throughout the entire process."  
 
Another thing that helped: multiple trips to her future university.

"On Regan's fourth college visit at Dartmouth, she fell in love with the campus, the school, and the softball program," continues her father. "Regan has excelled academically and she shared the importance of a rigorous academic program with all coaches throughout the whole process."

"Coaches Doepking and Fichtner made a strong impression on Regan during her visit.  The fact that Dartmouth is on the national scene in softball was a selling point as well.  Dartmouth's facilities are amazing and they just broke ground on another indoor training facility which the softball program will use."

2020 HOT 100 PLAYERS COMMITTING QUICKLY!

As we knew would happen, after launching the 2020 Hot 100, a slew of freshmen players on the list have committed over few weeks……

--- Grace Guzman, ranked No. 23 in the Hot 100, was playing for Sorcerer Gold and starting in the outfield as an eighth grader.  Think about that, she was dominating with players 4-5 years older than herself.

She and several Sorcerer players moved to Bryan Merrida's All American Sports team when Pete Aguayo retired and on Sunday she helped the NorCal team win the PGF Ultimate Challenge.

Grace is a lefty slapper with speed and she committed to Michigan a few weeks ago as the Wolverines showed they can continue to come to the West Coast and get elite talent (Sierra Romero anyone?)…



--- Hayden Brown, an outstanding catcher for Ed Naudin's Texas Glory team and the No. 31 player in the Hot 100, was the very first player to commit after we came out with the 2020 Hot 100.

She choose LSU and her father Courtney detailed why she's going to be playing for Beth Torina's Tigers in a few years:

"Hayden started talking to the LSU coaches last year after the fall season," the athlete's mom says, "She immediately hit it off with Coach Dobson during regular phone calls.  They invited Hayden to their winter camp and she loved it right away."

"There wasn't much time for getting to know each other at camp so they kept up with the phone calls and she returned for a visit in March.  She had been on several visits to other schools by this point and was getting a feel for what would be a fit for her."

"She was lucky enough to attend the third game of the Alabama LSU series during her unofficial visit in the spring.  The sold-out crowd at Tiger Park during a game against Alabama is an experience that is pretty tough to top!"

Hayden got a lot of attention during the summer, especially after Glory Naudin placed 5th in IDT.  

Courtney Brown said, "Everyone on the team had schools following them and they were playing top competition.  Colorado was big for the whole team."

By then, the SEC school was showing Hayden a lot of love at almost every event.

"A coach from LSU was at almost every game from Top Gun in Kansas City to their last game at PGF," Courtney continues. "She took a couple of visits this fall with plans to go visit some more big name schools.  She ended up canceling the rest of her visits when she went back to LSU."

"She told us, 'This is it… this is where I want to be, 100 percent!'"

Hayden talked with her coach, Ed Naudin and her parents and after she got the go-ahead from everyone she told Coach Torina.

"Coach Torina clapped, cheered and hugged everyone," recalls Hayden's mom. "Coach Leftwich, Coach Dobson and Quin Duhon were all excited and welcoming and that made the experience even more special and reassured her that LSU was 'The One!'"

"After the first visit she loved and after the third visit it felt like home.   The coaches are awesome, the facilities are top notch and she loves the Louisiana hospitality.  She can't wait to go back."

--- Aslinn Spradlin, a middle infielder with the Atlanta Premier 02 -- Ryman team and #43 player in the Hot 100, committed to Georgia State this week.

The thing we remember most about her is she's a lead-off hitter who bats over .500 but also led the Premier last year in RBI so she's a big-time run-producer too.

And she can go on hot streaks at the plate like few others: in her last two tournaments this year Aslinn went 11 for 18 and 4 for 6.

She could have gone to every major college as she heard from over 85 universities including most of the SEC and ACC, but the Peach State standout wants to stay close to home and Georgia State is the big winner.

--- Staying in Georgia, Sydney Chambley is a versatile outfielder who also pitches and shines for the Atlanta Vipers-Jiles team.

Ranked No. 89 in the Hot 100, she committed last week to Georgia where she will use her triple threat skills as a speedy lefty slapper with power.

"Georgia started following Sydney through the summer showcases this year including Colorado and the larger local tournaments," her father Todd told FloSoftball this week.

"Sydney visited UGA in July and really fell in love with everything about the school and softball program.  She left that visit really wanting to commit to UGA.  I told her that she needed to spend time praying about UGA specifically and also live with that decision for a few months to make sure she wasn't just coming off the high of a visit."
 
"As the weeks went by, she spoke to coach Tony (Baldwin) and Lou (Harris-Champer) as well as others that had attended UGA and her interest in the program continued to grow.  In particular, UGA checked both boxes that had become important to her which are an opportunity to play close to home and knowing she would have an opportunity to play in the College World Series."
 
"As she moved closer to making a decision, I asked her to wait and meet some of the players that she would actually play with since the players are the ones that will have the biggest impact on her college experience.  The opportunity to meet other commits came the weekend of the big UGA/Tennessee football rivalry game."

"Georgia had several of their commits in for the game. Sydney loved her time with the girls as well as the opportunity to see Coach Tony and Lou again in person.  She was so excited and ready to commit that she grabbed Coach Tony during halftime to let him know."

"She still hasn't stopped talking about her excitement for the program. That decision cost me a lot of money at the UGA school bookstore for gear!"

--- Claire Davidson, a pitcher and power hitter with the Vienna Stars 14U National Team and No. 72 ranked player in the Hot 100, just committed this week to Auburn.

Says her father, Daryl: "It was understandably a big day for Claire.  She was offered last December (as an 8th grader) but took the summer to simply let the recruiting process evolve and to make sure that her first instinct and Auburn's amazing atmosphere was where she really wanted to be.  For her, it was a long nine months with a lot of additional exposure and interest but well worth the wait!"

Claire was very impressive at PGF Nationals where she hit .462 while compiling a 0.45 ERA.  A lefty hurler, she led the Stars to a Top 10 finish at PGF Platinum Nationals and in the circle throws in the low 60's with accuracy and movement.

She also had interest from Oklahoma, Florida State, Duke and Penn State.

FROM COLORADO TO WASHINGTON TO CALI TO MISSISSIPPI

One of our favorite up and coming 2020s is pitcher Landyn Bruce who juuuuuuust missed the Hot 100 ranking #103, but if she continues to play like she did this summer she'll make the next updated list easily.

We profiled her in May in a Rising Star feature and what was interesting about her is that she's from Colorado, played for Team Seattle out of Washington this summer and now will be playing for the PGF 14U National Champions, Dave Mercado's Athletics-Mercado team.

The pitcher's father, Jeffrey, wrote us this week to say: "Landyn verballed to Ole Miss to play softball on scholarship!  We are very excited for her.  It hasn't happened without a LOT of support from coaches, family, friends, hard work, and passion for the game.  I would also include FloSoftball; you have been very supportive as well by giving her some press time.  We want to thank you and your team for that!"

The pitcher's father continued,

Landyn absolutely fell in love with Oxford, Mississippi, Mike Smith and his coaching staff. And the Ole Miss campus is second to none.

She's currently playing high school ball in Colorado, she is off to a great start as a freshman, going 3-0 with a 0.00 ERA in her first 20 innings with 20 K's and two walks while batting .563.

IRISH EYES ARE SMILIN'

OK, sometimes we goof… and not having Miranda Johnson in the 2019 Hot 100 was one of those times (thanks for the reminder friend-of-the-program Emily!).

Miranda, who is an infielder for the Firecrackers-Lutterloh team, committed to Notre Dame last night.

She had more than seven offers as a freshman and this week was on a tour of college campuses across the country including Virginia Tech, Penn and Seton Hall, but when the Irish offered, it was over.

Miranda is a lefty hitter with speed who can hit for power or slap. She plays shortstop for the Firecrackers but is also a great outfielder too.

ANOTHER 2019 WHO WILL PLAY IN THE MIDWEST

Speaking of outstanding shortstops, Fiona Girardot of the Illinois Chill is a good one who has decided to play at Wisconsin.

She was one of the key players on last year's highly successful Chill 14U team that finished 5th at the Boulder IDT and 9th at PGF Nationals.  

Her club coach, Gerry Quinn, says of Fiona--who hails from Oak Park, Illinois--that "Fiona principally played shortstop, but she also played very well at second base and third base when asked to."

"What makes Fiona an outstanding defensive player is her attention to detail and her consistent approach to proper fundamentals. She attacks every defensive play with great technique. Offensively, Fiona is a line drive hitter with quick hands that produce runs in the middle of the lineup."

2021 COMMITS TO ACC

Finally, you can count the 2021s on one hand, but the third we know of came in about a week ago as Emma Lemley, a pitcher for the Williamsburg Starz Gold team, committed to Virginia Tech.

It's always fun to hear it from the player herself as to why she committed; here's what Emma had to say about picking the Hokies:

"I am very happy that I verbally committed to Virginia Tech. Coach Thomas and Coach Tincher came to some of my tournaments and saw me pitch over the summer. I also went to a some of their camps over the last few years."

"They were interested in me and talked with my coaches Todd Campbell and Tom Bunn who is the head of the Williamsburg Starz Gold, my travel team, to schedule an unofficial visit."

"On September 23rd, I went on a tour of Virginia Tech. Later that day, they offered me. I talked about it with my parents that night.  The next day at the tailgate before the football game, I verbally committed to them."

"I'm absolutely sure that Virginia Tech was the right choice for me. They have a great and stable coaching staff.  They really care about their players. I will also be able to pursue a degree in engineering while playing softball. That was a really big seller for me. School is very important to me, so being able to major in engineering is great."

"Also, I love the campus--Blacksburg is a beautiful place and the scenery in amazing. I love the Hokie stone that's on all of the buildings there too. Overall, I love everything about Virginia Tech and I know I will be very happy there!"

"I'm very thankful to the Virginia Tech coaches for believing in me. I'm also thankful for everyone who has helped me along the way."