Five Underrated Pitchers To Watch This Spring

High school softball season is underway in most states, and while some players are playing their final prep seasons before heading off to college, others are just getting their recruiting journeys started.   From seniors who are already committed to underclassmen just starting to make names for themselves, here are five underrated pitchers to watch this spring from all across the United States.    Alanna Clincy committed to Cal on the second day after her formal recruitment period opened last September, and her profile has only grown since then. While private schools attract much of the top talent from the San Francisco Bay Area, Willow Glen is among the strongest public school programs, and Clincy helped lead the Rams to the NorCal Division II finals as a sophomore. She has taken things to another level this year, pitching 35 1/3 innings without allowing an earned run at the time of this writing. Clincy has given up just nine hits and 11 walks with 65 strikeouts, highlighted by a one-hit complete-game shutout with 15 strikeouts on Mar. 15. She is no slouch at the plate, either—although she has struggled with the bat early this season, Clincy slashed .470/.526/.710 last spring with 10 doubles. An outfielder when she's not pitching, Clincy has power to all fields, while her best pitches are her screwball and changeup.     While Texas produces more top-level talent than almost any other state, Ansley Parr has made a name for herself in a town of less than 6,000 people in northwest Texas, far removed from the state's major cities. A year after striking out 329 batters in 156 1/3 innings, Parr already had 203 strikeouts in less than 100 innings as a sophomore at the time of this writing, while sporting a 1.83 ERA and holding opponents to a .171 average. She is also hitting .435 in 20 games with five doubles and five home runs. Her fastball tops out at 62 miles per hour, and that number should increase as her high school graduation approaches. She has a big difference in velocity between the heater and her mid-40s changeup, and sharp movement to both sides of the plate—her screwball ties right-handed batters in knots.     Meagan Villazon is signed with Florida International and has been playing at the varsity level since seventh grade, winning a state championship as an eighth grader in 2021. As a junior, she struck out 137 batters in just 57 innings, going 12-0 with an ERA of 0.37 and allowing just eight hits all season. Villazon also had a big year at the plate, batting .444 with a 1.217 OPS, 17 walks and just seven strikeouts. She is off to an outstanding start as a senior, throwing a complete-game shutout in March against nationally-ranked Montverde Academy with 16 strikeouts in seven innings. Batting from the left side, Villazon has a quick, explosive swing with impressive exit velocity. Her curveball has a lot of late action and she is not afraid to work up in the zone.     Adyson Ordway is racking up the strikeouts in her senior season—she had 157 of them through 86 1/3 innings with an ERA of 0.65 at the time of this writing. The tall right-hander has an impressive pitch mix, with a fastball, curveball, drop ball and two types of rise balls. Her fastball typically sits in the low 60s and she does a good job changing batters' eye levels. Ordway may not have a home run in her high school career, but she has been excellent at the plate as well, with a .442 average and .473 on-base percentage through 17 games as a senior. She has six doubles already this year and has walked more than she has struck out in each of the last three seasons.     Avery Stutts flipped her commitment from Campbell to Memphis last fall and is putting together a dominant senior season, with an ERA of 0.10 and 134 strikeouts against just two walks in 70 innings at the time of this writing. Opponents are batting a meager .045 against her, and she also sports a perfect fielding percentage as a pitcher and corner infielder. Stutts broke out in a big way at the plate as a junior, when she hit .417 and slugged .854 with five homers and 22 RBI in 21 games. She frequently has hitters out in front of her off-speed pitches and on top of her drop ball. Stutts has impressive bat speed and can hit to all fields with power.

High school softball season is underway in most states, and while some players are playing their final prep seasons before heading off to college, others are just getting their recruiting journeys started.