Prospects Whose Skills Just Keep Getting Better

Bursting onto the national scene as a softball prospect is an incredible way to kickstart a player's time in high school. Continuing to build off that success and put together even better seasons is even harder, but shows coaches so much about their true abilities.   Below, Prep Softball highlights five prospects around the country who have taken another step in their game each year, leading to them becoming the talk of their state or region.    [player_tooltip player_id='117231' first='Oriana' last='Hamlett'] showed in her eighth grade year that she has tremendous ability, batting .667 with 20 RBI in 17 games. This year as a freshman, according to her coach, she "unleashed the beast within." That came to the tune of an incredible .668/.746/1.917 slash line with 12 triples, 10 home runs and 44 RBI. She's a versatile staple of the Legacy School of Sports Sciences' lineup that continues to up her defensive game at nearly every position she plays on the field. Oriana is that middle-of-the-lineup bat coaches yearn for. If her first two years of varsity softball are any indication of her talent, she's going to be a force to be reckoned with throughout Texas for years to come before inevitably joining a high-end college program.     Cam Kratzer is the type of dual-threat player who every coach wants on their roster. Following the mold of college softball sensation NiJaree Canady, she's a lights-out pitcher with a bat that can be moved anywhere in the lineup. She already has three years at the varsity level with Villa Madonna Academy under her belt, and she's gotten more dominant each year. This past season, she hit .769 with 53 RBI and 10 doubles all while compiling an 8-5 record with 124 strikeouts in 15 appearances. Her ERA continues to plummet while her offensive stats climb ever higher, which is proof that she's only getting better as the years go on.     Arianna Lugo came onto the scene at Pharr-San Juan-Alamo High School during her freshman year and put together a really strong first campaign. It was a strong base that she hoped to build off of, and instead of just building off of it, she became one of the top hitters in the state. In her sophomore year, she batted .732 with eight doubles, 10 triples and 11 home runs, striking out just four times in 93 plate appearances, en route to a Tier 1 National Championship. She has all the tools at the plate to continue that incredible output, coupled with infield versatility that makes her a can't-miss prospect.     Like many of the players on this list, Braylee Hunt forced her way onto a varsity roster as an eighth grader. In that first varsity season she played, she posted a 1.93 ERA with 127 strikeouts. In her freshman year, she became a surefire ace for Loving, earning All-State honors in New Mexico, thanks in part to a deep run to the state championship game. Braylee's ERA dipped to 1.30, as she started 19 games and posted a 21-5 record. In those games, she fanned an incredible 219 batters, tossed six complete games and managed three shutouts. Braylee gets three more seasons to continue that momentum at the high school level.     Grace Hulin has already experienced incredible success on the travel ball circuit, putting together tremendous numbers at tournaments for the last several years. In high school ball, she essentially improved her numbers twofold in her freshman year after a really good eighth-grade season. This year, she batted .667 in 24 games with 11 doubles, one triple and four home runs. Her power numbers have only improved as she's grown and matured, which projects her to become a solid power hitter in the coming years. Grace is certainly primed to have a middle-of-the-lineup bat going forward, and will be someone who can be counted on to get on base.

Bursting onto the national scene as a softball prospect is an incredible way to kickstart a player's time in high school. Continuing to build off that success and put together even better seasons is even harder, but shows coaches so much about their true abilities.