Top 2030 Prospects To Watch In Ohio

Ohio may not have the warm year-round climate of Florida, Texas and California, but it has long been a recruiting powerhouse in the Midwest. With strong Division I softball programs like Ohio State and Miami of Ohio, and many more in neighboring states, top prospects from Ohio have plenty of appealing college options. There are also many well-respected travel ball programs that give young players the chance to play with and against elite competition.   The class of 2030 is shaping up to be another excellent group of recruits from the Buckeye State. Below, Prep Softball highlights five 2030 Ohio prospects college coaches won't want to miss out on.    Dae Sun McGaughy has been making waves for several years, hitting milestones at an earlier age than just about any of her peers. She clocked 64 miles per hour on the radar gun as a fifth grader, and she has been able to command that impressive velocity. McGaughy struck out 85 batters in 18 games in 2024, combining her speed with late, sharp movement on her pitches. But her power extends far beyond just the pitcher's circle. McGaughy's bat speed jumps off the screen — she was hitting opposite-field home runs over the fence in 10U ball and has hardly slowed down since. She has competed with players well above her age and plays the corner infield spots when she's not pitching, also maintaining a .350 batting average last year.     Sophie Keller plays both third base and catcher, which are two of the most demanding positions on the diamond, and does not miss a beat at the plate. A left-handed hitter, Keller batted .714 with an .833 on-base percentage and five runs batted in while playing up at the 16U level at a rain-shortened tournament in October. She lets the ball get deep, hitting hard line drives to the opposite field with some pop in her bat as well. Keller has the hot corner on lockdown, fielding slowly-hit dribblers and hard smashes alike and using her strong, accurate arm to make the long throw across the infield. She also has outstanding defensive instincts, tagging out runners who stray too far toward home plate when the ball is hit her way. Keller is a multi-talented athlete — she was named the captain and MVP of her school volleyball team this fall — but softball is where she shines brightest, as she has been named a USA Softball All-American and was invited to the High Performance Program.     [player_tooltip player_id='143840' first='Chloe' last='Taynor'] is a rising two-way star. Taynor made her first trip to the prestigious Colorado Sparkler this past summer, earning three wins in the pitcher's circle to reach 30 for the year as of early July. She also batted .500 with a .533 on-base percentage and a 1.319 OPS. Taynor has great command of her fastball and can pull the string with a changeup or breaking ball, getting hitters to swing way out in front even in difficult pitching conditions. She trusts her stuff enough to pound the zone, stealing strikes early in counts to get ahead, and she is tough on righties and lefties alike. Offensively, Taynor generates plenty of power even with a short, compact swing, using the whole field to hit for extra bases and produce runs. She has made recent visits to camps at Ohio State and Tennessee, balances softball with volleyball and carries a 4.0 GPA.     A USA Softball All-American and a powerful left-handed bat, Eva Murnahan put together one stellar tournament performance after another this past summer and fall. She hit .556 with nine runs batted in at the Lasers Showcase in October, after capping her summer by hitting safely in two-thirds of her at-bats at the USA Softball All-American Games in Oklahoma City. Murnahan can extend her long arms and connect solidly on pitches off the outside edge, and while she is a free swinger, her bat control is so good that she almost never strikes out. At first base, Murnahan is an infielder's best friend, stretching to receive throws from her teammates and frequently bailing them out of errors. She also has a quick transfer and release at third base, getting the ball out of her glove fast without sacrificing accuracy on her throws.     [player_tooltip player_id='148523' first='Brylee' last='Bullock'] is a multi-sport athlete who also plays basketball and volleyball, and she fields her position as well as any pitcher in her class. Bunting against Bullock is usually a fool's errand, as she uses her instincts and feel for the game to catch lead runners caught in between bases. She works the corners of the strike zone, making it difficult for batters to square her up and make solid contact. A lot of the time, Bullock just misses bats completely, using her off-speed curve, changeup and screwball to generate swings and misses. She tossed four scoreless innings of one-hit ball at a September PGF tournament in Indiana, hitting two doubles herself for good measure. No slouch at the plate, Bullock often creates her own run support, splitting the pull-side gap with sharp line drives.

Ohio may not have the warm year-round climate of Florida, Texas and California, but it has long been a recruiting powerhouse in the Midwest. With strong Division I softball programs like Ohio State and Miami of Ohio, and many more in neighboring states, top prospects from Ohio have plenty of appealing college options. There are also many well-respected travel ball programs that give young players the chance to play with and against elite competition.