Top 2030 Prospects To Watch In Texas

It's often said that everything is bigger in Texas, and that certainly applies to the talented softball prospects the Lone Star State produces year after year. Several of the nation's best college programs call Texas home, with Texas and Texas Tech facing each other in the 2025 Women's College World Series finals, and both teams' rosters were stacked with star players who grew up within the state.   The pipeline is not slowing down anytime soon, as the class of 2030 is already proving itself in tournaments all across the country. From sluggers to speedsters to aces in the pitcher's circle, Prep Softball highlights five 2030 recruits college coaches won't want to miss out on from Texas.    Ellis Daniels closed out her fall season in style, batting .600 at her final tournament in November. She bats from the right side but has the speed of a lefty slapper, laying down perfect bunts and beating them out almost before the defense can even field the ball. Daniels has plenty of pop in her bat as well and plays outstanding infield defense at third base and shortstop, with a steady glove and a strong, accurate throwing arm. At the Triple Crown Sports Ronald McDonald tournament in October, Daniels hit .562, spraying sharp line drives and ground balls to all parts of the field. Her older sister, Eva, is a freshman on the softball team at North Texas, and Ellis seems destined to follow in Eva's Division I footsteps.     A true two-way player and a multi-sport athlete who also plays basketball and volleyball, Catalina Cooper is among the top power hitters in her class, going yard several times this fall. Cooper throws left-handed but bats righty, displaying patience at the plate and forcing pitchers to either walk her or give her a hittable pitch in the strike zone. When she does get that hittable pitch, she puts a beautiful swing on the ball, whipping her bat all the way through the zone and not letting any motion go to waste. Cooper loves pitches on the inner half of the plate, pulling her hands in to meet the ball with her barrel.     [player_tooltip player_id='146757' first='Leya' last='De La Torre'] is a player any team would love to be able to plug in at the top of its lineup. She is a triple threat in the batter's box who can bunt, slap and hit away, as she demonstrated in October at the Diamond State Invitational in Arkansas. De La Torre batted .500 with a .545 on-base percentage and drove in five runs that weekend. Her bat control skills are highly advanced for her age, but she takes the most pride in her defense, both at the middle infield positions and in the outfield. Even slight bobbles don't faze De La Torre — as long as she keeps the ball in front of her, she can gather it in and still make the play. She has impressive range to her backhand side and makes clean transfers from her glove to her throwing hand.     A dominant arm coming off a standout fall season, [player_tooltip player_id='143636' first='Layla' last='Werner'] has a deep arsenal of pitches, but her changeup is the best of the bunch, with many hitters simply unable to stop themselves from swinging way out in front of it. She also throws a rise ball that batters can't help but swing under as well as a fastball and curveball with high spin rates. Her command allows her to paint the corners and keep the ball hard to barrel up but still in the strike zone. Werner had seven strikeouts in five innings at the Impact Gold Fall Exposure tournament in early November, and her stuff was effective against both righties and lefties. When she's not getting called strikes or whiffs, Werner is inducing weak contact, getting routine grounders and pop flies that are easy for her fielders to handle.     [player_tooltip player_id='150140' first='Mia' last='Salazar'] is coming off a busy fall balancing middle school and club softball, but she shined no matter who she was facing and where. The ball jumps off Salazar's bat with easy-looking pop, resulting in sharp line drives that scoot to the wall in a hurry. She can extend her arms and hit outside pitches hard to the opposite field, and she has the speed and alertness to take an extra base on a throw back to the infield. Salazar also has an absolute cannon behind the plate, using her pure arm strength to gun down runners at second base from her knees. She has put up eye-popping offensive performances at one tournament after another this year and is well on her way to becoming one of the top catchers nationally in her class.

It's often said that everything is bigger in Texas, and that certainly applies to the talented softball prospects the Lone Star State produces year after year. Several of the nation's best college programs call Texas home, with Texas and Texas Tech facing each other in the 2025 Women's College World Series finals, and both teams' rosters were stacked with star players who grew up within the state.