10 Top Performers From Boulder IDT In The 2029 Class

In one of the marquee events of the summer, 216 teams representing 92 travel softball organizations from 34 different states descended on Colorado for the Boulder Independence Day Tournament, with college coaches from all across the country in attendance. And while those coaches may have reserved most of their attention for the class of 2028, it is certainly not too early for 2029 prospects to make strong impressions, and many of them did just that throughout the week, often while facing older competition.   Coaches likely came away impressed by almost everyone they saw, but these 10 players in particular stood out. With power displays, gutsy pitching performances, heads-up baserunning, and game-changing defense, these prospects are surely leaving Colorado feeling rightfully proud of their performances as they head into their final summer tournaments and prepare for the fall.    Being 6-foot-1 certainly doesn't hurt, but Jaycee Kemp looked more than up to the challenge pitching against mostly 2027 and '28 recruits last week in Colorado, where the hot weather and the altitude already made life difficult for pitchers. Her ai Bandits Rabb 14U team, made up mostly of 2029s with a few 2030s, more than held its own with a 3-3 record in pool play. Kemp was a big part of that, sitting in the mid-60s with her fastball with a mid-60s changeup. She generated swings and misses with her rise and change, and used her long levers to field her position and fire overhand strikes to first base. Kemp is also a clear leader on the field, praising her catcher for framing pitches well and communicating constantly with her battery-mate.   "I honestly love a great challenge. Just challenging myself, I can hang with these girls, and being able to just trust myself and trust my defense and just having fun with it and not overthinking," Kemp said.     Tenley Rendell provided one of the signature moments of the tournament on Thursday, with her Bullets trailing by two runs in the final inning. Rendell quickly fell behind in the count 0-2, fouled off a couple of pitches to stay alive, then launched a changeup for a walk-off, three-run home run to left-center field for a 7-6 victory. One of just two 2029 recruits on a team that finished 5-0-1 in pool play, Rendell has a keen eye at the plate and is more than just a power hitter, with four homers among her 11 hits at the event. She batted .407 with 12 RBI, eight runs scored, and a .467 on-base percentage.   "(She was) having trouble hitting changeups," her assistant coach, Josh Schaen, said. "She was looking for a changeup and then she got one, and she took her swing, and the rest was history."     Rendell's teammate with the EC Bullets Gold Ellis 16U team, Kaya Randall is a true two-way star. She showed off her impressive bat speed with a sharp double to left-center field to kick off the second day of the tournament, and her pitching helped the Bullets limit opponents to just 15 runs over six games in pool play, tied for the fewest of any team in the 16U division in Longmont. Randall has sharp movement on both her breaking balls (curveball and screwball), allowing her to dominate against righties and lefties alike. This past spring, she led her high school team to a district title and was named to the all-region first team as a freshman, and her velocity has already reached 65 mph.     Addie Dunsmoor knows how to wait out a pitcher and get something she can put a good swing on, looking over a changeup on the first day of the IDT before lining a sharp double into the left-field corner. She plays both corner infield positions and in the outfield, and is among the more flexible first basemen in her class, with the ability to stretch and nearly do a split to secure an out. Dunsmoor has plenty of raw power, but can also go with an outside pitch and hit it hard to the opposite field. Her range is impressive at first base, backhanding balls hit toward the hole and crossing into foul territory to nab pop flies and mishit bunts.     Fallon Broadway wasted no time getting things going in her second game on the first day of the tournament, taking a 2028 pitcher deep for a leadoff home run. She showed discipline by looking at a well-placed strike she knew she would not have been able to do much with, then extended her arms on the next pitch, on the outside edge of the plate, and lifted it over the right-field fence for an opposite-field homer. In the circle, Broadway used her rise ball and screwball to generate swings and misses, an effective combination against both right- and left-handed batters. She hit another opposite-field blast two days later and continued to turn in quality work as a pitcher throughout the week.     Teresa Hutchcraft, playing for Select Fastpitch Backsmeyer 15U, had an excellent week offensively and defensively in Colorado, but she also does the little things that coaches notice. That includes something as small as running out from the on-deck circle to hand the bat back to her teammate after a foul ball. Facing the EC Bullets Gold team, one of the strongest in the tournament, Hutchcraft worked a walk against a pitcher who had been dealing, even after swinging on a 3-0 count. Later Thursday in a win over a tough Corona Angels squad, Hutchcraft reached base on a sharp single, then made a difficult play at third base look easy when she charged a bunt and threw out a slapper speeding down the line toward first.     Ava Peña solidified herself last week as one of the top defensive outfielders in her class. She is also a triple threat in the batter's box, never letting the defense know whether she will be bunting, slapping or hitting away. Peña legged out several infield hits during the week, and it often takes a tremendous diving play to get her out. She is unafraid to leave her feet in center to haul in fly balls and line drives, and her speed allows her to make nice running catches on balls many of her peers would not be able to reach.     Kylie Byrd helped her team win the IDT title, going 10-0-1 at the event with 11 games in five days. Combined with the Alliance Fastpitch Super Cup in the days leading up to the IDT, Byrd played a total of 21 games in just over a week, and she never looked gassed. In the championship game against a Beverly Bandits team from Ohio, Byrd helped spark a comeback with an opposite-field solo home run over the wall in left. With the game tied in the bottom of the seventh and the winning run at third base, Byrd smacked a 3-2 pitch on the ground to the right side, and her teammate beat the throw home for the walk-off victory. Byrd showed her ability to stay calm in big moments and delivered when her team needed her most.     Playing for the Intensity KOD/KP National 16U team, Elliana Williams put on quite the power display in Longmont. She has a quiet, unassuming stance from the right side, then whips her bat through the zone with a smooth, complete swing to generate pop. Much of that power came to the opposite field, as she was able to take a well-located pitch down and away out to right. Williams is a strong defender at first base and makes smart decisions on whether to go straight to the base herself or flip the ball to the pitcher covering. With a pair of long balls at the IDT, Williams is sure to remain on coaches' radars in the coming months.     Emma Kinney is the lone 2029 player on her Corona Angels Snobar/Atlee 16U team, and she more than proved she belonged with her IDT performance, particularly on Day 1 of the event. With her team trailing by four runs early, Kinney saw a mistake pitch up in the zone and got every last bit of it, launching it way over the fence in left-center to put her Angels on the board. She continued making solid contact throughout the week and hitting the ball to all fields, even though she was not always rewarded with hits. When she finds the barrel, the ball explodes off Kinney's bat, and she has already visited several Division I college programs on the West Coast for camps.

In one of the marquee events of the summer, 216 teams representing 92 travel softball organizations from 34 different states descended on Colorado for the Boulder Independence Day Tournament, with college coaches from all across the country in attendance. And while those coaches may have reserved most of their attention for the class of 2028, it is certainly not too early for 2029 prospects to make strong impressions, and many of them did just that throughout the week, often while facing older competition.