2030 Pitchers Showing Poise Beyond Their Years This Fall

It seems like young pitchers are developing their skills earlier every year, and there is always a new wave of dominant arms on the horizon, ready to take over college softball when the time comes. The class of 2030 may still be a ways away from that, but its top pitchers are already showing off what they're made of and will surely keep getting better over the next few years.   From flamethrowers to off-speed specialists with pinpoint command, Prep Softball highlights five pitchers from the class of 2030 who are showing poise beyond their years this fall.    The daughter of a former outfielder at Arizona, Taylor Goodwin is coming off a huge summer in which she was named the Most Outstanding Player at The Alliance Fastpitch 12U Championship Series. In January, she earned Player of the Month honors from Alliance for her 10 strikeouts and no earned runs in 11 2/3 innings. All that followed her 2024 summer season, when she was 27-3 with 268 strikeouts in 221 innings pitched and held opponents to a .181 batting average. She took things to another level that fall playing 12U and 14U, posting a 0.25 ERA while striking out more than 1.8 batters per inning. Goodwin's pitching coach, Alyssa Razo, called her "a proven competitor and winner," and "has a work ethic that you don't see, especially for someone who is so young." She has already topped 60 miles per hour and throws a drop ball and rise ball with an occasional curve and change.     When former Texas A&M All-American and ESPN softball analyst Amanda Scarborough calls you a star, you're doing something right. Zoe Velazquez was named the MVP of the USSSA All-American Games in both 2022 and 2023 and led her former club team in innings, ERA and strikeouts. In the spring and summer of 2024, Velazquez recorded 289 strikeouts with a 1.38 ERA, leading Scarborough to say of her, "she always finds a way to stand out for all the right reasons." She mixes speeds well in the circle, keeping hitters off balance, and she is also a competitive swimmer and an excellent student. Expect Velazquez to keep rocketing up rankings lists in the coming years.     Kate Flanagan has been busy on the camp circuit, visiting Georgia, Auburn, Ole Miss, Mississippi State and UCF since the start of 2025. Any of those programs would be lucky to have her. Flanagan had a 1.32 ERA over the summer in 85 1/3 innings pitched, striking out 101 batters and holding them to a .184 average. She also hit .316 herself with a .405 on-base percentage and 13 runs batted in. Her drop ball is an especially effective pitch against both righthanders and lefthanders, and she works the top of the zone with her off-speed stuff as well, generating off-balance swings and called strikes. Flanagan also has multiple plus breaking balls with lateral movement to both the arm side and glove side. And she can help her own cause at the plate, hitting line drives up the middle and using her speed to take extra bases.     Autumn Adkins played high school softball as a seventh grader, albeit at the junior varsity level, and excelled on both sides of the ball. She struck out 132 of the 181 batters she faced with a 1.11 ERA and a 0.68 WHIP, and also posted a .516 batting average. Adkins had 16 strikeouts in just 10 innings at a Triple Crown Sports tournament in South Carolina late in the summer, and she uses late downward movement to produce whiffs. She also throws an off-speed rise that causes batters to swing awkwardly. Adkins uses a high leg kick at the plate and has a quick, explosive swing that helps her pull the ball in the air with authority. She has attended camps at South Carolina, Duke, Virginia and Virginia Tech.     Julia Ripley was hitting 64 miles per hour on the radar gun as a seventh grader, which is a scary thought for anyone who has to face her between now and her senior year of high school. At USSSA Eastern Nationals in July, Ripley had 19 strikeouts in 16 innings with a 1.71 ERA, holding opponents to a .161 average. She also hit .353 with five doubles and a 1.068 OPS. Ripley may throw hard, but she has a plethora of breaking and off-speed pitches to keep batters guessing, and she also has a smooth delivery and clean mechanics. Ripley swings nice and easy, using her natural strength to drive the ball to all fields.

It seems like young pitchers are developing their skills earlier every year, and there is always a new wave of dominant arms on the horizon, ready to take over college softball when the time comes. The class of 2030 may still be a ways away from that, but its top pitchers are already showing off what they're made of and will surely keep getting better over the next few years.