This past season was exciting and full of good performances by players all across the country. The simple nature of sports is that the big schools or “power” conferences garner most, if not all of the attention. There is a good reason for that, but that is not the topic of this article. Here we focus on five underclassman you may not have heard of since some play at schools that get less coverage. Keep your eyes on these players over the next few years, they are coming off exceptional seasons and could become impact players down the road. This is not a ranking and players are not listed in any type of order.
- Taty Forbes, Freshman – Outfield (Coastal Carolina): Forbes had an outstanding freshman campaign batting .479 with 104 hits and 18 stolen bases. The average ranked her eighth in the nation and was fourth best in school history. The Redmond, WA native also earned freshman of the year honors in the Big South Conference. It may be hard to improve a ton over what she did this season, but she is just a freshman so their is room for improvement. She often hit in the two hole this season and only had two walks on the season. She could end up in the lead-off spot and if she can work more counts and increase the number of walks that could boost her on-base percentage next year which was just a tad above her average this season at .484.
- Libby Sugg, Freshman – Catcher (BYU): Sugg a freshman who hails from Franklin, TN displayed power in her first season. She lead the Cougars in both home runs (18) and RBI (58). On the season she batted .319 but what was impressive was her .724 slugging percentage. Those are good power numbers for a first year player. She was named to the All-WCC second team for her efforts. An area we think she could improve on and will with a year under her belt is strikeouts. Suggs finished tied for second on the team with 33 on the season. Not awful for a freshman power hitter, but that number most likely decreases with more experience.
- Samantha Mendoza, Sophomore – 2B (UT-Arlington): Mendoza was the clear offensive leader this season for the Mavericks leading the team in batting average (.461), hits (76), RBI (39), on-base percentage (.528) and slugging percentage (.600). Her average and number of hits were also school records. Mendoza is a product of Eagle Pass, TX and was also named to the Sun Belt All-Conference first team and the NFCA All-Region second-team. If she takes a step forward next season she will be a top 10 offensive player in the country. Expect big things from her again next season.
- Giorgiana Zeremenko, Sophomore – C/DP (Pittsburgh): Much like Mendoza above, Zeremenko lead her team in most offensive categories. She broke the Panthers single season home run record with 17. In addition to home runs, she also led the Panthers in average (.392), RBI (52), total-bases (11) and slugging percentage (.888). Zeremenko became one of the top offensive threats in the nation where at one point her 17 home runs led the ACC and sat her in the top-five in the nation. Although oddly she did not receive All-Conference honors, she did receive (NFCA) Mid-Atlantic All-Region second team honors.
- Meehra Nelson, Freshman – P (Oregon State): Nelson who is a freshman from Simi Valley, CA went 16-8 on the season with a 2.96 ERA and 196 strikeouts. She also set a school-record seven saves. Her strikeout total is the second-best in the Pac-12, and eighth-best in a single-season in program history. Nelson was named to the Pac-12 all freshman team and third team All-Conference. Nelson was thrown in the fire in a tough conference and performed well. Look for more wins next year with a step forward.
