2020 Shortened Season College Top 100

Year: So.
2020 Stats: 13-1, 0.85 ERA, 90.1 IP, 149 SO
Notes: It’s a shame the softball world never got to see Faraimo take her season into conference play. She absolutely shined over the non-conference slate. Faraimo earned wins over ranked teams such as Alabama, Georgia, Florida State, Florida, Michigan and Minnesota.

Year: Sr.
2020 Stats: 11-3, 1.25 ERA, 84 IP, 96 SO / .370 BA, 7 2B, 4 HR, 19 RBI, 1.200 OPS
Notes: Elish certainly started her senior season with a bang at the plate, hitting four home runs and collecting 17 RBI over six games in the first weekend of the season. Things slowed down the rest of the way for her as a hitter, but she continued to be the Texas ace. She tossed a perfect game against New Mexico and was the only pitcher to beat UCLA in 2020. Luckily for softball fans, it appears Elish will be back next season.

Year: Sr.
2020 Stats: .507 BA, 9 2B, 9 HR, 47 RBI, 1.576 OPS
Notes: Martens was the best hitter in college softball in 2020, and it truly wasn’t close. Not only did her .507 batting average rank 10th among qualified hitters, but her 47 RBI led the nation and were 11 more than second place. Unfortunately, despite the NCAA’s granted relief, Martens has let it be known on social media that there will be no return to softball for her next season.

Year: R-Jr.
2020 Stats: .435 BA, 13 2B, 2 HR, 27 RBI, 1.262 OPS
Notes: Jordan’s numbers truly don’t show how impressive her season was. The home run numbers hadn’t come yet, but she made up for it with her 13 doubles. Teams struggled to find ways to get Jordan out for most of the year, and with Faraimo and Jordan coming back next year, teams will still be searching for ways to beat UCLA.

Year: Sr.
2020 Stats: .395 BA, 30 H, 10 HR, 29 RBI, 1.318 OPS
Notes: Harper’s chase for Lauren Chamberlain’s career home run record has been put on hold after the abrupt ending to the 2020 season. She had just hit four bombs in the season’s final six games to put her within 19 of Chamberlain. Harper also had her highest slugging percentage of her career through 25 games.

Year: Sr.
2020 Stats: .443 BA, 39 H, 32 R, 11 2B, 6 HR, 27 RBI, 1.295 OPS, 10 SB
Notes: The Sun Devil leadoff hitter did everything for Arizona State. She consistently reached base to score for the heavy hitters in the lineup, powered up doubles and home runs when needed and brought her speed to the table as well. In 29 games, Hackbarth either collected a hit or a walk in all but two.

Year: R-Sr.
2020 Stats: .373 BA, 7 2B, 7 HR, 26 RBI, 1.263 OPS
Notes: Palomino-Cardoza was beginning to find her power stroke again at the plate, blasting two home runs—one a walk-off against Boise State—in the final four games of her 2020 season. She found herself as one of the nation’s top all-around hitters. The back-to-back All-American appears to be coming back for her sixth season in 2021.

Year: Jr.
2020 Stats: 10-2, 2.76 ERA, 66 IP, 94 SO
Notes: Plain’s numbers aren’t typical for her. Nevertheless, she moved past a rocky first part of the campaign. In her final 16 innings of the season, she allowed two runs and looked to be coming back into full form. Strikeouts were never an issue either, as Plain averaged 10 per seven innings.

Year: Sr.
2020 Stats: .529 BA, 27 H, 5 2B, 17 R, 1.241 OPS, 6 SB
Notes: Due to being in the concussion protocol for two weeks, Bates only played in 15 games in 2020. In that time, however, she displayed her star power. She had a hit in every contest, but one, and in nine games, she had two or more. In less-than-surprising fashion, Bates didn’t commit an error all season and stole plenty of hits and runs from opponents along the way.

Year: So.
2020 Stats: .417 BA, 5 2B, 8 HR, 28 RBI, 1.242 OPS
Notes: Echols was a very good player her freshman year at Michigan State. She became a great player in 2020 at Florida. In 27 games at Florida, she surpassed her home run and RBI total compared to her freshman year. She also had a knack for the big moment, as she hit home runs against Arizona, Louisiana and Florida State.

Year: Jr.
2020 Stats: .554 BA, 41 H, 6 2B, 30 R, 1.296 OPS, 10 SB
Notes: Jefferson had the second most hits for a Power Five player behind only North Carolina State’s Tatyana Forbes. The Texas second baseman was a big reason why the Longhorns were SA's top team in the nation.

Year: So.
2020 Stats: .429 BA, 5 2B, 7 HR, 28 RBI, 1.303 OPS
Notes: There was no sophomore slump for this Golden Gopher. DenHartog had nearly the same slugging percentage as last year, but made a .100-plus point jump in on-base percentage due to her walk rate going up. DenHartog had two or more RBI in four of the last five games to close out the season.

Year: So.
2020 Stats: .481 BA, 8 2B, 5 HR, 33 RBI, 1.296 OPS
Notes: Klingler was hitting only .270 in late February. Then, over the course of Washington's last 13 games, she exploded at the plate. She had a hit in every game but one, and of her 12 games with hits, 11 were multi-hit performances. She also added 25 RBI in that stretch.

Year: Jr.
2020 Stats: 15-3, 1.52 ERA, 120 IP, 183 SO
Notes: Rochard took on a huge load in the circle for Virginia Tech after Carrie Eberle transferred, pitching 120 innings in the team’s 25 games. She ended the year leading the nation in strikeouts, and in half of her appearances, she had a double-digit strikeout performance. Rochard also tossed two no-hitters.

Year: Sr.
2020 Stats: .457 BA, 37 H, 4 2B, 30 R, 1.135 OPS, 15 SB
Notes: Cruse continued to take steps forward as a hitter. The Oregon senior had her best season in terms of driving the ball, matching her career-high in home runs and being on pace to blow past her best slugging percentage output. Cruse finished tied for second in hits and fourth in runs scored among Pac-12 hitters.

Year: R-Jr.
2020 Stats: .416 BA, 6 HR, 32 RBI, 1.249 OPS
Notes: Kessinger was the driving force for Missouri in 2020. She finished in the top 10 in runs driven in this season. After not playing in 2019, Kessinger was on pace to blow by her career-high marks in hits, home runs, RBI, slugging and on-base percentage.

Year: Jr.
2020 Stats: 9-1, 1.56 ERA, 62.2 IP, 94 SO
Notes: Yanez wasn’t asked to shoulder the entire pitching workload like a few pitchers were on this list because of the work put in by Samaria Diaz and Jordan Dail. Nevertheless, the UC Davis transfer was a big part of Oregon’s stellar team ERA. Yanez ranked 15th in strikeouts per seven innings with 10.5 and struck out a season-high 17 early on against BYU.

Year: Sr.
2020 Stats: .571 BA, 36 H, 4 2B, 33 R, 1.328 OPS, 8 SB
Notes: A large reason Alex Martens led the nation in RBI and Kentucky scored an NCAA-high 9.04 runs per game was Vick’s ability to get on base. Vick had nine multi-hit games, including a five-hit performance against Georgia Tech.

Year: Jr.
2020 Stats: .483 BA, 28 H, 4 2B, 20 R, 22 RBI, 1.128 OPS
Notes: It's hard to believe Sides barely batted over .300 in 2019 after seeing her 2020 performance. She really started to take off heading into conference play, as she had a hit in 13 of Alabama’s final 14 games. Sides’ .483 batting average ranked third for all SEC players.

Year: Sr.
2020 Stats: .434 BA, 28 R, 10 2B, 11 HR, 22 RBI, 1.482 OPS
Notes: Edwards finished tied as the Power Five leader in slugging percentage at the end of the season. Over half of her hits in 2020 resulted in either a double or home run. Edwards also led Nebraska in runs scored with twice as many as any of her teammates, and she finished in a second-place tie for home runs in the nation.

Year: Sr.
2020 Stats: .381 BA, 5 2B, 11 HR, 32 RBI, 1.417 OPS
Notes: In only 24 games, Febrey hit 11 home runs for Oklahoma State, which is more than she had in a season during her previous three years at Georgia. That power stroke led to Febrey being tied for second in home runs and ninth in RBI in the nation.

Year: Jr.
2020 Stats: .418 BA, 28 H, 6 2B, 27 R, 22 RBI, 1.128 OPS
Notes: McEwen ended the season tied for seventh in runs scored in the SEC. Her .418 batting average, backed by eight multi-hit games, led the team and ranked seventh in the conference. She did that all while only striking out six times and earning 19 walks.

Year: Jr.
2020 Stats: .368 BA, 5 2B, 11 HR, 31 RBI, 1.325 OPS
Notes: One of the staples of Clemson’s inaugural season, Guimbarda presented her hitting abilities on the national stage after her transfer from Furman. She led the ACC in home runs and slugging percentage, and finished tied for second in RBI.

Year: Jr.
2020 Stats: 12-4, 2.25 ERA, 90.1 IP, 97 SO / .405 BA, 7 2B, 12 HR, 28 RBI, 1.397 OPS
Notes: Rauch finished the season atop the nation in home runs. She also ranked in the country’s top 20 in slugging percentage and RBI. Rauch did all of that while being Villanova’s ace and leading the Big East in strikeouts.

Year: Sr.
2020 Stats: 10-1, 0.46 ERA, 76 IP, 68 SO
Notes: In her first season at Oklahoma State, the former ACC Pitcher of the Year finished the 2020 campaign tied for third in the country in ERA at 0.46. Eberle allowed just a single home run the entire season and was fourth in the Big 12 in strikeouts.