High School

Aspen Boulware Named South Carolina Gatorade Softball Player of the Year After Record-Breaking Season

The Gray Collegiate Academy star powered her team to a 4-A state title with 22 home runs and continues to build one of the most impressive careers in state history

Mike Duprez

After helping lead Gray Collegiate to its second straight softball state championship as a sophomore, smashing a school-record 22 home runs, Aspen Boulware has been named state player of the year in South Carolina.
After helping lead Gray Collegiate to its second straight softball state championship as a sophomore, smashing a school-record 22 home runs, Aspen Boulware has been named state player of the year in South Carolina. / Aspen Boulware Instagra

Gatorade Player of the Year Honors for Boulware

Aspen Bouleware keeps raking in the accolades.

The Gray Collegiate Academy sophomore was named 2025 South Carolina Gatorade Player of the Year on Monday after another record-setting softball season.

Power Surge: A Historic Sophomore Season

Boulware hit .573 with 22 home runs and 44 RBIs while helping lead the War Eagles to the 4-A state championship. The 22 home runs are a school record. And Boulware, who has started since her seventh-grade year, broke her own record of 19 home runs set in 2024.

Gray won a school-record 32 games and its second straight state title. The War Eagles won the 2-A state championship in 2023 and moved to the 4-A ranks after the South Carolina High School League adopted an attendance multiplier for charter schools. 

Boulware, outstanding all season, had some of her best performances in the state playoffs, going 11-for-20 with six home runs. She blasted two home runs in the two-game state championship series with York.

That’s only the latest.

Team USA Success on the International Stage

Boulware previously led Team USA to the gold medal in the 2023 U-15 World Baseball Softball Confederation World Cup and was named MVP. She has been selected for Team USA in the 2025 WBSC U-18 World Cup, which is being played in the fall.

From Seventh Grade Star to National Standout

Success came early for Boulware, who hit .512 with 5 home runs and 24 RBIs in the seventh grade, helping Gray to the 2-A state championship.

Then she hit .611 with 6 home runs and 18 RBIs in the eighth grade in 2023.

Boulware batted .651 and saw her power production take off with 19 home runs and 40 RBIs during her freshman season as Gray won the 2-A state championship.

For her career, Boulware has a .586 batting average with 52 home runs.

An Athletic Family Legacy

Boulware comes from an athletic family with few parallels. Her father, Michael Boulware, was a football All-American at Florida State and spent five seasons in the NFL as a safety with the Seattle Seahawks, Houston Texans and Minnesota Vikings. Her mother, Jessica Boulware, was a softball All-American at Florida State and is considered the program’s greatest player. An uncle, Peter Boulware, was an All-American linebacker at Florida State and played nine seasons for the Baltimore Ravens, earning a Super Bowl ring. Boulware’s older brother, Michael, is a junior all-state linebacker at Gray Collegiate.

Published
Mike Duprez
MIKE DUPREZ

Mike Duprez became a freelance sports journalist for Scorebooklive.com several months after retiring from the newspaper business. A native of Oakland, California, Duprez moved around as a child due to his father’s service in the United States Marine Corps. He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1981. Duprez, who lives in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, had 30 years of experience in newspapers as well as other endeavors before retiring at the end of 2021. He covers stories in both North Carolina and South Carolina for Scorebooklive.com.

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