National Signing Day Delivers Impactful Moments for Legacy Softball Players
If National Signing Day proved anything, it's that the softball gene runs deep in a few families. Several former softball standouts have daughters and siblings taking a step closer to cementing their future in the collegiate landscape.
Here are the legacy players you can expect to be shining on the field in the fall of 2026.
Tennessee Vols
Sarah (Fekete) Bailey, the two-time All-American and 2006 NCAA batting champion, who helped lead the Lady Vols to their first two Women’s College World Series (WCWS) appearances, is now ready to pass the baton to her daughter, Halle Bailey.
Halle officially signed on with head coach Karen Weekly’s squad on National Signing Day.
"(My mom) loves Karen," Halle told Knoxville News Sentinel when she verbally committed in 2024. "If she didn't like Karen, I wouldn't be here."
Over the course of her four seasons in Knoxville, Sarah played in 280 games and put up 296 hits, 189 runs, 85 stolen bases, and 55 sacrifice hits. Her .398 career batting average and .456 career on-base percentage rank third and eighth in school history. The university had her jersey retired in 2022.
Halle, though, is a much different player. As a sophomore at Alcoa High School in Tennessee, the infielder had a .643 batting average, 59 singles, nine doubles, three triples, a homer, and 20 RBIs. She achieved District 2A Player of the Year honors for scoring 67 runs and going 44-for-44 on stolen bases.
However, when going through recruiting, Tennessee was not on Halle’s radar, and she didn’t want to follow in her mom’s footsteps. Sarah didn’t put that pressure on her daughter either, and official visits for Halle included esteemed programs like LSU, Clemson, Alabama, and Georgia, before scheduling with her hometown Vols.
Halle kept all options open, but upon visiting Weekly and Sherri Parker Lee Stadium, the idea of being part of a first-ever national title was music to her ears.
"I just went and figured out what I liked about colleges, what I didn't," Halle told Knoxville News Sentinel. "And then I came to Tennessee and it just felt different ... (my mom) allowed me to go to other places and see what I wanted in a college. Because if she would have been like, 'You have to go to Tennessee,' I wouldn’t have gotten to experience that and see why I wanted to go to Tennessee in the first place."
Sarah certainly came close to taking Tennessee all the way to a WCWS win when the team landed a third-place finish in 2006 behind her .489 postseason batting average and .529 on-base percentage.
UCLA Bruins
Fans watched Lauren Hatch excel over the last four years, and now another Hatch, her sister, Sydney, will be taking the reins in Westwood.
Exclusively as a pinch runner, Lauren made 172 appearances over her four-year career, scoring 81 runs and was 27-for-28 on stolen base attempts.
Sydney, known for her speed on the base path, will bring loads of experience with her. The outfielder and slugger is a star on the Impact Gold Jackson 18U team, leading them to a runner-up spot in the Alliance Fastpitch Tournament this summer.
Auburn Tigers
Mike Springfield, who competed on Auburn’s men’s basketball team from 1994-96, will now pass on the Tigers' torch to his daughter, Cece Springfield.
“I am so blessed and excited to announce my commitment to continue my academic and athletic career at Auburn University,” Cece stated in her verbal commitment post in 2024. “To say I’ve dreamed of this since I was a little girl is an understatement.”
As the No.10 recruit in Softball America’s 2026 Recruiting Class Rankings, the All-State honoree from Whitefield Academy in Georgia is expected to be an offensive leader in Auburn.
She’ll head to Alabama in the fall of 2026 and currently holds a .671 batting average, 1.383 slugging percentage, .694 on-base percentage, 92 hits, 93 runs scored, 71 RBIs, and 57 extra-base hits.
Washington Huskies
Infielder Sophi Mazzola will soon be joined by her sister, Gracie.
Excited to add another Mazzola to the squad 🥳
— Washington Softball (@UWSoftball) November 12, 2025
Welcome to Washington, Grazia! pic.twitter.com/JcRTl6Fd0s
As a freshman, Sophia played in 51 games, making 50 starts. She posted a .302 batting average with 42 hits, five doubles, eight home runs, and 35 RBIs. She led the team with 13 stolen bases, going 13-for-15.
Gracie is on track to put up similar stats when she arrives in Seattle. The Missouri native from Eureka High School helped her team make a run for the Class 5A State championship with an overall record of 22-6.
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Nicole Reitz graduated from Indiana University Indianapolis with a degree in sports journalism in 2022 and has been writing about softball and baseball since 2018 .Her work has been published in various publications like Softball America, the Indianapolis Star, and SoxOn35th.
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