Chambana Sun

Illinois softball players Ellie Haggard, Ava Moore, and London Park have been recognized on the Softball America Freshman Watch List, as announced by the publication.

Ellie Haggard arrives in Champaign-Urbana with a 60th overall ranking from Extra Innings Elite Class of 2024. She was a four-year varsity letter winner at Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School. The Illinois native earned 4A All-State honors for 2022-23. Notably, she holds the state record for grand slams in an inning with two and ranks fifth all-time with eight RBI in an inning. Additionally, she is ranked 15th all-time with 46 career home runs during her high school career. During her tenure at Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School, Haggard set school records for runs, hits, triples, home runs, RBI, slugging percentage, and OPS.

Ava Moore recently appeared on the D1 Softball D100 Freshman list last week. As a freshman infielder and three-year varsity letter winner at Tecumseh High School, the Ohio native received the Allstate Insurance Good Hands award three times during her high school years. Moore also made it to the All-Central Buckeye Conference team in both 2021-22 and 2024. In her senior year campaign where she received First Team All Southwest District honors, Moore batted .548 with 11 home runs and 43 RBI. This marked her third season batting above .500 after achieving similar results during her freshman and sophomore years.

London Park joined Illinois after reclassifying from the Class of 2025 to join this season's squad. As a three-year letter winner at Spring High School in Texas, Park recorded a 3.10 ERA over 160.1 innings pitched during that period. She tallied up to 186 strikeouts leading to a high school record of 20-10 as a pitcher while being named all-district each year.

The Fighting Illini will kick off their season against CSU Bakersfield in Orlando on February 7.