Some of these names date back more than 30 years. But some are as recent as this month.
The point: The Volusia-Flagler area has a long history of producing great softball players.
Who’s the best ever from these parts? Let’s vote.
As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, USA TODAY Sports will celebrate the 250 greatest American sports figures of all time. Alongside that national recognition, the USA TODAY Network will spotlight the roots of the country’s sports culture: the high school athletes and sports figures who shaped communities and defined their states.
First, we are going to take a look at athletes in their individual sports.
Here are the stars of the diamond. The 18 players (listed in alphabetical order) were all standouts at the high school level. Many advanced to the college ranks.
Don’t see your preferred selection? There’s also a write-in option.
Allie Carroll
Playing for Taylor, Carroll appeared on the All-Area list six times, including four times on the first team. She rose to prominence as a seventh-grader with a team-best .480 batting average as the Wildcats secured their first postseason victory in 19 years on their way to the state semifinals. Later, Carroll hit .476 with an area-leading 27 RBIs as a sophomore and .456 as a senior. Stetson recruited her. As a freshman in 2019, she checked into 20 games before transferring to Seminole State.
Kasey Cash
Cash went back-to-back as News-Journal Player of the Year during her junior and senior years. And her stat lines were awesome. In 2003, the lefty allowed only one earned run in 144⅓ innings while striking out 279 batters. In 2004, her ERA stood at 0.29 with 195 strikeouts and only 11 walks. She amassed a 58-8 record with 840 strikeouts in her four seasons with the Bulldogs. Cash also hit .535 as a senior.
She rose to the college ranks at South Florida and served as a consistent member of the Bulls’ pitching staff her first three years. As a freshman, she placed third on the team with a 2.32 ERA. She was second as a sophomore at 2.34.
Kelsi Dunne
Dunne was a phenom the moment she arrived at Spruce Creek. She lived up to the hype with a career record of 71-11 with 58 shutouts, 22 no-hitters and five perfect games. She became the first two-time Miss Softball in Florida and took home the News-Journal Player of the Year prize three times. During her senior season of 2007, she surrendered only 21 hits. That same year, she delivered 26 wins. Her ERA stood at 0.15, and she tallied 445 strikeouts, just short of the state record of 461 she set the previous spring. Dunne was the 2007 EA Sports National Softball Player of the Year.
In college at Alabama, more accolades poured in. She was named to four first-team All-America squads and obtained two SEC Pitcher of the Year labels and the SEC Freshman of the Year award. She etched new Crimson Tide records for career strikeouts, lowest opponent batting average, complete-game no-hitters and shutouts. Dunne now works as the head coach at Embry-Riddle.
Jodi Hackett
As a sophomore in 1994, Hackett hit .395 with 48 RBIs and 39 runs. She stayed excellent with the bat in 1995, upping her average to .484 with 37 RBIs and four home runs. But it was her pitching that took a leap, as she turned in a 2.21 ERA in 98 innings and collected the area Player of the Year title. Hackett also earned prep All-America honors.
Also a standout volleyball player, Hackett injured her knee and missed her senior softball season. Still, she had shown enough to draw the attention of the Florida Gators, with whom she signed.
Brooke Hartman
Hartman was a three-time All-Area first-team infielder. During her final three seasons at Spruce Creek, she went deep 15 times. She also led the Hawks in batting average twice — .377 in 2014 and .420 in 2016 — while being widely regarded as the best defensive third baseman in the area.
That continued as South Florida, where Hartman played five seasons. Her top offensive campaign came as a sophomore in 2018. She batted .270 with 10 homers and 34 RBIs. In 2019, she was selected as an American Athletic Conference second-teamer. Overall, she hit .233 with 18 home runs and 92 RBIs in 193 career games.
Julie Kelley
Kelley’s dominance began at Seabreeze. As a freshman, she hit .636 with 29 RBIs and maintained a 0.68 ERA in 93 innings. The right-hander transferred to Spruce Creek for her sophomore year and continued to shine. She never pitched fewer than 116 innings in a season for the Hawks and never had an ERA above 1.56. Kelley wrapped up the 2024 Player of the Year award as a senior. She batted .431 with three homers. In the circle, she kept an ERA of 0.48 with 193 strikeouts in 116⅓ innings.
She kicked off her college career with a year at Kentucky (4.83 ERA in 62⅓ innings) and now suits up for South Carolina (3.50 ERA in 18 innings).
Aleima Lopez
Lopez never hit under .420 during four All-Area first-team years for the Deltona Wolves. She enjoyed her biggest season as a senior in 2012, scorching to a .566 batting average with 21 doubles, six home runs and 46 RBIs while striking out only twice. She grabbed News-Journal Player of the Year honors.
Lopez signed with Florida International. She cracked the Conference USA first team in 2016, and upon her graduation, she ranked seventh in program history with 110 career RBIs. She played professionally in Italy and also suited up for the Puerto Rican national team. Nowadays, Lopez is a college softball coach. She just wrapped up her first season as an assistant at Providence.
Alexis Minaberry
The most recent star on this list, Minaberry was the 2026 Volusia-Flagler Softball Player of the Year. As a Spruce Creek senior, she tied for third in the state with 13 home runs while hitting .493 and driving in 36 runs. The three-time All-Area first-teamer completed her high school career with a .393 batting average, 30 bombs and 100 RBIs. Minaberry committed to Florida SouthWestern.
Shellie Robinson
Now, you may know her as Shellie Cousins, head softball coach at Stetson, where she just piloted the Hatters to their first NCAA Tournament since 2014. But she was an all-time player. As DeLand’s catcher, Robinson won area Player of the Year awards in 2009 and 2011. Her senior season alone would be enough to score her a spot on this list. She hit .595 with a state-leading 17 home runs, 52 RBIs, 51 runs and 21 stolen bases.
After graduating, she joined USC Upstate and grew into a two-time ASUN Player of the Year. She set a new school record with 70 home runs and knocked in 198 RBIs. She also claimed the ASUN Freshman of the Year prize and was inducted into the school’s athletics hall of fame in 2020.
Ashly Smith
Smith locked down the shortstop spot for the better part of four years for Spruce Creek. She announced her arrival immediately with a .456 batting average and 35 runs as a freshman in 2012. She saved her best high school season for last, as she paced the area in hits with 46 in 2015, batting .529 and swiping 18 bases.
At Stetson, Smith took over at first base and made the All-ASUN Freshman Team after socking a team-high five home runs. When her career reached its conclusion, she ranked ninth in Hatters history in batting average (.321), hits (182) and home runs (16), eighth in doubles (32), seventh in stolen bases (18) and fifth in RBIs (125). She was a two-time ASUN second-teamer.
Micah Sokol
Sokol challenged for the Volusia-Flagler Player of the Year award as a sophomore and junior. In 1995, the Flagler Palm Coast Bulldog had a .485 batting average with 36 RBIs and 31 stolen bases. In the circle, she notched a 2.86 ERA. She came back with even better totals in 1996, hitting .581 with three home runs, 45 RBIs and 44 stolen bases to go along with her 2.05 ERA. She won local Player of the Year as a senior with her best campaign. Sokol batted .681 with one dinger and a school record 61 RBIs. As a pitcher, she dropped her ERA to 0.51.
Lee Ann Spivey
Three All-Area first-team nods. The 2010 Player of the Year award. Spivey batted .525 across her four seasons at Flagler Palm Coast. She also paced the area in home runs as a freshman, sophomore and senior. During her award-winning junior campaign, she hit .557 with three home runs and 34 RBIs.
Then, Spivey headed to South Florida. She started at catcher right away for the Bulls. Later, she snatched All-AAC first-team recognition as a junior and senior, and she established a new career home run record with 39. Fifteen of those occurred during her senior year. She also sits second in program history in career RBIs (161).
Leah Stevens
Stevens was virtually unhittable during three seasons for Matanzas. The right-hander debuted with a 1.69 ERA with 129 strikeouts in 66⅓ innings in 2022. After missing 2023 due to a blood clot in her brain’s venous sinuses, she gained medical clearance and returned for her junior campaign, which included a 0.87 ERA and 196 strikeouts in 88⅔ innings. She improved those numbers to a 0.32 ERA and 249 strikeouts in 108⅔ frames during her senior season. She earned Player of the Year honors.
Stevens signed with Florida. During her first spring as a Gator, she made 22 appearances with a 4.27 ERA.
Felicia Thomas
Thomas put up absurd numbers at Warner Christian. As a sophomore in 2002, she fanned 229 batters in 123 innings with a 1.00 ERA and also hit .528 with seven homers and 43 knocked in. In 2003, she followed up with a 0.25 ERA and 270 strikeouts in 112 innings. She hurled six no-hitters. Oh, and she batted .541 with eight home runs.
For her final season, Thomas transferred to Spruce Creek, and it resulted in the 2004 Volusia-Flagler Player of the Year award. She jumped from Class 1A to 6A with a 0.37 ERA and 208 punchouts in 134⅓ frames. Again, she twirled three no-hitters.
Aminah Vega
Vega just finished rewriting the Duke record books. She broke the program’s high marks for doubles (67) and home runs (55) in a career. She is second all-time with 301 hits. Vega did all that while developing into a multi-time, first-team All-American, batting .406 with 223 RBIs through her four years.
In high school, Vega showcased those same skills. She hammered 26 long balls in just 87 games to set a University record. As a junior, she helped the Titans to the state semifinals with a .609 batting average, 13 dingers and 29 stolen bases. She hit. 488 as a senior and claimed back-to-back local Player of the Year trophies for her efforts.
Allison Walters
Walters batted .429 and contributed 88 RBIs and 88 runs scored across 100 career games at University. She helped turn the Titans into a perennial contender during the 2010s, eclipsing a .450 average three times in four years.
Walters signed with Appalachian State and immediately filled a starting role in 2016. She suited up for 188 games in her four years, capping her career with six home runs and 20 RBIs as a senior in 2019.
Emma Wood
In four years of varsity softball at Matanzas, Wood tallied a batting average of .487. That was bolstered by a .647 mark as a senior in 2022 to go along with six triples, three home runs and 37 runs scored. She blasted six bombs as a junior while hitting .424. In the circle, she compiled 298 career innings with a 2.49 ERA.
Wood took her talents to Embry-Riddle where she continued to thrive as a two-way player. She batted .340 throughout her college career and earned an all-conference first-team nomination in 2025. In 44 appearances as a pitcher, the right-hander accumulated a 2.22 ERA.
Michelle Weeks
Weeks repeated as local Player of the Year as a Flagler Palm Coast sophomore and junior in 1998 and 1999. During the first of those campaigns, she swatted four home runs and drove in 29 runs while adding a 2.19 ERA and 117 strikeouts. During the second, her pitching numbers jumped to a 0.77 ERA and 170 strikeouts in 136⅔ innings. Weeks closed her high school career with another All-Area first-team season in 2000. She carried a 0.38 ERA in the circle and batted .444 at the plate. She played collegiately at Binghamton University.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Volusia-Flagler’s all-time best softball player poll. VOTE now
Reporting by Chris Vinel, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
