Texas teen softball sensation sets new national standard for runs scored

After Casey (Ill.)-Westfield High's Jamie Koss set a new prep standard for runs scored in a single season in 1992, two others nearly eclipsed the mark in the 22 years since only to finish in a three-way tie at 82.

Julia Hollingsworth nearly made it a four-way tie, but the Ennis (Texas) High junior outfielder managed to cross the plate once in a 10-3 Class 4A state championship loss to Aledo, setting a new national single-season standard among prep females with 83 runs scored, according to The Dallas Morning News.

"She is the best offensive player I’ve ever had,” 10th-year Ennis softball coach Rodney McNeill — who has also coached at the University of Texas at Arlington, Texas Welseyan University and Western Texas College during a legendary career — told The Dallas Morning News. “She can take over a game.”

She sure can. In fact, Hollingsworth averaged almost two runs per game this past season for the Lions (38-6-1). The Tulsa commit batted .635 and stole 56 stolen bases during Ennis' run to the title game. She legged out her record-breaking 83rd run in the third inning against Aledo, coming around from first on an RBI triple.

Strangely, the Ennis coaching staff thought Hollingsworth needed three runs in the state title game to surpass the national record, but a reexamination of her statistics revealed a regular-season game in which she scored a pair of runs that had not been tabulated into her totals. Ultimately, those two runs proved the difference. The record is still pending National Federation of State High School Associations approval.

Only a junior, Hollingsworth will enter her senior season with 198 career runs. Michigan's Kelly Kennedy set the national career record of 279 from 1991-94, so that standard is within reach as well.