- December 4, 2025
University of Florida softball signee Leah Stevens has been traveling the country this summer with Georgia Impact, one of the top travel softball teams in the country.
After playing with the Impact in tournaments in Gainesville, Kansas City (back-to-back weeks) and Nashville, Stevens and the Impact placed fifth out of 72 teams in the Premier Girls Fastpitch Premier Division 18U National Championships in Huntington Beach, California, on July 22-25.
At the end of the tournament, the Matanzas High School graduate was selected to play in the PGF High School All-American Game on July 26 in Irvine, California. Stevens pitched a perfect sixth inning for the East Team, getting the first two batters to ground out and striking out Arizona recruit Sinalei Talataina looking at a changeup. East beat the West 3-1.
Stevens was the only Florida recruit in the game.
“She said it was an awesome way to finish her travel career,” her father, Chris Stevens, said.
In an interview with Perfect Game TV, Sevens said the high level of competition is preparing her for her freshman season with the Gators.
“I’ve always played locally,” she said. “After I committed (to UF), I joined the Georgia Impact team and they’ve been fantastic. The level of competition we’ve been playing is unlike anything I’ve ever played before, but it’s getting me ready for college.”
Stevens is now taking a break before she starts school later this month. She will major in aerospace engineering and has been accepted into Florida’s University Research Scholars Program.
Stevens had no softball offers early this year despite a standout comeback junior season at Matanzas in 2024. She had missed her sophomore year because of a rare stroke caused by a blood clot in her brain. But before her senior season she impressed Florida coach Tim Walton at a camp.
“Coach Walton saw me, and, thankfully, he needed a pitcher, so he gave me the opportunity of a lifetime,” Stevens said in the Perfect Game TV interview.
Stevens helped lead Matanzas to a program-best 23-2 record. The Pirates advanced to the regional finals for the first time in school history where they lost to Niceville 1-0, despite Stevens pitching a no-hitter for the second time in three games.
She finished her senior season with a 17-1 record, a 0.32 earned run average and 249 strikeouts in 108.2 innings.
In the Perfect Game TV interview, Stevens said she needs to work on her chase pitches to make sure they are far enough off the plate.
“Hitting is the hardest part of the game. The pressure is on the hitter,” she said. “I want to be dependable where I’m not making it easy on the hitters.”
