Uncommitted 2026 SS/MIF Eva Chavez, today's standout spotlight athlete from the Golden State. Photo courtesy of Eva Chavez.

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Here’s our TFP for Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023:

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THE FINAL PITCH: EVALINA “EVA” CHAVEZ

Uncommitted 2026 SS Eva Chavez recently talked to Dugout Chatter about I-5 Softball, Highland High, I-5 Ventura-Banbrook/Shea’s 7th-place finish at PGF 14U Premier Nationals, Birmingham Thunderbolts Premier 2026-Thompson, mental blocks, future college, lawyer, history, Kobe Bryant, “Born A Crime,” The Game, “Zoey 101,” “Bad Boys” and wrestling.

THE FINAL PITCH Q&A

Eva Chavez of I-5 Softball. Photo courtesy of Eva Chavez.

Name: Evalina “Eva” Chavez

Hometown: Palmdale, CA

High School: Highland High

Club Team: I-5 Softball-Snyder 16U

Graduation Year: 2026

Height: 5-foot-6

Position: SS/MIF

Nickname: My nickname is Eva. When I was younger, people would call me “Monsterlina” because I would play aggressive. I outgrew it over time so now everyone just calls me Eva.

Twitter/Instagram: @evalinachavez2026

Honors: PGF 14u Platinum Runner-Up 2022; Honorable Mention High School Softball; Academic Honors; Highest batting average for a freshman in Division IV; Top 7 in Division IV overall; Colorado Sparkler All-American (2023); 7th PGF 14U Premier Nationals (2023); 4th place in Wrestling CIF-SS Girls Individual Eastern Division (2023); and qualified for Masters in Wrestling (2023).

Travel Ball Summer Stats: .421 AVG, .491 OBP, .600 SLG, 1.091 OPS, 40 hits, 3 HRs and 20 RBIs.

High School Stats: .524 AVG, .600 OBP, .761 SLG, 1.362 OPS, 22 hits and 23 RBIs.

Eva Chavez of I-5 Softball. Photo courtesy of Eva Chavez.

Tell us about your travel team/organization and how you became involved with them? I joined the I-5 organization in 2019 when I was 11 years old. It was my first travel team and I joined because it was a local team with a good reputation. I’ve continued to stay with this organization because of the success my team has had throughout the years. I-5 coaches have helped me receive great opportunities and they also helped me become a better player physically and mentally. Playing at the highest level of travel ball is what I continue to strive for.

Tell us about your high school team and how you did? When I started playing with my high school team, it was a week before our first league game because I wasn’t able to play until my high school wrestling season was over. We got second in our league and came up short in our CIF run. We didn’t finish how we wanted to, but next year we will work harder and hope to win league, as well go further in our CIF run.

Eva Chavez of Highland High. Photo by Antelope Valley Press.

Can you talk about I-5 Ventura-Banbrook/Shea’s run to 7th place at the PGF 14U Premier Nationals this past summer? This summer, we had our ups and downs, but we knew going into PGF we had to have fight. We won our first game of bracket play, but we came up just short in our second game losing, 5-4. After we lost, we knew we knew that it would be a rough journey, but we were ready to play our best softball. Our team played six games in the loser’s bracket and sent home five very good teams. We had to be mentally strong and push through injuries and exhaustion in order to beat those teams. We lost our last game to Tampa Mustangs, who were a good well-rounded team. We had a great run and look forward to more success next year!

Which player/team has been your toughest opponent and why? One of the toughest teams I have ever faced was the Birmingham Thunderbolts Premier 2026-Thompson. I would say this because I remember playing them last year during PGF semifinals. They came out aggressive, had solid pitching, had great hitters and they just wanted to beat us. When we played them, they had lost already to the Beverly Bandits-Norwood, who won PGF Platinum that year. They ended up beating us that first game so now we both had a loss, which meant we had to play them again. I remember that second game we just wanted it more and gave it all we could to win. I think that we gave everything into that game because we wanted to make it to the championship so badly, which we did. We knew that we had to play at our highest level in order to beat this team.

What have you faced/overcome in life that has made you the person you are today? I think I’ve faced a lot of things that I have had to overcome, but I think the biggest one has been mental blocks. When you start to struggle or you fail, sometimes it can be hard to get up. I feel that it’s easier to crumble, but it’s even harder to stay together. What has helped me overcome some of my mental blocks is that I know if I keep working and pushing myself, it will all work out for me. It can be hard to see when you feel down, but when you are down the only way you can go is up.

What are you looking for in a future college? What I’m looking for in my future college is good academics and to play sports. My desire is to go to a Division 1 University where I can focus on my academics and the sports I love.

What areas are you interested in future occupations and why? What I’m intrigued in pursuing is becoming a Lawyer. I would like to be able to defend people or just fight for what’s right. I’m also going to continue looking for what suits me the best and keep my options open.

What’s your favorite subject to study in school and why? I enjoy studying history. It’s my favorite because I like knowing what happened in the past and it’s important to understand where we came from.

Who is your sports hero and why? My sports hero is Kobe Bryant. I look up to him because of his mentality and his determination for the game. His mentality inspires me because he wanted to be the best and he was always looking for things to improve on. I know if I push myself like he did I will continue to grow and become a better person overall.

What’s your favorite book to read and why? My favorite book I read was “Born a Crime” by Trevor Noah. It was my favorite book because he explained the obstacles he had to overcome. He also changed his life story into a more positive one, even though it was a rough journey.

What’s the best hype song and why? The best hype song for me is “Hate It or Love It” (by The Game). I love listening to this song because it gets me pumped up whenever I’m about to perform and I feel like I could do anything when I listen to this song.

What’s your favorite TV show to binge and why? My favorite TV show to binge is “Zoey 101.” I just always found it cool that the kids went to a boarding school near the beach and they basically did whatever they wanted to do.

What’s your favorite movie and why? My favorite movie is “Bad Boys.” I liked those movies because it was just a really funny movie and the action in the movie was pretty cool.

Do you have a secret talent/skill? I wrestle and play flag football as well. I’ve been wrestling since I was 7 years old and in 2017 I won the California State Tournament. I joined flag football this year because it just recently became a sport at my school.

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NEWS & NOTES

***Florida National-committed 2024 2B/OF Albanie Cordova of Colorado Bombers/Pueblo South High is getting involved in Colorado Youth Awareness Week. …

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SIGNING/COMMITMENT ALERTS

Sophia “Squirrel” Everett, 2025, RF/3B/C, Lady Magic-Walling/San Rafael High, CA, Cal

Nora Abromovage, 2024, CF/SS, EC Bullets-Cornett/Lake Braddock High, VA, Virginia Tech

Saskia Raab, 2024, OF/C, AASA-Nelson/Mortimer/Granada High, CA, Nevada

Sienna Mayer, 2025, MIF, BSC Bengals-Briggs/El Segundo High, CA, North Texas

Samantha “Bell” Land, 2024, C/UT, Bombers-Mooneyham/Crosby High, TX, Bossier Parish Community College

Karley Graber, 2024, P/1B/SS/UT, IndianaMagic Gold-Gerth/Bar Reeve High, IN, Murray State

Aubrey Zachary, 2024, P, Indiana Magic Gold-Green/Penn High, IN, Purdue-Fort Wayne

Paige Ernstes, 2024, C/3B, Indiana Magic Gold-Green/New Palestine High, IN, Mississippi State

Brailey Mills, 2024, 2B/OF, Indiana Magic Gold/Pike Central High, IN, Indiana State

Riley Janda, 2024, MOF/UT, Indiana Magic Gold-Green/Green Center Grove High, IN, Louisville

Malone Moore, 2024, 1B/P, Indiana Magic Gold/Beech Grove High, IN, Coastal Carolina

Mickie Shivley, 2024, CF/SS, Indiana Magic Gold/Bremen High, IN, Ball State

https://twitter.com/mickie_1496/status/1620792837314088960

Ella Holman, 2024, C/OF, Indiana Magic Gold/New Palestine High, IN, Dayton

Marlee Loudermilk, 2024, SS/OF, Indiana Magic Gold/Terre Haute South Vigo High, IN, Northern Kentucky

Kinsey Clopton, 2024, 1B/P, Indiana Magic Gold/Bloomington South High, IN, Charleston Southern

Kinsey Clopton of Bloomington South High committed to Charleston Southern. Photo by The Herald-Times.

Jinnis Gerth, 2024, 1B/OF/UT, Indiana Magic Gold/Evansville North High, Southern Indiana

Selby Patburg, 2024, OF/UT, Indiana Magic Gold/Mount Carmel High, IN, Southeast Missouri State

Karley Kavanaugh, 2024, MIF, Indiana Magic Gold/Pike Central High, IN, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)

Samantha Bolding, 2024, MIF/3B/OF, Indiana Magic Gold-Green/Eastern Hancock, IN, Toledo

Ella Johnson, 2024, RHP, Indiana Magic Gold/Bracken County High, KY, Kent State

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HSOTD

Today’s Hype Song of the Day is …

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BTITW

Today’s Best Thing In The World is …

— Carlos Arias, Dugout Chatter (Follow Carlos on Twitter @Los_Stuff and Threads @los_stuff)

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