By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

MOUNT ULLA — For elite high school softball players, midnight, Sept. 1, was Christmas Eve.

That’s the date on which Division I coaches could contact juniors in the Class of 2025 for the first time.

Maybe they’d nodded at them at a camp, but Sept. 1 was when coaches finally could call and text and let players know they were seriously interested and wanted to set up an official visit.

There wasn’t much doubt West Rowan junior Riley Haggas was going to hear from multiple schools on Sept. 1.

Haggas plays second base for the Falcons, next to shortstop Emma Clarke. She’s been overshadowed because Clarke, a senior and a University of Tennessee recruit, overshadows everyone. Clarke is one of the best players in the country, but a lot of college coaches know who Haggas is.

If she ever doubted that, Sept. 1 let her know that all those travel ball tournaments, all those camps, all those lessons and all those hours devoted to the sport were worthwhile.

“I did hear from some schools on that first day,” Haggas said. “Duke, Harvard, Syracuse, Pitt. I talked to Ohio State. They told me I’d be a great fit for them, and that made the decision a tough one.”

But another school had gotten a jump on the others.

Tampa University, a softball powerhouse in Division II, was not limited to the Sept. 1 contact period. As a D-II school, Tampa was able to start contacting Haggas on June 15 and made good use of that 75-day head start.

“Tampa is an uncommon school in a lot of ways, and not just because they’ve got a good softball team,” Haggas said. “The business school is ranked ahead of Duke. I’m looking at a business major or possibly a biology major because I’m thinking about dental school. Then there’s location, and Tampa is hard to beat. Tampa is 10 minutes from the beach, and I’m a beach person.”

The beach was the deciding factor. There aren’t any beaches in Durham or Columbus. Ohio. Haggas tossed and turned nightly for quite a while before making a decision, but she gave Tampa an early commitment on Dec. 10.

Tampa has won baseball, soccer and volleyball national championships. It hasn’t won one yet in softball, but it’s a program that often is in contention. Tampa was ranked No. 1 nationally for a while in 2023 and finished 44-6.

Haggas has good genes. Her father, Josh Haggas, played shortstop for Virginia Tech. He was a draft pick and played a couple of seasons of minor league baseball in the early 1990s.

Riley has overcome getting front teeth knocked out in a boating accident in 2016.

In the summer of 2019, she and her mother and sister were at a softball tournament in South Carolina and were fortunate to survive being rear-ended by a car going about 50 miles an hour.  

“We had moved to Salisbury from Huntersville and I’d heard about the Rowan Little League softball program and wanted to give it a try,” Haggas said. “After the car accident, I had a sprained ankle and was playing with some staples in my head, but I was cleared to play in the World Series.”

Haggas helped the Rowan Little League team make history in Portland, Ore. She clobbered the two-run double in the first inning that proved decisive in a 4-1 victory in the World Series championship game against Louisiana. Her honors in the eventful summer of 2019 included being named to the 12U All-America team.

That World Series was the first time most people had heard of Haggas. That clutch double still follows her around. People who were watching on TV remember it. It’s still sort of her claim to fame, although Haggas is determined to prove she has more championship-winning hits in her bat.

Haggas’ older sister, Reagan, played for coach Jimmy Greene and the stout West Rowan softball program before she did. Reagan’s senior season was the spring of 2020 nightmare. COVID shut everything down after a couple of games.

Reagan was a solid player for the Falcons, but Riley is the more athletically gifted of the siblings. She’s slim and tall (5-foot-10) and generates home-run power with exceptional bat speed.  In the field, she’s quick and is blessed with a bazooka arm. She would play shortstop for most high school teams, but West has Clarke, so Haggas plays second base. Double plays aren’t common in high school softball, but they’ll turn some this spring.

Riley was a starter for a 20-6 West team as a freshman. She had two homers and six doubles and scored 14 runs.

As a sophomore, she batted .371 for a 20-4 team. She had six doubles, three homers, 15 runs scored and 21 RBIs.

A right-handed swinger, she heated up at the end of the 2023 season as the weather got warmer, launching a homer against East Rowan in the South Piedmont Conference Tournament and a homer in the 3A state playoffs against East Lincoln. She was a sure thing for multiple hits in just about every postseason game.

The 17-year-old infielder still has her two biggest and best high school seasons in front of her. She’ll play them with zero pressure because the burden of making a college decision is behind her.

“It’s a full-ride scholarship, and that was always the goal,” Haggas said. “I do feel relieved and I know my parents are happy.”