MaxPreps top 25 national high school softball rankings

Video: Softball pitcher strikes out all 21 in perfect game
See Mia Faieta of Cedar Grove (N.J.) strike out all 21 in a perfect game.

For the 11th-straight week, Norco holds the top spot in MaxPreps Xcellent Top 25 Softball Rankings.

The 32-0 Cougars host Grand Terrace on Tuesday in the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section D1 semifinals. Grand Terrace, 23-2, finished No. 2 in the MaxPreps 2016 Xcellent 25 Poll. They are No. 23 this week.

Should Norco win, they would play the winner of No. 2 Los Alamitos and No. 16 Orange Lutheran on Friday. A win then would likely give Norco the 2017 MaxPreps mythical national title. Norco has defeated both Los Alamitos and Orange Lutheran this season.

But Norco coach Richard Robinson isn't thinking about an unbeaten season or rankings.



"It means nothing once the postseason starts," Robinson said. "Everyone is undefeated and it's one loss and you are out. Trust me when I say no one in the tournament cares about our ranking or our record."

The Cougars aren't your normal team, however. They've had 10 different players deliver a game-winning RBI this year and 11 different players hit home runs.

Los Alamitos remained No. 2 and hopes to beat Orange Lutheran on Tuesday and earn a rematch against Norco. The Griffins fell 1-0 to Norco on April 8 at the Michelle Carew Classic, but haven't lost since.

Moving into the Top 10 are Penn, Oak Forest-River Park and Lakewood. State tournament play is underway for all three.

The biggest mover of the week was Center Grove (Ind.), which jumped into the rankings at No. 15.

In addition to Grand Terrace, new to the Top 25 this week are East Carter, and unbeatens St. John Vianney, and Shawnee Heights.



1. (Last week1) Norco (Calif.), 32-0
With three playoff wins, Norco tied the Southern Section record for wins in a season by a softball team, joining four other squads: 1985 Huntington Beach Ocean View (32-0), 2007 Valencia (32-1), 2009 Norco (32-2) and 2012 Chino Hills (32-3). Senior pitcher Taylor Dockins takes a 108-17 career won-loss record in to Tuesday's semifinal against No. 23 Grand Terrace (23-2).

2. (2) Los Alamitos (Calif.), 26-3
The Griffins, winners of 11 in a row, opened the CIF-SS D1 playoffs with a 5-1 win over Capistrano Valley and a 4-1 victory over Santiago. Los Alamitos has allowed nine runs since losing 1-0 on April 8 to No. 1 Norco.

3. (3) Coral Springs Charter (Coral Springs, Fla.), 30-1
The Panthers won their third-straight 5A state softball championship. Season over

4. (4) Bishop O'Connell (Arlington, Va.), 27-0
The Knights won the state large school title. Season over.

5. (9) Hurricane (W. Va.), 36-1
The Redskins, with only two seniors in the starting lineup, won their third-straight state large school championship and fourth in five years. The other titles might not compare, however, to the dominance of this championship. Hurricane scored 36 runs and had 45 hits in 12 innings at bat. The Redskins were the home team during three mercy-rule wins at the state tournament.

6. (6) Woodinville (Wash.), 26-0
The Falcons closed out their season by winning the state 4A championship. In four state tournament games, they outscored their foes, 23-3, and defeated Puyallup (Wash.), 3-0, in the title game. Season over.



7. (7) Oakleaf (Orange Park, Fla.), 30-2
Oakleaf won its final 26 games and the state 8A title. Season over.

8. (11) Penn (Mishawaka, Ind.), 26-1
Senior Danielle Watson threw her second-straight no-hitter and third in five games as Penn beat Adams (South Bend) to move to Tuesday's regional finals. Watson, who struck out 10 Adams' batters, struck out 16 as Penn defeated LaPorte (Ind.) earlier in the week. Sophomore Mackenzie Griman homered in each game.

9. (13) Oak Park-River Forest (Oak Park, Ill.), 32-1
With south regional playoff wins over Niles South, 15-1, and Maine South, 10-0, Oak Park has won 12 straight. They have scored 151 runs during the win streak.

10. (15) Lakewood (Hebron, Ohio), 28-1
With a 15-1 win over Maysville, Lakewood ran its win streak to 14. Other wins last week were by a combined 29-1 margin. Since losing 15 games ago, Lakewood has allowed just three runs.

11. (10) La Cueva (Albuquerque), 28-0
The Bears won the New Mexico 6A title. Season over.

12. (12) Bentonville (Ark.), 29-1
The Tigers won their second-straight state 7A title. Season over.



13. (16) Swan Valley (Saginaw, Mich.), 34-0
Callie Burgess pitched a pair of shutouts and Grace Dutoi homered in each game as the Vikings swept Alma. Dutoi has 12 homers and 73 RBIs and Burgess improved to 19-0 with a 1.35 ERA. Senior Lauren Addy stole five bases in the pair of wins to give her 64 (in as many attempts) in 27 games played.

14. (14) Cape Fear (Fayetteville, N.C.), 28-1
After losing the first game of a state 4A semi final three-game series, the Colts rallied to beat South Alamance (Graham) twice — 6-4 in nine innings and 3-1 — to advance to the state 4A championship series against 27-5 North Davidson (Lexington). During the three-game series, Cape Fear's Haley Cashwell collected her 243rd base hit to set a North Carolina High School state record for career hits. The best-of-three 4A state title series begins Thursday.

15. (NR) Center Grove (Greenwood, Ind.), 27-1
Since losing 5-4 to 27-2 New Palestine, the Trojans have won 13 straight by a 163-14 margin. Junior Jordyn Rudd has 14 homers and 56 RBIs to go along with her .670 batting average.

16. (20) Orange Lutheran (Orange, Calif.), 28-4
The Lancers won a pair of CIF-SS D1 playoff games last week defeating Oaks Christian and Valencia behind the shutout pitching of senior Maddy Dwyer. The Lancers, who have won 12 straight, take Los Alamitos on Tuesday.

17. (19) Moniteau (West Sunbury, Pa.), 20-0
The DeMatteis twins – Kristina DeMatteis and Kennedy DeMatteis – had two hits each and combined for four RBIs as Moniteau blanked Redbank Valley (New Bethelehem) 10-0. Kennedy DeMatteis tossed a two-hitter and struck out eight for her 13th shutout the season. Moniteau has a Wednesday playoff game against Cranberry Area (Seneca).

18. (18) West Orange (Winter Garden, Fla.), 28-3
West Orange won its second-straight 9A state title. Season over.



19. (NR) St. John-Vianney (Holmdel, N.J.), 24-0
Demi Rivera pitched a pair of shutouts to lead St. John Vianney to wins over Gloucester Catholic (Glouchester) and Raritan (Hazlet) in the quarterfinals of the South Jersey non-public A playoffs.

20. (24) Parkland (Allentown, Pa.), 24-0
The Trojans beat Northampton 3-1 and play 16-6 Easton in the District 11 semi finals on Tuesday.

21. (22) Deer Park (Texas), 38-6
Deer Park has won 26 of its last 27 after sweeping previously ranked No. 8 Katy, 4-3 (10 innings) and 6-5. Deer Park advances to Thursday's state 6A final four. Erin Edmoundson, the lone remaining player from Deer Park's 2014 state title team, homered and drove in four runs in the 6-5 victory. Deer Park won the first game 4-3 on Sara Vanderford's run-scoring double in the 10th inning

22. (23) Hamilton (Chandler, Ariz.), 30-6
Hamilton won the state 6A title. Season over.

23. (NR) Grand Terrace (Calif.), 23-2
Winners of 17 straight, the 2016 MaxPreps runners-up take on No. 1 Norco on Tuesday in the semifinals of the CIF-SS D1 tournament. Both of the Titans' losses this season were one-run affairs. In three playoff games, Grand Terrace has defeated its opponents by a combined 35-9. Three players have hit eight homers or more, led by catcher Lilly Bishop with 11 (she has a .519 batting average and 43 RBIs).

24. (NR) East Carter (Grayson, Ky.), 30-3
Junior Montana Fouts is turning it on in the postseason for the winners of 14 straight. She is 15-for-24 at the plate with three home runs and nine RBIs. In her last 49 innings pitched, she has allowed nine base hits and fanned 113. She has 361 strikeouts in 156 innings for the season.



25. (NR) Shawnee Heights (Tecumseh, Kan.), 24-0
Led by sophomores Paige Petefish (15-0 with a sub-1.00 ERA) and Sydney Wellshear (flirting with a .700 batting average), the Thunderbirds captured the Kansas 5A state title. The T-Birds collected 36 hits in three state tournament wins to outscore their opponents, 30-2. Season over.

Dropped out: Gahr (Calif.), Donovan Catholic (Toms River, N.J.), Katy (Tex.), Pinnacle (Phoenix) and Canyon (Texas).