Lakewood Ranch (Bradenton, Fla.) opened the postseason with a pair of run-rule wins in upping record to 26-0 and protecting its No. 1 position in this week's MaxPreps Top 25 high school softball rankings.
The Mustangs, who have a dozen players signed or committed to play collegiately, have been ranked No. 1 for four straight weeks.
Sitting at No. 2 for the past month is Norco (Calif.), which opens the postseason on Tuesday. The Cougars, 27-1, are the defending California Interscholastic Federation Southern California Section D1 champions.
Lakewood Ranch and Norco are the only teams to hold the No. 1 spot this season.
Video: Top 25 softball rankingsSee who's climbing as playoffs start across the country. The Florida 8A state tournament features No. 1 Lakewood Ranch and No. 4 Winter Springs, both 26-0, on opposite sides of the 32-team bracket. It's a long road to the May 24 finals, but a meeting between the two would not be a surprise.
New to the Top 25 this week are Katy (Texas), Hartsville (S.C.), West Stanly (Oakboro, N.C.), and Lake Central (St. John, Ind.).
Hartsville and West Stanly join Oshkosh North (WI), Keystone (La Grange, Ohio) and Lake City (Couer d'Alene, Idaho) as other unbeaten teams ranked in this week.
Texas leads the way with the most ranked teams at six, followed by California and Florida with three each.
Dropped out: Sunrise Mountain (Ariz.), Bradshaw Mountain (Ariz.), Grand Terrace (Calif.), and Cedar Ridge (Texas).
On
the Bubble: Trenton (Fla.), 23-0; Lakota East (Ohio),
13-0; St. John Vianney N.J.), 13-0; Richland (Wash.), 20-0; Notre
Dame Crowley (La.), 33-0; Hoover (W.Va.), 27-1; East
Lake (Fla.), 26-1; Eustis (Fla.), 25-1; Mt. Pleasant (Pa.),
16-0; Rose Bud (Ark), 29-1; Washington (N.C.), 19-0; Holy Cross
(Ky.), 24-2; Western Brown (Ohio), 22-0; Chopticon, (Md.),
17-1; West (Utah), 16-1, and North Penn (Pa.),
15-0.
Prospect of the Week: Kaylyn Dismukes of Holtville
(Deatsville, Ala.) homered in three-straight games and had five homers in
five games when she drove in 15 runs. In addition to her 21 homers this
season, she has 20 doubles and a 1.229 slugging percentage. Add to
that, she has won her last 11 pitching efforts, allowing one earned
run and 22 base hits. During that 51-inning stint, she's fanned
105. Signed with Auburn, Dismukes is 30-5 on the season with a 0.92 ERA.
Game
of the Week: Male (Louisville) remained unbeaten with a 5-1 win over
crosstown rival 24-2 Holy Cross. Bulldog sophomore first baseman Megan
Konermann homered twice, while Jaelyn Sanders slugged Male's 43rd homer
of the year in the seventh inning.
Game to Watch: 10-1 Columbus
(Bronx, N.Y.) against 8-1Taft (Bronx, N.Y.). Taft averages 18 runs
per game and its only loss was 12-1 to Columbus. The Blue Steel average 22 runs per game and have scored more than 20 in all but two
games this season.
Streaks: Bishop Carroll (Wichita, Kan.) ended
Shawnee Heights' (Tecumseh, Kan.) winning streak at 66 games. Keystone
(La Grange, Ohio) extended its winning streak to 55 games.
Tournament
of the Week: The Mississippi State 5A Championships will be Thursday and Friday when Neshoba Central (Philadelphia) seeks its
seventh-straight state title.
MaxPreps Top 25 high school softball rankings
Grae Rudolph, Pinnacle
Photo by Elena Bernardo
The Mustangs easily captured their district championship, winning 16-0 and 11-1, and collecting five home runs in the run-rule victories. Up next: The 8A Regional Quarterfinals versus 12-9 Pinellas Park (Largo).
2. (2) Norco (Calif.), 27-1The Cougars open defense of their CIF Southern California Section D1 title on Tuesday against 21-7 Vista Murrieta (Murrieta). Freshman
Abby Dayton is batting .372 and leads the Cougars in runs scored with 24. Opponents are hitting a combined .147 against junior
Sarah Willis and sophomore
Stevie Hansen.
3. (3) Foothill (Pleasanton, Calif.), 23-0The Falcons edged California (San Ramon) 3-2 and defeated crosstown rival Amador Valley 8-1 on Senior Day. They conclude their regular season on Tuesday hosting Carondelet (Concord).
4. (5) Winter Springs (Fla.), 26-0The Bears defeated Hagerty (Oviedo) 3-1 and picked up a district playoff win by forfeit over Edgewater (Orlando). On Wednesday, they face 19-7-1 St. Cloud in the 8A Regional Quarterfinals.
5. (6) Male (Louisville, Ky.), 20-0The Bulldogs got homers from
Jasmine Miller,
Megan Konermann and
Lilly Davis in defeating previously unbeaten Holy Cross (Louisville) 5-1. They also beat one of Indiana's top teams, New Palestine, 6-2.
6. (7) Dripping Springs (Texas), 35-2Logan Hulon pitched a no-hitter and struck out 12 and
Bailey Hudgeons homered and doubled as the Tigers defeated Southwest 3-0 to move on to 5A Regional Quarterfinal action against 25-11-2 Tivy (Kerrville).
7. (8) Keller (Texas), 29-3-1The Indians have 18 wins in a row after sweeping South Grand Prairie, 20-2 and 10-2, to advance to the 6A Regional Quarterfinals against 24-13 Carroll (Southlake) on Thursday.
8. (9) Coral Springs Charter (Coral Springs, Fla.), 24-1Junior
Cassidy Crump collected three hits and freshman
Brianna Godfrey pitched a three-inning no-hitter in a 15-0 win over Pompano Beach. By winning, the Panthers will play LeBelle in the state 5A Quarter Regionals on Wednesday.
9. (10) Redmond (Wash.), 20-0Junior catcher
Jennifer Cummings (Washington pledge) recently had a 10-for-10 batting streak to raise her average to .611 and on-base percentage to .733. Tennessee signee
Kiki Milloy has a dozen home runs and is 15-0 in the circle. As a team, the Mustangs enter the postseason with a batting average of .400.
10. (12) Klein Collins (Spring, Texas), 31-2With 12-0 and 7-1 playoff wins over Bryan, the Tigers ran their win streak to 19 and advance to the 6A Regional Quarterfinals on Saturday. The Tigers are hitting over .400 as a team.
11. (13) Oshkosh North (Oshkosh, Wis.), 20-0Northwestern signee
Sydney Supple struck out 17 and tossed a no-hitter in a 15-0 win over Appleton North. In 104 innings, Supple has 187 strikeouts and an 0.67 ERA. She's also hitting .508 with 37 RBI.
12. (14) Keystone (La Grange, Ohio), 21-0Keystone ran its two-year win streak to 55 as senior
Sydney Campbell threw a no-hitter and combined with
Madi Herrington on a one-hitter. Campbell, 18-0, has won 55-straight high school games, and, in 117 innings pitched this year, has 185 strikeouts while opponents are hitting .091.
13. (17) Marist (Chicago), 22-2The
Redhawks have won 20 in a row. No.
23-ranked Lake Central (St. John, Ind.) hosts the Redhawks on May 13.
14. (16) Clarksville (Tenn.), 40-1Riding a 24-game win streak, the Wildcats close out the regular season on Tuesday.
15. (18) Pinnacle (Phoenix), 23-3The Pioneers got three hits from
Grace Rudolph in defeating Chaparral (Scottsdale) 5-1 in the second round of the state 6A tournament. Up next: 17-7 Tucson Magnet School (Tucson).
16. (19) Neshoba Central (Philadelphia, Miss.), 29-2The Rockets are seeking their seventh-straight successful trip to the championship series on Thursday and Friday at the University of Southern Mississippi. They are six-time state champions.
17. (23) Immaculate Heart Academy (Washington Township, N.J.), 16-0Junior
Ryleigh White (Tennessee commit) highlighted a three-win week when she tossed a one-hitter and struck out 17 as Immaculate Heart defeated Park Ridge 8-0.
18. (22) Hallettsville (Texas), 29-0The Lady Brahmas blanked Blanco, 4-0 and 8-0, to move to 3A Regional Quarterfinals on Saturday vs. 30-8-1 Karnes City. Led by Florida signee Riley Trlicek, the Lady Brahmas have three pitchers with more than 100 strikeouts each on the season.
19. (25) Lake City (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho), 23-0Senior
Ashley Kaufman (Central Washington signee) is batting .600 and unbeaten in 12 starts as the T-Wolves have not been challenged since their season-opening 4-3 win over Freemont (Plain City, Utah). The T-Wolves were 24-0 in both 2013 and 2011.
20. (20) Orange Lutheran (Orange, Calif.), 22-6-1Home runs by
Miranda Stoddard and
Taryn Lennon helped the Lancers open the playoffs with a 5-1 win over Los Altos (Hacienta Heights). Stoddard also picked up the win in the circle by allowing just one base hit. The Lancers play Pacifica (Garden Grove) on Tuesday with the winner drawing No. 2-ranked Norco.
21. (NR) Katy (Texas), 25-2The Tigers defeated Cy-Fair twice, 12-2 and 13-3, to move to the 6A Regional Quarterfinals on Saturday against 21-4 Ridge Point. Katy has won 20 in a row.
22. (24) Barbers Hill (Mt. Belvieu, Texas), 38-2The Eagles punched their ticket to the 5A Regional Quarterfinals by sweeping Foster, 7-1 and 4-3. Up next: Friendswood (24-4) on Saturday.
23. (NR) Lake Central (St. John, Ind.), 18-1The Indians have been on a roll with 17 straight wins since losing their second game of the season. During the stretch, they have allowed 15 runs. Lake Central travels to Crown Point, riding its own 14-game win streak, on Monday. Lake Central, which has lost only to No. 13 Marist (Chicago), won the first meeting with Crown Point, 6-2, four weeks ago.
24. (NR) Hartsville (S.C.), 25-0The sign of a good team is winning close games. The Red Foxes are very good then as they've won seven one-run games including their last three. Freshman
Alyssa Poston is 16-0 with a 1.10 ERA and 153 strikeouts in 115 innings. She threw complete games in all three of those recent wins.
25. (NR) West Stanly (Oakboro, N.C.), 20-0The Colts opened the season with six straight shutouts and haven't slowed. They've allowed two runs in their last six wins and have won 34 of their last 35 games.
