MaxPreps Top 25 national high school softball rankings

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Johnson (San Antonio, Texas) will begin the final stretch of its regular season ranked No. 1 in the MaxPreps Xcellent Top 25 National High School Softball Rankings. It's the first time the Jaguars have been ranked No. 1 nationally.

Hitting .419 as a team, Johnson is three games away from a perfect 26-0 regular season. Standing in the way are 13-7-1 Reagan, 15-10-1 Incarnate Wood and 11-10 Madison — all San Antonio rivals.

The postseason could see the Jaguars running into one — or more — of three other Texas teams ranked in the Top 10, including No. 4 Canyon (New Braunsfels), No. 7 Keller and No. 8 Katy.

As expected, the prestigious 32-team Michelle Carew Classic in California shook up the rankings as last week's No. 1 and MaxPreps defending national champion Los Alamitos (Calif.) lost once and dropped to fifth.

Cathedral Catholic (San Diego), which started the season at No. 6, won the Carew with a 2-0 victory over No. 9 Orange Lutheran (Orange, Calif.). It's unusual to have a three-loss team in the Top 25 this early in the season, but winning the Carew event carries a lot of weight and 13-3 Cathedral lands at No. 21.

New the Top 10 this week is preseason No. 1 Hamilton (Chandler, Ariz.), which has won 16 in a row.

Also returning to the Top 25 this week is Oakleaf (Orange Park, Fla.), which won the Kissimmee Klassic. In addition to Cathedral Catholic and Oakleaf, new to the Top 25 this week are unbeatens North Davidson (Lexington, N.C.) and Eagle (Idaho).

1. (Last week 2) Johnson (San Antonio, Texas), 23-0
Johnson picked up a pair of wins by a combined 30-1 margin. With three games remaining in the regular season, the Jaguars are hitting .418 with five players hitting over .400. Junior Kailey Brown is hitting .593 and is 9-0 with a 0.18 ERA. In 10-1 win over Lee (San Antonio), Brown (Belmont commit) homered and Bri Moore pitched a one-hit shutout.

2. (3) Foothill (Pleasanton, Calif.), 10-0
Sophomore Nicole May (Oklahoma pledge) blanked good hitting Bishop Manogue (Reno, Nev.), 9-0. The Falcons also beat East Bay Area rivals Castro Valley and Monte Vista (Danville). Rain postponed the finals of the 24th Livermore Stampede until April 21.

3. (4) Marist (Chicago), 6-0
The Redhawks head into spring break hitting .449 as a team. Juniors Cassie Lindmark (Kentucky commit) and Jessica Balich (Charleston Southern pledge) are hitting over .600.

4. (5) Canyon (New Braunfels, Texas), 19-1
The Cougars routed Steele, 14-0. Unbeaten pitcher Aliyah Pritchett (Baylor signee) homered. Since losing 1-0, the Cougars have outscored their opponents 57-6.

5. (1) Los Alamitos (Calif.), 16-1
The Griffins lost 3-2 in the third round of the Michele Carew Classic to Mater Dei (Chula Vista) in a time-limit game that ended after five innings. They followed that with three wins.

6. (6) Hurricane (W. Va.), 9-0
The only thing to slow this Hurricane has been Mother Nature. In winning 8-0 over Woodrow Wilson and 11-1 over Spring Valley, Hurricane has allowed just two runs while scoring 84. Sophomore pitcher Harlie Vannatter has four no-hitters, including a pair of perfect games.

7. (7) Keller (Texas), 23-1-1
During the Indians' 15-game win streak, they have outscored their opponents 167-23. They are averaging 10 runs per game this season.

8. (8) Katy (Texas), 25-1
The Tigers' last three wins have been by a combined 42-1 margin.

9. (9) Orange Lutheran (Orange, Calif.), 18-2
Finished second at Michele Carew Classic, losing 2-0 to No. 21 Cathedral Catholic (San Diego). Ciara Briggs (LSU commit) was named the Carew Tournament's Most Valuable Player.

10. (13) Hamilton (Chandler, Ariz.), 23-1
Since their 5-1 loss to 13-3 Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) four weeks ago, the Huskies have won 16 in a row, including eight by shutout. Senior Abigail Andersen (Arizona State signee) is 14-0 with a 1.30 ERA. Freshman Loganne Stepp is 6-0 with a 0.42 ERA and averages two strikeouts per inning. Junior Macy Simmons (Arizona State pledge) is batting .595 with a dozen homers and 48 RBIs .

11. (12) East Carter (Grayson, Ky.), 10-0
The Raiders swept through the Cal Ripken Experience Tournament outscoring six opponents from four states 47-1. Led by senior MaxPreps All-American Montana Fouts (Alabama signee), the Raiders have recorded eight shutouts and outscored their foes, 90-2. Fouts has allowed one unearned run, has five no-hitters and 125 strikeouts in 54 innings. She has faced 134 batters.

12. (16) Neshoba Central (Philadelphia, Miss.), 20-0
After shutting out their previous five opponents, the Rockets beat 8-6 Raleigh 6-1 and 12-4. Eighth-grader Tenly Grisham leads the team in hitting with a .471 average, has stolen 18 bases and scored 25 times.

13. (17) Barrington (Ill.), 7-0
The Fillies followed their 11-1 win over Mundelein with a 10-2 to rout of Stevenson.

14. (20) Jackson (Mill Creek, Wash.), 9-0
After a week of spring break, Jackson returns to action on Tuesday against 7-0 Lake Stevens. Ice Pennington has it going her way — 7-0, no earned runs allowed and a 0.00 ERA with 96 strikeouts in 45 innings. She is also hitting a team-high .538.

15. (22) Chiles (Tallahassee, Fla.), 18-1
Pitchers Dani Bauer, Allie Lavoie and Dani Utt have combined for 158 strikeouts in 116 innings and a 0.91 ERA.

16. (22) Angleton (Texas), 23-1
The Wildcats' 23-game win streak includes 10 shutouts. As a team, Angleton is batting .448. Junior Aaliyah Garcia is 14-1 with a 0.44 ERA and 121 strikeouts in 79 innings.

17. (18) Siegel (Murfreesboro, Tenn.), 21-1
The Stars were rained out over the weekend.

18. (19) Gardendale (Ala.), 30-1
Since losing, the Rockets have won six in a row. They have 110 extra base hits with Carlee McCondichie hitting seven homers and Chaney Phillips a dozen doubles.

19. (24) Bishop O'Connell (Arlington, Va.), 9-0
Kat Sandercock scattered four hits and struck out 11 as the Knights defeated previously unbeaten South Lakes (Reston) 6-0. She also had two hits and a pair of runs batted in. Senior Elizabeth Hoeymans has scored 20 runs, drive in 15 and has 18 base hits.

20. (15) O'Connor (Phoenix), 21-2-1
After a week of spring break, the Eagles are ready to return to action with a seven-game win streak.

21. (NR) Cathedral Catholic (San Diego), 13-3
Behind the pitching of UCLA-bound Megan Faraimo, Cathedral won the prestigious Michelle Carew Catholic with a 2-0 win over No. 9 Orange Lutheran in the finals. Faraimo allowed an infield single. She was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Pitcher.

22. (NR) North Davidson (Lexington, N.C.), 15-0
The Knights are hitting .436 and 21 players have driven in at least one run.

23. (NR) Oakleaf (Orange Park, Fla.), 18-2
In winning the Kissimmee Klassic, Oakleaf ran its win streak to 10 in a row. In the four wins, Oakleaf outscored its foes 30-6, including 7-3 over 18-3 Bartow in the finals.

24. (NR) Eagle (Eagle,Idaho), 14-0-1
Gabi Peters is batting .556 and has hit five homers, while fellow junior Noelle Foster is hitting .532 with 29 RBIs to lead Eagle. Junior Siera Horton is 8-0 with a 0.66 ERA. The only blemish on the Mustangs' record is a 10-all tie with 9-0-1 Toolle (Utah). They face 13-1 Rocky Mountain (Meridian) on Thursday.

25. (10) Norco (Calif.), 15-2
The Cougars went 4-1 in the Michele Carew Classic.

Dropped out: Land O' Lakes (Fla.), Clovis (Calif.), Cibola (Yuma, Ariz.), Santa Margarita (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.).