Florida is done, California and Texas will be by Saturday and then it will be the week after that for Indiana.
That’s the situation for the leading teams in the final stretch of the nation’s high school softball season.
Extra Elite 80 No. 1 Lake Creek (Texas) swept a pair of games last weekend over Santa Fe (Santa Fe, Texas) in its Class 5A regional finals and will now head to the final four of the bracket this weekend. The Lions will play Rock Hill and with a win would then meet either No. 14 Aledo or No. 37 Georgetown in the state final. Aledo and Georgetown meet in the other semifinal.
In the Class 6A state semifinals in Texas, No. 4 O’Connor (Heliotes) and No. 7 Deer Park will be looking to set up a meeting in the final. O’Connor must first get past No. 48 Americas (El Paso) while Deer Park (the defending champion) has to face and defeat 31-6 Lake Ridge (Mansfield).
Extra Elite 80 No. 2 Roncalli (Indianapolis, Ind.) rolled past Avon, 5-0, on Tuesday in the Class 4A regionals with Keagan Rothrock throwing the shutout and collecting 15 strikeouts. The Royals moved on to the semi-state semifinals on Saturday and will be looking to advance to the state championship on June 10-11.
Lakewood Ranch of Bradenton, Fla., secured no lower than a No. 3 final national ranking with its 8-2 victory over Lake Brantley (Altamonte Springs) in the Class 7A state championship in Florida. It was a redemptive win for the Mustangs since Lake Brantley beat them in back-to-back games early in the season. Lake Brantley will have to be content knowing that those two wins likely cost Lakewood Ranch the mythical national title since the Mustangs were No. 1 at the time.
In winning its second straight Class 7A state title, Lakewood Ranch’s hitters had success this time going against Lake Brantley’s Hannah Marien (0.14 ERA entering the contest). Grace Hogie had two triples and Addyson Bruneman had a triple, double and three RBI to lead the way. Sophomore pitcher Ella Dodge also pitched a five-hitter.
On Tuesday of this week, for the first time ever, California had regional playoff games in both the north and the south and involving teams that all opted in to participate (with the exception of Los Alamitos).
Extra Elite 80 No. 5 St. Francis (Mountain View) topped St. Francis (Sacramento), 8-2, and will play next on Thursday in the D1 Northern California semifinals vs No. 20 Sheldon (Sacramento). Extra Elite 80 No. 6 Roosevelt (Eastvale) had a bye in the D1 Southern California quarterfinals and will play No. 31 Camarillo in the semifinals.
The Mustangs are expected to play No. 11 Oaks Christian (Westlake Village) in the finals on Saturday.
— Mark Tennis, contributor to Extra Inning Softball
*****
After results of Tuesday, May 31)
(Previous ranking in parentheses)
*Indicates season complete.
**Indicates forfeits not included in record.
***Indicates forfeits not included & season complete.
1. (1) Lake Creek (Montgomery, Texas) 39-0
2. (2) Roncalli (Indianapolis, Ind.) 30-0
3. (3) Lakewood Ranch (Bradenton, Fla.) 30-2*
4. (4) O’Connor (Heliotes, Texas) 30-1
5. (5) St. Francis (Mountain View, Calif.) 28-2
6. (6) Roosevelt (Eastvale, Calif.) 27-3
7. (8) Deer Park (Deer Park, Texas) 40-4
8. (7) Salpointe Catholic (Tucson, Ariz.) 32-2*
9. (10) Ballard (Louisville, Ky.) 35-0
10. (14) Lexington (Lexington, Tenn.) 51-1*
*** Scroll down to see the rest of the Top 50 plus the Next 30 and the teams that dropped out…
