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A big upset in Texas, other teams suffering their first losses of the season and key mid-week playoff results in Southern California all created major movement in this week’s Extra Elite 80 national high school softball rankings.
Upsets in the second week of the University Interscholastic League playoffs in Texas, which still have many weeks to go, are rare. But there was a shocker in Class 6A as unbeaten Lake Ridge of Mansfield, which was sitting at 34-0, went down in a 4-3 defeat to Royse City.
Royse City earlier had won in a coin flip to determine if it would play Lake Ridge in one game or a best of three series. The underdogs in those situations always want the one-gamer while the favorite always wants the series. Royse City pulled off a 3-2 win behind the pitching of Abby Mangrum, who held Lake Ridge to five hits, and there was two RBI from Haley Gardella.
Royse City HS Softball gets a BIG WIN over nationally ranked (#2) Mansfield Lake Ridge, 3-2!!!! The Bulldogs are Area Champs! 🏆🏆 pic.twitter.com/OB0UvDsreE
— Royse City Softball (@RCHSBULLDOGSB) May 5, 2023
Lake Ridge went from No. 2 last week to No. 21 in this week’s rankings and likely will continue to drop as other teams advance in the Texas playoffs. Royse City is now in the top 80, but a team with two wins over the Bulldogs, Rockwall, was moved up to No. 27.
Two of the teams losing for the first time this season were previous No. 3 Clovis North of Fresno, Calif., and previous No. 4 Ballard of Louisville, Ky. Neither team dropped too far in the rankings since both of them still have regional or state championships they can win.
Clovis North’s loss was 2-1 on Tuesday to a Central of Fresno team the Broncos have beaten before and both runs came in when ace pitcher Ryan Maddox came out after throwing six innings of no-hit ball. Ballard’s loss was a week ago on Thursday, 6-4, to Great Crossing of Georgetown, Ky.
California’s No. 2 and No. 3 teams at the start of the week, Los Alamitos and Huntington Beach, both were ousted on Tuesday in the CIF Southern Section Division I quarterfinals. Los Al was downed, 5-1, by Pacifica of Garden Grove, a team that was very high in state preseason rankings but struggled early with some losses. The Mariners (23-8) are now looking like the team many thought they’d be.
Here’s a nice interview by Dan Albano of the Orange County Register with Pacifica High players after the big win over Los Alamitos:
Huntington Beach’s loss to Murrieta Mesa of Murrieta wasn’t that much of an upset, but the way it happened in a 12-11 slugfest was eye-opening. Facing one of the state’s top pitchers all season, Murrieta Mesa battered junior Zoe Prystajko of Huntington Beach. Four different Rams – Madi Lardizabel, Taelyn Holley, Paige Bambarger and Caylea Rains-Campbell – all hit home runs.
By the time some are reading this, the CIF Southern Section D1 semifinals between Pacifica and Oaks Christian and between Norco and Murrieta Mesa already will be over. The bizarre aspect of the California season is that the rest of the state’s CIF sections haven’t even started with section playoffs.
Arizona will be the first of the major softball states to be done for the season and that should happen before next week’s Extra Elite 80 is done. Class 5A favorite Willow Canyon of Surprise Valley was scheduled to face Canyon View (Waddell) in its next state tourney game on Thursday. Salpointe Catholic of Tucson is going for its fifth straight state title in 4A. In 6A, Basha of Chandler moved up into this week’s rankings with a win over previous No. 11 Queen Creek, but Queen Creek hadn’t yet been eliminated at time these rankings were compiled.
— Mark Tennis
*****
(After games of Wednesday, May 10)
(Previous rank in parentheses)
*Indicates season complete.
**Indicates forfeit wins, losses not included.
TOP 10
1. (1) Lake Creek (Montgomery, Texas) 37-0
2. (5) Guyer (Denton, Texas) 32-0
3. (6) Coral Springs Charter (Coral Springs, Fla.) 24-0-2**
4. (7) Willow Canyon (Surprise, Ariz.) 29-0-1
5. (8) Pace (Pace, Fla.) 24-1
6. (15) St. Francis (Mountain View, Calif.) 23-2
7. (9) Watkins Memorial (Pataskala, Ohio) 23-0
8. (16) Canyon (New Braunfels, Texas) 27-0
9. (17) Oaks Christian (Westlake Village, Calif.) 28-1-1
10. (4) Ballard (Louisville, Ky.) 24-1
*** Scroll down to see the rest of the 2023 Extra Elite 80 teams!
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