High School: This Week’s Extra Elite 25 Fall National Rankings… Buford (Ga.) Rolls on Undefeated & Rock Bridge (Columbia, Mo.) Wins Key Top 10 Match-Up (Oct. 6, 2022)

The first ranked teams to complete their seasons in a state championship bracket will be the ones this weekend in Oklahoma. Not all of the Oklahoma state finals will be done by Saturday, but they will be in Class 3A and Class 2A so that means both nationally ranked Pocola (2A) and Washington (3A) will be finished for the fall season.

The rest of the Oklahoma state finals will be wrapped up by the following weekend. The rest of the states in the nation that play high school softball in the fall will be done by the end of the month.

Many of those teams in those states are getting done with their regular seasons or are competing in district/league playoffs this week.

No. 1 Buford (Georgia) won in its District 8/7A championship with a 4-2 triumph over Mill Creek (Hoschton, Ga.). Freshman Caroline Stanton led the Wildcats by striking out a program record 19 batters.

The team making the biggest jump in this week’s rankings also is from Georgia as previous No. 11 Whitewater took on previous No. 7 Lassiter last Saturday and came up with a 1-0 victory to move up to No. 5 thanks to the excellent pitching of Makayla Coffield. The Wildcats, who pushed their perfect record to 24-0 at the time, are also led by Extra Elite 100 pitcher Emma Friedel.

There could have been a change at the top in Missouri with previous No. 5 Rock Bridge (Columbia) taking on previous No. 6 Blue Springs South (Blue Springs) for the third time after splitting in two previous games.

This time, the Bruins rolled to an 8-0 win. Anna Christ tossed a no-hitter into the fifth inning and she had a two-run homer. Cydney Fullerton also got Rock Bridge out to a fast start with a two-run homer in the first inning.

In this week’s rankings, Rock Bridge moved up from fifth to fourth while Blue Springs South dropped from fifth to seventh.

This week’s biggest mover was Jenks of Oklahoma. The Trojans had a win over No. 10 Piedmont and won in their first OSAA regional game, 21-0, over Del City. University of Arkansas Pine Bluff recruit Jayda Adams also was recently honored as Tulsa World News Player of the Week. Piedmont still has just three losses overall, but Jenks could be one of the teams to beat in the Class 6A state playoffs.

Note that these rankings will now be weekly through the end of the various state championships.

— By Mark Tennis

*****

(Teams listed with most current win-loss records as of Tuesday, Oct. 4)

1. 1. (1) Buford (Buford, Ga.) 21-0
   2. (2) Pope (Marietta, Ga.) 24-1
   3. (3) Gretna (Gretna, Neb.) 31-0
   4. (5) Rock Bridge (Columbia, Mo.) 31-1
   5. (11) Whitewater (Fayetteville, Ga.) 24-0

*** Scroll down to see the rest of the Extra Elite Fall Rankings including the teams on the bubble!

Join Today to Get Unlimited Access to Extra Inning Softball

Join Now

Already a Extra Inning Member? Log In