While the top nine spots in this week’s Line Drive Softball national rankings are the same as before, many of the top teams in the nation are going to begin to play each other in major state or section championship playoffs later this week.

A lot of change is guaranteed.

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Florida Playoffs

We start in the super-loaded Class 6A state championships in Florida. It’s not usually the case that one division in the Florida playoffs includes so many highly ranked teams, but in 6A this season there is Melbourne, Bartow, Doral Academy, Pace, Bloomingdale and more. Those five teams are all inside the top 25 of this week’s rankings.

Plus, in Florida, the state playoffs are broken up into regions, which makes sense given the state’s geography. It just couldn’t be done by straight seeding due to the travel that would be required.

National No’s 1 & 5 Face Off Friday

That means that the first huge showdown in the state playoffs will be Friday in a 6A regional when national No. 1 Melbourne is going to play national No. 5 Bartow. Both teams won in their playoff games on Tuesday to set up the matchup. Bartow also will be looking to avenge its only loss.

Another 6A regional to watch on Friday will be No. 19 Bloomingdale facing new No. 38 East Lake (Tarpon Springs).

California Top 10 Matchup

Another matchup of top 10 teams this week will take place Friday night at Deanna Manning Stadium in Irvine, Calif. That will be for the CIF Southern Section Division I championship between No. 6 Lutheran of Orange and No. 7 Pacifica of Garden Grove. Both teams won three times in the CIFSS playoffs last week to reach the title game.

There will be CIF Southern California regional playoffs that start in two weeks, but it’s unknown which of the CIFSS teams will be participating. With no state championships yet, a lot of CIFSS teams have tended to opt out of the regionals.

Alabama Power Wins 4^th Straight State Title

National No. 2 Orange Beach (Ala.) played in its state championship game on Tuesday and captured its fourth straight title with a 2-1 win over Brooks of Killen, Ala. The Makos (46-1) had to win four times in two days and completed their task behind tourney MVP K.G. Favors, who pitched a four-hitter in the final.

Go Makos! Four-time State Champions!!!! @oba_softball pic.twitter.com/SStfNZkWP0

— City of Orange Beach (@cityorangebeach) May 15, 2024

Orange Beach’s mythical national title hopes also will depend somewhat on what Pace does in Florida 6A. The Makos, who won the Alabama Class 4A state title, have a win over Pace and also have a win over Hewitt-Trussville, which on Tuesday won its second straight Alabama Class 7A state crown. Orange Beach has won two straight in 4A with two straight before that in 2A.

Texas Semi’s

The Texas state playoffs will reach the regional semifinal round this weekend. National No. 3 Katy is facing perennial power Brazoswood of Clute (31-7) in 6A.

The 5A regional semifinals will have two matchups involving both teams that are in our Top 50 – Forney vs Walnut Grove and Barbers Hill vs Lake Belton. Forney, Walnut Grove and Lake Belton all dropped some spots in this week’s rankings due to losing one game in a best-of-three series.

Whichever team wins the 5A state title, just like 6A, is going to be highly ranked at the end.

Arizona Team Wins Thriller For 3^rd Consecutive Title

Another state to complete its championship playoffs in the last few days was Arizona.

In the top 6A bracket, Xavier Prep of Phoenix (28-4-1) claimed its third state title in four years with a heart-stopping 3-2 victory on Monday at Arizona State over Queen Creek.

The Gators, who moved up from No. 27 to No. 16 in this week’s rankings, were led by freshman pitcher Angie Falls, who struck out 11 and had a five-hitter. She faced a bases-loaded situation with two outs in the bottom of the seventh and Queen Creek’s Teyla Takacs ripped a liner deep into the outfield, but it was caught to end the game.

Salpointe Catholic of Tucson also came through at the end to win its sixth straight Class 4A state title. The Lancers did it with an 11-0 win over Canyon del Oro of Tucson, which had not one, not two but three earlier wins over the Lancers this season against no losses.

That’s why we did not drop Canyon del Oro all the way out of this week’s rankings from No. 31 and instead just jumped up Salpointe Catholic to a placement one spot higher as a newcomer.

— Mark Tennis / Cal-Hi Sports & Line Drive Softball correspondent

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(Through reported results of Tuesday, May 14, 2024)
(Previous ranking in parentheses)

*Indicates season complete.

1. (1) Melbourne (Melbourne, Fla.) 29-0
2. (2) Orange Beach (Orange Beach, Ala.) 46-1*
3. (3) St. Francis (Mountain View, Calif.) 25-0
4. (4) Katy (Katy, Texas) 37-1-1
5. (5) Bartow (Bartow, Fla.) 28-1
6. (6) Lutheran (Orange, Calif.) 21-3
7. (7) Pacifica (Garden Grove, Calif.) 26-2
8. (8) Lake Central (St. John, Ind.) 28-0
9. (9) Doral Academy (Doral, Fla.) 26-1
10. (11) Northwest Rankin (Brandon, Miss.) 32-0

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Line Drive Softball Members… scroll down to see the rest of the Top 50 plus 20 more teams on the bubble and those who dropped out …