The top-ranked girls from South Warren High of Kentucky weren’t the only ones who made it rather easy to compile the final SUPER 70 national rankings of the 2026 season.

There was another team from New Jersey, two from Pennsylvania and one each from Indiana and Michigan that won state titles during the final weekend of the season that prevented very much movement for the final rankings.

While most who do national softball rankings (none even close by 20 years to the length of time that we’ve been doing them) did not agree with South Warren at the top, to us it wasn’t that difficult of a decision to put the Spartans there, knowing the top teams from other states they scheduled and beat during the season and knowing for more than a month that they had the path to finish with a perfect record at the end of the season. 

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South Warren (Ky.) Dominates from Start to Finish to Claim Final No. 1 Spot

That path was completed by head coach Kelly Reynolds’ team last Saturday in the Kentucky High School Association state championship. In winning against a big field with no divisions, South Warren won in the final game, 8-0, over state No. 3 Bullitt East. 

Junior Courtney Norwood, University of Kentucky commit, pitched a two-hit shutout and gave Bullitt East very few chances to score.

McLaine Hudson, the team’s Florida State-bound Miss Softball State Player of the Year and who homered twice in a 10-0 semifinal win the night before over Highlands (Fort Thomas), had one hit and two runs scored in the state final.

Kaylee Wilson had two hits and two runs scored and Kinleigh Russell (Oklahoma State) had a two-run single in the bottom of the first to get the scoring started.

And to recap the earlier big wins, the Spartans handed perennial Alabama state champion Orange Beach the only loss it had during a 46-1 season, handed a loss to Pace of Florida (which finished the season by winning the Class 6A state title in that state) and topped Green Hill of Tennessee when that team was ranked No. 1 in that state.

The division that Pace won in Florida also was the toughest one in that state this season as it included Bartow and Doral Academy (both nationally ranked in the top 20 during the season).

Bowling Green is the home of Western Kentucky University and is reachable via a short drive from Nashville, Tenn. We know of someone who once made that drive to check off Kentucky on his list of states he’s been to and when there, of course, found time to actually find a bowling alley and go bowling (get it? Bowling Green… bowling… OK, moving on…).

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More Impressive State Playoff Finishes Nationwide

*** NEW JERSEY: The other top 15 team from the next-to-last rankings that wrapped up a perfect season last week was St. John Vianney of Holmdel, New Jersey. The Lancers capped their 34-0 run with a dominant 10-0 victory over Mt. St. Dominic of Caldwell, N.J.

They became the first unbeaten team in the state since 2014 and won their third state title in four seasons. Madison McDougall struck out 10 in the shutout and she hit her 17th homer of the season as well.

*** PENNSYLVANIA: The two SUPER 70 teams in state finals in Pennsylvania weren’t unbeaten but both Shaler Area of Pittsburgh and Hempfield Area of Greensburg won in their championship games.

Shaler, which handed Hempfield Area its only loss of the season, routed Abington Heights, 10-0 in five innings, to win the Class 5A title. Hempfield Area had a tougher time in the 6A championship, but held off Owen J. Roberts, 5-4. Lauren Howard led the Spartans with a double, triple and two RBI.

*** INDIANA: In the Indiana Class 4A state championship, Lake Central (No. 44 in the SUPER 70) impressed with a 9-2 win over North Vigo of Terre Haute.

Emma Wilkins had a grand slam, Tegan Tripp had three hits with one homer and MaKayla Van Vossen also homered.

As a team, the Indians ended with 74 homers to set a new state record. They perhaps should be ranked higher, but during the season had a loss to Marist of Chicago.

*** MICHIGAN: Walled Lake Northern was the team from Michigan that was inserted into the top 50 of the SUPER 70 before the final week of the season and then went on to win the D1 state title.

The Knights won their first state title with a 2-1 triumph in the title game over Grand Haven.

Junior Shayla Burns broke a 1-1 tie with a solo homer in the bottom of the sixth inning. Senior Lyla Turnell then struck out the side in the top of the seventh inning. She ended with a one-hitter and nine strikeouts.

Congratulations to all of the teams around the nation that were closely followed this season!!!

We know that within a few minutes of the final games that most of the girls already were getting started thinking about their summer travel ball plans… but what a wonderful 2026 spring season of high school fastpitch softball it was!

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Line Drive SUPER 70 National High School Softball Rankings

Thru all results of 2026 season

(Previous rank in parentheses)

1. (1) South Warren (Bowling Green, Ky.) 45-0

2. (2) Lake Creek (Montgomery, Texas) 40-1

3. (3) Orange Beach (Orange Beach, Ala.) 46-1

4. (4) Barbers Hill (Mt. Belvieu, Texas) 41-4

5. (5) Destiny Christian (Sacramento, Calif.) 31-0

6. (6) Calvary Baptist Academy (Shreveport, La.) 37-1

7. (7) Gray Collegiate Academy (West Columbia, S.C.) 33-0

8. (8) Kenton Ridge (Springfield, Ohio) 32-0

9. (9) Katy (Katy, Texas) 40-5

10. (10) Weddington (Matthews, N.C.) 27-0