Top 2 Teams in the SUPER 70 Headed Towards Post-Season Showdown

High school softball is likely going to never be like other sports such as baseball, boys basketball and girls basketball in which there are events like the National High School Invitational in baseball that bring together top teams from places like California, Florida, Texas and elsewhere to play against each other.

Those events make it a lot easier for anyone or a computer to compile national rankings since it obviously provides a baseline of results to compare teams from all of these different states.

There are more teams like Bentonville of Arkansas, Orange Beach of Alabama and Lincoln-Way Central of Illinois, however, that are going out of the comfort of their state boundaries to face top teams from other states.

Bentonville, a perennial power from Arkansas, tested itself last week to play national No. 1 Melissa, Texas. The host Cardinals won 5-3 and are taking a 44-game win streak into the start of the Texas Class 5A state playoffs, which is starting this week with bi-district contests. Bentonville earlier played top teams on the road in Louisiana, losing to Calvary Baptist Academy but getting wins vs Sterlington and West Monroe.

Sophomore Eloisa Maes pitched for Melissa vs the Arkansas No. 1 team and went the distance with nine strikeouts. Lulu Adrian and Paisley Needham led the Cardinals on offense as Adrian went 3-for-3 with a triple while Needham had two hits with one homer and three RBI.

Orange Beach, which was No. 1 in the Super 70 last season, recently went to the Kissimmee Klassic in Florida and beat both of the top two ranked teams in Florida. The Makos then lost back home to Thompson of Alabaster, but last week they regained some national title momentum with an avenging win against Thompson of 7-0 at the Hoover Classic. 

The team has two losses compared to none for the Texas teams – Melissa and Lake Creek – which are both going to be in the Texas Class 5A state playoffs. For Orange Beach to have a chance to repeat, it will have to go all the way in its state bracket and hope that both of the Texas teams do not. It always has to be reminded to people that Texas teams can lose a game in the playoffs and still advance since some of the advancements are based on best-of-three series.

Lincoln-Way Central, which was regarded as the No. 1 team in Illinois, hit the road last week to test itself against Indiana teams. While the Knights lost a game to Franklin Central, 6-3, they posted a 1-0 win against a Lake Central of St. John team that has not lost to any other Indiana teams so far this season. Lisabella Dimitrijevic pitched a two-hitter and struck out 10 in that win.

The top-ranked team from Texas heading into its Class 6A playoffs is Katy and on Tuesday night there was a pre-state tourney showdown between the Tigers and Barbers Hill, a team that had handed Katy its only loss earlier this season. In the rematch, the two teams went to extra innings tied 1-1, then went to the international tie-breaker (runner placed on second) and then went all the way to the bottom of the 10th until Katy finally came through for a 3-2 win.

Back on top!@eksoftball2026 beats it out and @noodle2025 scores after starting the inning on 2nd!

Bottom 10th

Katy 3
Barbers Hill 2 pic.twitter.com/zIhew3HuRD

— Official Katy Softball (@Katysoftball1) April 23, 2025

Both teams obviously will be glad to have been in a tight game like that one going into the playoffs. In this week’s rankings (remember Tuesday games are counted) Katy moved up from No. 7 to No. 5 while Barbers Hill fell from No. 6 to No. 11.

— Mark Tennis of CalHiSports.com for Line Drive Softball

 *****

(Previous rank in parentheses; after games of Tuesday, April 22)

1. (1) Melissa (Melissa, Texas) 29-0
2. (2) Lake Creek (Montgomery, Texas) 27-0
3. (3) Orange Beach (Orange Beach, Ala.) 35-2
4. (4) Doral Academy (Doral, Fla.) 24-1
5. (7) Katy (Katy, Texas) 32-1
6. (5) Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.) 22-2
7. (9) Summerville (Summerville, S.C.) 21-0
8. (8) Norco (Norco, Calif.) 22-2
9. (11) Forney (Forney, Texas) 25-1-1
10. (12) Rosary (Fullerton, Calif.) 21-2-1

Scroll down to see the rest of the Top 50 plus 20 more teams on the bubble…