While there was not a big bunch of new teams that climbed into this week’s Line Drive Media SUPER 70 National High School Softball Rankings, for the second straight week there is a new No. 1 at the top of the charts.

Big Upset in Cali as Murrieta Mesa High Loses First Game of Season… To A Team it Had Beaten 22-5 Earlier This Year

This move had to be made after a big upset on Tuesday afternoon this week in Southern California as previously unbeaten Dave Kops Tournament of Champions winner Murrieta Mesa of Murrieta, Calif., dropped its first game of the season, 10-5, in a Southwestern League loss to Vista Murrieta.

At first, since the Rams had beaten Vista Murrieta, 22-5, earlier in the season and had been rolling in all of their other league games, the thought was that they didn’t use any of their top pitchers.

They are still in good shape to win the league title despite the loss and gain a high seed for the CIF Southern Section D1 playoffs. Colleague Eric-Paul Johnson of the Riverside Press-Enterprise later reported that the top pitchers for Murrieta Mesa were used in the big upset loss.

What the loss to Vista Murrieta does do is cause a change at the top of the state rankings, too. Ironically, this week’s state rankings by CalHiSports.com were announced just a few hours before Murrieta Mesa lost.

The new No. 1 for California has to be Norco, which has avenged both of its two losses that it suffered early in the season and has been regarded as the favorite to repeat as the CIFSS D1 champion this year with the pitching that it has back from last season.

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Kentucky’s South Warren New No. 1 (With Huge Game Friday Against Tennessee’s No. 1 team)

Since the SUPER 70 for Line Drive Media is compiled through the Tuesday of the week it comes out, Murrieta Mesa’s loss also caused a change at the top of those rankings.

The new No. 1 slot has gone to South Warren of Kentucky.

This is the team that beat the No. 1 team from two weeks ago, Orange Beach of Alabama, and has now pushed its overall record to 26-0.

There was some concern when last week’s rankings were announced since South Warren had a Wednesday night game (not included in these rankings) against an Assumption of Louisville team that was the team that won last year’s Kentucky state title (a state that still does not have divisions).

The Spartans won, 15-0, in four innings, however, as South Warren’s McLaine Hudson hit two home runs and Hadley Borders went 4-for-4 with a homer and four RBI.

With the No. 1 spot opened up after Murrieta Mesa’s loss, South Warren now has been able to be moved to where Orange Beach was when the Spartans won that game.

Another plus for South Warren is the schedule it has set up of playing top teams from other states is not yet over.

On Friday, the Spartans have another big match-up against the current No. 1 team from Tennessee, Green Hill, which as of Tuesday night had a 35-game winning streak and is up to 37-1 on the season.

Green Hill was placed at No. 22 in this week’s SUPER 70 in anticipation of this Friday’s game.

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Trio of Texas Teams to Watch in Class 5A State Playoffs

If Lake Creek of Texas didn’t have a loss to Barbers Hill and if Barbers Hill didn’t have three other losses, then perhaps one of those teams would be No. 1 in the SUPER 70. Those two teams will eventually figure it out in the upcoming Class 5A state playoffs.

Melissa (No. 9 this week in the SUPER 70) also will be 5A for the Texas playoffs.

This week’s highest newcomer is Paul VI of Chantilly, Va.

The Panthers avenged their only loss last week with a 13-3 win over Bishop McNamara of Forestville, Md. They went up to No. 40 in this week’s rankings.

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Line Drive SUPER 70 National High School Softball Rankings

After results of Tuesday, April 21, 2026

(Previous rank in parentheses)

1. (5) South Warren (Bowling Green, Ky.) 26-0

2. (2) Lake Creek (Montgomery, Texas) 29-1

3. (4) Norco (Norco, Calif.) 19-2

4. (6) Orange Beach (Orange Beach, Ala.) 31-1

5. (8) Barbers Hill (Mt. Belvieu, Texas) 30-3

6. (1) Murrieta Mesa (Murrieta, Calif.) 20-1

7. (7) Melbourne (Melbourne, Fla.) 22-1

8. (9) Fullerton (Fullerton, Calif.) 20-2

9. (10) Melissa (Melissa, Texas) 27-2

10. (11) Queen Creek (Queen Creek, Ariz.) 25-1

… scroll down to see the rest of the SUPER 70…