State championship results in Florida plus some key results in Texas and some upsets in California have shaken up this week’s new SUPER 70 national high school softball rankings.

Here’s the latest in the national high school softball scene from coast to coast…

****

Sunshine State Shakeups

There have been several highly ranked teams that were all in the Class 6A state playoffs in Florida. In last week’s semifinals, previous No. 6 Doral Academy lost to No. 9 Bartow (which had beaten then No. 7 Melbourne in the quarterfinals).

But Doral was unable to win the title as it fell in the final, 3-1, to Pace.

That Pace team not only won the 6A state title, but in its previous game in the semifinals avenged a 12-1 loss to Parrish Community with a 2-1 win that sent the Patriots to their fourth straight state final.

With ace Hannah DeMarcus leading the way, they’ve now won two state titles in three years.

With all of that, Pace obviously has to now be ranked ahead of all of the other 6A teams in Florida and in this week’s rankings went from unranked all the way to No. 15.

*****

No. 1 South Warren Benefits From Earlier Win This Season Over Florida Champs

Pace’s rise also is very good news for No. 1 South Warren of Kentucky.

The Spartans, who won big Wednesday night run-ruling Franklin-Simpson 14-0 in five innings, still have to get through their state tournament to end the season and happen to own a 6-3 win over the Pace Patriots.

The Pace win also will go nicely with South Warren’s other big win over Orange Beach (Ala.), which has won its sixth straight state title in that state and wound up with its only loss this season to the Spartans.

Every game it seems like a new player is stepping up but over the last two games, senior third baseman Parker Willoughby has been on fire.

The Ohio State signee is 6-for-7 in hitting over those playoff wins with two home runs and nine RBIs from her spot third in the batting order.

Editor’s Note: South Warren ran its record to 41-0 with a 4-0 win Thursday night courtesy of a two-run homer by Layla Odgen and a pitching gem by Courtney Norwood, who pitched a two-hit shutout.

*****

Meteoric Jump for Midway & More in the Lone Star State

Other than Pace, another team that wasn’t ranked last week but is now in the top 20 is Midway of Waco, Texas.

The Panthers, however, should not have dropped out of last week’s rankings from their No. 20 previous position.

Yes, they had a 4-0 loss to Flower Mound in the Class 6A D1 state playoffs when results were checked, but that was not a one-game decider that some are in the Texas playoffs like Melissa’s loss to Aledo that same week.

It was a best-of-three decider and Midway came back to beat Flower Mound twice and is now playing Pearland on Saturday in the state championship.

Forney of Texas, which will be playing No. 11 Katy in the Class 6A D2 state final in Texas, had to come into this week’s rankings as well after a 2-0 sweep over previous No. 21 Guyer of Denton in last week’s semifinals. That team also enters the state finals with just three losses on the season.

The other top-ranked teams from Texas, including No. 2 Lake Creek in Class 5A D2 and No. 4 Barbers Hill in Class 5A D1, also got through their semifinal games and will now be in their state finals.

The state really should consider a competitive equity playoff model of some sort so that a lot of these great Texas teams play each other at the end of the season.

That isn’t possible in such a huge state geographically, but perhaps it could be considered for just the final state championship match-ups, a re-seeding of the teams perhaps into different divisions.

*****

What’s Up in Cali With Upsets?

All of the teams in California’s CIF Southern Section D1 playoffs are placed by competitive equity factors (not enrollment), which is why it’s such a tough bracket to navigate.

In last Saturday’s semifinals, there was another big upset as No. 2 seed and national No. 3 Norco was blanked, 2-0, by JSerra of San Juan Capistrano. The top seeded team, Murrieta Mesa (which was No. 6 in the SUPER 70 at the time), was upset in the second round.

JSerra featured University of Florida-bound Lillian Escobar who pitched a three-hitter with 14 strikeouts and out-dueled highly regarded Norco pitcher Coral Williams.

It also was her second win over Norco on the season and because of that we had to move up JSerra higher than Norco in this week’s rankings to No. 19.

In Friday’s championship game, JSerra will be playing No. 14 La Mirada.

That will be the final game of the season for both CIF Southern Section D1 finalists as they’ve both opted out of the upcoming CIF Southern California regional playoffs.

With those playoffs taking place after the travel ball seasons have started for most girls, the conflicting schedules have caused many high school teams in Southern California to opt out of the regional playoffs.

That doesn’t happen in the north because those teams are coming in from different CIF sections.

Unbeaten Destiny Christian of Sacramento, now No. 1 in California, is expected to be seeded No. 1 for the CIF NorCal D1 playoffs.

The Southern Section teams opting out, however, are expected to play next year when the first CIF state championships will be decided (and when the schedule it is assumed is moved up at least a week).

*****

Line Drive SUPER 70 National High School Softball Rankings

Thru results of Wednesday, May 27, 2026

(Previous rank in parentheses)

*Season complete.

1. (1) South Warren (Bowling Green, Ky.) 39-0

2. (2) Lake Creek (Montgomery, Texas) 39-1

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

4. (5) Barbers Hill (Mt. Belvieu, Texas) 40-4

5. (7) Destiny Christian (Sacramento, Calif.) 28-0

6. (10) Barrington (Barrington, Ill.) 35-0

7. (12) Calvary Baptist Academy (Shreveport, La.) 37-1*

8. (15) Gray Collegiate Academy (West Columbia, S.C.) 31-0

9. (11) Kenton Ridge (Springfield, Ohio) 28-0

10. (13) Marist (Chicago, Ill.) 34-1