The News4Jax.com Super 6 high school softball weekly poll will be published each Wednesday during the season. Records are through March 5 games.
No., Team, Record, Class, Previous
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1. Oakleaf (5-0), Class 8A, 1
Notable wins: Fletcher (twice), Middleburg.
Glance: The Knights are ranked No. 3 in the country in MaxPreps Xcellent 25 poll and won’t budge locally until a team knocks them off. How dominant has this senior class been locally? It has faced 68 local opponents in their careers and won 65 of those games. Oakleaf is currently riding a 19-game winning streak against area teams. Aspen Windesheim went deep twice, while Jaeda McFarland and Kaylee Lambrecht also homered in a 13-3 rout of Fletcher on Tuesday night. Atlantic Coast (Thursday), Ridgeview (March 12) and Fleming Island (March 14) are up next and I don’t see a whole lot of difficulty in that stretch, although each of those teams does have solid pitching.
2. Trinity Christian (5-0), Class 4A, 2
Notable wins: Providence, Suwannee (twice).
Glance: The Conquerors have settled comfortably in to the No. 2 spot. They’ve given up eight runs this season, four in both games against Suwannee, and nothing elsewhere. They edged previous No. 6 Baker County, 1-0, on Feb. 28, the lone run on a Linzie LaFavor RBI. Bailey Cooley whiffed six in that game. I’ve mentioned it here before, but Trinity is state final material.
3. Bartram Trail (5-0), Class 7A, 3
Notable win: Episcopal.
Glance: A 2-0 mark since our last Super 6, with a 15-0 blowout of Englewood and an 11-0 rout of Bolles. Bartram endured two big graduations losses in the form of Reedy Davenport and Savannah Parker, both of whom are already delivering in college at Florida Gulf Coast and FSU, respectively. But the offense hasn’t taken much of a step back. Eight batters with 10 or more ABs are hitting .300 or better. Maegan O’Brien is one of the best in town at getting on base (.722) and Haley Provencal has taken over the slugger title (two HRs).
4. Clay (3-0), Class 6A, 4
Notable wins: Ponte Vedra, Union County.
Glance: Not much going since last week since the Morgan Crutcher Express thundered onward. Clay knocked off Palatka 13-0 last Thursday. Morgan Silvis homered and had three hits in that game. Crutcher has been strong thus far, going 3-0 with 20 Ks and 10 hits allowed with an 0.38 ERA in 18 IP. The Blue Devils’ Monday game against Baker County was scratched due to weather.
5. Mandarin (5-0), Class 9A, 5
Notable wins: Fletcher, Paxon, Sandalwood.
Glance: A 1-0 win over Paxon, followed by a 5-1 win in 10 innings over Sandalwood showcased the Mustangs’ mettle over the past week. Three regulars are hitting .438 or better, Jessica Urrutia, Soraya Hernandez and Ashley Wiebenga. Speaking of Wiebenga, she’s whiffed 39 over her last 24 innings of work.
6. West Nassau (3-0), Class 5A, NR
Notable win: Baker County.
Glance: The Warriors make their debut after a late start to the season, winning all three of their games since our last Super 6. They’ve plowed two district opponents in Raines and Fernandina by a combined 34-0, and squeezed in a 4-1 win over previous No. 6 Baker County in between. The Warriors didn’t graduate a ton in terms of players, but they did in the form of talent (Emily Dixon, Skylar Whitty were foundational players). But a good portion of the 5A state runners-up are back, with IFs Madison Dixon and Hope Epps, and P Regan Lee among the top returnees.
Dropped out: Baker County (4-2, Class 5A).
Others: Atlantic Coast (4-2, 8A), Baker County (4-2, Class 5A), Baldwin (4-1, Class 4A), Creekside (4-2, Class 7A), Columbia (3-3, Class 7A), Episcopal (2-1, Class 4A), Fleming Island (1-1, Class 8A), Keystone Heights (5-0, Class 5A), Middleburg (3-1, Class 7A), Ridgeview (4-1, Class 6A), St. Johns Country Day (4-0, Class 3A), University Christian (3-0, Class 3A).