We joke in the O-Zone office that teams, fans and players just use Jordan Burton’s weekly high school football picks as motivation. If you follow him on Twitter, you know that on Friday nights he receives a lot of, uh, pleasant “feedback” from fans and players of teams he may have picked against if those predictions go wrong.
Some people come up with really creative ways of thanking Jordan for picking against them.
I’m starting to wonder if that motivational formula may have crept over to softball.
It’s been a rough two and a half weeks for my high school softball self-esteem, as any knowledge I thought I had was ripped to shreds with a lot of surprise district champions emerging.
I didn’t do rankings last week because I knew a lot of wild stuff could happen in sectionals and quarterfinals, and it certainly did. Gotta save a bit of credibility for myself, ya know?
These are our final softball rankings for the 2015 season and there are a lot of changes from the most recent edition.
Body of work matters a lot here. What you did over the course of mid-August to early October is more important, for these overall power rankings, than what you did in the last week of the season. Ranking these teams simply by who won a district title and who didn’t would not be fair because not all districts are the same in terms of competitiveness and quality of teams.
1. Joplin (22-7, C4, PR: 9) – Well, I guess it’s easiest to start these rankings with the only team that’s still playing. Joplin’s headed to state for the first time in program history, thanks to Saturday’s 5-2 quarterfinal win over Blue Springs, a game in which the Eagles scored all five of their runs in the top of the fourth. What makes Joplin’s postseason run a bit surprising, for me, is that the Eagles weren’t exactly on-fire heading into districts. They were 7-3 in their final 10 regular season games, with three of those seven wins coming in one-run games against Lebanon, Waynesville and Monett. But, everything’s been going right for them lately. Joplin had a walk-off hit to beat Webb City in the district semifinals, then won an epic pitchers’ duel versus Republic. The Eagles’ offense led the way in the sectional win over Kickapoo, before pitchers Michaela Sennett and Mikaela Cox helped shut down Blue Springs in the quarterfinals. Joplin has two good pitchers to throw at what looks to be a good Marquette lineup this Friday. Marquette (21-7) has scored double-digit runs in 18 games this season, including all four of its postseason games thus far.
2. Norwood (16-7, C1, PR: 2) – One of only two teams in the Top 10 in our Sept. 30 power rankings to actually win a district title! That’s why KY3 pays me the big bucks, folks, for knowledge and outlook like that. The Pirates mustered just one hit in their 2-0 sectional loss to Chaffee, a program that had previously never won a sectional game. Chaffee, which entered the Class 1 playoffs 12-14 overall, is headed to Springfield this weekend after beating Van-Fair 10-7 in the quarterfinals. Last week’s loss to Chaffee marked the first time all season that Norwood was shutout. The Pirates can still look back on a memorable, and crazy, district finals win over Dora. Norwood scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh to win, 12-11. With a lone senior in Cherokee McGraw, Norwood has a chance to be pretty good again next year.
3. Republic (26-3, C4, PR: 1) – Gotta be kind of rough for the Tigers to sit back and watch Joplin go on to win two playoff games and advance to the state Final Four. That 3-1, 9-inning loss to Joplin in the district finals might have been the best game of the year locally and one neither team deserved to lose. When you compare them side by side, Republic may have a slightly better body of work than Joplin: Republic’s three losses (Lee’s Summit North, Portageville and Joplin) came to teams with a combined record of 71-19. Two (Portageville, Joplin) are playing in Springfield this weekend. Republic will bring back league MVP Rachel Rook in the circle and Kami Holt at shortstop next season, with some big shoes to fill at third base (Lauren Strobel), center field (Caty Eby), catcher (Emily Hall) and first base (Marlee Scroggins).
4. Bolivar (20-9, C3, PR: 4) – Much like Republic, Bolivar had its season end at the hands of a team that’s still playing and that it came really close to beating. The Liberators fell 1-0 to Helias in the Class 3, District 10 finals on Oct. 10. Helias’ lone run of the game occurred on, of all things, an inside-the-park home run in the sixth inning. Not that Rogersville would even care where they’re ranked since they have a district championship in the trophy case, but Bolivar gets edge over Rogersville here for having won the head-to-head matchup in the regular season and for having played Helias to a closer outcome.
5. Dora (16-7, C1, PR: 6) – Three outs is all that separated Dora from a spot in the Class 1 state playoffs. Unfortunately for the Falcons, they couldn’t hold that 11-8 lead in seventh inning and would lose 12-11 to Norwood in the Class 1, District 3 title game. The 12 runs were the second-most Dora allowed in a single game all season. Much like Norwood, Dora had a really young team this season and figures to be one of the better small-school teams in the area in 2016.
6. Rogersville (22-8, C3, PR: 12) – The best season in program history ended with an 18-7 quarterfinals loss to Helias Catholic on Saturday. The Wildcats had one of the best offenses in the area this season, scoring at least 6 runs in 20 of their 29 games. They graduate a great senior class and will look a lot different next year, but returning players such as Hailey Brown, Julia Marshall and Hunter Bledsoe should make up a good, new unit for coach Denny McHenry.
7. Willow Springs (19-7, C2, PR: 11) – Less than a week after losing 9-2 to Neelyville, the Bears would get payback by winning the rematch 4-1 to claim the Class 2, District 8 championship. Willow Springs then beat Gainesville 3-1 in sectionals – behind a four-hit, eight-strikeout effort from freshman Sydney Miller – before seeing its season end in the quarterfinals, with a 3-1 loss to a good Iberia team (24-3 overall). Willow Springs, which had been slightly above .500 the past few seasons, took a noticeable “jump” this season into a legitimate Class 2 contender. The Bears finished their season with four freshmen and just one senior in the starting lineup, so we haven’t heard the last from them.
8. Ozark (22-5, C4, PR: 7) – Don’t let one game overshadow a really good body of work. Kickapoo may have gotten the more important district title, but Ozark had the better season from start to finish, including a 10-6 victory over the Chiefs in early September. Ozark is one of six teams on this list with at least 20 wins. The Tigers graduate multiple all-conference selections in seniors Hannah Carvel, Lauren Chambers, Brittany White and Madi Jamieson so the lineup will be revamped in 2016, but this has been the most consistent program in SWMO for the last decade.
9. Crocker (21-5, C1, PR: 5) – Heartbreaking end to the season for the Lions, with a 2-1 loss in the district finals against a St. Elizabeth team that entered the game 7-14 overall. Crocker still had several great wins on its resume, such as Dixon, Iberia and Norwood. The Lions were one of the best small-school teams in the state NOT to make the state playoffs, which is a consolation prize you never want. Crocker catcher Kelsi York finished with a .734 slugging percentage and 4 homers, while pitcher Delayne Patton was 17-4 overall with a 1.36 ERA and 213 strikeouts.
10. El Dorado Springs (16-9, C2, PR: 14) – Come-from-behind wins in the semifinals and finals gave the Bulldogs a Class 2, District 6 championship. Junior pitcher Tailor Hutsell accounted for all 16 of El Dorado Springs’ wins this season. El Dorado Springs graduates two seniors in Cameron McPeak and Kameron Shaw but does return one of the area’s better batteries next season in Hutsell and catcher Anyssa Salazar.
11. Pleasant Hope (14-12, C2, PR: 3) – It was a rough finish to the season for Pleasant Hope, as the Pirates went 4-6 in their final 10 games, including a 7-6 loss to El Dorado Springs in the district finals. Looking back, that 0-3 showing at the Carthage Invitational Oct. 2-3, and getting out-scored 31-1 in those three games, may have taken some wind out of the Lady Pirates’ sails. Pleasant Hope had just two senior starters in its lineup at the end of the season, so you can probably expect the Pirates to be a district title contender again in 2016.
12. Weaubleau (16-10, C1, PR: Unranked) – The Tigers finished the regular season strong, winning six of their last eight games entering districts. They cruised to a district title as the No. 1 seed, beating Dadeville 10-0 and Walnut Grove 11-0. In sectionals, many thought Weaubleau would run into a Hermitage team it was 1-3 against in the regular season. But Wheatland’s upset of Hermitage in another district final changed those plans. Weaubleau’s season would end in the quarterfinals with a 7-0 loss to Norborne, marking Weaubleau’s most successful postseason run since it made state in 2010. Here we have a case of yet another really young team. The Tigers lose a great player in shortstop Megan Pribil, but otherwise bring back their full lineup next year.
13. Carl Junction (18-13, C3, PR: Unranked) – Carl Junction and Seneca helped end Monett’s recent run of Big 8 and district dominance. Carl Junction was the No. 2 seed for the Class 3, District 12 tournament and held off Monett 8-7 in the semifinals before knocking off East Newton 3-1 in the finals, after the Patriots had upset top seed Seneca a day earlier. CJ, aided by a great start from senior pitcher Sydni Beck, ended a prolonged district title drought. CJ’s season would end in the quarterfinals with a slugfest loss to Rogersville. There will be some roster turnover for CJ, as five seniors who earned all-conference honors will graduate. Thirteen losses prevent the Bulldogs from being ranked higher for this list.
14. West Plains (18-6, C3, PR: 10) – The Zizzers will have to wait another year to try for that first district championship, after Rogersville went bombs away in the Class 3, District 11 title game. When the Zizzers lost this season, they lost convincingly – all six of their losses were by five or more runs, perhaps a sign of a group that needs another year of experience. West Plains will again be a district – and Ozark Conference contender – next season with only two starters graduating. With Joplin graduating a stellar senior class, Ozark Conference supremacy may become a three-way race between West Plains, Kickapoo and Camdenton.
15. Morrisville (18-6, C2, PR: 8) – Sour end to an otherwise strong 2015 season for the Panthers, as El Dorado Springs scored the final three runs of the Class 2, District 6 semifinal matchup to win 3-2. It was the third time this season an El Dorado Springs-Morrisville matchup resulted in a one-run outcome, as the two split a pair of regular season meetings by that same margin. Morrisville’s other four losses came to teams that either won a district title or reached their district final: Norwood (twice), Van Buren and Pleasant Hope. All six of Morrisville’s losses came to teams with 14 or more wins. The Panthers graduate a strong four-player senior class, headlined by potential all-state shortstop Tabitha Francka.
Knocking on the door: Kickapoo (C4, 17-13), Camdenton (C4, 22-5), Dixon (C2, 16-8), Salem (17-11, C3)
