About three weeks into the spring season, it’s time to gauge how the local softball and girls’ soccer scene is shaping up.
We’ll do a Top 8 for each sport, since not every school plays spring softball and I wanted to keep it equally represented with girls’ soccer.
APRIL 6 SPRING SOFTBALL POWER RANKINGS
These rankings will (hopefully) be updated and released each week through the end of the regular season.
Disclaimer: For soccer, as with all of our other team-sport power rankings, rankings are based on dominance by Class, not head-to-head. This means that the No. 1 team on the list isn’t necessarily better than the No. 3 team head-to-head, but it also doesn’t mean they’re not. 🙂
Overall record, Class, and previous ranking listed in parenthesis
1. Catholic (6-1-1, C2, N/R) – Reminder: These soccer rankings are based on dominance by Class, not head-to-head. I’m not sure yet if Catholic is our best overall team (we’ll find out which team is the best when the Irish face Kickapoo, Nixa and Ozark in a two-week stretch through late April and early May), but I know this: no other local team has made it to seven straight Final Fours. The Irish, even with a season-ending injury to leading scorer Peyton McNabb, feature one of the area’s best tandems in Emma Skornia and Brinn Cooper, who were all-state selections in 2015. Catholic earned a marquee win last weekend, beating Maryville 1-0 in overtime. Maryville was 19-3 and reached the Class 2 state quarterfinals last season. Catholic also tied a good Rolla team 1-1 in mid-March. The Irish beat Glendale 3-0 at home tonight and compete in the Ozark Tournament this weekend. Next week, Catholic travels to Willard (April 11) and Bolivar (April 12).
2. Ozark (7-0, C4, N/R) – Offense is fun, and the Tigers have the strongest attacking trio in the area between juniors Mikayla Putt and Maya Davidson, and freshman Jaydn Easley. Davidson and Easly played a large role in Ozark’s 3-0 home win over Harrison (Ark.) last Friday. Ozark’s averaging 6.5 goals per game and has already mercy-ruled two opponents. Ozark hosts its own tournament this weekend, with a potential championship battle against Catholic looming on Saturday. This was a really tough call between Kickapoo or Ozark for No. 2. I originally had Kickapoo here before flip-flopping. Ozark and Kickapoo split a pair of meetings last season.
3. Kickapoo (7-0-2, C4, N/R) – Let the debate begin: who’s the best team among the loaded Class 4 district 10 group? Ozark has a ton of offensive firepower, and Nixa’s been the Queen of the group in recent years, but Kickapoo has played a good schedule thus far – without a loss –and deserves credit for it. For comparison’s sake, Kickapoo beat Rock Bridge 2-0 on March 25 and Rock Bridge beat Nixa 3-2 a day later. Kickapoo, which also won 4-1 at Harrison (Ark.), had convincing wins over Lebanon and Waynesville in early season Ozark Conference action. A big showdown looms tomorrow (Thursday) with Kickapoo hosting Rolla, a game that will likely decide the Ozark Conference championship.
4. Rolla (5-1-1, C3, N/R) – The Bulldogs should make a strong push to defend their district title from a year ago with several starters back in 2016, including All-Ozark Conference forward Addy Brow, who scored a team-high 23 goals last season. Also back is all-state senior goalkeeper Katie Hudson, who should help continue Rolla’s strong defensive reputation. Last season, Rolla held opponents to one or zero goals in 22 of 27 games. Rolla has local wins over Parkview, West Plains and Republic this season, and also tied Catholic. The Bulldogs lost 1-0 to Class 4 Northwest. Rolla was scheduled to play Rock Bridge last week, but the game was postponed due to weather. After beating Helias 1-0 on Wednesday night, the Bulldogs visit Kickapoo on Thursday.
5. Nixa (4-2, C4, N/R) – Feels a bit weird to be putting Nixa this low, but there’s still plenty of time for the Eagles to right the ship. The biggest reason Nixa’s No. 5 right now is the 3-2 loss to Rock Bridge. At last weekend’s Parkway College Showcase, Nixa lost 2-1 to Collinsville (Ill.) and beat Belleville West (Ill) 2-0. Collinsville is ranked No. 4 in the STLhighschoolsports.com Large School rankings. After winning 4-2 at Neosho on Tuesday, Nixa now prepares for a key early season showdown on April 11 when it hosts Kickapoo. That game will go a long way in deciding the coveted No. 1 seed for the stacked Class 4 District 10 group.
6. Carl Junction (5-0, C3, N/R) – The Bulldogs graduated two of their top three scorers last spring, but they return their leading one this spring in senior Callie Degani. She’s already on a tear, tallying nine goals in five games. Junior Kecia Houpt has added five goals, and between the two of them, Degani and Houpt have accounted for 14 of Carl Junction’s 15 goals. Carl Junction, which will compete in the Kickapoo Shootout next weekend, posted a 1-0 victory over Staley (16-7-1 overall in Class 4 last season) on Saturday. CJ travels to Rogers, Ark. on Thursday then hosts Carthage on Friday.
7. Bolivar (3-1, C2, N/R) – The Liberators own lopsided wins over Monett, Branson and Rogersville, and a PK loss to Class 3 Willard in the early season. First-year head coach and longtime assistant coach Steven Fast said in the team’s season preview article that the Liberators feature depth and scoring versatility. If you’re Bolivar, you know that the path toward a district title and state playoff berth goes through Springfield Catholic. The Liberators won’t have to wait much longer for that matchup. Bolivar, after competing in the Hillcrest Tournament this weekend, hosts Catholic next Tuesday. Two days later, Bolivar hosts another district opponent, Osage.
8. Fair Grove (6-1, C1, N/R) – Being a Class 1 school has its benefits when it comes to the state playoffs. Remember that Class 1 teams only have to win one game to make the state Final Four. Also remember that an 8-11 Greenwood team was 40 minutes away from doing that last season, when it led Father Tolton 1-0 at halftime before losing 4-1. Fair Grove’s young program may be ready to make a run at its first district championship, and the Eagles took a big step toward that on Tuesday by beating Greenwood 2-0 in a rematch of last year’s district championship game. An early season PK loss to Laquey doesn’t look great at the moment considering Laquey’s currently 2-7 overall, but Fair Grove and Laquey have gone in opposite directions since then. Fair Grove gets a rematch with Laquey on April 25, a game in which it could lock up the 1-seed for its district tournament. Fair Grove faces a good test next Tuesday when it hosts a Crocker team that’s 4-5 overall, but beat Laquey 7-1 in late March.
Knocking on the door (teams listed alphabetically): Camdenton (5-4, C3, N/R), Dixon (3-1, C1), Greenwood (0-2, C1), Neosho (3-2, C3, N/R), Willard (5-1, C3, N/R)
