By Matt Turer — @MattTurer (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Each week, OzarksSportsZone.com will release local softball power rankings brought to you by CoxHealth. Like our other power rankings, these rankings will be based on dominance by Class, not head-to-head.
Recent success and strength of schedule are also factored into the rankings. These rankings are through games played on Sept. 20.
Overall record and Class are listed in parenthesis.
1. Willow Springs (10-4, C2, LW: 1)
The Bears were back to their usual selves this week in a 16-1 win over Gainesville and a 2-0 win over a good Class 3 Salem program that’s 11-5 this season. Alexa Fredrick, Emily Scarbrough and Sydney Miller all had three hits in the Gainesville win, and the Bears eked out a pair of one-run innings (despite a combined 16 strikeouts) against Salem. Miller struck out 21 and allowed one earned run over 11 combined innings in the wins.
2. West Plains (15-3, C3, LW: 2)
A busy week with eight games in seven days thanks to the Branson Tournament still resulted in a 6-2 win for West Plains. Led by Abbey Gann, the Zizzers tossed shutouts in four of those wins and snagged second place down in Branson. The only losses came 6-5 to Lee’s Summit in Branson, and 3-0 to Class 4 Ozark and Brooke Pridgen on Wednesday.
3. Webb City (17-3, C4, LW: 3)
Three good wins in three different ways for the Cardinals this week. First, Addie Darby tossed a 1-0 shutout against Nixa. Second, Webb got multiple hits from five different players in an impressive 9-3 win over Rogersville. And third, Webb held off a late Ozark rally to record another good Class 4 victory, 10-7. The Cards are still hitting over .400 as a team with a 2.72 team ERA. Also of note, with a pair of 3-RBI games, Mareika Turpen now has 35 RBIs this season to go with a team high .571 average.
4. Monett (9-6, C3, LW: 4)
Just two games for Monett last week but the Cubs game away with wins in both, beating Bolivar, 13-3, and Carl Junction, 16-0. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see the Monett vs. Bolivar battle we hoped after Bolivar’s top pitcher, Katie Brooks, left with an injury in what was then a one-run game in the third. Josie Allcock limiting what’s been a good Bolivar offense to three runs was a great sign.
5. Dixon (14-0, C2, LW: 5)
Some could argue Dixon is being underrated at this point. Problem is, it’s often tough to judge the Bulldogs with their distance away from Springfield and with their schedule. Fact is, though, Dixon has now completely shut down higher-tier offenses in Waynesville and Salem this season, most recently shutting out Salem’s Tigers 3-0 on Monday. You really can’t say enough about the effort by Tressa Hughes on the mound as well as the defense behind her. Most importantly last week, the Bulldogs beat Iberia for the second time this season, 12-2. Iberia had previously been the only team to score more than two runs against a Dixon team that has outscored opponents 129-17 so far, scoring nearly eight runs per game and giving up barely more than one.
6. Weaubleau (15-2, C1, LW: 7)
After battling back from a four-run deficit in the fifth to beat Class 2 Pleasant Hope 8-4 on the road Tuesday, Weaubleau coach Katie Lorenz talked about this group hating being thought of as an underdog. Anyone who thinks that at this point is playing a dangerous game. The Tigers have now won 26 of 30 games dating back to last fall and just keep rolling. The Jenna Daggett/Megan Flagg pitching combo is dangerous and this is a lineup that can has ability to get on base from top to bottom. They did drop a tournament game to sneaky-good Stoutland in extras this week, but as has been stated in these rankings in the past, in-season tournament games won’t often impact a ranking.
7. Hermitage (13-3, C1, LW: 8)
Hermitage fell victim to a Stoutland team last Thursday that’s gaining confidence but responded with a 5-2 win over the Tigers on Saturday. The Hornets also came away with wins over Wheatland and Halfway last week. Abby Irek homered against Wheatland (just the second homer for the Hornets all season) and Sheridan Corum allowed just one earned run in 24 innings across the four games, lowering her ERA to 1.42.
8. Kickapoo (14-4, C4, LW: 6)
The Chiefs split a pair last week, beating Branson 12-2 and falling to Republic 15-5. That loss says as much about Republic’s growth as it does anything about the Chiefs. A highly anticipated conference matchup with West Plains was rained out and rescheduled for Sept. 27.
9. Logan-Rogersville (12-7, C3, LW: 12)
Rogersville has bounced around the past couple of weeks but has all the talent it needs to stick in the Top 10 going forward. Hunter Bledsoe shutout Rolla on Friday and went deep in a 10-0 win that also saw Hailey Brown collect three hits. On Tuesday, the Wildcats took down Reeds Spring, 5-1, behind another good performance by Bledsoe. Bledsoe is having a better season than her 3.21 ERA shows. She has a 1.08 WHIP and has struck out 62 in 61.2 innings. The Wildcats did drop a 9-3 game to Class 4 power Webb City, but this is a lineup that’s been finding itself more and more as the weeks go by.
10. Bolivar (8-6, C3, LW: 9)
The Liberators have lost six of eight since a 6-0 start with five of those losses coming last week. However, due to a rotation that hasn’t been fully healthy since a 13-3 loss to Monett when Katie Brooks left with an injury, Bolivar isn’t going to take too much of a drop. Grayson Rogers has had a few strong starts since then and Brooks is already back in the lineup.
11. Reeds Spring (11-2, C3, LW: 10)
Rogersville bested Reeds Spring 5-1 in the only game all week for the Wolves. The Wolves actually outhit the Wildcats, 9-6, but left nine runners on base in the loss.
12. Camdenton (14-5, C4, LW: 13)
That’s a six-game win streak for the Lakers after beating Rolla, Waynesville and Smith-Cotton last week. Camdenton put up five runs in the final two innings to beat Smith-Cotton, 8-7, and overcame a seven-run fifth by Waynesville to walk off on a wild pitch that scored Emma Rakes. Shelby Webster has been hot during the win streak, batting .682 (15-22) and raising her team-best average to .534.
13. Republic (12-5, C4, LW: 14)
Like Camdenton, Republic finds itself on a six-game win streak. The Tigers beat Neosho, Kickapoo and Branson last week by a combined 33-13 and have scored at least 10 runs in four of their last six. Ally Stolte has two hits or more in four of her last five games and homered twice in the 15-5 win over Kickapoo. She now has a team-high six homers as a part of a powerful Tigers lineup that has combined for 33 doubles, four triples and 16 homers. Kaitlin Ragsdale went for a pair of 4-for-4 games last week and is now hitting .508 with 26 steals.
14. Ozark (12-9, C4, LW: 11)
The Tigers struggled a bit in a tournament up at Liberty High School, going 2-3 against out-of-area schools. This team showed its potential, however, in a 3-0 win over Class 3 West Plains on Wednesday and in a competitive 10-7 loss to Webb City. Brooke Pridgen was great against the Zizzers, tossing seven scoreless innings of two-hit ball. Webb’s offense was just too much as the Tigers trailed 10-2 in the sixth before a late rally.
15. Walnut Grove (10-3, C1, LW: NR)
This predominantly young team has a chance to make a statement or two this week with games against Hermitage, Weaubleau and Rogersville on consecutive days in addition to participation in the Springfield Invitational. There is a loss to district opponent Halfway to worry about on the schedule back on Sept. 5, which may mean the Cardinals deserve this spot more than the Tigers, but Walnut Grove gets the nod for now.
Keep An Eye On: Warsaw (13-2, C2), Halfway (11-5, C1), Cassville (8-6, C3, LW: 15), Pleasant Hope (8-8, C2), Dora (11-8, C1), Crocker (11-4, C1), McDonald County (14-6, C4), Norwood (9-7, C1), Salem (11-5, C3), Stoutland (7-4, C1)
