Oakleaf (Orange Park) remains No. 1 in regional softball poll, followed by Gainesville High
GAINESVILLE – There is only one area team remaining in the national rankings, and that team is appropriately ranked on top of The Prep Zone Power Poll.
Oakleaf (Orange Park), ranked No. 11 in the country by MaxPreps, is also No. 1 in the regional softball rankings.
The Class 8A No. 1 Knights (20-2), who went 2-0 last week including a 10-0 win against previous #9 Atlantic Coast (Jacksonville), have won 16 in a row since a 4-0 loss at 9A #1 West Orange (Winter Garden). They received six of the seven first-place votes to stay on top.
Gainesville High School remained second and picked up the other first-place vote following a 2-0 week.
The defending 7A state champion Hurricanes (19-4) are currently ranked 5th in Class 7A by Miracle Sports. GHS was ranked No. 1 in The Prep Zone Power Poll for the first three weeks of the rankings.
Moving up two spots to third is Class 1A Union County (Lake Butler).
The Tigers (16-2), who will host next week’s Class 1A-District 6 tournament, are ranked second in Class 1A. One of their two losses was to Gainesville, who they split with this season.
Springstead (Spring Hill) moves up six spots to No. 4 following a 3-1 win against previous No. 3 Belleview, which dropped three spots to sixth. The Eagles (19-3) are ranked 4th in Class 6A.
Rounding out the top five is Eustis.
The Panthers (17-1) went 3-0 last week. They are ranked second in Class 5A.
Sixth-ranked Belleview (18-4) is followed by West Nassau (Callahan) (15-5), Santa Fe (Alachua) (17-4), Trenton (17-2) and Baker County (Glen St. Mary) (16-6) in the top 10.
The No. 7-ranked Tigers lost at home to three-time defending state champion Chiefland, 2-1, in a match-up of top four teams in Class 1A. The visiting Indians went 3-0 last week and are currently receiving votes in this week’s poll.
Class 4A Trinity Christian (Jacksonville) moved up six spots to 11th following a 2-0 week that included wins against previous #18 Creekside (St. Johns), 9-0, and at current #7 West Nassau (Callahan), 5-1. The Conquerors (14-5) are ranked 3rd in the state in their classification.
University (Orange City) moves into the rankings at No. 19. The Titans (17-6), an honorable mention in the 9A state rankings, went 2-0 and have won 8 of their last 10 games.
The Prep Zone Power Poll ranks the top 20 high school football, basketball, baseball & softball teams (regardless of FHSAA classification) across 26 counties in North Florida (Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Citrus, Clay, Columbia, Dixie, Duval, Flagler, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Hernando, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lake, Levy, Madison, Marion, Nassau, Putnam, Sumter, St. Johns, Suwannee, Taylor, Union & Volusia counties). It is voted on weekly by sportswriters and sportscasters.
The Prep Zone Power Poll – Softball Poll #5
(School, followed by classification, first-place votes, record through 4/16, and total voting points)
1. Oakleaf (Orange Park) (8A) (6) (20-2) – 139
2. Gainesville (7A) (1) (19-4) – 134
3. Union County (Lake Butler) (1A) (16-2) – 120
4. Springstead (Spring Hill) (6A) (19-3) – 116
5. Eustis (5A) (17-1) – 115
6. Belleview (6A) (18-4) – 100
7. West Nassau (Callahan) (5A) (15-5) – 93
8. Santa Fe (Alachua) (5A) (17-4) – 86
9. Trenton (1A) (17-2) – 79
10. Baker County (Glen St. Mary) (5A) (16-6) – 77
11. Trinity Christian (Jacksonville) (4A) (14-5) – 75
12. Episcopal (Jacksonville) (4A) (14-2) – 51
13T. Atlantic Coast (Jacksonville) (8A) (16-6) – 47
13T. Nature Coast Tech (Brooksville) (5A) (16-6) – 47
15. Deltona (7A) (16-5) – 45
16. Bartram Trail (St. Johns) (7A) (16-4) – 40
17. Keystone Heights (5A) (14-8) – 18
18. Aucilla Christian (Monticello) (2A) (11-7) – 17
19. University (Orange City) (9A) (17-6) – 14
20T. Creekside (St. Johns) (7A) (11-3) – 10
20T. Columbia (Lake City) (7A) (11-7) – 10
Also receiving votes: Dunnellon (6A) (17-6) – 9; Crystal River (6A) (17-4) – 7; Spruce Creek (Port Orange) (9A) (14-8) – 6; Chiefland (1A) (15-5) – 5; Matanzas (Palm Coast) (7A) (16-7) – 3; Mandarin (Jacksonville) (9A) (12-6) – 2; Seven Rivers Christian (Lecanto) (2A) (16-2) – 2; St. Johns Country Day (Orange Park) (3A) (12-4) – 2; Ponte Vedra (6A) (15-6) – 1.
