GAMES
RANKINGS
THE RANKINGS: No. 1 - Kingwood Mustangs
Christa Williams-Yates was “her” during her playing days as the top prospect in the country. She played her college ball at Texas and won two Olympic gold medals in 1996 and 2000. She is a USA National Softball Hall of Famer. Her confidence can be seen in her team.
The Mustangs shockingly knocked off the nation’s No. 1 Katy Tiger team in the Regional Finals a year ago to go to the State Final Four. She returns some absolute studs from that team, starting with shortstop Addy Sheppard, who has signed with Stanford. She’s a gamer.
Hunter Quentel will be the ace while Mia Gagliardi (Virginia Tech) will be behind the plate. Leilani Garcia is also a middle-infielder.
The ‘Stangs should cruise through district play and will be on a collision course with Katy deep in the postseason… again. Stay tuned.
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THE RANKINGS: No. 2 - Katy Tigers
A new era dawns on the west side of Houston as the Katy Tigers softball team will be under a new head coach for the first time in 26 years. But it is not an unfamiliar face.
Longtime-assistant Meghan Burrell takes over the program as she enters her 12th year on campus. Burrell takes over a group that went 38-3 a year ago and rose to be the No. 1-ranked team in the nation and reached the Class 6A Region III Final.
This team returns plenty of talent, headlined by Oklahoma-commit Ella Kate “EK” Smith (.465, 1.16 ERA, honorable mention, all-state), LSU-commit Lauryn Soken (.313, 0.93 ERA, first-team, all-district) and University of Houstoncommit Hailey Gore (.509, 1st-team, all-district).
Other players to watch include Oklahoma State-commit Montgomery “MG” Henderson (.486, third-team, all-state), NC State-commit Maddie Smith (.391, first-team, all-district), McClennan-commit Brooke Fechner (.473, first-team, alldistrict) and Missouri-commit Avery Porter (first-team, all-district). Also, be on the lookout for Lexie Waugh (UT-Arlington-commit) and Paige Stall (Cisco-commit).