Marty Pallman
It had been almost three years since the Trenton Tigers had lost a regular season game.
It finally took a special pitching performance to give the Tigers a loss and with that knock them from the top of The Prep Zone Power Poll for area softball.
Junior pitcher Madison Lagle of Baker County (Glen St. Mary) struck out 23 Trenton hitters and the 11th-ranked Wildcats knocked off the Tigers 2-0 in 8 innings on April 1, ending Trenton’s 47-game winning streak.
The 2019 1A state champion Tigers (11-1) drop out of the top spot to No. 2 in this week’s poll.
The new, unanimous No. 1 team is University (Orange City).
The Titans (16-0), who are the only undefeated team remaining in the all-classification regional rankings, won the prestigious Gold Division of the Kissimmee Klassic last weekend, knocking off Osceola (Kissimmee), Robinson (Tampa), Viera, and Canterbury (St. Petersburg) on the way to the tournament title.
University, which Max Preps ranks third statewide in 7A, received all seven first-place votes and moves into the top spot in this poll for the first time in 2021.
Following Trenton and remaining at third is Ridgeview (Orange Park).
The Panthers (15-3), ranked No. 4 in Class 4A by Max Preps, picked up wins over Baker County and No. 8 West Nassau (Callahan) over the past few weeks and that was enough to keep them third in the latest rankings.
Oakleaf (Orange Park) comes in fourth after tying for third in the last poll.Â
The Knights (12-5) lost a couple of games at the Kissimmee Klassic to nationally ranked Lake Brantley (Altamonte Springs) and to No. 5 Trinity Christian (Jacksonville), then dropped a 6-5 decision at No. 18 Keystone Heights earlier this week.
Trinity Christian (14-4) moves up two spots this week to round out the top five.
The Conquerors won at West Nassau 4-2 on March 16 and beat Oakleaf 12-8 at the Kissimmee Klassic but lost 9-2 to Doral Academy in Kissimmee and lost their final game of the tourney 6-5 to West Nassau.
Trinity Christian remains ranked No. 1 in 2A by Max Preps.
Eustis (13-1) moves up four spots this week to sixth.
The Panthers have won six in a row since their only loss of the season, 5-4 at Winter Springs on March 11. Max Preps ranks them as the top team in Class 4A.
The rest of the second five consists of seventh-ranked Hernando (Brooksville), West Nassau, No. 9 East Ridge (Clermont), which lost in the Blue Division Championship Game of the Kissimmee Klassic, and finally No. 10 Gainesville.
Keystone Heights is new to the poll at No. 18.
The Indians (12-5) knocked off No. 4 Oakleaf, RV Baldwin, and then-No. 19 Mandarin (Jacksonville) and have won seven of their last eight games with all five of their loss coming to teams ranked in the power poll.
Also moving in this week is No. 17 South Lake (Groveland), who is 16-2, and No. 20 Episcopal (Jacksonville). Baldwin, Mandarin and Forest (Ocala) each dropped out of the poll.
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). Sportswriters and sportscasters vote weekly on the poll, which is powered by Anytime Fitness of Gainesville.
THE PREP ZONE POWER POLL – 2020 SOFTBALL POLL #3
(School, followed by classification, first-place votes, record through 4/6, and total voting points)
1. University (Orange City) (7A) (7) (16-0) – 140
2. Trenton (1A) (11-1) – 124
3. Ridgeview (Orange Park) (4A) (15-3) – 122
4. Oakleaf (Orange Park) (7A) (12-5) – 109
5. Trinity Christian (Jacksonville) (2A) (14-4) – 106
6. Eustis (4A) (13-1) – 103
7. Hernando (Brooksville) (4A) (15-1) – 99
8. West Nassau (Callahan) (3A) (13-5) – 97
9. East Ridge (Clermont) (7A) (13-6) – 80
10. Gainesville (5A) (13-3) – 76
11. Baker County (Glen St. Mary) (4A) (10-5) – 65
12. Creekside (St. Johns) (6A) (14-3) – 60
13. Dixie County (Cross City) (1A) (13-1) – 59
14. West Port (Ocala) (7A) (16-2) – 51
15. Taylor (Pierson) (3A) (14-1) – 36
16. Belleview (4A) (13-6) – 32
17. South Lake (Groveland) (6A) (16-2) – 30
18. Keystone Heights (3A) (12-5) – 27
19. Nature Coast Tech (Brooksville) (4A) (12-6) – 23
20. Episcopal (Jacksonville) (3A) (11-4) – 13
Also receiving votes: Baldwin (3A) (12-4) – 7; Lecanto (5A) (11-4) – 3; Bartram Trail (St. Johns) (7A) (12-6) – 2; Fort White (1A) (11-3) – 2; Seven Rivers Christian (Lecanto) (2A) (10-2) – 2; Paxon (Jacksonville) (4A)) (9-4) – 1; Seabreeze (Daytona Beach) (5A) (12-2) – 1.