2018 Softball Top 10 D1 teams

[the football guy]

No love for softball around here!!!

Who are the Top 10 D1 teams in the valley

[knightsrule04]

Yeah, this board has been dead for a few years unfortunately. At one time there were a couple parents who came on and posted, but their kids have graduated.

This year seems to be wide open in D1. I don't have a great ranking because I don't know who each team returns (other than Bullard), but taking a look at Pagmeter's ranking should give a general idea (though I don't see it as very accurate).

Clovis and Buchanan have senior pitchers who can beat anyone, any time out. Buchanan always has good bats, and Clovis has their traditional way of doing things that produces solid seasons. Central lost their ace to graduation and they have, from what I know, a very good pitcher who was at Madera before transferring and having to sit out last year. My Knights, the ONLY team to beat both D1 championship game entrants (Clovis and Central) during the season last year, lost a couple role players to graduation but return both pitchers, a senior SS who will head to an NCAA D1 school next year, and a bunch of solid players. If not for three OF errors in the playoff game at Clovis last year, they very well may have beaten the Cougars and claimed the section title (at least from what I heard - I wasn't able to be there). If Bullard doesn't threaten for a championship game berth, something went horribly wrong.

Other than that, I don't know much. Apparently Monache and Madera got moved into D1 (per Pagmeter). Looking at stats on Maxpreps, Hanford West lost about 6-7 players to graduation, including their top pitcher. But they return some good bats, including a player who slammed 11 HR last season. Stockdale appears to have lost their top two HR hitters, as well as their doubles leader, to graduation, but they return an ace who was 20-2, 0.75 last year as a freshman. They should be a tough team. Monache, if they stay in D1, could be heard from with most of their bats returning and a pitcher who also went 20-2 with a ton of strikeouts. They beat a very good Sanger team in the D2 title game last year.

Overall, D1 should be highly competitive. I'd say no less than 5 or 6 teams have legitimate chances to win it all.

[knightsrule04]