MaxPreps 2015 final Top 50 national high school softball rankings

Video: Bishop Carroll (KS) softball highlights
See how the national champs secured a state title in Kansas

What do you call a team that wins all 25 of its games (including the state title), bats .562, averages 14 runs per game, collects 140 extra-base hits (including 45 home runs) and limits the opposition to just 48 base hits and 16 runs (just 11 earned)?

How about calling Bishop Carroll (Wichita, Kan.) the 2015 MaxPreps national softball champion?

"That's really just crazy, outstanding," said second-year Carroll coach Steve Harshberger. "This is just awesome."

Words like crazy, outstanding and awesome are also good ways to describe the Golden Eagles' statistics. No doubt the calculator needed extra batteries when compiling their stats.

Consider the following:

* Fourteen players batted over .300, six batted over .550 and the leading hitter (Brittany Finney) batted .774.

* Eight players averaged a run scored per game (51 by sophomore Meghan Guiterrez).

* Nine players drove in 10 or more runs (led by Finney's 54 and Lauren Buchanan's 47).

* Six players had 10 or more extra-base hits (led by Finney's 33).

* Six players homered (led by Finney's 17 and Brianna Hogan's 10).

* The Golden Eagles struck out just 20 times (in 25 games) the entire season and had an on-base percentage of .627 and a slugging percentage of .940;

* Carroll scored 20 runs or more 20 times with a high of 30.

And there's even more amazing stats:

* Carroll's three pitchers combined for a 0.67 ERA and struck out 158 batters in 115 innings. Finney was 14-0 and Sammy Knoblauch was 10-0.

* Opposing batters posted a .121 batting average.

* Carroll held opponents scoreless 17 times.

* Carroll committed just 17 errors on the season and had a .963 team fielding percentage.

* The team grade point average was 3.64.

Carroll started the season as no surprise in Kansas having won four-straight state titles, but wasn't ranked In MaxPreps' Preseason Top 50.

Once the Golden Eagles took the field, headlines got bigger. They moved into the Xcellent 25 on April 8, then into the Top 10 on May 6. When No. 1 Mission Viejo (California) and No. 2 Lebanon (Ohio) lost their final games of the season, each by a 1-0 margin, Carroll moved from No. 3 to No 1 in the June 9 rankings.

Led by seniors Finney (Oklahoma), Leisle Hoffman (Bethel College) and Buchanan (Colorado State), Bishop Carroll was rarely challenged and gave up runs in back-to-back games just once.

"Offensively, these girls were into their hitting," said Harshberger, who spent 24 years coaching at the college level. "We concentrate on driving the ball and hit every day."

Finney, a finalist for MaxPreps National Player of the Year, put up massive numbers: 17 homers, 13 doubles, 48 hits, 54 RBIs, .846 on base percentage and batted .774. Her slugging percentage was 1.903 and her OPS was 2.749.

Buchanan batted .615, drove in 47 runs and had 22 extra-base hits. Harshberger said defense is the best part of her game.

Gutierrez (.597, 51 runs) and Jordan Schartz (.635, 49 runs) were the table-setters.

"We focus a lot on defense and with our pitching we're going to be in any game. When our bats explode, it's a short game." He added that communication is a priority. "Everything we do has a purpose."

Nineteen of the Golden Eagles' 25 victories were run-rule wins, including the 10-0 state title game victory over Blue Valley West (Stilwell), in which Finney pitched a six-inning no-hitter.

Asked to describe his team in one word, Harshberger said "competitive."

"They just like to compete in every thing we do and are very confident in that."

The Golden Eagles will lose the three seniors, but return a dozen players, with Hogan (Louisiana-Monroe) and Maddie Miller (Texas-Arlington) already making college plans. And all of the returnees are playing for high-caliber summer travel teams.

Harshberger noted that when he first started coaching at Bishop Carroll, a former player told him "We have a tradition here ... at Carroll, we don't lose our last game."

Carroll hasn't lost its last game since 2010. And this year, that last game vaulted the Golden Eagles to the No. 1 spot in the Nation.


1. (No. 1 last week) Bishop Carroll (Wichita, Kan.), 25-0
Bishop Carroll won the state 5A title.

2. (2) Yucaipa (Calif.), 31-3
The Thunderbirds won the CIF Southern Section Division 2 title and finished with 18 straight wins.

3. (3) Mission Viejo (Calif.), 31-1
The Diablos saw their 35-game win streak come to an end in the CIF-SS D2 championship in a 1-0 loss to Yucaipa.

4. (4) McCracken County (Paducah, Ky.), 37-3
The Mustangs won their final 28 games and the Kentucky state title.

5. (5) Aledo (Texas), 23-1
Aledo won the Texas 5A state title and recorded its 45th win in its last 46 games.

6. (6) Sherwood (Sandy Spring, Md.), 22-0
Sherwood captured its fourth-straight Maryland state large school title and ran its win streak to 83.

7. (7) Southington (Conn.), 24-0
The defending state champions edged Cheshire, 5-4, to win the state large school title and run their win streak to 71.

8. (8) Washington Township (Sewell, N.J.), 31-1
Junior Lauren Shannon pitched six perfect innings before allowing a hit as Washington Township won the NJSIAA/Blue Ribbon Group 4 state championship game, 1-0.

9. (9) Parkland (Allentown, Pa.), 29-1
The Trojans defeated Cumberland Valley, 4-3, to win the state 4AAAA title.

10. (11) Eagle (Idaho), 30-1
The Mustangs captured the 5A state title.

11. (12) Archbishop Mitty (San Jose, Calif.), 27-3
Mitty won the CIF Division 1 Central Coast Section title.

12. (18) Wayland (Mich.), 36-2
Wayland routed Frankenmuth, 11-0, to win the state Division 2 title. Leigha Morse homered twice and Mallory Teunissen struck out 17.

13. (13) Tualatin (Ore.), 28-1
Tualatin won the 6A state title.

14. (14) Kasson-Mantorville (Kasson, Minn.), 26-2
K-M won the state 2A title.

15. (15) Neshoba Central (Philadelphia, Miss.), 31-1
Central won its second-straight state 5A title.

16. (NR) Union County (Union, S.C.), 30-2
Union County won its second-straight state 3A crown.

17. (17) Amador Valley (Pleasanton, Calif.), 24-3
The Dons, 2014 national champions, won the CIF North Coast Section D1 title.

18. (16) Lebanon (Ohio), 33-1
The Warriors were runners-up in Ohio's large school division.

19. (19) Bald Knob (Ark.), 30-2
Bald Knob finished the season with 25 straight wins to capture its second state 3A title.

20. (20) Forest (Ocala, Fla.), 30-2
Forest won Florida's 6A state title.

21. (21) Katy (Texas), 36-6
The Tigers won the Texas 6A state title.

22. (22) Enka (N.C.), 29-0
The Jets won the state 3A title.

23. (23) Sam Houston (Lake Charles, La.), 24-2
Sam Houston won the 5A state title, its fourth in five years.

24. (24) Hurricane (W. Va.), 37-2
Hurricane captured the state 3A title.

25. (25) Reed (Sparks, Nev.), 37-2
Reed captured Nevada's large school state title.

26. (NR) Curry (Jasper, Ala.), 46-5
Curry won the state 4A title.

27. (NR) Pioneer (San Jose, Calif.), 29-1
Lost CIF Central Coast Section title game to No. 17 Archbishop Mitty.

28. (NR) Tahoma (Kent, Wash.), 27-3
Tahoma captured the state 4A title.

29. (NR) Baker (Mobile, Ala.), 49-6
Baker won the Alabama large school title.

30. (NR) O'Connor (Phoenix), 38-7
Won Arizona state D1 title.

31. (NR) Center Grove (Greenwood, Ind.), 29-2
Center Grove beat Lake Central, 6-2, to win the state large school title.

32. (NR) Campbell (Ewa Beach, Hawaii), 20-2
Campbell won the Hawaii large school title.

33. (NR) East (Anchorage, Alaska), 26-0
East won its fourth-straight large school title and extended its win streak to 86 games.

34. (NR) North DeSoto (Stonewall, La.), 31-1
North DeSoto won the state 4A title.

35. (NR) Newton County (Decatur, Miss.), 33-2
Newton County captured the state 4A title.

36. (NR) Conley (Greenville, N.C.), 27-3
Conley won the state 4A title.

37. (NR) Averill Park (N.Y.), 26-1
Averill Park won the state A title.

38. (NR) Tate (Cantonment, Fla.), 27-4
Tate won the state 7A title.

39. (NR) Baylor (Chattanooga, Tenn.), 26-3-1
Baylor won the state 2A title.

40. (NR) Westosha Central (Salem, Wis.), 28-4
Westosha Central won the state D1 title.

41. (NR) Empire (Tucson, Ariz.), 30-5
Empire won the state 3A title.

42. (NR) Bishop O'Connell (Arlington, Va.), 27-3
Bishop O'Connell won the VISAA D1 state title.

43. (NR) East Union (Manteca, Calif.), 30-3
East Union won the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section D3 title.

44. (NR) Lewisville (Texas), 28-7
Lewisville was the state 6A runner-up.

45. (NR) Norco (Calif.), 30-8
Norco won the CIF Southern Section D1 title.

46. (NR) McLoughlin (Milton-Freewater, Ore.), 28-1
Mac-Hi won its second-straight 4A state title.

47. (NR) Alexander Central (Taylorsville, N.C.), 29-1
Alexander Central lost in the quarterfinals of the state tournament.

48. (NR) Vista Ridge (Cedar Park, Texas), 28-3
Vista Ridge finished as the Texas 5A runner-up

49. (NR) Chase County (Cottonwood Falls, Kan.), 23-0
Chase County won Kansas small school title, and set the state win streak record (currently at 95).

50. (NR) Northern (Owings, Md.), 25-2
Northern won its eighth-straight D3 title.