Four high school softball teams across the Rio Grande Valley jumped into the most recent installment of the Texas Girls Coaches Association Class 6A statewide rankings Monday as the playoff hunt and district title races have begun to intensify.
Two teams, the PSJA North Raiders and San Benito Greyhounds, earned debut appearances in the TGCA 6A poll this week, while the Edinburg Vela SaberCats and Los Fresnos Falcons continue to ascend the rankings.
Los Fresnos (8-1) checks in as the highest-ranked team of any RGV softball squads at fourth overall in the state, the top ranking for any Valley team at any classification level thus far this season.
The Falcons began the week undefeated, sitting in first place in a deep District 32-6A after wins against Brownsville Hanna and San Benito last week.
Los Fresnos suffered its first hiccup of district competition in a 7-3 loss Monday to Harlingen South, which dropped out of this week’s TGCA poll after securing a spot in the 6A Top 10. The Falcons will look to rebound with another 32-6A matchup at 6 p.m. Thursday at Weslaco High.
PSJA North (9-0), meanwhile, moved up to ninth during its first week in the TGCA poll this season.
The Raiders sit alone atop the District 31-6A as the Valley’s last unbeaten team in Class 6A.
PSJA North tallied district wins last week against then-No. 24 Edinburg North, Edinburg High and then-No. 11 PSJA High. The Raiders picked up where they left off Tuesday, securing a 30-0 victory over La Joya Juarez-Lincoln.
North defeated the Huskies with a no-hitter in the circle during its shutout win, the largest victory for any Valley team this season.
The Raiders will look to extend their RGV-best winning streak to 10 games when they host Edinburg Economedes at 11 a.m. Thursday and will wrap up this week’s slate on the road against Mission High at 11 a.m. Saturday.
Edinburg Vela (7-2) jumped back into the TGCA poll for the first time since the first week of regular-season play, securing the No. 13 spot this week.
The SaberCats were the only Valley team to be featured in the TGCA 6A preseason Top 10 but quickly fell out of the statewide rankings after a season-opening loss to PSJA North.
Since then, Vela has been on a tear that included dominant victories over Edinburg High, Juarez-Lincoln and then-No. 11 PSJA High last week. The SaberCats outscored their opponents 44-6 in those three games.
Edinburg Vela will look to continue building upon its District 31-6A winning streak when it hosts Mission High at 11 a.m. Thursday.
San Benito (5-2) made its first appearance in the TGCA poll this week clocking in at No. 16.
The Greyhounds began the season on a four-game winning streak that featured victories over Brownsville Hanna, Brownville Rivera, Port Isabel and Sharyland Pioneer.
San Benito, however, has dropped a pair of 32-6A contests in back-to-back losses against Los Fresnos on Friday and Weslaco High on Monday.
The Greyhounds will attempt to turn it around when they return to the diamond to host Harlingen High at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
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Twitter: @ByAndyMcCulloch
