Which are the best softball teams in RI? Here's Eric Rueb's power rankings after Week 1
Everyone wanted to play ball except Mother Nature.
The 2024 RIIL softball season didn’t get off to the greatest start, but that had more to do with the awful weather than with how anyone played. Playable weather on Monday and Friday sandwiched rain on Tuesday through Thursday and made the debut of The Providence Journal Softball Power Rankings a little tricky.
So with that in mind, these rankings are both factoring preseason expectations as well as last week’s performances. Hopefully, this week’s weather will cooperate and we will get consistently warm temperatures.
Because of the lack of games, we’re also postponing the first Player of the Week award of the season. We’ll bring the feature back once everyone starts playing actual league games.
With that said, now is as good a time as any to remind the state’s softball programs about the most important thing this season — SEND IN SCORES.
With the advent of GameChanger, this should be incredibly easy. We need scores and highlights from the game emailed to us at PJSports@ProvidenceJournal.com or called it to (401) 277-7340. If you send us GameChanger reports, please make sure they’re filled out with players first and last names from both teams, not just your own.
Teams that aren’t getting us results will find their players not earning Player of the Week nominations on a consistent basis. Be warned.
Now that we’ve got all of that out of the way, let’s get on to the ranks:
Division I
1. La Salle (1-0 Division I-B)
The Rams are my preseason pick to win the state championship and they’ve put themselves in a good position to repeat with a tough out-of-state preseason schedule surrounding a win over Chariho in their season opener last Friday. La Salle can mash — I still don’t know why teams pitch to Phoenyx Silva — pitch and play defense and it’s going to win a lot of games. The Rams have their home opener on Tuesday against a tough Smithfield team before traveling to play a young East Providence team on Thursday.
2. Coventry (1-0 Division I-A)
With a young roster, coach Chris Daigneault is going to try to quell expectations for his team, but make no mistake about it — the Oakers are good. Sage Soares is a different-maker in the circle, but Coventry has a talented crop of sophomores who are going to blossom into stars this spring. Soares will help take some of the pressure off as the young players get experience, but make no mistake about it — this team is a title contender.
3. East Greenwich (1-1 Division I-B)
It was a good first week for the Avengers, as the defending D-II champs won in their D-I debut over a good Cumberland team, then lost to a Coventry team that’s going to be in the mix. EG’s twin connections up the middle of the field — the pitcher-catcher combo of Ava and Brooke Fairbanks and shortstop Margaret Neville with Cat Neville in center — will keep things together as the roster develops in the early part of the season.
4. Cranston West (1-0 Division I-A)
Can the Falcons offense carry the team this spring? After an 18-0 win over North Kingstown in their season opener, it certainly seems that way. Cranston West has an underrated lineup, but all the Falcons can mash. Siena Nardelli is an All-Stater, Sam Healy pummeled the ball last spring, Sofia Marella gives the Falcons pop behind the plate and sophomore Nicole Silvestri should make a name for herself this spring. The bats will be busy this week, hosting Bay View on Tuesday and East Greenwich on Thursday before playing at Cumberland on Friday.
5. Prout (1-0 Division I-B)
Are the Crusaders about to be the surprise of the 2024 season? Prout won a tight one over Pilgrim in its season opener and its apparent that freshman Lucy Kaiser, who had 13 strikeouts, can handle the pressure of the circle this spring. Emma Manzo, Giselle Jeffrey and Meadow D’Iorio paced the offense and expect Molly Green to rake for the Crusaders as well. Prout will try to build off the win last week when it hosts Chariho on Tuesday before traveling to play Smithfield on Thursday.
Division II
1. Johnston (1-0 Division II)
It’s hard to rank teams when only a handful actually played games last week, but when you start a season the way Haley Boudreau did, it makes things easier. The sophomore gave up one hit and struck out 12 in the Panthers’ season-opening win over Mt. Hope and she ripped three hits while scoring three runs as well. Johnston has the pieces in place to have a special season and will try to continue things this week. Johnston had a road game (at Toll Gate) on Monday and will have its home opener on Thursday against Barrington.
2. Ponaganset (1-0 Division II)
The Chieftains also started the season in impressive fashion, as Chloe Barber threw a five-inning perfect game in a 10-0 win over South Kingstown. The offense came up with timely hitting and took advantage of some SK miscues, which is what good teams do. This team’s offense will put up numbers all season long and expect it to continue this week. Ponaganset traveled to Mt. Hope on Monday before home games against Narragansett on Tuesday and Woonsocket on Wednesday.
3. West Warwick (1-0 Division II)
Hitting won’t be a question for the Wizards this year, because they’ll get plenty as they showed in their season-opening win over Narragansett. All-Stater Adrianna Carsetti, Olivia Zajdek and freshman Grace Gallo all had three hits and Madison Walsh drove in five. The offensive support should help their young pitching staff come along. They had an early test this week at home against Scituate on Monday, and will play at Lincoln/North Providence on Wednesday and Middletown on Thursday.
4. Westerly (1-0 Division II)
Friday’s 10-0 win over Toll Gate got the Bulldogs' season off to the start they were looking for. The offense has pieces to put up numbers, but Sophia Valentini really makes this team a championship contender. Westerly should win plenty of games this spring but needs to pile on some early season victories for confidence. The Bulldogs will get back at it on Tuesday at Barrington before hosting Portsmouth on Wednesday, with two nonleague games against D-I Chariho and North Kingstown to follow.
5. Scituate (1-0 Division II)
Having spent the last few years in D-I — an outrageous move due to the RIIL’s formula — the Spartans might catch a few teams by surprise this year. That could change in a hurry after the 18-0 win over Portsmouth in the season opener, but Scituate's big test came on Monday at West Warwick. Next up is a road game Middletown on Wednesday.
Division III
1. Pawtucket (1-0 Division III)
It’s going to be really tough to beat the Raiders this spring and Janayah Gordon showed why in the opener, striking out 16 and giving up no hits in a 10-0 win over Davies. Cheyenne Cooper and Clara Perez did some damage in the win and its clear Pawtucket has the offense to give Gordon support all season long. Pawtucket will hit the road on Tuesday against Rogers before hosting Exeter-West Greenwich on Wednesday.
2. Cranston East (2-0 Division III)
The Thunderbolts have entered the chat. Armed with a budding ace in freshman Isabella Sousa and an offense that came through in a 4-2 win over Tiverton and a 12-0 victory over Central, Cranston East has more than earned this No. 2 spot after the first week. The Thunderbolts will try to keep their momentum humming at home against Davies on Thursday in their lone game this week.
3. Tiverton (0-1 Division III)
Technically, Tiverton is in last place, but let’s give the Tigers some credit — after all, they were in the D-III final last season. Despite a 4-2 loss to Cranston East, the Tigers have the talent to contend and win big in D-III, so we’re not going to crush their ranking based off one game. Tiverton has a busy week, hitting the road on Tuesday at Mount St. Charles in a D-III title game rematch and playing at Davies on Wednesday before hosting Rogers on Thursday.
4. Mount St. Charles (0-0 Division III)
The Mounties are the defending Division III champs, but they’ve got some big questions to answer following the graduation of Olivia Young. Mount didn’t get a chance to get started last week, so it will now open its season at home against Tiverton on Tuesday in a rematch of the D-III title game. That game will help figure out who this team is. They will have one more this week when they host Central on Friday.
Division IV
Because D-IV is set up to be a developmental league — games have a built-in time limit — we’re not ranking them. The league shouldn’t be about wins and losses and rankings and championships. It should be about creating a program that can turn into something that can help grow the sport in the community and help it make it a viable program in Division III at some point.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: 2024 Rhode Island high school softball power rankings after week 1
