After they won their fourth state championship in as many varsity seasons, the Orange Beach Makos checked in as the No. 1 high school softball team in the country according to MaxPreps’ national rankings.

Orange Beach finished the 2024 season with a 46-1 mark and now owns a 159-29-1 overall record through four seasons.

In the new rankings released on May 28, the four-time AHSAA state champion Makos jumped up from No. 4 and took advantage of a big loss from the Katy Tigers of Texas to overtake the top spot with many states’ playoffs wrapped up. Other top-25 teams from Ohio, Texas, Illinois and Virginia still had to complete their postseasons.

How they got here

Steve Montoya, Director of Programming at MaxPreps, referenced Orange Beach’s pair of victories over the top-ranked team from Florida, the No. 5 Pace Patriots (4-2 and 2-0), as well as a win over No. 9 Hewitt-Trussville (4-2 in 8 innings), the eventual AHSAA Class 7A champion, as resume-builders that helped earn the No. 1 ranking.

He also mentioned standout performers including State Championship MVP KG Favors’ 21-1 record in the pitcher’s circle to go along with her 0.77 ERA, which ranked third in Alabama. The junior South Carolina commit racked up 197 strikeouts on the season to rank 20th in the state and increased her total to 625 career punchouts over 418.1 innings pitched for the Makos.

Team leaders amongst state’s best

Another impressive season was put together by junior Daigle Wilson, who ranked third in the country with 76 runs scored in 46 games. The Auburn commit sat only eight runs behind MaxPreps’ national leader, Gerrit Griggs from Central-Phenix City who played eight more games.

Wilson also registered 57 stolen bases to rank 19th in the nation and second in Alabama. After she logged her 100th career stolen base last year, Wilson now sits four away from the 200 mark over 186 games according to MaxPreps stats.

It was sophomore sensation Ava Hodo who recorded team-highs in many of Orange Beach’s offensive categories, including batting average (.486), on-base percentage (.588), slugging percentage (.991) and RBIs (63).

Hodo’s 63 RBIs were good enough for No. 15 in the state and No. 52 in the country, her .991 slugging percentage was 27th-best in Alabama and her .588 OBP checked in at No. 58 in the state.

She and classmate Teagan Revette tied for the team lead with 12 home runs each which was tied for 22nd in the state rankings. Revette held the team lead in hits (61) and tied with Wilson for the most triples (6).

Makos also check into top five of USA TODAY rankings

When the May 30 edition of the USA TODAY Sports/National Fastpitch Coaches Association’s High School Super 25 rankings dropped, Orange Beach jumped three spots to No. 4 as Alabama’s lone ranked team.

The Northwest Rankin Cougars from Mississippi overtook the top spot, which was also previously held by the Katy Tigers from Texas, after a 7A championship finished off a 34-0 season. Louisiana state champions from Calvary Baptist (35-2 in Division III Select) and Sterlington (33-1 in Division III Non-Select) were slotted in at No. 2 and 3, respectively.