The 2026 West Yosemite League high school softball season is underway.
Here’s a breakdown of the race for this season’s WYL championship (team records/stats are as of April 14).
The defending champion: Mission Oak (5-12-1, 0-1)
The Hawks are the defending back-to-back WYL champions, but it appears their reign as the WYL’s finest may be up for grabs this spring while fielding a young squad.
Mission Oak opened league play on April 10, falling 9-8 at Tulare Western.
The Hawks kicked off the 2026 campaign with a 4-4 record with wins over lower-division teams — Porterville (7-7-1), Mt. Whitney (2-13), Orange Cove (11-9), Coalinga (11-9) — but have since lost eight of their past 10 games.
Mission Oak’s other victory this spring came against Sunnyside (7-12).
The Hawks are led on the field this season by seniors Jadyn Albright (.625 batting average, 13 runs, 20 hits, 12 RBIs, double, three triples, two home runs) and Braelyn Serpa (.500, 18 runs, 19 hits, 12 RBIs, four doubles, triple, home run).
The top challenger: Dinuba (14-4-1, 1-0)
The Emperors are one of the top teams in Tulare County this season.
Since a 1-2 start, Dinuba has won 13 of its past 16 games, including a five-game winning streak in March.
Dinuba defeated Hanford 4-2 on April 10 in its WYL opener. The Emperors are one of the league’s top scoring teams, averaging 7.6 points per game.
In that victory, senior Cambria Alderete hit her 10th home run of the season — a two-run bomb.
Alderete is one of Tulare County’s premier hitters. She is batting .462 with 23 runs, 24 hits, and 37 RBIs. She has knocked in at least one run in 17 of her 19 appearances.
Also in that win over Hanford, pitcher Neveah Garcia fired a complete game with three strikeouts to earn the victory in the circle. She allowed just two runs, one earned, on seven hits.
Garcia, the Dinuba ace, is 10-3 this season with 81 strikeouts.
Offensively, the Emperors are batting a collective .360 behind the hitting prowess of Alderete and Olivia Patterson (.333, 13 runs, 19 hits, and 17 RBIs).
Watch out for: Lemoore (13-5-1, 1-0)
The Tigers defeated Tulare Union 9-3 on April 10 in their WYL road opener.
Lemoore has won eight of its past 10 games and is averaging nearly 10 runs per game during that stretch.
That attack is spearheaded by freshman star Jazlyn Guzman — one of the elite hitters in Kings and Tulare counties who is batting .522 with 31 runs, 35 hits, 27 RBIs, 13 doubles, three triples, and five home runs.
Keep an eye on: Tulare Western (9-9, 1-0)
The Mustangs are on a three-game winning streak after outlasting Mission Oak 9-8 on April 10 in their WYL opener.
Emily Gonzalez, Sarah Medeiros, Makayla Leon, and Meiah Ledesma led the way in that victory with two RBIs each. Brookelyn Lancaster got the win in the circle, hurling a complete game with three strikeouts.
Leon and Ledesma are two of four Mustangs, along with Abby Babb and Janmarie Topalian, with 20 hits already on the season.
Don’t sleep on: Tulare Union (6-12, 0-1)
Don’t be fooled by the Tribe’s record.
Because of the basketball team’s deep run in the CIF State playoffs, Tulare Union didn’t get its top players back on the softball field full-time until the second week of March.
That led to a 1-8 start.
Tulare Union is starting to find its stride, though, with a complete team, winning four of its past six games.
Jiannah Freitas and Kayloni Cox, starters on the basketball team, have both acclimated to softball form.
Freitas leads the team with three home runs and 14 RBIs and is second on the squad with 17 hits. Cox hit her first home run of the season on March 21 in a win over Pioneer Valley (6-10-1) and most recently doubled in a loss to Lemoore.
Don’t forget about: Hanford (5-11, 0-1)
The Bullpups have a signature win over Clovis West (15-5), beating the Golden Eagles 3-1 on March 30.
Marissa Villarreal earned the victory in the circle in that win, tossing four strikeouts in six innings. She also had two singles and an RBI.
This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: 2026 West Yosemite League softball: Who will win the title?
Reporting by Vongni Yang, Visalia Times-Delta / Visalia Times-Delta
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
