This is the final softball Diamond Power Rankings.
All season long, The Record tracked San Joaquin County’s softball landscape, ranking the top 10 teams each week as contenders rose, fell and made their case.
Now, it’s time for the full picture.
Instead of stopping at 10, this final edition ranks all 30 county softball teams.
Why 30 instead of 29 like baseball? Because Aspire Benjamin Holt College Preparatory Academy’s run made leaving the Stockton program out impossible.
Using season results, here are the final rankings. Movement reflects changes from last week, while teams that appeared in our inaugural top 10 show where they originally stood.
Note: Team records reflect the end of the regular season and do not include postseason results.
1. Tracy (—) (23-1) (TCAL) (First Ranking No. 1)
No one was touching Tracy. The Bulldogs spent much of the season as a top-seven team in California, and the lineup made it obvious why. Long Beach State commit Hayden Fell was dominant on both sides, posting a 0.56 ERA with 125 strikeouts across 87.2 innings while hitting .438 with 36 RBIs. Arizona commit Taylor Sansaver hit .635 with 43 RBIs, Long Beach State commit Emry Couch batted .605 with 29 RBIs, and Cal commit Emalee Cargill added a .575 average with 31 RBIs. Somehow, the rest of the lineup still hit above .333.
2. Kimball (—) (19-7) (TCAL) (First Ranking No. 3)
Kimball spent this season making history. A school-record fifth straight playoff appearance. Sophomore Briana Quintero setting a program mark with 18 complete games while also becoming the first pitcher in school history to eclipse 100 strikeouts, finishing with 140. Coach Justin Bigler adding his 94th career win to break the previous school record. Maybe this is not the greatest team in school history, but it belongs firmly among the top three seasons.
3. Oakdale (—) (13-9) (VOL) (First Ranking No. 8)
A 2-1 win over Manteca on April 6 is a major reason Oakdale lands here. The Mustangs’ record looks modest at first glance, but one of the county’s toughest non league schedules helped shape a team that went 9-3 for second in the VOL. In league play, only Central Catholic twice and Manteca once were able to beat them.
4. Manteca (—) (16-8) (VOL) (First Ranking No. 2)
Splitting the season series with Oakdale was important, but a 6-5 extra-inning loss to rival East Union just eight days later helped leave the Buffaloes in third place in the VOL at 8-4. Still, the season marked Manteca’s highest league win total since 2016.
5. Lodi (—) (13-10-1) (TCAL) (First Ranking No. 10)
Winning the season series against St. Mary’s and finishing one game ahead of the Rams in the TCAL standings at 8-7 helps put Lodi here, but the Flames built their case in other ways, too. St. John’s commit Abigail Schweigerdt tossed a combined no-hitter against Ceres, then followed it with a solo no-hitter against Tokay, while Allison Frank reached the 100-hit milestone. Also telling: six of Lodi’s 10 losses came against Kimball and Tracy.
6. St. Mary’s (↑1) (17-11) (TCAL) (First Ranking No. 4)
Youth did not slow St. Mary’s down. With 15 underclassmen and only one senior, the Rams finished fourth in the TCAL while doubling last season’s win total after winning just seven games a year ago.
7. Linden (↓1) (17-6) (MLL) (NR)
Ripon? Beat them. Liberty Ranch? Beat them. Tokay? Beat them. Lincoln? Beat them. St. Mary’s? Beat them. After opening the season 0-3, Linden flipped everything around, with East Union and Escalon standing as the only county teams to hand the Lions losses on the year as they finished second in the Mother Lode League at 12-2.
8. East Union (↑1) (14-12) (VOL) (First Ranking No. 5)
East Union became another example of how unforgiving a schedule can be. The Lancers were not a 12-loss team in the traditional sense, but a brutal combination of VOL play and a tough non-league slate made the record look harsher than the reality.
9. Ripon (↓2) (17-8) (TVL) (First Ranking No. 6)
History was within reach, but Ripon could not quite get there. The Indians entered the season chasing a fifth straight league title — a feat that is hard enough to imagine, let alone accomplish — but ultimately finished third in the TVL at 8-4.
10. Liberty Ranch (NR) (14-8) (SVC) (NR)
Four titles in five years would have been quite the statement. Liberty Ranch came up short of that mark, but an 11-3 second-place finish in the SVC still followed a remarkable stretch that included three championships in four years and a perfect 14-0 league season just a year ago.
11. Lincoln (↓2) (13-14) (TCAL) (First Ranking No. 7)
Geography did Lincoln no favors. The Trojans may share a city with SJAA programs, but instead had to battle through the TCAL, arguably the toughest league in the Sac-Joaquin Section, where they finished fifth at 3-12.
12. Escalon (NR) (11-11) (TVL) (NR)
Missing Arizona commit Madison Babasa and UC Riverside commit Arianna Velasco to start the season because of basketball, plus Babasa’s injury, left the Cougars at 1-9 out of the gate. Once both returned, they became one of the hottest teams around, going 10-2 to finish second in the TVL at 9-3, as Babasa hit .706 with nine RBIs and Velasco batted .632 with 20 RBIs.
13. Tokay (16-11) (SJAA)
Two years in the SJAA. Two league titles. Just like the baseball program, Tokay wasted no time establishing itself, capturing back-to-back conference championships since joining in 2025.
14. Mountain House (NR) (10-11) (VOL) (First Ranking No. 9)
15. Bear Creek (15-7) (SJAA)
16. Sierra (7-10) (VOL)
17. Lathrop (15-8-1) (WAC)
18. Ben Holt College Prep Academy (19-7) (CCAAL)
Some seasons demand attention. Ben Holt College Prep Academy’s was one of them. Behind Jackson State commit Julieann Drulias, who batted .603 with 43 RBIs, the Bobcats claimed a second straight CCAAL title and extended their overall league championship streak to eight.
19. Edison (17-9) (SJAA)
20. Merrill West (4-17) (TCAL)
21. Galt (8-15) (SVC)
22. Venture Academy (11-6) (CCAAL)
23. Weston Ranch (11-11) (SJAA)
24. McNair (8-11) (SJAA)
25. River Island (8-11) (CCAAL)
26. Chavez (5-22) (SJAA)
27. Ripon Christian (2-18) (TVL)
28. Franklin (4-13) (SJAA)
29. Stagg (1-21) (SJAA)
30. Millennium (3-10) (CCAAL)
This article originally appeared on The Record: Final San Joaquin County softball Diamond Power Rankings revealed
Reporting by Dylan Ackermann, The Stockton Record / The Record
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
