If there's one thing that's been proven so far this year in the high school softball season, it's that it has been out with the old and in with the new.
Throughout this decade, teams such as Troy, Warren Regina, Lakeland, Trenton and Portage Northern have been fixtures in the state rankings.
Well, taking a look at this weekend's rankings, only Lakeland among those school is ranked at No. 10 in Division 1. Instead, you have teams like Okemos (No. 1 in Division 1), Alpena (No. 2 in Division 1), Taylor Kennedy (No. 8 in Division 1) and Niles (No. 1 in Division 2) ranked at or near the top of the polls.
It's certainly a strange sight, but we'll see if some semblance of normalcy returns in the last month of the season.
— Now that we're into May, we can officially begin the countdown to the start of the state playoffs for spring teams (yes, already). Postseason play opens up in less than four weeks, with the annual "Super Preps" day slated for May 31. On that day, the district semifinals and finals for baseball and softball, the district finals for girls soccer, and the state tournaments for girls tennis, boys golf and track and field will take place. It's easily the busiest preps day of the year.