About 40 miles north of Dallas, a high school softball home run derby seemingly breaks out every game. For No. 1
Melissa (Texas), the fun started with seven long balls in the first game of the season in February. After the third day of the season, the Cardinals had already hit 20 home runs.
Flash forward two months and Melissa (27-0) has one regular season game remaining and leads the nation with 94 home runs, an average of 3.4 per game.
The only school to hit more than 100 home runs in a season is
North DeSoto (Stonewall, La.), which hit 105 over 39 games during the 2022 season.
Including the regular season finale and 10 potential postseason contests, this Melissa squad is on pace to hit 132 home runs.
Junior
Kennedy Bradley hit 20 bombs last season and leads the team with 19 this year. The Florida commit is hitting .532 and has four multi-home run games.
Finlee Williams is next with 15 home runs, the third-most of any sophomore in the country according to statistics submitted to MaxPreps.
Tied for third on the team is sophomore
Hutton Adrian and senior
Caigan Crabtree with 13 home runs. Adrian led all freshmen last year with 22 home runs and is hitting .612 this year. Crabtree is committed to Texas and hit 21 dingers a season ago.
No. 14
Calvary Baptist Academy (Shreveport, La.) will also come close to 100 home runs. The Cavaliers sit at 85 this season with a 33-1 record and are going for a fifth-straight state championship. As the top-seed in the Division III Select state playoffs, which begin April 19, Calvary Baptist has a maximum of four remaining games. The Cavs need to average 3.7 bombs per game to hit 100 on the season.
Led by freshman
Baylor Bockhaus, Calvary Baptist Academy (33-1) has hit at least four home runs in 10 of its games. Bockhaus is second in the nation with 23 bombs while hitting .556. She was on varsity as an eighth grader and launched 15 home runs in 2024.
With 38 career home runs and three seasons of eligibility left after this one, Bockhaus could challenge the national record of 97. That mark was set by her former teammate,
Ramsey Walker, who played with the Cavs from 2019-24 and is now at Arkansas.
Jaycee Sledge is another freshman making an impact with 11 home runs and 39 RBI.
Sophomores
Carlie Guile and
Mallory Carver have each hit 12 home runs this season. Carver has a .438 batting average with 58 RBI while Guile hits .389 with 22 extra-base knocks. Fellow sophomore
Loren Sivils has 11 dingers a season after hitting 17. Sivils has a .460 average this year.
Junior
Kynzee Anderson dominates in the batter’s box and the circle for the Cavs. Along with 12 home runs, the Georgia commit has hurled 127 innings and struck out 214 batters while posting a 20-1 record. The future Bulldog has been the Cavs ace since eighth grade, tallying up 1,049 strikeouts and 95 wins in her career.
Rounding out the Calvary's home run hitters is sophomore Reese Walker, who has hit four home runs.
