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Nationally top-ranked Texas high school softball team has 49-game winning streak snapped

The Melissa Cardinals, the No. 1 team in our latest High School On SI high school softball rankings, fell on Wednesday evening

Andy Villamarzo

Paisley Needham and the Class 5A defending champion Melissa Lady Cardinals swept their Class 5A-Division I Bi-District series against Texarkana Texas 13-1 and 12-1 to advance to the area round of the UIL Texas State Championships.
Paisley Needham and the Class 5A defending champion Melissa Lady Cardinals swept their Class 5A-Division I Bi-District series against Texarkana Texas 13-1 and 12-1 to advance to the area round of the UIL Texas State Championships. / Oladipo Awowale

For the first time since March 28th, 2024, the No. 1 nationally-ranked Melissa High School Cardinals softball team has finally lost a game.

According to The Dallas Morning News' Greg Riddle, the Cardinals (34-1) dropped their first game of the season in a 2-0 loss to Lake Belton in the UIL Class 5A, Division 1 playoffs. Melissa is ranked as the No. 1 team in the nation as of the latest High School On SI national softball rankings.

Top 25 National high school softball rankings (5/14/2025)

Texas high school softball playoffs: UIL Class 4A-6A regional final series matchups, brackets

The last time the Cardinals had lost a game was late March of last year when Melissa fell in a 8-1 decision against Lovejoy.

Since that time, Melissa went on a tear and won 49 consecutive games until losing to Lake Belton in the first of a best-of-three series. The two teams are slated to meet again Friday in Game 2 and on Saturday, if necessary, in a winner-take-all Game 3.

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-- Andy Villamarzo | villamarzo@scorebooklive.com | @highschoolonsi

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Andy Villamarzo
ANDY VILLAMARZO

Andy Villamarzo has been a sports writer in the Tampa Bay (FL) Area since 2007, writing for publications such as Tampa Bay Times, The Tampa Tribune, The Suncoast News, Tampa Beacon, Hernando Sun to name a few. Andy resides out of the Tarpon Springs, FL area and started as a writer with SB Live Sports in the summer of 2022 covering the Tampa Bay Area. He has quickly become one of Florida's foremost authorities on high school sports, appearing frequently on podcasts, radio programs and digital broadcasts as an expert on team rankings, recruiting and much more.

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