BRYAN, Texas — Rain claimed some games on day three, but organizers still managed to get in 305 of the 363 scheduled games for the record 117 teams on the first two-plus days of the 30th annual NFCA Texas High School Leadoff Classic, played Feb. 12-14.
Reigning Texas state champions Kingwood (6A, Division 2) and Lake Creek (5A, Division 2) both went 5-0 and were declared co-titlists of the 64-team championship bracket, after their final-day title matchup was one of Saturday’s weather casualties.
Kingwood reached the final by defeating McKinney Boyd, 8-0, and Abilene, 2-1, on Thursday; Salado, 10-2, and Katy Jordan, 10-1, on Friday; and Liberty Hill, 5-4, in Saturday’s semifinal. Kingwood scored all the runs it would need in the first two innings of the semifinal, leading Liberty Hill 5-2 at that point, before the Panthers scored twice in the last inning to make the final score a bit closer.
Meanwhile, Lake Creek beat Northside Clark, 15-0, and Fort Bend Ridge Point, 17-3, on Thursday; Tomball Memorial, 6-1, and Clear Springs, 9-4, Friday; and Conroe, 7-4, on Saturday. In that semifinal, Conroe jumped out to a 3-0 advantage in the first inning, but Lake Creek scored all seven of its runs in the top of the fifth, and then allowed just one more run over the final three innings to prevail.
The third-place game between Conroe and Liberty Hill was similarly not able to be contested due to weather.
The full list of teams reaching the sweet 16 at the tournament were Alvin, Angleton, Barbers Hill, Brazoswood, Conroe, Clear Creek, Friendswood, Jordan, Katy, Kingwood, Lake Creek, Liberty Hill, Midway, Salado, Springs and Tomball. Among this group, Midway won the 2025 Texas Class 6A, Division 1 title.
In the consolation bracket, Georgetown East View won five straight games after an opening-round loss to Midlothian Heritage to claim that title. The Patriots used a four-run third to cruise by Port Neches-Groves 6-1 in their finale.
The other three reigning state titlists in the tournament were Melissa, which won Texas Class 5A, Division 1 and finished first in last season’s NFCA Spring High School Top 25 Coaches Poll, Bellaire Episcopal (SPC 4A) and Robinson (Class 4A, Division 2).
There was also a 53-team round-robin tournament that ran simultaneously. Two teams — Northwest Nelson at 6-0 and Waxahachie at 5-0 — went undefeated in that event.
For the 117 participating teams, games were divided among five local high schools — A&M Consolidated, Bryan, Caldwell, College Station and Rudder — plus 18 more fields at five area softball complexes.
“It was a wonderful weekend of early-season softball in the state of Texas with so many intensely-competitive games,” tournament co-director Billy Hicks said. “This bodes well for a fun season of high school softball in our state.”
Last season, weather also played havoc with game schedules for the 100 entered squads. Hicks and co-director Enrique Luna were able to get in 227 of the 298 scheduled games by pivoting to a round-robin tournament for all in 2025. Under that format, no bracket winners were able to be determined.
The 2027 tournament is scheduled for Feb. 18-20, 2027.
