The initial Division I state high-school baseball and girls softball polls of the 2024 season on the private-school level have Arlington’s Bishop O’Connell Knights teams each ranked highly.
In softball, the defending state champion and undefeated Knights (8-0) are ranked No. 1. The Potomac School Panthers of McLean (5-0) are No. 2.
O’Connell and Potomac School met in last season’s state-championship game.
In the baseball poll, O’Connell was in the No. 5 spot with a 7-4 record at the time of the ranking, slipping to 7-6 with two recent losses.
Cape Henry Collegiate of Virginia Beach was ranked No. 1 with a 12-1 record. Benedictine (10-1) of Richmond was No. 2, St. Paul VI Catholic (11-4) of Northern Virginia was third and Miller School (13-4-1) near Charlottesville fourth.
Potomac School (8-3) was ninth in the first poll.
O’Connell and Paul VI were scheduled to meet April 11, but the game was postponed until 2 p.m. April 14 because of bad weather.
O’Connell defeated sixth-ranked Collegiate School of Richmond in a game earlier this season.
New state polls are released each week through regular-season play. The final rankings determines the Division I state playoff brackets for both sports.
O’Connell was the seventh seed in last season’s state baseball playoffs, losing in the first round.
