Orange Beach softball coach Shane Alexander knew his 2024 team had a chance to be something special.

The Class 4A top-ranked Makos possess the ingredients of a dominating team. Outstanding defense with a powerful offense and steady pitching propelled Orange Beach into 34 straight wins to start the season and a No. 4 national ranking.

The Makos (34-1) may be the best team in the state, regardless of classification, with wins this season over outstanding competition.

“I go back to when I was at Hartselle and I remember playing that Mortimer Jordan team with (former Alabama All-America and Olympian) Haylie McCleney and that group,” said Alexander, who has guided two teams to four state championships. “I think this group can be at that level.”

Orange Beach hosts Class 7A Fairhope on Thursday and travels on Friday to play Florida powerhouse and No. 7 nationally ranked Pace — they handed Pace its only loss of the season in an earlier game. The Makos host the area tournament beginning on Monday.

Orange Beach played its first softball season in 2021 with mostly seventh and eighth graders, but won the Class 2A championship. The Makos repeated the Class 2A title in 2022 and captured the Class 4A championship last season.

There are few weaknesses in the team.

Orange Beach averages 10.5 runs a game with a .409 team batting average and allows only 1.3 runs a game with a team ERA of 1.36.

“We tell the pitchers all the time that you don’t have to strike out everybody because we feel like our defense is really good,” Alexander said. “If we don’t walk people or hit people, we feel like we’ve got a chance because the girls are going to hit.

“But defensively, that has been what we’re really good at. If we don’t make errors, we don’t allow a whole lot of runs. We just kind of stick to what we do, don’t make it that complicated. We play good defense, the pitchers have been really good and when you’re scoring, that’s a good combination to have.”

There are only three seniors on the team — Falyn Beebe, Kambell Kennell and Rylie Erwin — while the junior and sophomore classes are outstanding.

Junior KG Favors (14-1) is the ace in the circle with an 0.697 ERA and 131 strikeouts in 80 1/3 innings pitched. Junior Kaitlynn Robertson and eighth-grader MK McMullan are each 7-0 while junior Justine Henderson is 5-0.

The potent offense is led by sophomores Teagan Revette (.495 average) and Ava Hodo (.494 average), each with 22 extra-base hits, while Erwin is third on the team with a .478 average. Hodo leads the Makos with nine home runs and 49 RBIs while Revette has eight home runs and 38 RBIs.

Other team leaders include junior Daigle Wilson with 61 runs and six triples, sophomore Kaite King and freshman Taylor Poland each with 10 doubles and Hodo has 20 walks.

College recruiters have noticed.

Wilson has committed to Auburn while Favors has committed to South Carolina. Beebe is going to Northwest Florida (the Raiders fell in the junior college national championship last season), Robertson will play for Louisiana Christian and Henderson is expected to commit soon.

Revette and Hodo are considered two of the best sophomores in the nation.

Orange Beach proved its prowess last week against some of the best teams in the state. The Makos played in the Hoover Classic tournament Friday and Saturday, but drove to the Birmingham area on Thursday to play Class 3A second-ranked Plainview and Class 7A top-ranked Hewitt-Trussville before the tournament.

The Makos won both Thursday games, beating Plainview 11-1 and downing defending Class 7A champion Hewitt-Trussville 4-2 in eight innings.

In pool play at Hoover, Orange Beach beat Class 5A Lawrence County 11-4, Class 4A White Plains 9-7 and Class 7A No. 10 Tuscaloosa County 14-0.

The Makos downed Class 6A top-ranked Helena 4-0 in Saturday first round elimination bracket play, then beat Class 7A eighth-ranked Bob Jones 9-2 and fell 6-2 to Class 6A seventh-ranked Hazel Green in the tournament title game.

The Makos played eight games in three days.

“We ran out of gas,” Alexander said. “Now I’m not taking anything away from Hazel Green because they got hot, but coming off the field late Friday night and having the first game Saturday morning, we knew Saturday was going to be a mental struggle.

“But I was proud of them and I’ll be honest with you. I felt like the loss kind of took some pressure off of them. Everybody was talking about the national rankings, going undefeated and we knew we weren’t going undefeated. There are just too many good teams that can get you at any moment. So yeah, I think it’ll be good for us.”

In addition to the three titles at Orange Beach, Alexander coached Hartselle to 2003 Class 6A championship and fell to that loaded Mortimer Jordan team in the 2008 Class 6A title game.

The Makos have a chance this season to tie Springville and Hatton with four straight state titles — Pisgah leads with five straight.

“It’s kind of been a perfect storm down here of just the right girls at the right time,” Alexander said. “We’re just trying to enjoy it and as long as I don’t wreck the bus, we’re pretty good.”