BY BRIAN GOSSET
X – @Gosset41
Melissa senior shortstop Caigan Crabtree, who signed her letter of intent to play softball at the University of Texas, was named to the Max Preps Top 25 players in the country among the 2025 class on Tuesday.
Crabtree was ranked #13 overall and is the only player ranked from the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Fellow Texas signee Hannah Wells (Coahoma) is the other player from Texas in The Top 25.
The Cardinals won their first state championship last season – after beating Harlingen South 8-0 in the 5A title game. Crabtree was voted 5A state champ MVP after hitting two home runs. She was GM Sports Media’s all-area softball MVP following a 0.545 average, 66 hits, 21 homers, 61 runs batted in and 57 runs scored.
Crabtree added a 0.970 fielding percentage and 20 stolen bases.
Her 21 home runs would have been the most in DFW last season if not for her teammate 2027 catcher Lulu Adrian, who had 22 to set the metroplex single season record.
Tennessee commit Kailey Plumlee (TN) was ranked #1 by Max Preps.
Berkley Zache (Indiana), Kai Minor (California), Ansley Bennett (South Carolina) and Wells rounded out the Top 5.
The UIL regular season begins on Feb. 10.
