Elijah Skipps is all smiles in midst of Cypress celebration after CIF Southern Section D2 final at Dodger Stadium. He has committed to Arizona. Photo: Mark Tennis.
These have been expanded for each division as well. Biggest boosts given for Amador Valley (D1), Vista Murrieta (D2), Acalanes (D3), Oak Hills (D4) and Head-Royce (D5).
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Please note that the Cal-Hi Sports five-divisions will not match the same divisions in some CIF sections because some of those sections have more than five divisions in its playoffs. In the CIF Southern Section, for example, Division I is Division I and Division II is Division II for our state rankings. The CIFSS Division III and Division IV teams, however, are combined for our format. This means that Division V for the CIFSS is the same as Division IV for us and that Division VI is the same as Division V.
Here are the final rankings for the 2013 season (previous rank in parentheses):
DIVISION I
1. (1) Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood) 28-4
2. (2) St. Francis (Mountain View) 30-4
3. (4) Elk Grove 29-5
4. (3) Clovis North (Fresno) 27-6
5. (6) Rancho Bernardo (San Diego) 30-5
6. (7) Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 24-3
7. (5) Granada (Livermore) 24-2
8. (9) Serra (San Mateo) 27-7
9. (10) Fountain Valley 24-5
10. (11) Bellarmine (San Jose) 25-7
11. (8) Marina (Huntington Beach) 21-9
12. (NR) Granite Hills (El Cajon) 25-10
13. (NR) Grossmont (La Mesa) 26-8
14. (NR) Amador Valley (Pleasanton) 18-10
15. (NR) Loyola (Los Angeles) 22-11
Expanded Next 10 Teams: 16. Buchanan (Clovis) 25-6-1; 17. Pleasant Grove (Elk Grove) 24-9; 18. Los Alamitos 19-11; 19. El Toro (Lake Forest) 23-7; 20. Agoura (Agoura Hills) 22-10; 21. Clovis 24-9; 22. Davis 22-8; 23. San Fernando 33-3; 24. De La Salle (Concord) 19-8; 25. St. Mary’s (Stockton) 20-14.
More Honorable Mention Teams: See list on new baseball message board. CLICK HERE.
Teams To Watch for 2014: See Inside the State Baseball Rankings for Gold Club. To check out details of a membership, CLICK HERE.
Notes & Highlights: It’s always a fun debate about which league in the state is the toughest and it’s also a year-to-year argument. For this year, though, we’d pick the West Catholic Athletic League of the CIF Central Coast Section. No. 2 St. Francis, No. 8 Serra of San Mateo and No. 10 Bellarmine from above battled it out for the league crown. Bellarmine, which tied a state record with 15 shutouts, won the league playoffs but St. Francis won the CCS D1 crown. A more telling sign of the league’s strength, however, might be San Francisco St. Ignatius with a 4-10 league record but 14-4 vs. everyone else and an appearance in the CCS D2 final where the Wildcats lost in extra innings. SI pitcher Matt Krook also was the 35th player chosen in last week’s MLB draft.
DIVISION II
1. (2) Campolindo (Moraga) 21-6-1
2. (6) Cypress 26-8
3. (1) Casa Grande (Petaluma) 27-3
4. (3) Clayton Valley (Concord) 22-5
5. (4) Temecula Valley (Temecula) 23-6
6. (5) College Park (Pleasant Hill) 20-6-1
7. (8) Los Osos (Rancho Cucamonga) 24-6
8. (7) Del Campo (Fair Oaks) 25-7
9. (NR) Vista Murrieta (Murrieta) 19-11
10. (9) Redlands East Valley (Redlands) 23-5-1
Expanded Next 5 Teams: 11. Benicia 27-5; 12. Mission Hills (San Marcos) 20-13; 13. Madison (San Diego) 24-9; 14. Willow Glen (San Jose) 21-10; 15. Madera 22-9.
More Honorable Mention Teams: See list on new baseball message board. CLICK HERE.
Teams To Watch for 2014: See Inside the State Baseball Rankings for Gold Club. To check out details of a membership, CLICK HERE.
Notes & Highlights: Cypress vs. Casa Grande for the final No. 2 position was a tough call. Casa did get a win over Campolindo early in the season and had a much better overall record, but Cypress won a strong CIF Southern Section D2 title over Temecula Valley and during the season played a number of top-level D1 teams, including a sweep of El Toro to start the season. Vista Murrieta also was given a bump for the final rankings since it’s from the same league as No. 5 Temecula Valley (a team the Broncos actually split with) and won in the playoffs against Redlands East Valley (No. 1 in the division at the time) and bubble team South Hills of Covina.
DIVISION III
1. (1) Oaks Christian (Westlake Village) 29-3-1
2. (2) Serra (Gardena) 27-5
3. (3) Bonita (La Verne) 25-4-1
4. (4) Garden Grove 23-4
5. (5) Diamond Bar 22-7
6. (8) Acalanes (Lafayette) 20-7
7. (6) Gahr (Cerritos) 22-6
8. (9) Yuba City 21-11
9. (NR) Whitney (Rocklin) 28-3
10. (NR) El Rancho (Pico Rivera) 20-11
Expanded Next 5 Teams: 11. Oakdale 23-9-1; 12. Golden West (Visalia) 20-10; 13. Mira Costa (Manhattan Beach) 24-12; 14. San Dieguito (Encinitas) 27-8; 15. Colfax 20-8.
More Honorable Mention Teams: See list on new baseball message board. CLICK HERE.
Teams To Watch for 2014: See Inside the State Baseball Rankings for Gold Club. To check out details of a membership, CLICK HERE.
Notes & Highlights: With wins over San Dimas and El Rancho in the last two games, No. 1 Oaks Christian ended the season on a 17-game win streak. The one team that went up the most in the final rankings for this division was Acalanes of Lafayette. The Dons, who got a win over rival Campolindo during league play, defeated Sonoma Valley of Sonoma 1-0 in the semifinals of the NCS D3 playoffs before defeating Analy of Sebastopol 4-3 in the finals. In the semifinals, Johnny York pitched a perfect game and struck out 15.
DIVISION IV
1. (1) Pacific Grove 31-0
2. (2) Capital Christian (Sacramento) 25-5-1
3. (4) Oak Hills (Hesperia) 26-7
4. (3) La Jolla Country Day (La Jolla) 24-7
5. (5) St. Mary’s (Berkeley) 19-5
6. (6) Central Catholic (Modesto) 24-7
7. (7) Menlo School (Atherton) 22-8
8. (8) Palma (Salinas) 22-7
9. (9) Ontario Christian 24-6
10. (10) Selma 20-10-2
Expanded Next 5 Teams: 11. Kerman 26-5; 12. Templeton 19-5; 13. Big Bear (Big Bear Lake) 19-4; 14. Fowler 24-8; 15. Escalon 21-10-1.
More Honorable Mention Teams: See list on new baseball message board. CLICK HERE.
Teams To Watch for 2014: See Inside the State Baseball Rankings for Gold Club. To check out details of a membership, CLICK HERE.
Notes & Highlights: After blowing a one-run lead in the 7th inning and trailing 4-1 in the eighth, it didn’t look good for Oak Hills in last week’s CIFSS D5 finals, but the team didn’t quit. The Bulldogs scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth as Jeff Dood hit a game-tying single with two outs and then scored the game’s winning run for a 5-4 win over Citrus Valley of Redlands. They also were victorious in the quarterfinals and semifinals by identical 5-4 final scores as they defeated Hemet and Ontario Christian of Ontario. St. Mary’s of Berkeley was another section winner from two weekends ago. With the title game against Piedmont tied at 6-6. Nick Ultsch hit a two-out walk-off infield single scoring Kevin Flemer as the Panthers captured their first section title since 2009 with the 7-6 win.
DIVISION V
1. (1) Desert Christian Academy (Bermuda Dunes) 29-2
2. (2) Bradshaw Christian (Sacramento) 24-6
3. (5) Head-Royce (Oakland) 23-5
4. (4) Mariposa County (Mariposa) 22-4
5. (3) Capistrano Valley Christian (SJ Capistrano) 24-9
6. (6) Maxwell 23-6
7. (7) Firebaugh 24-8
8. (8) Caruthers 24-4-1
9. (9) Webb (Claremont) 20-5
10. (10) Hamilton (Hamilton City) 22-6
Expanded Next 5 Teams: 11. Flintridge Prep (La Canada) 18-9; 12. Calvary Chapel (Downey) 20-9; 13. Fall River (McArthur) 25-2; 14. Malibu 23-5; 15. High Tech (San Diego) 22-5.
More Honorable Mention Teams: See list on new baseball message board. CLICK HERE.
Teams To Watch for 2014: See Inside the State Baseball Rankings for Gold Club. To check out details of a membership, CLICK HERE.
Notes & Highlights: Desert Christian Academy is a solid choice for the No. 1 ranking based on its entire season of work and already has been chosen as the D5 State TOY. Still, if it were a one-game playoff, the Conquerors might be in trouble if they were going up against Head-Royce of Oakland and Head-Royce had senior Steven Farinaro on the hump. Farinaro, headed to UCLA, threw a two-hitter when the Jayhawks won their second straight NCS D5 title with an 11-1 romp past Valley Christian of Dublin.
Paul Muyskens contributed to this report.
Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter: @CalHiSports
