Softball State Rankings By Divisions

Annie Aldrete (left) is back as one of the top players at D4 powerhouse Santa Catalina of Monterey. She is shown with 2012 graduate Alex Pingree, who is the daughter of Santa Catalina coach James Pingree.

CIF Southern Section teams Mater Dei (D1), Mission Viejo (D2) and Burbank (D3) are joined as top-ranked teams in the state this week by Wheatland (D4) of the CIF Northern Section and unbeaten Redwood Christian (D5) of the CIF North Coast Section.

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By Mark Tennis
Contributing: Harold Abend, Paul Muyskens

If the first run-through of organizing the teams is an indicator, the Cal-Hi Sports division state softball rankings this year could cause some confusion.

That’s because two of the top five overall ranked teams in the state – No. 1 Mission Viejo and No. 4 Archbishop Mitty of San Jose – are considered Division II for the state divisions. Although there’s no doubt that the Division I slate of teams – which is currently led by Mater Dei of Santa Ana – is superior to Division II, there are still six D2 teams in the overall state top 20.

A third CIF Southern Section team, Burbank, sits atop the first Division III state rankings. Burbank and No. 2 Highland of Palmdale have split in two games this season and the only reason Burbank is higher is because the Bulldogs won the second of those games.

The other two No. 1 teams in this week’s first divisional rankings are Wheatland for D4 and unbeaten Redwood Christian of San Lorenzo for D5.

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 this week’s rankings (after games of Tuesday, April 23; could be a few scores from early this week still unaccounted for):

DIVISION I
1. Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 21-3
2. Pacifica (Garden Grove) 19-5
3. Yorba Linda 17-2
4. Esperanza (Anaheim) 20-2
5. Great Oak (Temecula) 12-3
6. Amador Valley (Pleasanton) 14-2
7. Santiago (Corona) 20-4
8. Vintage (Napa) 23-0
9. Norco 20-5
10. James Logan (Union City) 14-1
11. El Diamante (Visalia) 22-1-1
12. Marina (Huntington Beach) 19-2
13. California (San Ramon) 13-3
14. Lutheran (Orange) 19-6
15. Carlmont (Belmont) 19-2
Notes & Highlights: Check the overall state top 20 bubble list because many of those teams are D1 for these rankings…..The only team among the 15 that isn’t in the overall state top 20 is Carlmont. The Scots, who led by the state’s all-time winningest coach, Jim Liggett, recently avenged one of their two losses with a 9-1 win over San Benito of Hollister to win the Mission City tournament.

DIVISION II
1. Mission Viejo 21-1
2. Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 21-0
3. Moorpark 17-3
4. Chino 17-2
5. Lakewood 17-5
6. Bonita Vista (Chula Vista) 14-4-1
7. Casa Roble (Orangevale) 16-4
8. Alhambra (Martinez) 13-1-1
9. Petaluma 15-1
10. Pleasant Valley (Chico) 27-2
Bubble Teams: Benicia 19-3, Chino Hills 18-7, Leland (San Jose) 18-2, Millikan (Long Beach) 19-5-1, Rancho Bernardo (San Diego) 17-5, Rocklin 18-3, Royal (Simi Valley) 17-4, Roseville 15-6-1
Note & Highlights: The CIF Southern Section Division II playoffs will include Moorpark, Chino and Lakewood in addition to No. 1 Mission Viejo. Millikan of Long Beach (which always battles Lakewood tough in the Moore League) along with defending champion Chino Hills may be dangerous in that bracket as well. No. 7 Casa Roble, meanwhile, is the No. 2 team in the Sacramento Bee’s rankings. Part of the reason for that is that the Rams have a win over 27-2 Pleasant Valley. They also have an avenging win over Whitney of Rocklin and have been playing well in recent weeks.

DIVISION III
1. Burbank 17-1
2. Highland (Palmdale) 17-1
3. Bishop Amat (La Puente) 17-4
4. La Quinta 20-1
5. Soquel 17-2
6. Sierra (Manteca) 17-2
7. Santana (Santee) 15-5
8. Citrus Valley (Redlands) 16-3
9. El Capitan (Lakeside) 15-7
10. Vanden (Travis AFB) 19-4
Bubble Teams: Analy (Sebastopol) 14-4, Gilroy 11-7, Loara (Anaheim) 15-4, Pioneer (Woodland) 15-5, Red Bluff 19-5, Redwood (Visalia) 21-4, Segerstrom (Santa Ana) 14-5, Selma 18-4, Whitney (Rocklin) 15-5.
Notes & Highlights: The top three teams in this division are the same top three from the CIFSS Division III rankings. No. 4 La Quinta is No. 1 in the CIFSS Division IV poll while Citrus Valley of Redlands is No. 1 in Division V. Citrus Valley is just far too large of a school to be Division IV for our state rankings. The rest of the CIFSS D5 teams are considered D4 for us.

DIVISION IV
1. Wheatland 21-1-1
2. Francis Parker (San Diego) 15-2
3. Calvary Chapel (Downey) 16-4
4. Mater Dei Catholic (Chula Vista) 18-4
5. Santa Catalina (Monterey) 19-2
6. Aquinas (San Bernardino) 16-2
7. Marysville 18-3-1
8. Salesian (Richmond) 12-1
9. La Jolla Country Day (La Jolla) 16-2
10. Liberty (Madera Ranchos) 16-6
Bubble Teams: Cabrillo (Lompoc) 10-8, Calvary Chapel (Santa Ana) 12-4, Cloverdale 14-2, Colusa 22-5, Dixon 18-5, Hughson 16-4-1, Linden 13-5, Nipomo 15-3, Notre Dame (Salinas) 12-6, Taft 18-6
Notes & Highlights: Wheatland’s only loss is to Paradise, which is a team the Pirates also have beaten. The three wins that put them over the top as far as being No. 1 in this division for now, however, have been the ones over Marysville, Vanden and Red Bluff. There’s a rematch with Red Bluff coming up at the Lassen Tournament. The team has a .372 team batting average, led by junior Mikayla McLanahan , who is at .447 with six homers and 36 RBIs.

DIVISION V
1. Redwood Christian (San Lorenzo) 16-0
2. Rosamond 16-1
3. Pomona Catholic (Pomona) 11-9
4. Woodland Christian 11-1
5. East Nicolaus 17-4
6. Bellarmine-Jefferson (Burbank) 12-9
7. Port of Los Angeles (San Pedro) 16-7
8. Sierra Pacific (Hanford) 16-3
9. Waterford 14-4-1
10. Bishop 10-7
Bubble Teams: Boron 11-2, Elliot Christian (Lodi) 9-7, Hoopa Valley (Hoopa) 13-3-1, Lindsay 14-6, Modoc (Alturas) 18-5, Northridge Academy (Northridge) 14-0.
Notes & Highlights: If Redwood Christian hadn’t gone to the Elliot Christian tournament and won games against Monte Vista Christian and Galt (both bigger schools) it’s safe to say that the Eagles wouldn’t be in front of Rosamond or Pomona Catholic. The fact that they can finish unbeaten and win the CIF North Coast Section Division V title is another factor. Rosamond’s only loss is to larger school Knight of Palmdale, which came in a double-header that the Roadrunners split.

Corrections or comments? Email markjtennis@gmail.com.