2012 Ms. Softball Player of the Year Emily Lockman watches one go deep for Norco in a game last season. Her former team (she’s now in college) remains in this week’s D1 state rankings. Photo courtesy of family.
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It may not match the CIF Southern Section rankings for Division III, but last week’s 9-3 loss by Burbank to Camarillo is enough for Bishop Amat of La Puente to move up to No. 1 in the Cal-Hi Sports Division III state rankings.
The Lancers may have four losses, but one of those was to Mission Viejo (No. 1 in the state), two were to Vista Murrieta (Division I and has been in state top 20) and the other was to West Ranch of Valencia (plays in one of the top big-school leagues in the state). On the wins ledger, coach Jesse Mendez and his girls have topped West Ranch and have other quality wins over Kennedy of La Palma, Roosevelt of Eastvale and Etiwanda. The one win that puts Amat over the top compared to Burbank or Highland of Palmdale, however, is the one against state No. 8 Santiago of Corona.
Another team getting a rise to No. 1 in this week’s division softball rankings is Francis Parker of San Diego in Division IV. The Lancers, who have been in the top five overall in the San Diego Section rankings, moved up after previous No. 1 Wheatland took a loss to Red Bluff at the Lassen tournament. One of Parker’s losses is to D2 Oaks Christian while the other one against Horizon of San Diego was later avenged. The Lancers also have beaten La Jolla Country Day twice (a team that is 18-3) and Mater Dei Catholic once (a team that is 20-5 overall).
Please also 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 Wednesday, May 1; previous rank in parentheses; could be a few scores from early this week still unaccounted for):
DIVISION I
1. (1) Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 22-3
2. (2) Pacifica (Garden Grove) 21-5
3. (3) Yorba Linda 19-2
4. (5) Great Oak (Temecula) 14-3
5. (6) Amador Valley (Pleasanton) 17-2
6. (7) Santiago (Corona) 23-4
7. (4) Esperanza (Anaheim) 21-3
8. (8) Vintage (Napa) 25-0
9. (10) James Logan (Union City) 18-1
10. (11) El Diamante (Visalia) 25-1-1
11. (9) Norco 21-6
12. (13) California (San Ramon) 16-3
13. (12) Marina (Huntington Beach) 20-3
14. (NR) Los Osos (Rancho Cucamonga) 18-3
15. (NR) Camarillo 21-2-1
Dropped Out: Previous No. 14 Lutheran (Orange); No. 15 Carlmont (Belmont).
Bubble Teams: See list on new softball message board. CLICK HERE.
Notes & Highlights: The loss by previous No. 14 Orange Lutheran came early this week to Santa Margarita while the one by Carlmont came later last week to Hillsdale of San Mateo. Off the field, there was big news at El Diamante of Visalia where head coach Travis Roebuck has resigned for personal reasons. Taking over as the Miners’ coach for the rest of the season will be Brad Pendergast, son of Visalia coaching legend Skip Pendergast.
DIVISION II
1. (1) Mission Viejo 23-1
2. (2) Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 24-0
3. (3) Moorpark 20-3
4. (4) Chino 17-2
5. (5) Lakewood 19-5
6. (6) Bonita Vista (Chula Vista) 17-4-1
7. (7) Casa Roble (Orangevale) 19-4
8. (8) Alhambra (Martinez) 15-1-1
9. (9) Petaluma 17-1
10. (10) Pleasant Valley (Chico) 28-2
Dropped Out: None.
Bubble Teams: See list on new softball message board. CLICK HERE.
Notes & Highlights: Both Mission Viejo and Archbishop Mitty had no trouble in early games this week. The Diablos crushed Dana Hills of Dana Point 8-1 while the Monarchs blanked St. Francis of Mountain View 11-0. There also were no changes in this division for this week.
DIVISION III
1. (3) Bishop Amat (La Puente) 18-4
2. (2) Highland (Palmdale) 19-1
3. (4) La Quinta 21-1
4. (6) Sierra (Manteca) 19-2
5. (7) Santana (Santee) 18-5
6. (1) Burbank 21-2
7. (NR) California (Whittier) 21-4
8. (8) Citrus Valley (Redlands) 18-3
9. (NR) Red Bluff 27-5
10. (5) Soquel 18-3
Dropped Out: Previous No. 9 El Capitan (Lakeside); No. 10 Vanden (Travis AFB).
Bubble Teams: See list on new softball message board.CLICK HERE.
Notes & Highlights: Sierra of Manteca, led by LSU-bound Allie Wallsjasper, and Santana of Santee, which beat previous No. 9 El Capitan and its ace, Florida-bound Delanie Gourley, both moved up into the top five of this week’s rankings. One of those chosen to go in as a newcomer, Red Bluff, did so after knocking off previous D4 No. 1 Wheatland. California of Whittier was the other newcomer. The Condors improved to 6-1 in the Del Rio League with a 7-3 win earlier this week over La Serna of Whittier. One of those two teams always seems to be a threat to go far in the CIFSS playoffs.
DIVISION IV
1. (2) Francis Parker (San Diego) 17-2
2. (1) Wheatland 28-2-1
3. (3) Calvary Chapel (Downey) 17-4
4. (5) Santa Catalina (Monterey) 21-2
5. (6) Aquinas (San Bernardino) 18-2
6. (7) Marysville 20-3-1
7. (8) Salesian (Richmond) 16-1
8. (10) Liberty (Madera Ranchos) 19-6
9. (NR) Hughson 18-4-1
10. (9) La Jolla Country Day (La Jolla) 18-3
Dropped Out: Previous No. 4 Mater Dei Catholic (Chula Vista).
Bubble Teams: See list on new softball message board.CLICK HERE.
Notes & Highlights: It wasn’t close for Mater Dei Catholic in its 18-3 loss to D1 ranked Bonita Vista, which is why that loss was enough to drop the Crusaders all the way out of this week’s rankings. We also had a team we wanted to get in there and that’s Hughson, last year’s No. 2 team in this division and still led by pitcher Katelyn Harden. The Huskies improved to 10-0 in league play earlier this week with a 22-1 victory against Modesto Christian.
DIVISION V
1. (1) Redwood Christian (San Lorenzo) 18-0
2. (3) Pomona Catholic (Pomona) 14-9
3. (4) Woodland Christian 13-1
4. (2) Rosamond 19-2
5. (7) Port of Los Angeles (San Pedro) 21-7
6. (8) Sierra Pacific (Hanford) 18-3
7. (NR) Kern Valley (Lake Isabella) 21-3-1
8. (5) East Nicolaus 18-5
9. (6) Bellarmine-Jefferson (Burbank) 15-10
10. (10) Bishop 11-7
Dropped Out: Previous No. 9 Waterford.
Bubble Teams: See list on new softball message board. CLICK HERE.
Notes & Highlights: Rosamond’s 6-1 loss to Kern Valley caused the Roadrunners to drop down behind Pomona Catholic and Woodland Christian in this week’s rankings. Most of Pomona Catholic’s nine losses have come to big schools while Woodland Christian has a 22-1 win over Elliot Christian of Lodi, which avenged the team’s only loss. Kern Valley, meanwhile, was jumped into the top 10 at No. 7 despite having a head-to-head loss to No. 10 Bishop.
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
