Two coaches of teams in this week’s State Top 20s — Rick Robinson (left) of Norco softball and Tom Donald (right) from Buchanan of Clovis baseball — also have had teams that were No. 1 in the final FAB 50 national rankings. Photos: Student Sports & Mark Tennis.
A fifth CIF Central Section team debuts in the State Top 20 in baseball while Great Oak of Temecula makes a big move after win over Temecula Valley. Softball’s elite list, meanwhile, now includes unbeaten El Camino Real along with Rocklin and M.L. King of Riverside.
Check below for this week’s new list of the State Top 20 rankings for baseball and softball.
To read our breakdowns on each State Top 20 team, why some of these rankings moves were made, which teams are on the bubble and for the divisional state rankings for both baseball and softball that are coming soon, you need to be a member of our Gold Club. It’s a great deal at less than $2 per month. Join our team today by CLICKING HERE.
Coach and trainer Chris Asher works with state stat stars and players from state-ranked teams of all ages, helping them to improve their speed, quickness and agility. He is based in Hollywood, also has a role with the UCLA track program and serves athletes within many miles of his location. For more about him, CLICK HERE. For a video about his Gold Medal Excellence training program, CLICK HERE.
NEW BASEBALL STATE
TOP 20 OVERALL RANKINGS
There are still some significant tournaments to be played that should impact the State Top 20 baseball rankings from next week through the end of the season.
This week, the Hard 9 National Classic returns to Orange County, the Mike Morrow San Diego Lions Club tourney will be played in San Diego and the Northern California 16-team bracket of the Boras Baseball Classic also will be played out.
Many of these events were already underway early this week so some highly ranked teams could have already lost by Monday afternoon. Those results, remember, wouldn’t count until next week’s rankings.
At the Hard 9 National Classic, No. 5 Huntington Beach is the highest ranked California team in the field.
At the Mike Morrow Lions Club tourney, No. 3 Cathedral Catholic of San Diego, No. 7 Rancho Bernardo, No. 9 Clovis North, No. 13 Carlsbad and nationally ranked Sahuaro of Tucson (Ariz.) headline the Classic Division.
Then up at the NorCal Boras Classic, there is the possibility that No. 2 Buchanan of Clovis and No. 4 St. Francis of Mountain View could play in the final on Thursday night with the winner meeting Temecula Valley in the Boras Classic championship. Temecula Valley has already won the SoCal bracket. No. 15 Archbishop Mitty, No. 16 Clovis West and bubble teams Elk Grove and De La Salle of Concord also are in that event.
(Compiled with assistance from Paul Muyskens; updated through games played Saturday, April 12; previous rating in parentheses)
1. (1) Loyola (Los Angeles) 14-1
2. (4) Buchanan (Clovis) 16-2
3. (5) Cathedral Catholic (San Diego) 13-1
4. (6) St. Francis (Mountain View) 13-2
5. (7) Huntington Beach 13-2
6. (3) Temecula Valley (Temecula) 13-2
7. (12) Rancho Bernardo (San Diego) 12-2
8. (2) Clovis 20-4
9. (10) Clovis North (Fresno) 14-4
10. (15) Clayton Valley (Concord) 15-0
11. (9) JSerra (SJ Capistrano) 12-3
12. (NR) Great Oak (Temecula) 14-3
13. (17) Carlsbad 11-3
14. (8) Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood) 12-4
15. (13) Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 13-4
16. (19) Clovis West (Fresno) 15-4-1
17. (14) Hart (Newhall) 13-2-1
18. (NR) Bellarmine Prep (San Jose) 13-4
19. (NR) Frontier (Bakersfield) 16-4
20. (18) Vista 11-3
Dropped Out: Previous No. 11 Chatsworth; No. 16 Valley Christian (San Jose); No. 20 South Hills (Covina).
NEW SOFTBALL STATE
TOP 20 OVERALL RANKINGS
The theme developing in the State Top 20 softball rankings is going to be the difficulty of where to rank unbeaten teams Clovis, Vacaville and El Camino Real, none of which plays a schedule that can compared to many of the best teams in the CIF Southern Section.
There is no doubt about the top three teams in the state – Mission Viejo, Amador Valley and Archbishop Mitty – as all have strong pitchers, All-Americans and have won significant tourneys already this season.
For Clovis (15-0), Vacaville (16-0-1) and El Camino Real (11-0), it’s not quite the same. All three could conceivably end the season without taking a loss but at the same time ranking any of them ahead of the CIFSS Division I champion, for example, even if that team has three or four losses, would be very hard to do. It’s when the CIFSS champ gets into a fifth or sixth loss when the strength of schedule line begins to fade.
In this week’s rankings, Clovis is up one notch to No. 6, Vacaville is up one notch to No. 8 and El Camino Real goes in at No. 14. Historically, the L.A. City Section Division I title that El Camino Real would be competing for is much easier to win than either the Central Section Division I title for Clovis or the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I title for Vacaville.
(Compiled with assistance from Paul Muyskens; updated through games played Saturday, April 12; previous rating in parentheses)
1. (1) Mission Viejo 15-0
2. (2) Amador Valley (Pleasanton) 14-0
3. (3) Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 16-0
4. (5) Santiago (Corona) 16-2
5. (4) Esperanza (Anaheim) 16-3
6. (7) Clovis 15-0
7. (8) Alhambra (Martinez) 12-2
8. (9) Vacaville 16-0-1
9. (6) Pacifica (Garden Grove) 16-4
10. (10) Vista Murrieta (Murrieta) 12-4
11. (11) Chino Hills 15-4
12. (16) Westview (San Diego) 14-1-1
13. (17) Elk Grove 10-4
14. (NR) El Camino Real (Woodland Hills) 11-0
15. (NR) Rocklin 13-4-1
16. (20) Pleasant Grove (Elk Grove) 16-4-1
17. (19) Norco 13-5
18. (NR) James Logan (Union City) 12-2
19. (NR) M.L. King (Riverside) 15-3
20. (14) Granada (Livermore) 12-2
Dropped Out: Previous No. 12 Los Osos (Rancho Cucamonga); No. 13 Yorba Linda; No. 15 Mater Dei (Santa Ana); No. 18 Los Alamitos.
Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports
