Two top players from newcomers to this week’s State Top 20 are Jack Labosky of Clovis North and Justine Garner of Roseville. Labosky was the 2013 Fresno Bee Player of the Year and will play next at Duke. Garner is the catcher and top power hitter for Roseville and will play next at Santa Clara. Photos: Mark Tennis & Foothill Gold ASA.
Rancho Bernardo stays No. 1 in baseball with series against Poway coming up this week, but Elk Grove replaces St. Francis at No. 2. In softball, Cathedral Catholic jumps up nine spots while Esperanza is back up to No. 7.
Attention young athletes: To check out info and to sign up for the first-ever Cal-Hi Sports/Gold Medal Excellence All-Sports Speed Camp and All-State Football Combine, CLICK HERE for June 14 event in Tracy or CLICK HERE for June 22 event in Bakersfield.
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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
With just one week to go in the regular season for most of the state, there aren’t many teams going into the section playoffs that appear locked into a high seed.
Top-ranked Rancho Bernardo has a test this week in a three-game series against second-place Poway, but even if the Broncos lose all three games they’re still going to win the Palomar League title.
Last week’s No. 2 team, however, St. Francis of Mountain View lost for the second time this season to Archbishop Mitty, which elevated Mitty into the No. 1 position out of the West Catholic Athletc League pending what happens in this week’s league playoffs.
The uncertainty about top seeds seems to be the most widespread in the CIF Southern Section. No. 1 teams from the Mission League, Trinity League and Sunset League could all be in contention for the No. 1 seed in Division I, but what about a team like Long Beach Wilson (which has won that title before) or Norco (which also has had teams reach the finals just a few years ago). Those teams have outstanding records, but just don’t have the strength of schedule of others like Loyola, JSerra or Fountain Valley.
No matter what happens, look for top teams to get tested early and often everywhere in the state’s section playoffs. A few of them are bound to get upset.
(Compiled with assistance from Paul Muyskens; updated through games played Saturday, May 10; previous rating in parentheses)
1. (1) Rancho Bernardo (San Diego) 22-3
2. (3) Elk Grove 22-4
3. (4) Clovis 30-5
4. (9) Wilson (Long Beach) 24-4
5. (11) Huntington Beach 21-4
6. (18) Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 22-5
7. (2) St. Francis (Mountain View) 22-4
8. (17) Fountain Valley 19-6
9. (13) Pleasant Grove (Elk Grove) 21-4
10. (12) Loyola (Los Angeles) 22-5-1
11. (16) Norco 22-2
12. (5) Cathedral Catholic (San Diego) 20-4
13. (15) Otay Ranch (Chula Vista) 22-4*
14. (NR) College Park (Pleasant Hill) 21-3
15. (NR) Hart (Newhall) 19-4-1
16. (NR) Clovis North (Fresno) 21-8
17. (6) Buchanan (Clovis) 22-7
18. (7) Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood) 19-6-1
19. (8) Clayton Valley (Concord) 21-3
20. (19) JSerra (San Juan Capistrano) 18-6
Dropped Out:
Previous No. 10 Bellarmine Prep (San Jose); No. 14 Temecula Valley (Temecula); No. 20 Glendora.
NEW SOFTBALL STATE
TOP 20 OVERALL RANKINGS
Losses last week by previous No. 7 Huntington Beach and previous No. 8 Chino Hills helped Esperanza of Anaheim, Los Osos of Rancho Cucamonga and M.L. King of Riverside to become No. 7, No. 8 and No. 9 in this week’s rankings.
Since Chino Hills already has its league title wrapped up, however, and didn’t go with its No. 1 pitcher in a loss to Ayala of Chino Hills, the team only dropped two spots and remained in the top 10 at No. 10.
There should more of that strategy by the coaches in this week’s games, which are the final games of the regular season for most teams in the state. The trick is going to find out which pitchers were used if some of the top-ranked teams that already have league titles and top seeds locked up do indeed suffer losses.
All losses do count in any ranking system, but those that happen with back-up players in basically meaningless games – almost practice games – don’t hurt too much in our state rankings and can be easily overcome.
(Compiled with assistance from Paul Muyskens; updated through games played Saturday, May 3; previous rating in parentheses)
1. (1) Mission Viejo 20-0
2. (2) Amador Valley (Pleasanton) 22-0
3. (3) Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 25-1
4. (4) Pacifica (Garden Grove) 22-4-1
5. (5) Vacaville 24-0-1
6. (6) Alhambra (Martinez) 20-2
7. (9) Esperanza (Anaheim) 22-4
8. (10) Los Osos (Rancho Cucamonga) 32-3
9. (11) M.L. King (Riverside) 22-4
10. (8) Chino Hills 24-5
11. (20) Cathedral Catholic (San Diego) 23-2
12. (7) Huntington Beach 19-4
13. (15) Chino 23-4-1
14. (17) James Logan (Union City) 20-2
15. (12) Santiago (Corona) 23-5
16. (16) Yucaipa 20-4
17. (18) Leland (San Jose) 20-3
18. (19) El Camino Real (Woodland Hills) 21-1
19. (13) Clovis 28-3
20. (NR) Roseville 21-4
Dropped Out: Previous No. 14 Valley Christian (San Jose).
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
