Bryce Fehmel is one of the top players for new No. 6 Agoura baseball team, which won the National Classic tourney in Orange County. Jordyn Smith hit big HR for new No. 13 Citrus Valley in win over Corona Santiago. Photos: agourabaseball.net & CaptainU.com.
With Citrus Valley of Redlands forcing the only major change in the State Top 20 in softball, it is much more chaotic this week in baseball with previously unranked teams now zooming up to No. 6, No. 8 and No. 12 overall in the state. JSerra also is now No. 1 in the state in baseball.
Check below for this week’s new list of the State Top 20 baseball and softball rankings.
To read our breakdowns on each Top 20 team, why some of these rankings moves were made, which teams are on the bubble and for divisional state rankings (once basketball is complete), you need to be a member of our Gold Club. Join our team today by CLICKING HERE.
NEW CAL-HI SPORTS BASEBALL
TOP 20 OVERALL RANKINGS
According to the Boras Baseball Classic website, the JSerra of San Juan Capistrano team that won the Southern California bracket of its tournament last week will be a state champion if it can win in the title game of the event on May 2 at Cal State Fullerton against NorCal bracket winner St. Francis of Mountain View.
If the Lions don’t lose before then (entirely possible), they also will be the No. 1 ranked team in the state heading into that game. They moved up by defeating Mater Dei of Santa Ana 5-0 to complete a four-win week and thanks to previous No. 1 San Clemente losing three times (all in nail-biters) in the same tournament.
Sophomore pitcher Jack Owen was sensational against the Monarchs with a four-hit shutout that included no walks and seven strikeouts. Ironically, for JSerra to hold on to the state’s No. 1 ranking, it may have to beat that same Mater Dei squad three times this week in a Trinity League series.
Another team to benefit big-time from winning a major tournament last week was Agoura of Agoura Hills. The Chargers won the championship of the National Classic (the annual event hosted by El Dorado of Placentia and Esperanza of Anaheim) with an 8-3 victory in the final over IMG Academy of Florida. Prior to that, Agoura topped J.W. North of Riverside, Santa Margarita of Rancho SM and Monte Vista of Danville.
With the National Classic win, Agoura jumped to No. 6 in this week’s State Top 20. Other reasons for such a big jump were other teams losing, having one of its two losses to higher ranked Harvard-Westlake and having been able to avenge the other loss to Thousand Oaks.
(Compiled by Mark Tennis; updated through games played Saturday, April 11; previous rating in parentheses)
1. (2) JSERRA (SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO) 13-1
2. (4) HARVARD-WESTLAKE (NORTH HOLLYWOOD) 14-2
3. (11) LOS GATOS 17-1
4. (7) FRANKLIN (ELK GROVE) 13-2
5. (8) BUCHANAN (CLOVIS) 19-3
6. (NR) AGOURA (AGOURA HILLS) 15-2
7. (9) SAN DIMAS 18-0
8. (NR) VISTA 13-2
9. (5) ALEMANY (MISSION HILLS) 13-4
10. (3) COLLEGE PARK (PLEASANT HILL) 9-3
11. (10) LA COSTA CANYON (CARLSBAD) 14-3
12. (NR) SAN BENITO (HOLLISTER) 19-2
13. (1) SAN CLEMENTE 15-4
14. (6) DANA HILLS (DANA POINT) 17-3
15. (18) OAK RIDGE (EL DORADO HILLS) 15-2
16. (12) EDISON (HUNTINGTON BEACH) 14-2
17. (17) MARIA CARRILLO (SANTA ROSA) 11-2
18. (14) ST. FRANCIS (MOUNTAIN VIEW) 12-4
19. (NR) SAN RAMON VALLEY (DANVILLE) 10-2
20. (NR) CALIFORNIA (SAN RAMON) 9-3
Dropped Out:
Previous No. 13 Bellarmine (San Jose); No. 15 St. Augustine (San Diego); No. 16 Valley Christian (San Jose); No. 19 Vista Murieta (Murrieta); No. 20 Monte Vista (Danville).
NEW CAL-HI SPORTS SOFTBALL
TOP 20 OVERALL RANKINGS
With half of last week’s State Top 20 ranked softball teams taking spring break, there weren’t many changes in this week’s new pecking order.
One team that did play and lose, however, was previous No. 2 Santiago of Corona. The Sharks hosted their annual Spring Fling event and took a 1-0 loss to Citrus Valley of Redlands.
Earlier this season, Citrus Valley raised some eyebrows with a win over Norco, which was state and nationally ranked at the time. Now the Blackhawks have the win over Santiago to go with it. They broke a 0-0 tie in the top of the seventh inning on a home run by Jordyn Smith. Taylor Troost recorded the shutout against Santiago’s potent offense with a four-hitter, no walks and six strikeouts.
Heading into this week, Citrus Valley also is playing new No. 3 Yucaipa twice in Citrus Belt League action. The team has four losses, but three are to No. 4 Etiwanda and the other is to a Cajon of San Bernardino team that was later avenged. Put it all together and it wasn’t hard to move the Blackhawks to No. 13 in this week’s rankings.
That Norco team that Citrus Valley beat earlier also goes back into this week’s rankings. The Cougars swept a pair of games against Los Osos of Rancho Cucamonga and have a head-to-head win over Los Alamitos, which also was considered to be put back into the State Top 20 but is now basically No. 21.
(Compiled by Mark Tennis; updated through reported games played Saturday, April 11; previous rating in parentheses)
1. (1) MISSION VIEJO 17-0
2. (3) PIONEER (SAN JOSE) 19-0
3. (5) YUCAIPA 16-3
4. (6) ETIWANDA 16-3
5. (2) SANTIAGO (CORONA) 15-2
6. (4) LUTHERAN (ORANGE) 18-1
7. (7) PATRICK HENRY (SAN DIEGO) 14-1
8. (8) JAMES LOGAN (UNION CITY) 10-0-1
9. (9) PACIFICA (GARDEN GROVE) 10-4
10. (10) BONITA VISTA (CHULA VISTA) 11-2
11. (11) POWAY 15-4
12. (12) LIVERMORE 9-2
13. (NR) CITRUS VALLEY (REDLANDS) 11-4
14. (15) SAN CLEMENTE 13-3
15. (16) AMADOR VALLEY (PLEASANTON) 9-2
16. (17) CANYON (ANAHEIM) 12-5
17. (NR) NORCO 13-5
18. (18) HIGHLAND (PALMDALE) 11-1
19. (19) HERITAGE (BRENTWOOD) 11-2
20. (20) ARCHBISHOP MITTY (SAN JOSE) 14-3
Dropped Out:
Previous No. 13 Mater Dei (Santa Ana); No. 14 West Ranch (Valencia).
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
