Jeremy Edens had a giant week for St. Francis of Mountain View with game-winning homer vs. Valley Christian, then was winning pitcher in Boras Classic final. The girls at right are from West Ranch of Valencia, which moved up four spots to No. 15 this week in softball. Photos: @sfhsathletics & Twitter.com.
St. Francis beats JSerra to win Boras Classic “state” title and forces lots of changes in this week’s State Top 20 in baseball. College Park returns to No. 1 while Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks is highest newcomer. In softball, this week’s only newcomer to the State Top 20 is Woodcreek of Roseville.
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
RBI groundouts to win a big baseball game might be similar to using defensive wizardry to win a mega-boxing event, but that’s what got St. Francis over the top as the Lancers from Mountain View won the 2015 Boras Baseball Classic last Saturday at Cal State Fullerton with a 3-2 win over JSerra of San Juan Capistrano.
JSerra had won the SoCal bracket of the event and was No. 1 in the state coming into the day. St. Francis had won the NorCal bracket and was only at No. 13 although earlier in the week head coach Mike Oakland’s club also won a big game in the West Catholic Athletic League over Valley Christian of San Jose.
Due to the statewide nature of the event, St. Francis was pushed ahead of JSerra in this week’s State Top 20 but the Lancers also can only be as high as No. 3 in Northern California due to having losses to both College Park of Pleasant Hill and Los Gatos.
That’s just one reason why College Park was moved to No. 1 this week. The Falcons haven’t lost in awhile, they have a big game coming up on Saturday against De La Salle of Concord and will need to win the CIF North Coast Section Division I title in order to have a shot at being State Team of the Year.
St. Francis trailed 2-0 early on to JSerra after RBI singles by Christian Molfetta and Brady Shockey. Still down 2-1 in the top of the seventh, two bunt singles helped load the bases with no outs that helped Devon Canty and Johnny Mendoza come up with RBI groundouts. Jeremy Ydens then pitched the bottom of the seventh and finished up a complete game.
San Dimas continued to win at No. 3 and is now up to 24-0, but strength of schedule concerns prevented us from putting the Saints at the top at this point. The key point to remember is that we don’t want to put a team up at No. 1 unless we know we’re firm in thinking that that team is going to stay there if it wins out. Dropping teams from No. 1 rankings if they don’t lose is almost a cardinal sin to the players and coaches involved.
(Compiled by Mark Tennis; updated through games played Saturday, May 2; previous rating in parentheses)
De La Salle’s Justin Hooper may pitch against College Park on Saturday. Photo: Student Sports.
1. (4) COLLEGE PARK (PLEASANT HILL) 16-3
2. (5) HARVARD-WESTLAKE (NORTH HOLLYWOOD) 20-3
3. (3) SAN DIMAS 24-0
4. (6) LOS GATOS 25-2
5. (8) LA COSTA CANYON (CARLSBAD) 19-4
6. (13) ST. FRANCIS (MOUNTAIN VIEW) 20-5
7. (1) JSERRA (SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO) 21-4
8. (2) BUCHANAN (CLOVIS) 24-4
9. (10) HUNTINGTON BEACH 17-7
10. (11) AGOURA (AGOURA HILLS) 19-3
11. (7) DANA HILLS (DANA POINT) 22-5
12. (14) SAN CLEMENTE 19-6
13. (NR) NOTRE DAME (SHERMAN OAKS) 19-5
14. (16) VALLEY CHRISTIAN (SAN JOSE) 19-6
15. (9) OAK RIDGE (EL DORADO HILLS) 23-4
16. (NR) RANCHO BERNARDO (SAN DIEGO) 16-6
17. (15) FRANKLIN (ELK GROVE) 20-5
18. (NR) DE LA SALLE (CONCORD) 11-6
19. (NR) VISTA MURRIETA (MURRIETA) 15-7
20. (19) SAN RAMON VALLEY (DANVILLE) 14-4
Dropped Out:
Previous No. 12 Jesuit (Carmichael); No. 17 Alemany (Mission Hills); No. 18 Livermore; No. 20 Santa Fe Christian (Solana Beach).
NEW CAL-HI SPORTS SOFTBALL
TOP 20 OVERALL RANKINGS
Unlike baseball, the state’s best softball teams mostly seem to be in cruise control until the various section playoffs get underway.
It’s therefore a time when one poor outing can be more costly than usual in the rankings than if teams are tending to be beating each other.
Last week’s spoiler was Newark Memorial of Newark, which handed James Logan of Union City its first loss and sent the Colts down 11 positions.
This week it’s Torrey Pines of San Diego, which knocked off the CIF San Diego Section’s No. 1 team, Poway, with a 5-4 triumph. Although the Titans bounced back to beat Mt. Carmel, the loss dropped them nine spots this week and ironically back behind James Logan as well as some CIF Southern Section teams like Los Alamitos, Chino Hills and West Ranch that are getting some separation in highly regarded leagues.
This week’s lone newcomer is Woodcreek of Roseville, which blasted Nevada Union of Grass Valley 18-0 in its lone game last week and improved to 20-1-1. The Timberwolves’ only loss was to Antelope, a defeat that was later avenged.
(Compiled by Harold Abend; updated through reported games played Saturday, May 2; previous rating in parentheses)
1. (1) MISSION VIEJO 22-0
2. (2) PIONEER (SAN JOSE) 23-0
3. (3) YUCAIPA 22-3
4. (4) SANTIAGO (CORONA) 23-3
5. (5) LUTHERAN (ORANGE) 23-2
6. (6) PACIFICA (GARDEN GROVE) 17-4
7. (8) ELK GROVE 22-2
8. (9) GRAND TERRACE 18-3
9. (10) AMADOR VALLEY (PLEASANTON) 15-3
10. (11) HERITAGE (BRENTWOOD) 17-2
11. (12) ARCHBISHOP MITTY (SAN JOSE) 20-3
12. (16) LOS ALAMITOS 20-6
13. (17) CHINO HILLS 21-5
14. (15) JAMES LOGAN (UNION CITY) 16-1-1
15. (19) WEST RANCH (VALENCIA) 20-5
16. (7) POWAY 19-5
17. (18) MURRIETA VALLEY (MURRIETA) 20-6
18. (NR) WOODCREEK (ROSEVILLE) 20-1-1
19. (13) PATRICK HENRY (SAN DIEGO) 19-3-1
20. (14) BONITA VISTA (CHULA VISTA) 17-3-1
Dropped Out:
Previous No. 20 Yorba Linda.
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
