Two former State Coaches of the Year with teams in this week’s rankings are Rob Weil of Los Alamitos (softball) and Sam Blalock of Rancho Bernardo (baseball). Weil was state coach of the year for Garden Grove Pacifica. Photos: YouTube.com & PomeradoNews.com.
Oak Ridge and Rancho Bernardo bolt into the top 10 in baseball due to many teams taking splits in regular season finale series. For softball, Mission Viejo ends perfect regular season with win over Pacifica while Chino Hills has to drop despite the super slugging of Tannon Snow.
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
Although the CIF Southern Section playoffs are just beginning this week, it is that time of the season in which the leading candidates to be 2015 State Team of the Year are going to be determined.
This is because the CIF Central Section playoffs will actually be done by the end of this week and perennial powerhouse Buchanan of Clovis could be in the clubhouse with a section title and 29-4 record.
While Buchanan will need a lot of help to actually end No. 1 in the state, the Bears would narrow down the list of contenders for that final ranking by beating Tulare Western in Tuesday’s Division I section semifinals and then winning it all on Saturday.
San Dimas moved to No. 1 last week at 26-0 and enters the CIFSS Division III playoffs at 28-0. If the Saints can do the improbable and win that title with a perfect record, that will be enough to be State Team of the Year. If we weren’t comfortable doing that even though San Dimas is not D1 or D2 in the CIFSS playoffs, we wouldn’t have placed the Saints No. 1 in last week’s rankings in the first place.
The recent Boras Baseball Classic comes into play for No. 3 St. Francis, No. 4 JSerra and No. 5 Buchanan. The Lancers didn’t beat Buchanan in that event, but the Bears were in it and they did beat JSerra in the title game. St. Francis therefore has the edge over either of those teams when it comes to the final rankings.
(Compiled by Mark Tennis; updated through games played Saturday, May 16; previous rating in parentheses)
Ross Dodds from Buchanan of Clovis will play next at Fresno State. Photo: Twitter.com.
1. (1) SAN DIMAS 28-0
2. (2) LA COSTA CANYON (CARLSBAD) 22-4
3. (3) ST. FRANCIS (MOUNTAIN VIEW) 25-5
4. (4) JSERRA (SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO) 25-4-1
5. (5) BUCHANAN (CLOVIS) 27-4
6. (6) COLLEGE PARK (PLEASANT HILL) 20-4
7. (12) HUNTINGTON BEACH 21-8
8. (15) OAK RIDGE (EL DORADO HILLS) 25-4
9. (16) RANCHO BERNARDO (SAN DIEGO) 21-6
10. (7) NOTRE DAME (SHERMAN OAKS) 22-6
11. (8) AGOURA (AGOURA HILLS) 22-4
12. (9) SAN CLEMENTE 22-7
13. (10) LOS GATOS 27-5
14. (18) CENTENNIAL (BAKERSFIELD) 24-5
15. (13) HARVARD-WESTLAKE (NORTH HOLLYWOOD) 22-5
16. (20) HERITAGE (BRENTWOOD) 19-4
17. (11) VALLEY CHRISTIAN (SAN JOSE) 22-7
18. (NR) MONTE VISTA (DANVILLE) 15-7
19. (NR) LUTHERAN (ORANGE) 22-8
20. (14) DANA HILLS (DANA POINT) 24-7
Dropped Out:
Previous No. 17 De La Salle (Concord); No. 19 Franklin (Elk Grove).
NEW CAL-HI SPORTS SOFTBALL
TOP 20 OVERALL RANKINGS
As this week’s new state rankings were being compiled on Monday, the CIF Southern Section seedings and brackets were being announced.
It’s a bit different this year in that more of the state’s top-ranked CIFSS teams are spread out in different divisions. It’s not as if they’re all stacked in Division I.
State and national No. 1 Mission Viejo along with state No. 3 Yucaipa are in D2 in the CIFSS brackets. State No. 4 Santiago and state No. 5 Pacifica, meanwhile, are the top two seeds for CIFSS D1 while the No. 1 seeds in CIFSS D3 and D4, respectively, are state No. 7 Grand Terrace and state No. 16 Highland of Palmdale.
This week’s section playoff schedule from around the state is strange because the playoffs will be over in the Sac-Joaquin and Central sections but won’t even begin until next week in the North Coast.
Mission Viejo did win in its regular season finale last week, 2-0, over Pacifica of Garden Grove, which is the opposite of what happened last year. All that did was give some a good reason to elevate Amador Valley of Pleasanton to No. 1 in the nation although we didn’t drop the Diablos for losing once to a team they’d already beaten twice earlier in the season. Unless Mission Viejo loses in the playoffs this year, there’s no chance now for anyone to be ranked higher.
(Compiled by Harold Abend; updated through reported games played Saturday, May 9; previous rating in parentheses)
1. (1) MISSION VIEJO 26-0
2. (2) PIONEER (SAN JOSE) 26-0
3. (3) YUCAIPA 26-3
4. (4) SANTIAGO (CORONA) 27-3
5. (5) PACIFICA (GARDEN GROVE) 20-5-1
6. (6) ELK GROVE 27-2
7. (7) GRAND TERRACE 22-3
8. (8) AMADOR VALLEY (PLEASANTON) 19-3
9. (9) HERITAGE (BRENTWOOD) 20-2
10. (10) ARCHBISHOP MITTY (SAN JOSE) 24-3
11. (11) LOS ALAMITOS 23-6
12. (13) MURRIETA VALLEY (MURRIETA) 23-6
13. (14) WEST RANCH (VALENCIA) 22-5
14. (16) LUTHERAN (ORANGE) 24-3
15. (19) PATRICK HENRY (SAN DIEGO) 22-3-1
16. (17) NORCO 22-8
17. (18) HIGHLAND (PALMDALE) 24-2
18. (20) BONITA VISTA (CHULA VISTA) 20-3-1
19. (12) CHINO HILLS 23-7
20. (NR) ALHAMBRA (MARTINEZ) 18-3
Dropped Out:
Previous No. 15 Woodcreek (Roseville).
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
