This year’s Buchanan of Clovis baseball team (left) and last year’s Pacifica of Garden Grove softball team celebrate winning section titles. Photos: Twitter.com & OCSidelines.com.
Buchanan clinches final baseball ranking of no lower than No. 4 with section final win. El Camino Real, meanwhile, leads rush of six baseball newcomers. For softball, San Jose rivals eyeing probable matchup next weekend with major implications while newcomers are Poway, Etiwanda and East Union.
Check below for this week’s new list of the State Top 20 baseball and softball rankings.
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NEW CAL-HI SPORTS BASEBALL
TOP 20 OVERALL RANKINGS
Other than a few minutes of reflection when putting up the flag in front of the house, Memorial Day for us unfortunately has become a busy one for rankings.
This is because there are a bunch of key games in the various section baseball playoffs that are always played on Tuesday (especially in the CIF Southern Section), which requires the weekly rankings to be rushed out in plenty of time before those games are played (and ranked teams lose).
If every section in the state, however, was like the Central and the Sac-Joaquin, this wouldn’t be an issue. The Central Section baseball playoffs concluded on Saturday night in Visalia while the Sac-Joaquin chase (for Division I) is already down to just two teams.
The Central Section D1 final also was huge for the shape of this year’s final rankings because new state No. 4 Buchanan of Clovis more than took care of business with a 15-1 romp past Clovis. Chandler Bengston hammered a grand slam homer and finished with six RBI to lead the Bears, who lost to Clovis in last year’s section final.
Clovis also ended No. 1 in the state last year after that win at 33-5 and while the Bears finished 29-4 they need some help if they are going to do the same.
This is because San Dimas has a chance to complete a perfect season, because St. Francis of Mountain View is still going in the Central Coast Section (the Lancers won the Boras Classic) and because JSerra of San Juan Capistrano is still going in the CIFSS D1 bracket (the Lions were second at Boras and also went 3-1 at the National High School Invitational).
La Costa Canyon of Carlsbad, last week’s No. 2 team, lost twice in the final week of its regular season and while the Mavericks were still rightfully seeded No. 1 in the San Diego Section Open Division the two losses essentially took them out of contention for the state’s final No. 1 ranking, especially when Buchanan did what it did.
(Compiled by Mark Tennis; updated through games played Saturday, May 23; previous rating in parentheses)
De La Salle senior lefty Justin Hooper will lead team in CIF North Coast Section playoffs. Photo: Student Sports.
1. (1) SAN DIMAS 29-0
2. (3) ST. FRANCIS (MOUNTAIN VIEW) 27-5
3. (4) JSERRA (SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO) 26-4-1
4. (5) BUCHANAN (CLOVIS) 29-4
5. (6) COLLEGE PARK (PLEASANT HILL) 22-4
6. (2) LA COSTA CANYON (CARLSBAD) 23-6
7. (7) HUNTINGTON BEACH 22-8
8. (11) AGOURA (AGOURA HILLS) 23-4
9. (13) LOS GATOS 29-5
10. (15) HARVARD-WESTLAKE (NORTH HOLLYWOOD) 24-5
11. (12) SAN CLEMENTE 23-7
12. (16) HERITAGE (BRENTWOOD) 20-4
13. (NR) EL CAMINO REAL (WOODLAND HILLS) 25-7
14. (9) RANCHO BERNARDO (SAN DIEGO) 22-7
15. (NR) NORCO 22-5
16. (NR) ARLINGTON (RIVERSIDE) 22-4
17. (NR) CATHEDRAL CATHOLIC (SAN DIEGO) 20-8
18. (NR) DE LA SALLE (CONCORD) 16-8
19. (NR) MONTE VISTA (DANVILLE) 16-8
20. (NR) TORREY PINES (SAN DIEGO) 21-8-1
Dropped Out:
Previous No. 8 Oak Ridge (El Dorado Hills); No. 10 Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks); No. 14 Centennial (Bakersfield); No. 17 Valley Christian (San Jose); No. 19 Lutheran (Orange); No. 20 Dana Hills (Dana Point).
NEW CAL-HI SPORTS SOFTBALL
TOP 20 OVERALL RANKINGS
Other than the CIF Southern Section D1 or D2 championship, this year’s first monster matchup in a section final figures to be Saturday in San Jose between state No. 2 Pioneer of San Jose and state No. 8 Archbishop Mitty of San Jose.
Both teams do need to win in semifinal matchups first, but the CIF Central Coast Section Division II championship probably will come down to the Mustangs and Monarchs with Pioneer also looking to lock down an undefeated season. A Pioneer win also would effectively eliminate every other team in the state with a chance to be No. 1 for the final rankings other than season-long No. 1 Mission Viejo.
This week’s rankings were impacted mostly by which teams won championships in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section. Previous No. 6 Elk Grove lost twice last week to Benicia in the Division II bracket and has to be behind the Panthers. One of Benicia’s losses, however, came to SJS D3 runner-up Pioneer of Woodland, which brings us to SJS D3 champion East Union of Manteca.
East Union actually clobbered Pioneer twice to win its section title 12-1 and 17-3. In checking over the Lancers’ log further, they also own a win over Clovis, which last week ended 33-6 and won the CIF Central Section D1 title. All of that and it’s a fairly easy call that East Union should be the No. 1 overall team for the SJS this season and therefore was chosen as well for this week’s State Top 20.
Benicia could still perhaps get into the final State Top 20, but will have to wait for some of the top CIFSS teams to play each other.
(Compiled by Harold Abend; updated through reported games played Saturday, May 23; previous rating in parentheses)
1. (1) MISSION VIEJO 27-0
2. (2) PIONEER (SAN JOSE) 27–0
3. (3) YUCAIPA 27-3
4. (4) SANTIAGO (CORONA) 28-3
5. (5) PACIFICA (GARDEN GROVE) 21-5-1
6. (8) AMADOR VALLEY (PLEASANTON) 21-3
7. (7) GRAND TERRACE 23-3
8. (10) ARCHBISHOP MITTY (SAN JOSE) 25-3
9. (11) LOS ALAMITOS 24-6
10. (12) MURRIETA VALLEY (MURRIETA) 24-6
11. (13) WEST RANCH (VALENCIA) 23-5
12. (14) LUTHERAN (ORANGE) 25-3
13. (16) NORCO 23-8
14. (19) CHINO HILLS 24-7
15. (NR) POWAY 23-6
16. (17) HIGHLAND (PALMDALE) 25-2
17. (9) HERITAGE (BRENTWOOD) 20-3
18. (20) ALHAMBRA (MARTINEZ) 21-3
19. (NR) ETIWANDA 23-8
20. (NR) EAST UNION (MANTECA) 30-3
Dropped Out:
Previous No. 6 Elk Grove; No. 15 Patrick Henry (San Diego); No. 18 Bonita Vista (Chula Vista).
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
