Norco’s softball and baseball teams are both in the CIFSS D1 semifinals and both are No. 8 in the state this week. Sophomore Taylor Dockins (left) & senior Kyle Hatton are among team leaders. Photos: Cliff Robbins/OCSidelines.com & bigleaguefuturesplus.net.
Can Mission Viejo softball and San Dimas baseball complete historically great seasons by Saturday? If both win out, no problem for State Team of the Year choice. If one or both lose, it’ll probably be more complicated in baseball than it is in softball.
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
With its 1-0 win last Friday over Santa Monica in the CIF Southern Section Division III playoffs, San Dimas moved to within two more victories of completing its season at 33-0.
Although there’s no question the CIFSS D3 playoff bracket is much weaker than Division I, a 33-0 team and one with one of the nation’s top 1-2 pitching combos (senior Peter Lambert and junior Jacob Castillo) would be a fairly easy choice to be the state’s top-ranked team for the season.
If San Dimas doesn’t complete its mission, the team next in line is St. Francis of Mountain View. The Lancers won the CIF Central Coast Section Open Division title last Saturday and also were the Boras Baseball Classic “state” champions.
The complicating factor for St. Francis, however, is that the Lancers do have a head-to-head loss to College Park of Pleasant Hill. The Falcons, preseason No. 1 in the state, will be playing in the CIF North Coast Section Division I semifinals on Wednesday. They have a chance not only to win their section title, but could avenge a recent loss to De La Salle of Concord.
(Compiled by Mark Tennis; updated through games played Saturday, May 30; previous rating in parentheses)
*Indicates season complete.
1. (1) SAN DIMAS 31-0
2. (2) ST. FRANCIS (MOUNTAIN VIEW) 29-5*
3. (5) COLLEGE PARK (PLEASANT HILL) 24-4
4. (4) BUCHANAN (CLOVIS) 29-4*
5. (6) LA COSTA CANYON (CARLSBAD) 25-6
6. (7) HUNTINGTON BEACH 24-8
7. (11) SAN CLEMENTE 25-7
8. (15) NORCO 24-5
9. (13) EL CAMINO REAL (WOODLAND HILLS) 27-7*
10. (14) RANCHO BERNARDO (SAN DIEGO) 24-7
11. (18) DE LA SALLE (CONCORD) 18-8
12. (19) MONTE VISTA (DANVILLE) 18-8
13. (20) TORREY PINES (SAN DIEGO) 23-8-1
14. (NR) HART (NEWHALL) 19-9-1
15. (3) JSERRA (SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO) 27-5-1*
16. (9) LOS GATOS 30-6*
17. (NR) ELK GROVE 22-10*
18. (NR) CHRISTIAN (EL CAJON) 27-2
19. (NR) VALENCIA 20-10*
20. (8) AGOURA (AGOURA HILLS) 23-5*
Dropped Out:
Previous No. 10 Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood); No. 12 Heritage (Brentwood); No. 16 Arlington (Riverside); No. 17 Cathedral Catholic (San Diego).
NEW CAL-HI SPORTS SOFTBALL
TOP 20 OVERALL RANKINGS
Thanks to the girls from Archbishop Mitty of San Jose, this year’s CIF Southern Section Division II championship also may end up being the game that decides the state’s final No. 1 ranking.
The Monarchs handed previous state No. 2 Pioneer of San Jose its first loss of the season in Saturday’s CIF Central Coast Section Division II championship.
With Pioneer slipping down, that allowed previous No. 3 Yucaipa to move up to No. 2 in this week’s rankings. Yucaipa is playing in Tuesday’s CIFSS D2 semifinals against Westlake of Westlake Village and with a win probably would face No. 1 Mission Viejo in the final.
Mission Viejo, ranked No. 1 in the state and nation since the preseason, improved to 29-0 with its 8-0 win in the quarterfinals over Sunny Hills of Fullerton. The Diablos play South Hills of Covina in Tuesday’s semifinals.
If Yucaipa were to win Tuesday, then upset Mission Viejo in the final, it would not have completely avenged two earlier losses to the Diablos, but to be No. 1 in the state requires winning a section title and that would be more than enough for the Thunderbirds, who also would be 31-3 in that scenario.
(Compiled by Harold Abend; updated through reported games played Saturday, May 30; previous rating in parentheses)
Hailey Hilburn of Anaheim Canyon connects for a home run in team’s CIFSS D1 playoff win over Los Alamitos. Photo: Cliff Robbins/OCSidelines.com.
1. (1) MISSION VIEJO 29-0
2. (3) YUCAIPA 29-3
3. (6) AMADOR VALLEY (PLEASANTON) 23-3
4. (11) WEST RANCH (VALENCIA) 25-5
5. (8) ARCHBISHOP MITTY (SAN JOSE) 27-3*
6. (2) PIONEER (SAN JOSE) 28-1*
7. (7) GRAND TERRACE 25-3
8. (13) NORCO 25-8
9. (5) PACIFICA (GARDEN GROVE) 22-6-1*
10. (15) POWAY 23-6*
11. (NR) CANYON (ANAHEIM) 23-7
12. (9) LOS ALAMITOS 25-7*
13. (NR) LOS OSOS (RANCHO CUCAMONGA) 21-12
14. (4) SANTIAGO (CORONA) 28-4*
15. (16) HIGHLAND (PALMDALE) 27-2
16. (18) ALHAMBRA (MARTINEZ) 23-3
17. (20) EAST UNION (MANTECA) 30-3*
18. (10) MURRIETA VALLEY (MURRIETA) 25-7*
19. (12) LUTHERAN (ORANGE) 25-4*
20. (14) CHINO HILLS 24-8*
Dropped Out:
Previous No. 17 Heritage (Brentwood); No. 19 Etiwanda.
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
