Holding CIF North Coast Section title banners are the top pitchers for this year’s No. 1 teams in the Bay Area — Johanna Grauer from Amador Valley of Pleasanton and Joe DeMers from College Park of Pleasant Hill. Photos: Mark Tennis.
No surprise that College Park baseball and Amador Valley softball finish in the No. 1 positions but Leland jumping up to No. 3 in baseball and Granada landing at No. 7 in softball might be to some. We produce these rankings in support of the Cal-Hi Sports Bay Area TV show, which airs live on KUSI Channel 20 in San Francisco on Sunday nights.
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Baseball: NCS gets top two spots
When all the dust settled from one of the most unpredictable section playoffs in recent Central Coast Section history, the top two positions for this year’s final Cal-Hi Sports Bay Area Top 20 baseball rankings were snagged by North Coast Section champions College Park and De La Salle.
Watch highlights of the Bay Area’s best teams every Sunday at 6 p.m. on KOFY, Channel 20, San Francisco with replays during the week on Comcast SportsNet. To order DVDs of a show, CLICK HERE.
The CCS Open Division playoffs came down to a title game last Saturday between Bellarmine and Leland. And for the first time since 2000, a school from other than the West Catholic Athletic League or the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League won it all. Leland fell behind 2-0 in the first inning but came back for a 3-2 win over the Bells.
In a year in which St. Francis of Mountain View dominated in the CCS rankings, upsets became the norm in the Open Division playoffs. The Lancers went out with a quarterfinal loss to Bellarmine. Leland, meanwhile, knocked off top seed Leigh in the quarterfinals, then edged Valley Christian of the WCAL in the semis.
Josh Wells came up with the go-ahead RBI for Leland in the sixth inning of the final game. Chargers’ head coach Michael Sparrer had already inserted ace pitcher Josh Nashed (who is headed to San Jose State) earlier in the game, who shut down the Bells for the final outs.
Here is this week’s final Cal-Hi Sports Bay Area Top 20 for the 2013-14 school year. These are final in baseball (compiled by Mark Tennis; after all games of 2014 season; previous ranking in parentheses):
*Indicates forfeit win not included.
1. (1) College Park (Pleasant Hill) 27-3
2. (7) De La Salle (Concord) 20-8*
3. (12) Leland (San Jose) 23-9
4. (4) St. Francis (Mountain View) 26-5
5. (3) Bellarmine Prep (San Jose) 26-7
6. (11) Wilcox (Santa Clara) 26-8
7. (2) Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 24-7
8. (5) San Ramon Valley (Danville) 20-8
9. (16) California (San Ramon) 17-8
10. (6) Valley Christian (San Jose) 22-10
11. (8) San Benito (Hollister) 22-7
12. (15) Leigh (San Jose) 24-7
13. (9) Marin Catholic (Kentfield) 23-6
14. (10) Maria Carrillo (Santa Rosa) 25-3
15. (19) Campolindo (Moraga) 20-5
16. (NR) Clayton Valley (Concord) 22-5
17. (NR) Tamalpais (Mill Valley) 21-8
18. (20) Serra (San Mateo) 16-12
19. (NR) Westmont (Campbell) 23-10
20. (14) Berkeley 17-11
Dropped Out:
Previous No. 13 Foothill (Pleasanton); No. 17 Montgomery (Santa Rosa); No. 18 San Leandro.
Teams On The Bubble:
Acalanes (Lafayette) 16-12, Amador Valley (Pleasanton) 16-9, Bishop O’Dowd (Oakland) 16-11, Branham (San Jose) 20-14, Casa Grande (Petaluma) 16-11, Drake (San Anselmo) 19-9, Foothill (Pleasanton) 15-12, Granada (Livermore) 17-9, Justin-Siena (Napa) 23-7, Los Gatos 23-10, Lowell (San Francisco) 22-9, Menlo-Atherton (Atherton) 18-13-1, Monte Vista (Danville) 13-13, Montgomery (Santa Rosa) 19-8, Newark Memorial (Newark) 17-9, Petaluma 20-8, San Leandro 21-7, Sequoia (Redwood City) 21-8-1, Washington (Fremont) 17-10.
Softball: NCS vs. CCS comparisons
(Writeup by Harold Abend)
During the CIF Central Coast Section Division I championship game between Carlmont and San Benito at the PAL complex in San Jose, CCS assistant commissioner Duane Morgan posed a question of his own.
“How do you think our teams would do against teams from Southern California and the North Coast Section?”
Now that the Cal-Hi Sports Caravan has seen all the Bay Area’s top teams, here’s a possible answer.
Watch highlights of the Bay Area’s best teams every Sunday at 6 p.m. on KOFY, Channel 20, San Francisco with replays during the week on Comcast SportsNet. To order DVDs of a show, CLICK HERE.
Because of an injury, Mitty’s No. 1 pitcher, junior Desiree Severance, had to shift to first base. That left all the pitching duties to fellow junior Stephanie Kristo.
Severance is good, and Kristo is just about her equal, but Mission Viejo sees pitching like that almost every game, particularly in the playoffs.
Another possible dream matchup would have been Mitty and Alhambra for the NorCal crown.
Alhambra ace and Central Methodist-bound Erin Enke was impressive this season and faced some of the toughest teams in the state. And the offensive firepower of Alhambra, led by UCLA-bound Kylee Perez, is as good as any in the state, including Mission Viejo.
None of that is going to happen anyway, and with Mission Viejo winning the CIF Southern Section Division II title and state No. 2 and Bay Area leader Amador Valley winning the NCS D1 crown, Mitty and Alhambra are going to stay put in this week’s final state rankings (although there is a chance Mitty may drop one spot from No. 3 to No. 4).
At some point, there may be CIF state championships in softball but until then the rankings speak and we can keep making comparisons.
Here is this week’s final Cal-Hi Sports Bay Area Top 20 for the 2013-14 school year. These are final in softball (compiled by Harold Abend & Mark Tennis; after all games of 2014 season; previous ranking in parentheses):
1. (1) Amador Valley (Pleasanton) 27-0
2. (2) Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 30-1
3. (3) Alhambra (Martinez) 25-2
4. (5) Pioneer (San Jose) 24-5
5. (8) Carlmont (Belmont) 25-3
6. (6) Valley Christian (San Jose) 22-8
7. (11) Granada (Livermore) 19-9
8. (10) Notre Dame (Salinas) 23-3
9. (13) Salesian (Richmond) 16-1
10. (4) James Logan (Union City) 23-3
11. (9) San Benito (Hollister) 23-4-1
12. (7) Leland (San Jose) 22-4
13. (12) Foothill (Pleasanton) 16-10
14. (14) Heritage (Brentwood) 19-5
15. (15) San Ramon Valley (Danville) 17-9
16. (16) St. Patrick-St. Vincent (Vallejo) 23-5
17. (17) Carondelet (Concord) 15-13
18. (NR) Wilcox (Santa Clara) 22-8
19. (20) Hillsdale (San Mateo) 21-8
20. (18) Livermore 13-14
Dropped Out:
Previous No. 19 Arroyo (San Lorenzo).
Teams On the Bubble
Arroyo (San Lorenzo) 19-8; California (San Ramon) 8-15; Castro Valley 18-10; Encinal (Alameda) 15-10; Half Moon Bay 22-8; Los Altos 20-8; Maria Carrillo (Santa Rosa) 19-6; Marin Catholic (Kentfield) 18-7; Monte Vista (Danville) 11-12; Moreau Catholic (Hayward) 15-7; Newark Memorial (Newark) 19-7; Notre Dame (Belmont) 17-12; Petaluma 21-7; Presentation (San Jose) 22-8; Rancho Cotate (Rohnert Park) 18-7-1; Redwood (Larkspur) 18-6; San Leandro 14-9; Santa Catalina 19-5-1; Santa Rosa 16-6; Soquel 22-9; Tamalpais (Mill Valley) 19-8; Terra Linda (San Rafael) 15-10.
Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter: @CalHiSports
