Two teams that won section titles last weekend were Amador Valley of Pleasanton in softball & Mission Viejo in baseball. Photos: Harold Abend & @BaseballMVHS.
Following State Teams of the Year College Park of Pleasant Hill and Yucaipa, baseball’s highest risers at the end include Rancho Bernardo, JSerra, San Ysidro and Redondo. For softball, it’s Norco, Santiago of Corona, East Union and La Serna.
Check below for this week’s final list of the State Top 20 baseball and softball rankings for the 2015 season.
To read our breakdowns on each Top 20 team, why some of these rankings moves were made, expanded final rankings which teams are on the bubble and for the final divisional state rankings, you need to be a member of our Gold Club. Join our team today by CLICKING HERE.
FINAL CAL-HI SPORTS BASEBALL
TOP 20 OVERALL RANKINGS
If by some crazy method, California did have a state high school baseball playoff system in place, it’s a good bet that many might pick talent-laden Huntington Beach as the team to beat.
Rankings, of course, aren’t a good method to determine anything in baseball due to pitching matchups, but losing games are costly in any rankings system and Huntington Beach with a final record of 26-8 just had too many to be much of a factor for the state’s final No. 1 ranking.
Still, the Oilers did reign supreme in the CIF Southern Section Division I championship for the first time in the 107-year history of their school with their 3-1 triumph last Saturday over Hart of Newhall. And of their eight losses, five came early in the season when head coach Benji Medure’s squad was still getting all of its pieces in place.
Noah Davis struck out 10 and allowed just four hits in a stellar outing on the mound for Huntington Beach, which offensively was paced by Logan Pouelson with a pair of doubles.
Huntington Beach moved up to No. 4 in the final overall state rankings behind College Park of Pleasant Hill, St. Francis of Mountain View and Buchanan of Clovis. The Oilers were in front of CIF San Diego Section Open Division champion Rancho Bernardo, which moved up five spots in the final pecking order.
(Compiled by Mark Tennis; updated through games played Saturday, June 6; previous rating in parentheses)
Rancho Bernardo’s Drew Finley, pitching above last summer, was one of the first 100 picks in this year’s MLB draft. Photo: sdhoc.com.
1. (3) COLLEGE PARK (PLEASANT HILL) 26-4
2. (2) ST. FRANCIS (MOUNTAIN VIEW) 29-5
3. (4) BUCHANAN (CLOVIS) 29-4
4. (6) HUNTINGTON BEACH 26-8
5. (10) RANCHO BERNARDO (SAN DIEGO) 26-7
6. (5) LA COSTA CANYON (CARLSBAD) 26-7
7. (15) JSERRA (SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO) 27-5-1
8. (9) EL CAMINO REAL (WOODLAND HILLS) 27-7
9. (8) NORCO 24-6
10. (11) DE LA SALLE (CONCORD) 19-9
11. (17) ELK GROVE 22-10
12. (18) CHRISTIAN (EL CAJON) 29-2
13. (NR) SAN YSIDRO 31-3
14. (16) LOS GATOS 30-6
15. (NR) REDONDO (REDONDO BEACH) 29-7
16. (1) SAN DIMAS 31-1
17. (NR) MISSION VIEJO 26-10
18. (7) SAN CLEMENTE 25-8
19. (20) AGOURA (AGOURA HILLS) 23-5
20. (14) HART (NEWHALL) 20-10-1
Dropped Out:
Previous No. 12 Monte Vista (Danville); No. 13 Torrey Pines (San Diego); No. 19 Valencia.
FINAL CAL-HI SPORTS SOFTBALL
TOP 20 OVERALL RANKINGS
After all of the excitement of the CIF Southern Section Division II championship had died down from last Friday – when previous state No. 1 Mission Viejo was stunned 1-0 by previous No. 2 Yucaipa – there were still some important games to be played around the state on Saturday.
In the CIF North Coast Section D1 final, No. 3 Amador Valley of Pleasanton continued its strong play at the end of the season with a 5-1 victory over James Logan of Union City. Then in two more major CIFSS title games, it was previous No. 4 West Ranch of Valencia falling 4-2 to previous No. 6 Norco in D1 while in D4 it was previous No. 15 Highland of Palmdale losing in a heart-breaking extra-inning game 1-0 to unranked Torrance.
With Norco (27-8) winning in the CIFSS D1 bracket, both Archbishop Mitty of San Jose and Pioneer of San Jose (team that was No. 2 in the nation and unbeaten before losing to Mitty) were moved up to No. 4 and No. 5 for the final rankings. The Cougars ended up No. 6 and were then followed by a bunch of CIFSS D1 teams sandwiched around CIF San Diego Section Open Division winner Poway.
(Compiled by Mark Tennis & Harold Abend; updated through reported games played Saturday, June 6; previous rating in parentheses)
1. (2) YUCAIPA 31-3
2. (1) MISSION VIEJO 30-1
3. (3) AMADOR VALLEY (PLEASANTON) 25-3
4. (5) ARCHBISHOP MITTY (SAN JOSE) 27-3
5. (6) PIONEER (SAN JOSE) 28-1
6. (8) NORCO 27-8
7. (9) PACIFICA (GARDEN GROVE) 22-6-1
8. (14) SANTIAGO (CORONA) 28-4
9. (10) POWAY 23-6
10. (4) WEST RANCH (VALENCIA) 26-6
11. (11) CANYON (ANAHEIM) 23-8
12. (12) LOS ALAMITOS 25-7
13. (16) ALHAMBRA (MARTINEZ) 25-3
14. (17) EAST UNION (MANTECA) 30-3
15. (18) MURRIETA VALLEY (MURRIETA) 25-7
16. (20) CHINO HILLS 24-8
17. (NR) CLOVIS 33-6
18. (NR) LA SERNA (WHITTIER 26-6
19. (7) GRAND TERRACE 26-4
20. (19) LUTHERAN (ORANGE) 25-4
Dropped Out:
Previous No. 13 Los Osos (Rancho Cucamonga); No. 15 Highland (Palmdale).
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
