San Marcos players show off title patches after they won CIF San Diego Section Open Division title last Saturday. The team’s top two players are sophs. Photo: @SoftballSMHS/Twitter.com.
Orange Lutheran and Los Alamitos will meet on Tuesday in a No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown that also has mythical national title implications. Mater Dei, meanwhile, goes back up into the top 10 at No. 7 after wins over previous No. 3 Etiwanda and Great Oak of Temecula. Newcomers this week include CIF San Diego Section Open Division champion San Marcos and CIF Central Section D1 champion Buchanan of Clovis.
Note: There are not going to be separate free and premium posts for new rankings this season in any sport. All new and final rankings will be for Gold Club members only. This also is a great time to sign up for our Gold Club to see all of our great content, including just published 20,000 word feature on the 50 greatest football teams in state history (basketball coming soon). Our yearly rate has gone up, but you can now get it for just $9.99 to check it out for three months. For details, CLICK HERE.
(After games of Saturday, May 28)
(Previous ranking in parentheses)
*Indicates season complete.
(Paul Muyskens contributed writeups to this post)
1. (1) LUTHERAN (ORANGE) 29-3
To say the Lancers have been hot with the bats is an understatement. Despite Lakewood catcher Montana Dixon hitting a pair of homers off of OLu’s Maddy Dwyer (they’ll be future teammates at Stanford), it wasn’t a problem in last week’s CIF Southern Section Division I quarterfinals since Orange Lutheran won 9-5. In the team’s two previous playoff games, it scored 11 and 12 runs. Mackenzie Boesel and Ciara Briggs led the way at the plate vs. Lakewood with Boesel going 3-for-4 with two doubles and two runs scored while Briggs hammered a three-run homer. Noelle Hee also went 2-for-3 with three RBI. OLu also did its part in setting up Tuesday’s monster semifinal vs. state No. 2 Los Alamitos. In last season’s playoffs, the Griffins ended the Lancers’ season with a 7-1 win in the second round. The teams did not get seeded No. 1 and No. 2 in the bracket since the CIFSS put Etiwanda in the No. 1 slot.
