With Amador Valley of Pleasanton taking a loss, Mission Viejo gets bumped up to No. 5 in this week’s state rankings. Sheldon of Sacramento also gets to move from No. 9 to No. 8.
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(Through games of Saturday, May 20; Previous ranking in parentheses)
1. (1) Norco 30-0
The Cougars had a bye in the first-round of the CIF Southern Section Division I playoffs as the top seed and will take on Vista Murrieta in the second round. The Broncos have only lost once since early April and that was after they already clinched their league title.
Malia Quarles had some big hits to help Gahr of Cerritos shake off the rust in first-round playoff win over Rosary Academy. Photo: SoCalSidelines.com.
The Griffins, like Norco, also had a bye in the opening round of the CIFSS Division I playoffs and did not play last week. Norco and Los Al also are No. 1 and No. 2 in the Flo50 national rankings that are produced by FloSoftball.
3. (3) Gahr (Cerritos) 26-0
Madison Huskey and Malia Quarles each drove in two runs while Dejanae Davis had a solo home run as the Gladiators broke a late 4-4 tie and beat Rosary of Fullerton. They are the top seed in the CIFSS Division II playoffs.
4. (4) Lutheran (Orange) 26-4
Too bad that either the Lancers or state No. 17 Oaks Christian of Westlake Village will have a season end in the second-round of the CIFSS Division I playoffs. That’s the most intriguing early week game this week in the state.
5. (8) Mission Viejo 21-5
By being in the CIFSS D1 playoffs and having the chance to play several teams near the top of the state rankings plus by being the defending State Team of the Year, we’re going to move up the Diablos into the top five of this week’s rankings.
6. (7) San Marcos 27-4
San Diego’s defending Open Division champion got tested in both of its first two playoff games. The Knights advanced but only by 1-0 scores against both Rancho Buena Vista of Vista and Granite Hills of El Cajon. Payton Tidd pitched shutouts in both.
7. (6) Buena (Ventura) 23-0-1
Despite a crushing 16-1 victory vs. Pacifica of Oxnard in CIFSS D4 playoffs, we have to adjust the Bulldogs’ ranking in favor of teams that have a chance to win section titles in much stronger divisions.
8. (9) Sheldon (Sacramento) 27-2
Not sure why top seed Sheldon and No. 2 Tracy have to win D1 section playoff openers 15-0 and 27-1 against schools that just shouldn’t be D1, but those routs are over with and the Sac-Joaquin Section final four in D1 should be great.
