SportStars NorCal Softball Rankings | April 4

Two Teams Jump From Teens Into Top 8 As NorCal Softball Rankings See Decent Shakeup Before Livermore Stampede Promises More •

NorCal Softball Rankings

All records are through Monday, April 3 (via MaxPreps). Previous rank is in parenthesis.
PICTURED ABOVE: Sophomore Delaney Aumua Of No. 2 Granada-Livermore. (Chace Bryson photo)

1. (1)  St. Francis-Mountain View   8-1

2. (2)  Granada-Livermore   6-1

3. (3)  Central Catholic-Modesto   7-1

4. (4)  Archbishop Mitty-San Jose   6-1

5. (5)  San Ramon Valley-Danville   8-0

6. (8)  Hollister   13-2

7. (14)  Sutter   13-0

8. (13)  Vista del Lago-Folsom  11-0

9. (9)  East Nicolaus  7-0-1

10. (10)  Notre Dame-Salinas   5-3

11. (11)  Oakdale   8-3

12. (15)  College Park-Pleasant Hill   4-0

13. (6)  Foothill-Pleasanton   6-1

14. (7)  Heritage-Brentwood   6-2

15. (12)  Benicia   4-2

16. (17)  Pinole Valley   13-0

17. (NR)  Franklin-Elk Grove   11-0

18. (16) Whitney-Rocklin   7-1

19. (19)  Granite Bay   9-3

20. (NR)  Sequoia-Redwood City  9-0

DROPPED OUT:

No. 18 Sheldon-Sacramento and No. 20 Willow Glen-San Jose.

5 TEAMS KNOCKING:

21. Livermore (6-3), 22. Willow Glen-San Jose (7-2), 23. Pleasant Grove-Elk Grove (9-3), 24. Vintage-Napa (7-4) and 25. Folsom (4-2).

AROUND THE HORN

Fans of small school softball rejoice — we now have two legit small school powers inside the Top 10. Sutter is the newest team to storm into the top half, taking over No. 7 in the NorCal Softball Rankings after beating former-No. 7 Heritage-Brentwood 9-1 in the championship of the Reno/Sparks Tournament.

An unbeaten East Nicolaus team is the other small school in the Top 10. The Spartans are at No. 9 for the second consecutive week. Right between East Nicolaus and Sutter is one of the other big movers this week, No. 8 Vista del Lago-Folsom. The Eagles went 5-0 last week with wins over No. 19 Granite Bay and a nine-win Pleasant Grove-Elk Grove team that just reached the “5 Teams Knocking” Category.

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Former No. 6 Foothill-Pleasanton dropped seven spots to No. 13 after an upset loss to unranked Monte Vista-Danville. Foothill is now behind unbeaten No. 12 College Park-Pleasant Hill — which owns a win a shutout win over Monte Vista. We placed the two Falcons teams next to each other since they’ll face one another on the field Thursday as part of the Livermore Stampede.

The two new teams this week are both undefeated squads. No. 17 Franklin-Elk Grove debuts after a 5-0 week that included an 8-5 win over previous-No. 18 Sheldon-Sacramento. Meanwhile, Sequoia-Redwood City debuts at No. 20 with five of its nine wins by shutout. That includes an 8-0 whopping of Los Gatos last week.

Getting back to the Stampede tournament, it will include eight Top 20 teams. But better still, four of our Top 5. There will be two days of pool play before breaking into bracket play on Saturday. Of the four pools of four, Pool B would be the proverbial “Group Of Death.” It includes No. 5 San Ramon Valley, No. 12 College Park, No. 13 Foothill-Pleasanton and No. 16 Whitney. Pool C just has No. 1 St. Francis-Mountain View and No. 2 Granada-Livermore along with the Monte Vista team that recently upset Foothill. St. Francis and Granada clash at 7:15 p.m. on Friday night.