Amador Valley Continues Meteoric Rise Within The NorCal Softball Rankings; No. 1 Mitty, No. 2 St. Francis Prepare To Clash Again •
NorCal Softball Rankings
All records are through Wednesday, May 3 (via MaxPreps). Previous rank is in parenthesis.
PICTURED ABOVE: Members Of No. 8 Amador Valley-Pleasanton Celebrate Their Livermore Stampede Win Over No. 1 Mitty Last Month. (Ben Enos photo)
1. (1) Archbishop Mitty-San Jose 18-2
2. (2) St. Francis-Mountain View 21-2
3. (4) Hollister 21-2
4. (3) Granada-Livermore 18-4
5. (6) Sutter 21-1
6. (7) East Nicolaus 24-0-1
7. (8) Pleasant Grove-Elk Grove 20-5
8. (20) Amador Valley-Pleasanton 13-10
9. (5) San Ramon Valley-Danville 16-5
10. (10) Vista del Lago-Folsom 22-2
11. (11) Vacaville 22-1
12. (13) Central Catholic-Modesto 21-3
13. (12) Oakdale 15-6
14. (9) Notre Dame-Salinas 15-6
15. (NR) Redwood-Larkspur 16-4-1
16. (NR) California-San Ramon 15-7
17. (16) Ponderosa-Shingle Springs 17-3-1
18. (17) Franklin-Elk Grove 20-5
19. (NR) Willow Glen-San Jose 15-5
20. (15) Whitney-Rocklin 15-5
DROPPED OUT:
No. 14 Pinole Valley, No. 18 College Park-Pleasant Hill and No. 19 Freedom-Oakley
5 TEAMS KNOCKING:
21. College Park-Pleasant Hill (13-6), 22. Pinole Valley (22-1), 23. Clayton Valley-Concord (14-4), 24. Monterey (15-5) and 25. Marin Catholic-Kentfield (14-5).
AROUND THE HORN
There’s a saying that many of the sports talking heads like to use a lot these days: “When a team continues to show you who they are, believe them.” For the past four weeks, Amador Valley-Pleasanton is playing like a Top 10 team — and it’s time it was reflected in these NorCal Softball Rankings.
And since we only put them into No. 20 on April 24, it was a steep climb for the Dons this week as we slotted them into No. 8. Since the start of the Livermore Stampede on April 6, Amador Valley has gone 10-3 with wins over current No. 1 Mitty-San Jose as well as No. 4 Granada-Livermore and No. 9 San Ramon Valley-Danville.
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Outside of Amador’s big jump, most of the movement was pretty mellow this week. Hollister moved up to No. 3 after Granada’s loss to Amador Valley. The Haybalers went toe-to-toe with Mitty and fell just 3-2. Central Catholic-Modesto and Oakdale traded placed at No. 12 and 13 after the Raiders defeated the Mustangs 6-0 in Valley Oak League play.
Three new teams join the rankings this week, two of them returning after being previously ranked earlier this season. The returnees are No. 15 Redwood-Larkspur which has won nine straight, and No. 19 Willow Glen-San Jose. The latter is a younger team which can claim one of No. 1 Mitty’s two losses this season. Willow Glen also added a win over No. 14 Notre Dame-Salinas and has two wins over a good Branham-San Jose squad.
The one brand new team is California-San Ramon. The Grizzlies have been in the shadows of a few other East Bay Athletic League teams this season, but have won six in a row and 10 of their last 11.
We’ll be treated to No. 1 Mitty at No. 2 St. Francis-Mountain View this Friday (May 5) at 4 p.m.. The Monarchs have held the top spot since beating the Lancers 3-2 on April 19. Just a hunch: It probably won’t be the last time these two squads meet this month.