Section Playoffs Deliver Big Changes To NorCal Softball Rankings, Including A Brand New No. 1 Out Of The Central Coast •
NorCal Softball Rankings
All records are through Saturday, May 27 (via MaxPreps). Previous rank is in parenthesis.
PICTURED ABOVE: Your New No. 1, The Hollister Haybalers. (Central Coast Section photo/Twitter)
1. (3) Hollister 27-3
2. (1) St. Francis-Mountain View 26-3
3. (2) Archbishop Mitty-San Jose 21-4
4. (20) Whitney-Rocklin 21-7
5. (11) Vacaville 29-2
6. (18) California-San Ramon 21-8
7. (4) San Ramon Valley-Danville 23-6
8. (8) East Nicolaus 28-1-1
9. (7) Pleasant Grove-Elk Grove 24-7
10. (NR) Ponderosa-Shingle Springs 23-4-1
11. (6) Granada-Livermore 21-6
12. (10) Vista del Lago-Folsom 26-3
13. (NR) Oak Ridge-El Dorado Hills 17-8
14. (16) Willow Glen-San Jose 20-7
15. (5) Sutter 26-2
16. (9) Amador Valley-Pleasanton 15-12
17. (17) Notre Dame-Salinas 20-7
18. (NR) Inderkum-Sacramento 22-8
19. (19) Granite Bay 20-7
20. (NR) Monterey 20-7
DROPPED OUT:
No. 12 Central Catholic-Modesto, No. 13 Oakdale, No. 14 Redwood-Larkspur and No. 15 Milpitas
5 TEAMS KNOCKING:
21. Central Catholic-Modesto (27-4), 22. Casa Grande-Petaluma (25-4), 23. Pinole Valley (28-1), 24. Pleasant Valley-Chico (18-7) and 25. Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa (18-9).
AROUND THE HORN
What a wild two weeks inside of the NorCal Softball Rankings. We need to start with Hollister — for obvious reasons.
The Haybalers didn’t come from nowhere, of course. They’ve been in our Top 5 for most of May and entered the section playoffs at No. 3. That doesn’t mean we saw them knocking off both the No. 1 and 2 teams en route to a CCS Open Division title. BIG hat tip to pitcher Sophia Mariottini and the Hollister defense that allowed just one run total in wins over St. Francis-Mountain View and Mitty-San Jose.
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Will the West Catholic Athletic League get its revenge in this week’s CIF regional playoffs? We’d wager that either St. Francis or Mitty will get a shot.
As we crunched numbers and examined full bodies of work over the weekend, we came to the conclusion that the Sac-Joaquin Section was just a deeper section than the North Coast Section this season. That’s reflected in both Whitney-Rocklin and Vacaville skyrocketing into the Top 5. Vacaville had a 7-1 win over NCS Division I champion, new-No. 6 California-San Ramon, this season. Meanwhile, 7-1 was the score of the SJS Div. II final with Whitney beating Vacaville.
SJS Division I finalists Oak Ridge and Inderkum-Sacramento both enter the rankings — the second time for OR and the first for Inderkum. Ponderosa-Shingle Springs also rises from the “5 Knocking” category to debut at No. 10. The Bruins defeated former No. 12 Central Catholic-Modesto and Raiders’ ace Randi Roelling 1-0 in the SJS Div. III final. They also have a number of other quality wins on the season, and a notable tie against No. 8 East Nicolaus.
Sutter was one of the few SJS teams to drop this time around. The Huskies’ Div. V quarterfinal upset loss to Orestimba was the first big shock of the two-week section playoff window.
Unlike last season, the regional playoffs have a real chance to significantly reshape the NorCal Softball Rankings one last time. Final rankings will post by next Wednesday.