Baseball, Softball State Top 20s

Alex Jackson (left) is the catcher for this week’s new No. 1 baseball team while Taylor McQuillin is the ace pitcher for Mission Viejo in softball, which has been No. 1 in the state since the preseason. Photos: Harold Abend & Courtesy Student Sports.

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Coach and trainer Chris Asher works with state stat stars and players from state-ranked teams of all ages, helping them to improve their speed, quickness and agility. He is based in Hollywood, also has a role with the UCLA track program and serves athletes within many miles of his location. For more about him, CLICK HERE. For a video about his Gold Medal Excellence training program, CLICK HERE.

It’s another week and another new No. 1 team in the Cal-Hi Sports State Top 20 for baseball.

With previous No. 1 Clovis not able to sweep in its big series against No. 6 Buchanan of Clovis, it’s time to give Rancho Bernardo of San Diego a crack at being able to hold onto the state’s No. 1 ranking.

In Rancho Bernardo’s three games last week, it was a sweep of league opponent Mt. Carmel by scores of 5-3, 6-5 and 10-2. Broncos’ catcher Alex Jackson, the possible first-round MLB draft pick, was walked three times in that third game, but senior Mondesi Gutierrez went 2-for-2 with a triple and three RBI. If the other players continue to produce like that when Jackson is obviously pitched around, Rancho Bernardo will be very hard to beat in the upcoming CIF San Diego Section Open Division playoffs.

Clovis won the first game of its showdown series over Buchanan 1-0, but then lost 9-4 later in the week. By beating Clovis once, Buchanan stayed at No. 6 in this week’s rankings while the Cougars fell closer to their rivals and are now at No. 4.

St. Francis of Mountain View and Elk Grove have now moved up to the second the third positions. While Elk Grove did beat St. Francis in the NorCal Boras Classic final and won the Boras Classic title on Saturday with a win over Temecula Valley, the Lancers won earlier in the season over the Herd, they have a better overall record and they play in a stronger league. Elk Grove started out 5-4 and has now won 15 straight games.

(Compiled with assistance from Paul Muyskens; updated through games played Saturday, May 3; previous rating in parentheses)

1. (2) Rancho Bernardo (San Diego) 20-3

20. (NR) Glendora 17-5

Dropped Out: Previous No. 14 Hart (Newhall); No. 17 California (San Ramon).

NEW SOFTBALL STATE
TOP 20 OVERALL RANKINGS

With three of last week’s top 10 from our State Top 20 suffering losses last week, there were some changes to consider.

One of those was which team should be No. 4 after last week’s No. 4, M.L. King of Riverside, lost a league game to Corona one week after knocking off both Norco and Corona Santiago.

Unbeaten Vacaville from the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section was a prime contender to move up, but its strength of schedule is just too far removed from the type of schedule that the top teams in the CIF Southern Section are playing.

Instead of the Bulldogs, the team chosen to move up to fourth was preseason No. 2 Pacifica of Garden Grove. The Mariners went 1-0-1 in a doubleheader with state-ranked Chino and in two weeks will play No. 1 Mission Viejo in another doubleheader.

Eventually, if the CIFSS teams continue to beat each other, which is always possible, Vacaville will get the nod to move up to fourth. It’s just too early right now for that.

In addition to Pacifica, another Orange County team given a strong boost this week was Huntington Beach. The Oilers continue to roll in the perennially strong Sunset League with wins last week over Los Alamitos (runner-up at the Carew Classic) and Newport Harbor. They went from No. 14 to No. 7 in this week’s rankings.

(Compiled with assistance from Paul Muyskens; updated through games played Saturday, May 3; previous rating in parentheses)

1. (1) Mission Viejo 18-0

20. (NR) Cathedral Catholic (San Diego) 22-2

Dropped Out: Previous No. 15 Rocklin.

Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports