Here’s a quick look at the top 10 teams that will be highlighted in this week’s new Cal-Hi Sports State Top 20 rankings for baseball and softball.
Note: For more complete breakdowns on each top 10 team and for the next 10 teams plus more teams on the bubble, all of that info is for our Gold Club members only. We do have a three-month subscription going right now, however, that is just $9.99 and in addition to all of our rankings that also will include state record updates plus additional, exclusive Gold Club content. For details, CLICK HERE.
(After games of Saturday, April 30)
(Previous ranking in parentheses)
TOP 10 STATE
BASEBALL TEAMS
1. (1) Buchanan (Clovis) 23-1
Even if Bears split with Clovis this week, it will be hard to dislodge them from top rankings.
2. (3) Redondo Union (Redondo Beach) 20-1*
Schedule for Seahawks toughens in next two weeks, beginning this week with Peninsula.
3. (5) Davis 18-3
A 2-1 win over Elk Grove prevented a two-loss week. Could win Boras Classic state title on Saturday.
4. (9) JSerra (San Juan Capistrano) 19-6
Three-game sweep of previous No. 2 Orange Lutheran puts the Lions back up near the top.
5. (6) Clovis North (Fresno) 20-4-1
Broncos are eyeing a two-game series next week against No. 1 Buchanan.
6. (7) De La Salle (Concord) 15-3
Wins against California (San Ramon) and San Ramon Valley (Danville) keep Spartans on top of CIF North Coast Section.
7. (10) Clovis 21-5
Cougars will get a shot in two games vs. Buchanan this week. Don’t think Clovis Unified has ever had three of state’s top seven ranked baseball teams before.
8. (12) J.W. North (Riverside) 18-6
This team could be similar to school’s 2011 squad that won CIFSS D1 title.
9. (13) El Toro (Lake Forest) 18-5
Super week for Chargers with wins against Mission Viejo, San Clemente and Tesoro (twice).
10. (14) La Costa Canyon (Carlsbad) 17-5
In recent weeks, Mavs have become solid No. 1 from CIF San Diego Section.
TOP 10 STATE
SOFTBALL TEAMS
1. (2) Lutheran (Orange) 22-3
Walk-off grand slam by Lauren Espalin in bottom of seventh gave Lancers their 6-2 win over previous No. 1 last Friday.
2. (1) Mission Viejo 19-3
It’s just a flip-flop at the top after Diablos lost that 6-2 game to Orange Lutheran in Michelle Carew Classic semifinal.
3. (4) La Habra 22-1
Highlanders go back to where they were two weeks ago with another 2-0 week combined with Huntington Beach taking a loss to Marina of Huntington Beach.
4. (5) Los Alamitos 19-2
Griffins, who still have another game vs. Huntington Beach to play in Sunset League, won twice last week.
5. (6) Etiwanda 24-2
Only reported score of the week for Eagles was 14-3 win vs. Upland.
6. (3) Huntington Beach 19-3
A loss to Marina (Huntington Beach) causes the Oilers to lose a few positions. They still have a sterling overall record and will play new No. 1 Orange Lutheran next week.
7. (7) Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 21-4
No change for Monarchs after wins against Rosary and JSerra.
8. (8) Amador Valley (Pleasanton) 15-2
One swing of the bat is perhaps all that prevented Amador from having a win when it played new No. 1 Orange Lutheran a couple of weeks ago.
9. (9) Grand Terrace 17-1
It was a great win for the Titans when they stepped up last week and beat Corona Santiago.
10. (10) Oaks Christian (Westlake Village) 23-0-1
Westlake and Newbury Park were latest Marmonte League foes who fell to the Lions.
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
2 Comments
Hello Cal Hi Sports,
I would just like to hear a comment back on how the Cal Hi Sports staff views and feels about the undefeated Div 6 softball team at Paraclete HS would match up against some of the teams in your top 10 list? The 17-0 spirits have only given up 3 runs their last 9 games with 7 of those victories being shutouts. The argument can be made that Paraclete plays a weak schedule and that they don’t belong in Div 6 but some of their most recent victories were against schools such as Hoover, Marshall, Sierra Canyon, and swept a double header against Alemany HS.
Paraclete’s starting pitchers with Taylor Roberts and Kailla Searcy have to be amongst the tops in So Cal HS pitchers with Roberts ERA probably around .075 or less and Searcy on the road back to recovery from a shoulder injury before Christmas makes Paraclete the front runner to defend their Div 6 CIF Championship. Both Roberts and Searcy have 10+ home runs on the season and with 5 games left in the Spirit’s regular season Searcy is looking at breaking the all time California state record for home runs.
It is very unfortunate for these 2 power hitting pitchers that Head Coach Neill does not post any results or game stats on Max Preps because Paraclete’s statistics would be the tops of Div 6 and would lead several of the Southern Section Max Preps batting, pitching, and fielding categories.
I challenge the reporting staff at Cal Hi Sports to look into the 2016 softball team at Paraclete HS in Lancaster, Ca. Last year Antelope Valley softball news and sports were dominated by Highland HS 2015 grad in Rachel Garcia. With Garcia at UCLA now, hopefully this softball team will get some overdue respect and recognition for the achievements that they have accomplished and that several of the players like Searcy and Roberts will be considered for 1st team post season awards.
Thank you
We wrote up Paraclete many times last season and picked Coach Neill as our State Coach of the Year (in case you didn’t know).
Sweeping Alemany isn’t quite like playing several top-ranked teams in a row so I would greatly hesitate for Top 20 overall in the state.
Still, we’ll do a better job of checking up on them toward the end of season and will list on bubble.
And if Coach Neill did do MaxPreps, knowing how they love small school teams, they might even put them in the national top 25. Paraclete has got to be as good as Bald Knob, Arkansas.