Taylor Stephens from Gahr of Cerritos takes a hard swing during team’s 6-3 win over West of Torrance in CIFSS D1 playoffs. Gladiators reached title game of that bracket last season. Photo: @gahrsoftball / Twitter.com.
The first major upset of the section playoffs this year already has taken place as previous No. 4 Grand Terrace fell in its CIF Southern Section Division I first-round game. That created some movement for this week’s rankings. The team that beat the Titans, Huntington Beach, went from unranked to No. 19 but has been in the top five early in the season. This week’s only other newcomer is Notre Dame of Salinas. Many other section playoffs in the state still won’t be starting up until next week.
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(Previous ranking listed in parentheses)
(Through reported results of Saturday, May 4)
(Results from some games played on Monday, May 6 or later not included)
(Thanks to correspondents Chuck Nan for Orange County, Daniel Poulter for Northern California and Bill Hutton for CIF Central Coast Section for providing writeups and information)
1. (1) Norco 27-1
As the top seeded team for the CIF Southern Section Division I playoffs, the Cougars had a first round bye and didn’t play last week. They will play state No. 17 Vista Murrieta at home in their playoff opener on Tuesday. No one has to tell veteran head coach Rick Robinson that even a team as talented as the one he has can afford to overlook any opponent in the CIFSS D1 bracket. Vista Murrieta won its first-round contest 14-3 over Riverside Poly. Norco would be an easy State Team of the Year choice if it repeats as CIFSS D1 champion and there’s a good chance that being No. 1 in the nation would happen, too.
