Cal-bound Tucker Bougie (left) helped Tamalpais go 19-1 in the Marin County Athletic League and a possible No. 1 divisional state ranking. At right is Bishop Amat’s Ryan Verdugo, who shut down previous state No. 3 Buchanan on Tuesday in a result that will shake up the final D1 rankings. Photos: Cal Baseball on Twitter & Twitter.com.
With the 2020-21 season ending on Saturday and CIF SoCal regionals already into the semifinals, here’s a look at our own five-division state rankings for baseball. For this year, we are combining the teams in the SoCal regional bracket into divisions (not the same) and then injecting where the NorCal teams would fit in based on our own criteria. The only NorCal team that is ranking at the top of any division is Colusa for D5. There are two others that could still end No. 1 based on final results from this week’s regional playoffs.
Note: We hope you enjoy this free post on CalHiSports.com. All final state rankings are available only to our Gold Club members. Some of the upcoming all-state baseball teams also will be for Gold Club members only. To check out getting a Gold Club membership to see all of those rankings plus all of our updated state record lists, totally authentic historical features and more, CLICK HERE.
(Softball State Ranks By Divisions will be done on Friday after CIF SoCal games played on Thursday.)
All teams are ranked in the same order as our overall State TOP 35 Rankings, adjusted for results so far this week.
All regional semifinals slated for Thursday with finals slated for Saturday (unless noted).
Since all of our previous division rankings have been done in five divisions and since this year’s format for the SoCal regionals wasn’t completely known until the actual pairings came out, we are continuing with the same divisions.
These five divisions aren’t the same as the section divisions or this week’s CIF SoCal playoffs. An Open Division team from one section, for example, may be D2 or D3 for the state, but may be D1 for us. The CIF Southern Section also had seven playoff divisions, which require us to condense its teams into five divisions below. The breakdown is that all CIFSS D1 teams are D1 for us, D2 & D3 from the CIFSS would be D2 for us, D4 would be D3 and then for CIFSS D5, D6 and D7 teams it’s a mix of placements into D3, D4 and D5 for us. Larger enrollment schools can never be D5 for us, but a few can be D4. Placing teams into five state divisions is something we’ve been doing for many years.
Teams from Northern California sections that did not have playoffs this year were placed into the same divisions in which they were placed two years ago (no playoffs last year).
DIVISION I
1. Harvard-Westlake (Studio City) 28-4
2. JSerra (SJ Capistrano) 27-7*
3. Lutheran (Orange) 30-5*
4. Ayala (Chino Hills) 25-3*
5. Buchanan (Clovis) 29-3
6. De La Salle (Concord) 20-4
7. Elk Grove 23-4
8. Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks) 21-9
9. Bishop Amat (La Puente) 21-8*
10. Valley Christian (San Jose) 24-9
11. Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 24-5
12. Eastlake (Chula Vista) 25-10
13. Grossmont (El Cajon) 29-7
14. San Marcos 27-6-1
15. M.L. King (Riverside) 24-6
*SoCal D1 Semifinals:
Orange Lutheran vs JSerra
Bishop Amat vs. Ayala
(D3) Granite Hills (El Cajon) vs. Cleveland (Reseda)
More Teams: Bullard (Fresno) 24-5-1, California (San Ramon) 18-6, Corona 21-9, Cypress 19-11, Damien (La Verne) 20-7, Granite Bay 20-7, Granite Hills (El Cajon) 26-10*, Huntington Beach 24-5, La Costa Canyon (Carlsbad) 20-13, Liberty (Bakersfield) 16-6, San Joaquin Memorial (Fresno) 24-5, St. Mary’s (Stockton) 16-4, Stockdale (Bakersfield) 13-5, Yucaipa 21-10.
Notes: Bishop Amat pulled off a 4-2 upset of previous state No. 3 and top seed Buchanan on Tuesday in the first round of the first-ever CIF SoCal D1 playoffs. That means none of the other CIFSS teams will have to travel to Clovis for a semifinal or final game. We will still rank Buchanan higher than Amat based on overall season performances, but the loss clearly pushes the Bears back behind the four CIFSS D1 teams still playing. They’ve been behind those four at different times this season, but had moved up prior to this week. The CIFSS D1 champion, Harvard-Westlake, has opted out of this week’s playoffs and has clinched no worse than a No. 1 or No. 2 final state ranking.
DIVISION II
1. Thousand Oaks 29-1
2. Millikan (Long Beach) 24-4*
3. Trabuco Hills (Mission Viejo) 25-9*
4. Hart (Newhall) 21-3*
5. Palo Alto 21-5
6. Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth) 22-4
7. Camarillo 21-8*
8. Santana (Santee) 21-6
9. Steele Canyon (Spring Valley) 23-11*
10. Woodcreek (Roseville) 22-4
11. Bonita (La Verne) 17-7
12. Los Gatos 20-7
13. Carlsbad 21-9
14. Arlington (Riverside) 22-12*
15. Warren (Downey) 24-4
*SoCal Regional Semifinals:
(D2) Trabuco Hills vs. La Costa Canyon
(D2) Camarillo vs. Millikan
(D3) Hart (Newhall) vs. Arlington
(D4) Royal vs. Steele Canyon
More Teams: Arroyo Grande 26-4, Carlsbad 21-9, Corona del Mar (Newport Beach) 20-8, El Diamante (Visalia) 21-8, Point Loma (San Diego) 20-14, San Dimas 20-5
Notes: Thousand Oaks opted out of the regional playoffs after winning the CIFSS D2 championship. We thought about placing all CIFSS D2 teams in D1, but left it the way it’s been the last few years. In the future, when the CIFSS goes to competitive equity based divisions at the end of the regular season instead of pre-determined divisions, a team like Thousand Oaks will be in the top division with all of the others.
CCS Open Division semifinalists Palo Alto and Los Gatos have both been D2 in these rankings for many years and we have left them there. San Diego Section Open Division team Santana of Santee also has been placed D2 for these rankings.
Royal’s Riley Feigenbaum poses with the ball after pitching a no-hitter several weeks ago. Photo: @baseball_royal / Twitter.com.
DIVISION III
1. Royal (Simi Valley) 22-5*
2. Rio Americano (Sacramento) 25-2
3. Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa) 17-3
4. Paraclete (Lancaster) 20-5
5. Live Oak (Morgan Hill) 17-3
6. Rancho Cucamonga 22-12*
7. Camarillo 21-8
8. La Habra 23-10*
9. San Pedro 17-8
10. Sequoia (Redwood City) 23-3
*SoCal Regional Semifinals:
(D4) Royal vs. Steele Canyon
(D4) Rancho Cucamonga vs. Ridgeview (Bakersfield)
(D3) Granite Hills (El Cajon) vs. Cleveland (Reseda)
(D5) Elsinore vs. Christian (El Cajon)
(D5) La Habra vs. Lancaster
Notes: Royal needs two more wins to lock up No. 1 for this state rankings division as well as to win the CIF SoCal D4 title. If the Highlanders were to falter, the team we like best to move up so far is Rio Americano out of the Sac-Joaquin Section. A lot of the NorCal teams weren’t able to play too many teams outside of their area, but the Raiders were lucky to be next door neighbors to SJS D1 powerhouse Jesuit (Carmichael) and were able to get a win against the Marauders. That just made their 25-2 season record a bit more impressive.
A lot of teams we have placed in D3 is due to frankly just being from schools that are too large to be D4 or D5 in these rankings (and thus small schools for all-state player consideration). They are in lower CIF SoCal divisions, but are higher for these rankings. This would include Ridgeview, Elsinore and Cleveland of Reseda.
More Teams: Aptos 15-3, Banning (Wilmington) 17-6, Cajon (San Bernardino) 15-7, Casa Grande (Petaluma) 15-3, Citrus Valley (Redlands) 22-8, Cleveland (Reseda) 15-4*, Elsinore 20-6*, Heritage (Menifee) 20-4, Highland (Lancaster) 20-8, Kerman 21-3, Laguna Creek (Elk Grove) 21-3, Laguna Hills 20-9, La Jolla Country Day 21-10, McClatchy (Sacramento) 20-4,Mountain View 15-6, Pleasant Valley (Chico) 19-1, Ponderosa (Shingle Springs) 18-7, Ridgeview (Bakersfield) 12-10*, Southwest (El Centro) 19-6.
Braeden Ross from Christian of El Cajon will play next at Cal State Northridge, Photo: Courtesy Family.
DIVISION IV
1. Christian (El Cajon) 26-4*
2. Tamalpais (Mill Valley) 19-1
3. Aquinas (San Bernardino) 21-3
4. Lancaster 17-9*
5. Bakersfield Christian 22-9
6. Burlingame 18-9
7. Marysville 22-4
8. Crean Lutheran (Irvine) 23-11
9. Malibu 17-4
10. Morro Bay 22-8
*SoCal Regional Semifinals:
(D5) Christian (El Cajon) vs. Elsinore
(D5) La Habra vs. Lancaster
(D5-A) Washington (Easton) vs. Orange Glen
Notes: In order to gain the final No. 1 for this division, Christian would need to beat Elsinore on Thursday and then either Lancaster or La Habra on Saturday. We have both La Habra and Elsinore as D3 for these rankings. Both La Habra and Christian had byes in Tuesday’s opening round. The Patriots won the CIF San Diego Section D3 title with a 7-4 win vs. San Dieguito Academy of Encinitas. Vaughn Major and Josh Meekins both hit home runs.
If Christian doesn’t win out, Tamalpais of Mill Valley would likely move up from No. 2. The Red Tailed Hawks, however, could arguably already be in the Top 35 overall or higher. Prep Baseball Report just loves them at No. 6 overall in the state, but without any games outside of the Marin County Athletic League (and not even an unbeaten league record) being much higher for us isn’t possible. Depending on how things go this week, Tam could come up for the final rankings. The leading player is Cal-bound pitcher-hitter Tucker Bougie.
More Teams: Alpha Charter (Elverta) 7-8, Arroyo Valley (San Bernardino) 14-9*, Calaveras (San Andreas) 13-2, Colfax 22-6, Linfield Christian (Temecula) 18-8, Los Altos 14-12, Orange Glen (Escondido) 14-15*, Palma (Salinas) 13-8-1, Santa Maria 19-10, South Pasadena 12-11, St. Anthony (Long Beach) 18-8, Sutter 18-8, West Hills (Santee) 16-17*.
DIVISION V
1. Colusa 27-1
2. Washington (Easton) 18-13*
3. de Toledo (West Hills) 15-1
4. Woodland Christian 10-2
5. University Prep (Redding) 19-2
6. Arvin 17-3
7. Viewpoint (Calabasas) 15-7
8. Hesperia Christian 17-2**
9. University (San Francisco) 13-2
10. Kennedy (Delano) 12-3-1
*SoCal Regional Semifinals
(D5-A) Washington vs. Orange Glen (Escondido)
Notes: We actually could have left no teams still going in this division, but Washington Union traditionally has been a small school in the CIF Central Section. The other teams in the D5-A SoCal bracket are all larger schools able to play down with not as impressive records due to competitive equity.
Colusa had a sensational season in the CIF Northern Section and is poised to grab D5 State Team of Year honors. The only loss was to Woodland Christian (No. 4), but that was overcome by several wins, the biggest of which was against Pleasant Valley of Chico and was PV’s only loss in a 19-1 season. We’ll have more on all of the final State Teams of the Year when final rankings are wrapped up next week.
More Teams: Calvary Christian Academy (Chula Vista) 16-4, Etna 14-3, Harker Academy (San Jose) 20-6**, Holtville 15-11, Minarets (O’Neals) 16-11, St. Joseph Notre Dame (Alameda) 17-5, Stuart Hall (San Francisco) 9-1, Tarbut v’Torah (Irvine) 15-4, Trinity Classical (Valencia) 13-6, Vasquez (Acton) 18-4.
**Indicates forfeit wins not included.
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
