De La Salle primed for return to glory. Non-local teams pull down top two softball seeds. Santa Clara baseball finally getting respect? Plus more storylines as NorCal play gets under way on Tuesday.
De La Salle primed for return to glory. Non-local teams pull down top two softball seeds. Santa Clara baseball finally getting respect? Plus more storylines as NorCal play gets under way on Tuesday.
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There will be no shortage of Bay Area teams in this year’s California Interscholastic Federation Northern California regional baseball and softball playoffs.
The CIF NorCal brackets were released on Sunday, and De La Salle (26-4) headlines the Division I baseball bracket. The Spartans have been almost untouchable this season, frequently winning games by 10 or more runs.
Granada, the reigning NorCal champs and only Bay Area team to beat De La Salle this season, is not in this year’s playoffs after suffering a quarterfinal loss to Casa Grande in the NCS quarterfinals.
The Spartans could face No. 5 Valley Christian (25-7-1), which will travel to face St. Mary’s of Stockton in the NorCal opening round. St. Mary’s (25-8) is one of two teams other than Granada to beat De La Salle this year.
De La Salle is looking for its third NorCal title in the regional competition’s fourth edition. The Spartans won the first two Division I tournaments in 2022 and 2023 and lost to Granada in the 2024 semifinals.
Elsewhere in the Division I bracket, No. 3 Serra (26-6) will host No. 6 College Park (17-11) in an all-Bay Area battle. No. 7 Los Gatos (24-5) will travel to Elk Grove to face No. 2 Franklin (26-7).
NON-LOCAL TEAMS PULL DOWN TOP TWO SOFTBALL SEEDS
The Bay Area has some pretty good softball teams this year, but neither of the two best in Northern California.
That was the determination of the CIF seeding committee in the Division I bracket. St. Francis, fresh off an extra-inning win over previously undefeated Willow Glen in the CCS Open Division championship, was the highest-seeded Bay Area team at No. 3.
The top seeds are No. 1 Oak Ridge of El Dorado Hills and No. 2 Del Oro of Loomis.
In fairness to the committee, there are valid arguments to be made in defense of those teams being named the two best in NorCal. Oak Ridge (24-4) is fresh off a Sac-Joaquin Section Division I title, where it beat top seed Del Oro 3-2 thanks to a three-run rally in the sixth inning.
The seedings also generally align with MaxPreps’ California state softball rankings. Del Oro (28-2) is the No. 3 team in the state, and Oak Ridge is No. 4. St. Francis (27-3) comes in at No. 5.
The margins are slim. Del Oro’s rating is 33.37, Oak Ridge’s is 32.68 and St. Francis’ is 32.2.
The Lancers are the only Bay Area Division I team to get a home game in the first round. They will host Rocklin at 4 p.m. on Tuesday.
No. 7 Willow Glen (28-1) will travel to Del Oro for its quarterfinal matchup, and could do the Lancers a big favor by knocking off the Golden Eagles. No. 8 Capuchino (21-7) will have a similar undertaking as it travels to face Oak Ridge.
SANTA CLARA GETTING THE RESPECT IT CRAVES?
“We showed that we didn’t belong in D-IV or being the eighth seed.”
“I thank all those guys in that room who doubted us.”
Those were the words of Santa Clara pitcher Drew Diffenderfer and coach Pedro Martinez after the Bruins, the lowest seed in the field, dominated St. Francis SCP 8-0 to win the CCS Division IV championship. Now, Santa Clara is right back in Division IV.
This time, the Bruins (27-3) were seeded No. 3 in NorCal and will get their first home game of the postseason. They will host No. 6 Oakland Tech (17-9), the champions of the Oakland Section.
Another all-Bay Area matchup in D-IV features No. 4 Las Lomas (16-11) and No. 5 Menlo School (21-8). Las Lomas is the NCS Division IV champion, while Menlo won the CCS Division V title.
The game will be played at Acalanes High School.
Etc.
No. 8 Foothill (16-9-1) will have an uphill battle right from the get-go in the Division II softball tournament, but it won’t be the first time. The Falcons will travel up Interstate 680 to take on top seed Vanden of Fairfield (21-4) in their opening-round matchup, but Foothill just won the NCS Division I third-place game as the No. 13 seed in the bracket. Elsewhere in the D-II bracket, No. 4 Liberty, the NCS Division I champion, will host Central Catholic of Modesto. No. 6 King’s Academy, the CCS Division I champ, will travel to Sacramento to face Destiny Christian. … No. 2 St. Francis is positioned for back-to-back home games in the D-II baseball bracket, hosting No. 7 Central Catholic-Modesto. Opposite them in the bracket is No. 6 Acalanes, which could clinch a home game or a trip to Mountain View with a successful trip up to No. 3 Chico. … No. 1 Hillsdale gets a free pass to the semifinal round in D-III softball, where the Fighting Knights will await the winner of No. 4 Foothill-Palo Cedro and No. 5 Liberty-Madera. No. 3 Carondelet will host No. 6 Pleasant Valley on the other side of the bracket. … California baseball earned itself a trip to the Sacramento area in the D-III bracket, where the Grizzles will face No. 1 Roseville. … Woodside is in the same boat in D-IV softball, taking a trip to Nicolaus to face top seed East Nicolaus. If the Wildcats win, they could meet No. 4 Northgate, which hosts No. 5 Gridley at 2 p.m. No. 3 San Leandro, the runner-up in NCS Division III, will host No. 6 University-Redding. … No. 5 Oakland will make the short trip to No. 4 Miramonte, which won its first-ever section championship on Saturday, in the D-V softball bracket.
