And down the stretch they come

The Peninsula Athletic League’s Bay Division race is clumped up at the top, with only two games separating the top five teams. Burlingame’s sweep of Sequoia last week, coupled with King’s Academy’s sweep of Hillsdale means the Panthers and Knights are tied atop the Bay Division standings with 5-2 records.

The two teams meet the final week of the regular season.

Menlo School also has five wins, but is percentage points behind as Menlo has played one extra game and has one extra loss at 5-3. Menlo-Atherton sits in fourth at 4-3, while Carlmont, at 3-4, is only two games back.

In the Ocean Division, there is a showdown for first place this week, when a pair of 7-1 teams, Sacred Heart Prep and San Mateo, begin a two-game set Tuesday in Atherton, with the rematch Thursday in San Mateo.

Terra Nova sits in third, two games back. Aragon, Half Moon Bay and Woodside are desperately trying to stay in contact with the division leaders, as all three are three games behind.

The Lake Division is essentially a two-team race. Despite being 9-0 in division play, El Camino is trying to hold off Harker, which is one game behind in the loss column and two games behind in the win column. The two face off this week, beginning in San Jose Tuesday.

In the West Catholic Athletic League, Serra got a sweep over Mitty last week to even its league record 4-4, which is good for fifth place, three games behind league-leading St. Francis.

The good news for the Padres is, they control most of their destiny. There are six games remaining in the regular season and they close against St. Francis. But there is a two-game set with third place St. Ignatius this week and a series with Riordan next week. Serra probably needs to win out and then get a little help if the Padres are to claim a WCAL crown.

Softball

Despite being without their head coach Eryn Butcher, who recently gave birth to her first child, the Hillsdale softball team finds itself atop the PAL Bay Division standings. Since an 8-6, eight-inning loss to San Mateo April 9, the Knights, with assistant coach Olivia Geromino leading the way, have reeled off four wins in a row to improve to 7-1 in Bay play.

But San Mateo is hot on the Knights’ heels, just one game back in the loss column. The Bearcats split their first four games to open Bay play, but that win over Hillsdale was the first of a six-game winning streak, including five straight Bay Division victories.

Aragon, at 5-3, is two games back, but dropped an 11-1 decision to Hillsdale last week. The Dons host San Mateo Tuesday in what is, essentially, a make-or-break game for Aragon.

In the Ocean Division, Menlo-Atherton is bashing its way to the division title. The Ocean Division schedule did not begin until after all the Spring Breaks were out of the way and the Bears currently find themselves tied with Notre Dame-San Jose at 3-0.

But M-A is simply hitting the cover off the ball and scoring runs in bushels. The Bears beat Burlingame 10-6 last Thursday, their sixth straight game scoring 10 or more runs and the 12th time in 15 games they’ve scored double-digit runs.

The Bears will get their chance to take control of the division when they host NDSJ Tuesday in Atherton and close the regular season against the Regents in the regular-season finale in three weeks.

The race for the Lake Division title appears to be a three-team race. Current division leader, Mercy, sits atop the standings at 4-0, with both Half Moon Bay and South City a game behind.

The Bears handed HMB its only loss, a 9-5 decision April 9. The Cougars, in turn, handed South City its only defeat, 12-10, in an early-season meeting March 11.

But HMB will have a chance to pull even with Mercy as the Cougars host the Bears in a showdown on the coast Wednesday and then travel to South City next Tuesday. They play the Warriors again in Mercy’s regular-season finale, May 13.

***

Maybe the PAL’s commissioner’s office was so used to putting the Menlo-Atherton boys’ tennis team as Bay Division champs, it forgot that it’s not always the case.

After I returned from the office following Aragon’s season-ending 6-1 win over Carlmont that gave the Dons their third straight Bay Division title, I went to the PAL website, which keeps track of former champions, to see when the Bears’ streak of Bay Division crowns ended.

The PAL list has M-A winning the Bay Division title from 2009 to 2023, not including the 2020 and 2021 COVID years.

But turns out, the list in wrong. It wasn’t Aragon that snapped the Bears’ run in 2024 — it was San Mateo that ended M-A’s reign in 2023.

Thanks to a reader for pointing that out.

Nathan Mollat has been covering high school sports in San Mateo County for the San Mateo Daily Journal since 2001. He can be reached by email: nathan@smdailyjournal.com.