Holy anomalies, Batman!
All three San Mateo varsity softball teams landed on the same side of the same Central Coast Section playoff bracket. With postseason seedings being announced Monday, it was something of a shocker to see No. 1 San Mateo opening the playoffs Saturday hosting a crosstown team from its own league in No. 8 Aragon.
What’s more, the winner of the San Mateo-Aragon game has a chance of facing No. Hillsdale, another crosstown team from the same Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division, as the Lady Knights host No. 5 Wilcox in their playoff opener on the same side of the Division I bracket.
“Obviously, you wouldn’t want to be playing someone in your league right in the first round,” San Mateo head coach Robert Burley said. “When there used to be 16 teams in the bracket, they used to block you from doing that. Now that it’s eight teams, they don’t do that anymore. ... It’s our of our control and now we’ve got to go and battle Aragon again.”
With the current power ranking structure in CCS softball, teams are aligned through six brackets based largely on power points. That means every win, especially against an “A” league team, helps a team’s case to move up the CCS playoff ladder. Wins against eventual league champions also factor in.
As the No. 8 seed, Aragon was on the fringe between Division I and the No. 1 seed in Division II. The win that made the difference for the Lady Dons came May 8, when they routed rival Hillsdale 12-2 in the annual Big Game at Chanteloup Field. Not only was it a win against an “A” league team, Hillsdale went on to share the co-PAL Bay Division championship with San Mateo.
“I wouldn’t trade it for anything because that’s a big game for us every year,” Aragon head coach Liz Roscoe said. “What are you going to say? You can’t be mad about that. The girls are doing their job.”
San Mateo was the top seeded team from San Mateo County. By virtue of the Bearcats earning the No. 1 seed in Division I, it marks the first time since the inception of the Open Division softball bracket in 2017 that a PAL will not appear in the premium CCS tournament.
With the PAL Bay Division being an “A” league, it used to be required the league champion go to the Open Division bracket. But the CCS adopted a new subjective seeding policy this year, meaning the nine league representatives could pick and choose the No. 5-8 seeds based on arbitrary expectations, instead of strictly on power points and league standings.
“We talked about San Mateo and Hillsdale being in (the Open Division) because they were co-champions,” said Tanya Borghello, Capuchino’s head coach and PAL Bay Division softball representative to the CCS. “But because Hillsdale played a stronger schedule, but San San beat them twice, there was some conversation about what does that mean?”
Only one public school has won the CCS Open Division championship, when Hollister did it in 2023. St. Francis has won five Open Division titles, with the other two belonging to Mitty.
“It’s different,” Burley said. “They’re private schools; Hollister has a population of over 3,000 kids ... so they’re a totally different public school than anyone anywhere else; Los Gatos is in it every year. ... I don’t want to say it was a relief, but it was like now we have this chance to do something.”
Since 2021, CCS brackets have had six annual tournaments consisting of eight teams each. Previous to that, CCS had just three divisional tournaments, each consisting of 16 teams. Because there are only eight teams in a bracket, it’s more likely teams from the same league will be scheduled in playoff openers, such as San Mateo and Aragon. CCS historically tried to avoid those types of pairings.
“I would much rather play somewhere else,” Roscoe said. “It’s fun going and playing other people. But it will be a good game.”
Of the eight teams in the PAL Bay Division, seven of them qualified for the playoffs. In Division II, Woodside drew the No. 8 seed. In Division III, Capuchino drew the No. 2 seed, and Mills is No. 5. In Division IV, the King’s Academy-Sunnyvale drew the No. 5 seed.
“That says something in and of itself,” Roscoe said of the depth in the PAL Bay Division.
San Mateo-Aragon is not the only crosstown matchup in the opening round of the CCS playoffs. In Division II, No. 3 Mercy-Burlingame hosts No. 6 Burlingame at Cuernavaca Park.
CCS softball schedule
All CCS openers scheduled for Saturday.
Division I
No. 8 Aragon (17-10) at No. 1 San Mateo (17-5), 11 a.m.
No. 5 Wilcox (17-7) at No. 4 Hillsdale (17-9), 1 p.m.
Division II
No. 6 Burlingame (16-8) vs. No. 3 Mercy (21-4) at Cuernavaca Park, 1 p.m.
No. 5 Menlo-Atherton (19-4) at No. 4 Soquel (18-7), noon
No. 8 Woodside (15-9) vs. No. 1 Carmel (22-6) at Carmel Middle School, 1 p.m.
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Division III
No. 7 Santa Teresa (11-12-2) at No. 2 Capuchino (11-13), 6 p.m.
No. 4 Leigh (15-9) at No. 5 Mills (13-11), noon
Division IV
No. 8 Watsonville (3-17-1) at No. 1 Notre Dame-Belmont (13-11-1), 4 p.m.
Division V
No. 6 Design Tech (12-5) at No. 3 North Monterey County (18-8), 1 p.m.
CCS baseball schedule
All CCS openers scheduled for Saturday.
Division I
No. 8 Serra (17-9) at No. 1 St. Francis (24-3), 3 p.m.
Division II
No. 6 Leigh (17-10) vs. No. 3 Burlingame (18-9) at Capuchino, 1 p.m.
No. 8 Menlo-Atherton (14-13) at No. 1 Carmel (21-6), 1 p.m.
Division III
No. 7 Carlmont (13-14) at No. 2 Hollister (17-10), noon
No. 8 Christopher (13-12) at No. 1 Menlo (17-10), 1 p.m.
Division IV
No. 8 Sequoia 8 (15-12) at No. 1 Harbor (17-10), 1 p.m.
Division V
No. 7 Homestead (12-16) at No. 2 Half Moon Bay (17-9), 1 p.m.
No. 8 Salinas (10-18) at No. 1 San Mateo (19-8), 3 p.m.
Division VI
No. 7 El Camino (21-5) at No. 2 Lincoln-San Jose (18-7), noon
No. 8 Design Tech (13-7-1) at No. 1 Gunn (16-11), 10 a.m.
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