If you’re a fan of playoff races, you couldn’t be more happy in seeing how the Peninsula baseball and softball seasons are shaping up.
Every schedule maker and every league wants to see division and league champions decided in the final fews weeks of the season and the local teams have not disappointed.
In the West Catholic Athletic League, Serra pulled back into a first-place tie with Valley Christian, following the Padres’ 6-0 win over Mitty and the Warriors’ 4-0 loss to St. Ignatius Tuesday.
The only complaint is the league crown won’t be decided head to head — Serra and Valley split their season series earlier — but the WCAL championship will be decided Friday in the regular-season finale as Serra will look to complete the sweep of the Monarchs in San Mateo, while SI will try to play spoiler in San Francisco.
The Peninsula Athletic League’s Bay Division has been as topsy-turvy as ever and, with four games left in league play, this thing is hardly settled. Last week, three teams — Burlingame, King’s Academy and Menlo-Atherton — were locked in a three-way top atop the standings. Now, with three game left in the regular season, the Panthers and Knights find themselves with a one-game lead over the Bears.
M-A will have a chance to control its own destiny as the Bears opened a two-game set with King’s Academy Wednesday and Friday, and closes the regular season against Hillsdale next week. Burlingame, meanwhile, has two games with Sequoia this week and finishes Bay play against Carlmont next week.
The PAL Ocean Division is Woodside’s to lose. With Tuesday’s 14-5 win over Aragon, the Wildcats are 10-1 in Ocean play and three games ahead of Menlo. It would take a meltdown by Woodside over the final three games to be denied the title. Even if that unlikely situation took place, Menlo would need to sweep its three remaining games to forge a tie. Menlo will look to complete the two-game sweep of Half Moon Bay Thursday and then finishes the regular season with two games against San Mateo next week. Woodside has the replay with Aragon Thursday and closes with El Camino.
The Lake Division race is down to two teams — first place and undefeated Priory and two-loss South City. This division title should be decided on the field as the two teams meet for a two-game set to close out the regular season next week.
The PAL Bay Division softball race is also down to just two teams as Carlmont and Hillsdale, both 9-2, are tied for first place with three games remaining on the PAL schedule. The Scots close with San Mateo Thursday, and Woodside and Burlingame next week.
Hillsdale has third-place Capuchino Thursday and then end the regular season against Aragon and Sequoia next week.
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Like the Bay Division, the PAL Ocean Division softball race is down to two teams — 8-0 Mills and 7-1 Menlo-Atherton. The Bears will face the two South San Francisco teams this week — El Camino Wednesday and South City Friday — before M-A and Mills meet in Atherton next Tuesday with the title on the line. The Vikings have Terra Nova and El Camino this week before the showdown with M-A.
In the West Bay Athletic League, King’s Academy is putting together, arguably, the best season in team history. The Knights are undefeated and hold a two-game lead over Notre Dame-SJ. They had a chance to clinch the title as they faced the Regents Wednesday afternoon.
The Central Coast Section baseball and softball seeding meetings are not until May 13 and the CCS playoffs don’t start until Saturday, May 18.
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Meanwhile, the Menlo-Atherton boys’ lacrosse team has a chance to clinch its second straight PAL Bay Division title when the division-leading Bears (9-0) host second-place Palo Alto (8-1) in the Bay Division finale at 7 p.m. Thursday.
It’s been a weird road for M-A and all PAL lacrosse. A handful of PAL teams joined the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League for 11 seasons before the leagues pulled a football move and last season all PAL and SCVAL teams moved under the PAL banner.
M-A has been the premiere public school team in the county and this year they moved to into the No. 2 spot overall in the county, behind Sacred Heart Prep, after knocking off Menlo School earlier this year. The Bears also have wins over Serra, Bellarmine, St. Francis, Stevenson and San Ramon Valley. MaxPreps.com has them ranked No. 3 in CCS — behind St. Ignatius and SHP.
The Bears have been rarely challenged in league play this season and they’ve already beaten Palo Alto once this season, 10-3 on March 26. M-A’s only loss this season was a 14-4 decision to JSerra Catholic-San Juan Capistrano April 13.
Nathan Mollat can be reached by email: nathan@smdailyjournal.com.
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