Sequoia pitcher Ainsley Waddell not only led the CCS in strikeouts with 246, she was also the 13th-ranked hitter in the section with .597 batting average.
The M-A baseball team won its first-ever PAL Bay Division title this season. The Bears reward? The No. 8 seed in Division I and a first-round matchup with No. 1 Valley Christian.
Capuchino’s 22 wins are third-best among the eight teams in the Open Division bracket.
Daily Journal sports file
Sequoia pitcher Ainsley Waddell not only led the CCS in strikeouts with 246, she was also the 13th-ranked hitter in the section with .597 batting average.
Playing softball in the Peninsula Athletic League’s Bay Division is kind of a double-edged sword.
The Bay Division has evolved into one of the toughest divisions, top to bottom, as you’ll find in the Central Coast Section. As such, the Bay Division is classified as an “A” league, meaning the Bay Division champion is, inevitably, placed in the most competitive bracket in the CCS tournament — the Open Division.
This season, the Bay Division saw both the Capuchino and Sequoia softball teams qualify for the Open. The Mustangs, who shared the Bay Division title with Carlmont, won the tiebreaker with the Scots to earn the division’s automatic qualifier into the Open Division.
Five “A” division champions — PAL Bay, West Catholic Athletic League, Pacific Coast Athletic League’s Gabilan Division, the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League’s De Anza Division and the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League — are seeded into the Open Division. The next three top point getters fill out the eight-team bracket. The next top eight teams go into Division and so on.
Capuchino (22-5) got the No. 6 seed and will be on the road at No. 3 Hollister (24-3) at 1 p.m. in Saturday’s opener.
And for the third time since the inception of the Open Division in 2016, the Bay Division got a second team into the Open Division bracket, much to the apparent chagrin of Sequoia. The Ravens (18-5) got the No. 7 seed and will take on perennial power and second-seeded Mitty (20-3) in San Jose.
“I know nobody wanted to be there (in that spot). I knew one of us would have to fall on the sword,” said Capuchino head coach Tanya Borghello, who is also the Bay Division representative at the CCS seeding meeting.
Sequoia finished third in the Bay Division standings, behind Capuchino and Carlmont, with Hillsdale slotting in fourth. But when the power points were totaled and the math was done, Sequoia ended up with a higher power number than both Carlmont and Hillsdale, a number that was also high enough to move the Ravens into the Open Division.
“I knew it wasn’t where [Sequoia] wanted to be, but there was no wiggle room,” Borghello said. “If she had seeded eighth, I might have been able to have a conversation (about moving the Ravens into Division I).
“But we both had good years and we both played formidable opponents. It’s the game of softball.”
The M-A baseball team won its first-ever PAL Bay Division title this season. The Bears reward? The No. 8 seed in Division I and a first-round matchup with No. 1 Valley Christian.
Daily Journal sports file
PAL softball wasn’t the only sport to be dealt a difficult matchup. The Menlo-Atherton baseball team (19-7) captured the Bay Division title for the first time in program history and the Bears’ postseason reward? A first-round, Division I-matchup with top-seeded Valley Christian (26-3), ranked by MaxPreps.com as the top team in Northern California.
“If you want to beat the best, you have to play the best,” Borghello said.
Here is a look at the rest of the CCS brackets. All first-round games are Saturday:
Notes: The last two Bay Division qualifiers were slotted into Division I, both going on the road.
Despite being the higher seed, Carlmont, the defending Division III champion, might have gotten the worst of the scheduling having to hit the road for Pebble Beach.
Notes: The Dragons, who captured the Private School Athletic League North Division title, have had a softball program since the 2020 season. Obviously the pandemic lockdown wiped out that season, but they have rebounded quite well. This will be their third straight CCS appearance, although D Tech is still searching for its first postseason victory.
Division IV
No. 7 Menlo-Atherton (15-7) at No. 2 Live Oak-Morgan Hill (10-11), 1 p.m.
No. 5 Mercy-Burlingame (13-4) at No. 4 North Monterey County (12-12), 1 p.m.
Notes: M-A, the PAL Ocean Division champ, is making its second straight CCS appearance after not making the playoffs since before 2005.
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Mercy-Burlingame is making its seventh straight CCS appearance. The Crusaders have advanced to the semifinals in each of the last two seasons.
Division V
No. 6 Monte Vista Christian (17-10) at No. 3 Burlingame (7-12-1), 11 a.m.
Notes: Burlingame might be the biggest surprise in the playoffs. Going just 4-10 in Bay Division play and finishing seventh in the standings, the Panthers not only accumulated enough power points, they had enough to host.
NDB made the Division I final last season.
Baseball
Division II
No. 6 Serra (15-11) vs No. 3 Burlingame (16-7) at Washington Park, 1 p.m.
Notes: The annual Padre-Panther, non-league matchup under the lights at Washington Park was rained out this year. Instead, Peninsula fans will get a chance to see two of the most prestigious programs go head to head in the playoffs.
Notes: After a strong start to the season, Capuchino kind of faded in the second half. If there is a silver lining, it comes in the form of the No. 2 seed in the Division V bracket.
Hillsdale finished runner-up in the Ocean Division standings and drew top-seeded Harbor.
Division IV
No. 6 Woodside Priory (15-1) at No. 3 Thomas More (17-9) at James Lick High School, 11 a.m.
Notes: Priory is just in its 14th season as a varsity sport, with many of those years spent as a freelance team. The Panthers joined the PAL’s Lake Division in 2020 and this year captured their first-ever Lake Division title and earning their inaugural seed in the playoffs.
The Design Tech program has only been around since the 2017 season. The Dragons won their first Private School Athletic League title this year and their 13 wins was the most in program history.
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(1) comment
Why is there a picture of the M-A baseball team in the middle of this article about softball???
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Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
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PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
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