Because of so much rain we waited to do our first Northern California softball rankings and even so we still have a team ranked that has yet to play a game. The 23 ranked teams are pretty evenly spread out based on other statewide rankings and the Prep2Prep NCS and CCS rankings with 10 teams from the CIF North Coast Section, seven from the Central Coast Section, five from the Sac-Joaquin Section and one from the Northern Section. After that there isn’t a lot separating the final five teams with some on the Others Considered list. Of the 21 teams on that list its pretty evenly spread out among the NCS, CCS and SJS.
1. Foothill-Pleasanton 6-0
The Falcons, who return all nine starters from the North Coast Section Division I champions, are the top team from Northern California in the Cal-Hi Sports rankings as well as No. 3 in the Maxpreps Xcellent 25 national human and not computer rankings. Coach Matt Sweeney and his girls picked up two wins already this week behind sophomore Oklahoma-committed ace Nicole May and have an East Bay Athletic League game against Livermore on Thursday before beginning play at the Livermore Stampede next week.
2. Sheldon-Sacramento 4-0
We saw Sheldon Coach Mary Jo Truesdale at the CIF state basketball championships at Golden 1 Center last weekend in Sacramento and she was disappointed at not getting a chance to defend the Huskies title at the Livermore Stampede where they were a 5-1 winner last year over Foothill. Unfortunately, prom takes precedence.
3. Amador Valley-Pleasanton 6-0-1
Pleasanton has two of the top three spots in the rankings because they have the pitchers and Coach Teresa Borchard has Northwestern-bound senior Danielle Williams, plus a slew of underclass talent. After an EBAL matchup with Livermore on Monday Borchard and her girls are headed south to the ultra-tough Michelle Carew Classic. Of note is Amador Valley will be playing out what is now a 2-2 tie with a Benicia team that just lost to Napa.
4. Carlmont-Belmont 8-0
The Scots have started out the season strong and have a win over St. Ignatius and a convincing win over a Hillsdale team that just beat St. Francis. The other opponents haven’t tested them so for competitive equity reasoning they get to go ahead of Watsonville for now heading into a Thursday matchup with Capuchino.
5. Watsonville 5-0
The defending Central Coast Section Division I champion Wildcatz were going to go in front of Carlmont but their 3-0 win over St. Francis doesn’t look quite as good now since that team got hammered by Hillsdale and their only other quality win was on Tuesday over Gilroy. Monterey is on tap for Thursday.
6. James Logan-Union City 4-1
After opening with a 4-2 loss at Foothill Coach Teri Johnson and her girls finally got back into action after rain wiped them like other out and they’ve posted solid wins over San Leandro and Berkeley and on Wednesday they blasted Mission San Jose. Like the last few years the Colts are headed to the Reno suburb of Sparks for the Reed Tournament.
7. St. Ignatius-San Francisco 11-1
The Wildcats have been riding the arm and bat of Madie Augusto and the bats of junior Maicie Levitt and sophomore Kelly McGuigan. The nine hoime runs of McGuigan is the No. 2 reported mark in the state and Levitt has seven homers which ties for fifth.
8. Freedom-Oakley 1-0
Senior pitcher Vanessa Strong is the reason we’re not punishing the Falcons who haven’t had a game since a 8-1 March 10 win over Sierra-Manteca due to the rain. We will see where Freedom is at as they head to Reno for the Reno Easter Tournament this weekend and then follow that up with the Livermore Stampede next week.
9. Livermore 7-0
This is where the Cowboys land heading into a Thursday showdown with Foothill at home and then Amador Valley on Monday before hoisting the Livermore Stampede that begins next Thursday.
10. Granite Bay 4-0
Like most teams rain has hampered the Grizzlies getting in games but it looks like coach and former Olympian and the only three-time Cal-Hi Sports Ms. Softball winner Michele Granger has the best team she’s had since taking the Granite Bay helm in 2011.
11. Oakdale 10-0
The Mustangs have romped so far this season behind the arm and bat of junior pitcher/slugger Lexi Webb and the bat of senior Grace Green. Oakdale won the Elk Grove tournament with a 5-1 victory over Oak Ridge in the title game.
12. Calaveras-San Andreas 9-0
We realize they haven’t played the same competition as some of teams both above and below them but they won the Pleasant Valley-Chico tournament and beat CIF Northern Section softball power Sutter 7-1 in the title game behind junior ace Bri Head who pitched a 4-hitter.
13. Half Moon Bay 6-1
The girls from the coast have a lone loss to St. Ignatius in which they gave up a few home runs but that was against what is now the top team in the WCAL so as action picks up now that the rains have subsided this is a good spot for the Cougars for now.
14. Sutter 6-1
Year in and year out Sutter has turned out D1 college players and has long been one of the top programs annually from the CIF Northern Section. This year is no different with the Huskies lone loss so far is to Calaveras.
15. Hillsdale-San Mateo 9-2
Its at this point in the rankings when teams may have a stinker loss so we have to look at their competitive equity resume and that’s the case with the Fighting Knights. They have a loss to Santa Teresa to open the season and a loss to Carlmont, but they blasted pre-season WCAL favorite St. Francis and have some solid wins.
16. St. Francis-Mountain View 7-2
The Lancers look fantastic one day and the next they don’t and even though their losses a 3-0 to Watsonville and 13-1 to Hillsdale, for now the No. 2 team from the WCAL will fall in behind Hillsdale despite the large margin of the loss.
17. Alhambra-Martinez 0-0
With all their games wiped out by rain we haven’t had a chance to see the latest in the line of D1 college prospects Coach Paul Buccellato has produced off his Bulldogs and we won’t see Cal-committed freshman catcher Isabella Emering until next week at the Livermore Stampede. By then we’ll know a little about them since they join Logan at the Reed Tournament this weekend.
18. Concord 3-2
The defending NCS Division II champions have a loss to a solid Huntington Beach and to state top five Clovis at the Clovis Lead-Off Classic but also got a win over San Benito
19. Alameda 6-0
The Hornets haven’t played top teams but what gets them into the mix is a 2-1 win on the road at Bishop O’Dowd. Right now Coach Nicole Manley and her girls are the top team from the West Alameda – Foothill League but Castro Valley may gh=have something to day about that in two weeks
20T. Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland 4-2
The Dragons two losses are to 5-1 Foothill and 2-1 to Alameda so they get a piece of the final slice of pie as they take a two week rest before resuming West Alameda – Foothill action.
20T. Enochs-Modesto 4-0
The top team from the Modesto Metro area doesn’t have a lot of games under its belt and they’re not in any big tournaments so while they get a piece of the pie but it will be hard for them to move up much until the playoffs.
20T. San Lorenzo Valley-Felton 6-0
Unbeaten is unbeaten and if the Cougars had played a little tougher schedule and had a more difficult league schedule ahead of them they could have been higher but if they keep winning they can move up.
20T. San Marin-Novato 5-0
Utah-committed sophomore pitcher Madison Papenhausen has been mowing down the competition but like some of the other teams at the bottom of the rankings their schedule only gets them a slice of the final piece of the pie for now but if they keep winning they too will move up.
Others Considered:
Atwater 8-1, Benicia 2-1-1, California-San Ramon 6-1, Carondelet-Concord 4-1, Casa Roble-Orangevale 10-2, Del Campo-Fair Oaks 5-1, Gilroy 5-2, Granada-Livermore 5-2, Heritage-Brentwood 1-1, Los Gatos 7-2, Marin Catholic-Kentfield 7-1, Montgomery-Santa Rosa 7-1, Notre Dame-Belmont 6-1, Petaluma 3-1, Piedmont Hills-San Jose 8-0, Redwood-Larkspur 5-1-1, Roseville 9-3-1, Salinas 7-1, Silver Creek-San Jose 7-2, Valley Christian-San Jose 7-2, Vanden-Fairfield 7-1-1, Woodland Christian-Woodland 9-0
