Diamond Cuts – Week 10
May 8th, 2011, 10:42 pm · 3 Comments · posted by Jimmy Graben
It’s the calm before the storm.
Yuba City High coach Vicente Luevano led the Honkers to their seventh straight league title in his first season as head coach. The Honkers have a first-round bye in the playoffs. (Photo by David Bitton/Appeal-Democrat)
Now that the chaos of the regular season is winding down, local baseball and softball programs have to do the last thing they want – sit and wait.
Seeding committees will soon be locked away in rooms trying to sort out various brackets across divisions in both the Northern and Sac-Joaquin Sections.
In the meantime, Mid-Valley teams have to do the best they can to keep fresh by scheduling games this week.
While this lull results in little action this week, it allows us to review our headlines for the final week of the regular season and reveal the final rankings.
WEEK 10 HEADLINES
Bragging rights
In last week’s Mayor’s Cup showdown between River Valley and Yuba City, the Honkers baseball team continued its dominance of the Falcons, sweeping the series 3-0.
The all-time series sits at 15-0 in favor of Yuba City, though two of this year’s games were the closest in the rivalry’s history.
A couple of one-run affairs showed the Falcons are getting closer, but sandwiched in there was an 18-3 dud that would suggest otherwise.
Both teams clinched spots in the Division III Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs and Yuba City won its seventh consecutive league title, dating back to 2005.
Room at the top
Just like boys basketball, the Butte View League was an up and down ride all season in baseball.
The champion wasn’t decided until the final day of the season when Wheatland and Sutter were declared co-champions.
The teams own identical records of 9-3 in league play after Sutter won its final three games of the season and Wheatland swept Orland in a doubleheader on Friday.
Of course, sharing a league championship with their biggest rival probably wasn’t ideal, but these two squads will have a shot to meet up again in the Northern Section playoffs.
Up for grabs
Its biggest rival already clinched the league title, but the Lindhurst Blazers baseball team is more than alive in the playoff hunt.
After Capital Christian lost to Dixon last week, Marysville clinched an outright Golden Empire League title. Lindhurst plays Capital Christian twice this week with a chance to grab the No. 2 spot out of the GEL and avoid a play-in game.
The Blazers are two games behind the Cougars in the GEL standings and by sweeping the week could move into the second spot in league.
FINAL RANKINGS
* This week we will break down each ranked team’s playoff outlook
BASEBALL
GAME TO WATCH: Capital Christian at Lindhurst, today, 4 p.m.
Click here to view Sac-Joaquin Section brackets
Click here to view Northern Section brackets
Click here to view Northern Section playoff points
1. Maxwell (Final record: 27-0, 12-0, Tri-Cities League champion) – The Northern Section seeding meeting is scheduled for Wednesday night, though the Panthers won’t be receiving any earth-shattering news.
Maxwell will without a doubt be the No. 1 seed in Division V of the Northern Section. First-round games begin on Friday at home sites.
2. Yuba City (Final record: 21-4, 14-1, Tri-County Conference champion) – By winning the TCC for the fifth straight year, the Honkers earned a first-round bye in the Division III playoffs.
They will play the winner of a play-in game between the Capital Athletic League’s No. 2 seed and the No. 3 team out of the Solano County Athletic Conference.
3. River Valley (Final record: 15-10, 9-6, Third in TCC) – The Falcons scheduled a couple of tune-up games this week with Marysville and Sutter.
R.V. will take part in a play-in game in the D-III playoffs on May 16 on the road.
The Falcons’ opponent will be the No. 2 seed out of the Pioneer Valley League, a conference that still has games to be played this week.
There are currently three teams knotted up at the top of the PVL and R.V. could be playing any of them. Those squads are Lincoln, Colfax and Bear River.
4. Sutter (Final record: 18-7, 9-3, BVL co-champion) – The Huskies will likely earn the No. 1 seed in Division II as they hold the tiebreaker over Wheatland.
Sutter already had a playoff experience last week when they hosted Winters in a doubleheader that basically decided the league championship.
Both of Sutter’s wins in the twinbill were by one run, with one of the victories coming on a walk-off hit.
5. Marysville (Final record: 15-7, 13-2, GEL champion) – By sweeping Mesa Verde last week, the Indians won their first league title since 2004.
The Indians open postseason play at Tony Zupo Field in Lodi against the No. 2 seed out of the Mother Lode League, which could be Bret Harte, Linden, or Calaveras.
Marysville was one win away from playing for the section championship last season.
SOFTBALL
Click here for Sac-Joaquin Section brackets
Click here for Northern Section brackets
Click here for Northern Section playoff points
1. River Valley (Final record: 12-5-1, 7-3, Second in TCC) – The Falcons completed their season sweep over rival Yuba City on Friday with a 5-1 win. More importantly, River Valley earned the No. 2 seed in the TCC, which results in a home play-in game.
R.V. will host the No. 3 team out of the CAL, which will likely be Del Campo or Christian Brothers.
In the program’s first ever playoff appearance in 2010, River Valley was one victory away from playing for the D-III championship.
2. Yuba City (Final record: 15-6, 6-4, Third in TCC) – Losing the season finale to River Valley couldn’t put a damper on the fact that the Honkers are in the postseason for the first time as a member of the TCC.
The Honkers will open the playoffs on the road at the CAL’s No. 2 seed which will likely be Rio Linda.
3. Colusa (Final record: 32-2-1, 10-0, Sacramento Valley League champion) – As the record indicates it’s been smooth sailing basically all season for the Redskins.
They will be the No. 1 seed in Division V. Northern Section softball brackets won’t be released until Saturday and first round games begin on May 19.
4. Marysville (17-5, 12-1 (one game remaining), GEL champion) – The Indians are looking to improve on last season’s first-round exit from the postseason.
Marysville will be doing quite a bit of traveling as the Division V playoffs will be at the Arnaiz Softball Complex in Stockton.
Hilmar will likely be the Indians’ opponent in the first round on May 19.
5. Wheatland (19-9, 12-0) – The Pirates ended their undefeated season in the BVL with a doubleheader sweep over Orland on Friday.
Wheatland should be the No. 2 seed out of Division II behind Anderson, which is 27-3 this season and also undefeated in league.
- Jimmy Graben
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Go on to read this page. Very interesting to see Yuba City on the list.
http://cifsjs.org/sports/pastchamps/champssportpdfs/baseballsjschampions.pdf
Chris,
YC has a very good program as shown by 4 straight section champs. They have a good shot at 5th this year. They should definitely be #1 in this area. I think maxwell is a good team, but they just do not have the depth or the grueling schedule like YC
I get RV having the top softball spot, but how does YC get two over Marysville, and Wheatland heck even Colusa? YC is not an elite club and will fall in my opinion in the early or possiblly the opening round of the playoffs. Marysvile, Wheatland and Colusa all have better pitching at in the playoffs the huge, …..no offense to Thompson but as this point her and the yc cast doesn’t belong ahead of the other teams, ….the YC/RV love wreaks of bias….Thanks the Lord the game is played on the field, and how sweet is it to not see Sutter Union on top of the SB rankings
) good luck local squads……