The first week of the seven-divisional softball playoffs have concluded for the week, and top teams like Murrieta Mesa, Heritage, and Temescal Canyon are still in the hunt. With 234 total teams entered, the single-elimination tournaments began earlier this week with wild card contests where necessary, followed by first-round games in all divisions Thursday, May 5.
No local teams from our area received top seeds, but Murrieta Mesa, the Southwestern League co-champion and No. 1 team in the local press rankings, did open up the Division 1 playoffs at home with a 9-4 against Ayala (13-6). The Lady Rams (23-7) will face Norco in the second round, which resumes Tuesday, May 10.
In the Division 7 brackets, there was a run differential between local winning and losing teams of 79 runs. In four of those games, only 4 runs were scored by teams that lost, and Anza’s Hamilton had the only high scoring affair, defeating Nuview Bridge 18-12. It’s hard to gauge what will ever happen in the lowest tiered level of the playoff brackets, but when final scores look like that of a football game, there has to be some questions being asked about parity. Perhaps second-round games will tell a different tale.
The championships will be held in Deanna Manning Stadium at Colonel Bill Barber Park in Irvine on Friday, May 20 and Saturday, May 21. All games, with the exception of championship games, are scheduled to begin at 3:15 p.m. unless otherwise noted. All championship games will be livestreamed by Bally Sports West and the NFHS Network.
Scores from the first round for all divisions were posted as follows:
CIF-SS SOFTBALL PLAYOFFS
DIVISION 1
– First round, Thursday, May 5
Murrieta Mesa 9, Ayala 5
Pacifica 1, Great Oak 0
Villa Park 4, Vista Murrieta 0
– Second round, Tuesday, May 10
Murrieta Mesa at Norco
DIVISION 2
No local teams
DIVISION 3
– First round, Thursday, May 5
Heritage 4, Cerritos 2
Temescal Canyon 7, Arlington 3
La Quinta 7, Hemet 0
– Second round, Tuesday, May 10
Western Christian at Heritage
Temescal Canyon at Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks)
DIVISION 4
– First round, Thursday, May 5.
Orange Vista 16, Village Christian 2
Palm Desert 5, Santa Rosa Academy 1
– Second round, Tuesday, May 10.
Orange Vista vs. TBD
DIVISION 5
First round, Thursday, May 5.
San Jacinto 8, Banning 0
– Second round, Tuesday, May 10.
San Jacinto at Calvary Chapel (Santa Ana)
DIVISION 6
– Wild-card games, Tuesday, May 3.
Arrowhead Christian 16, West Valley 3
– First round, Thursday, May 5.
Elsinore 6, Pioneer 1
San Jacinto Valley Academy 13, Costa Mesa 2
Katella 3, Lakeside 2
– Second round, Tuesday, May 10.
Eisenhower at Elsinore
Shadow Hills at San Jacinto Valley Academy
DIVISION 7
– First round, Thursday, May 5.
Rosemead 18, Cornerstone Christian 0
Lennox Academy 25, California Lutheran 3
Linfield Christian 24, Noli Indian 1
Tahquitz 10, Animo Leadership 0
Anza Hamilton 18, Nuview Bridge 12
– Second round, Tuesday, May 10.
Little Rock at Linfield Christian
Tahquitz at Mark Keppel
Capo Valley Christian at Anza Hamilton
* Playoff brackets can also be seen on the CIF-SS website on the sport’s page at www.cifss.org.
** If we missed any local high school teams, or posted scores are wrong, please report them to the Valley News Sports Department by email at sports@reedermedia.com.
