SBLive's California Softball Top 25: No. 2 Pacifica (Garden Grove) wins CIFSS D1 championship; Stockdale and Orestimba debut

The CIF Southern Section, Northern Section, and L.A. City Section high school softball playoffs are over, as are some divisions of the Sac-Joaquin Section. This week brings the rest of the section championships around the state, and then it's time to get ready for regionals.

Here are SBLive's California softball rankings for the week of May 22-28. The rankings are released every week throughout the season.

MORE: LAST WEEK'S RANKINGS

1. Saint Francis-Mountain View (25-2 – 1st)

To open the CIFCCS playoffs, Saint Francis welcomed San Lorenzo Valley to the Open Division with a 14-0 drubbing.

2. Pacifica-Garden Grove (23-8 – 4th)

The Mariners go out as Southern Section Division 1 champions after beating Norco 15-9. They have reportedly opted out of CIF regional playoffs, so don't be surprised if the season-end rankings look quite messy.

3. Norco (28-4 – 3rd)

While the Cougars came up short of reclaiming the CIFSS throne, they will enter as the favorite to win a Division 1 regional title assuming they don't opt out.

4. Los Alamitos (24-4 – 2nd)

After losing the Southern Section title game last year, Los Al opted out of regionals. They have a guaranteed birth for making the D1 semifinals if they don't forgo it. 

5. Murrieta Mesa (24-4-1 – 6th)

Murrieta Mesa is the last Southern Section D1 team in the rankings that made the semifinals, which means it can compete for a regional title if it wants to.

6. Huntington Beach (24-6 – 7th)

With Pacifica – and maybe other higher-ranked Southern Section teams – opting out of regionals, look for Huntington Beach to get an invitation.

7. Oaks Christian (28-2-1 – 5th)

Oaks Christian too was one game away from an automatic regional birth, and could very well be in play to get one.

8. Orange Lutheran (22-6 – 9th)

Like Huntington Beach and Oaks Christian, OLu may very well make an appearance in the CIF Southern Region playoffs despite narrowly missing the Southern Section D1 semifinals. 

9. Archbishop Mitty (21-3 – 10th)

To open the Central Coast Section Open Division playoffs, second-seeded Archbishop Mitty survived Sequoia in an instant classic that went to eight innings. Now, as has long been projected, the Monarchs must again beat third seed Hollister to make the finals where Saint Francis will likely be waiting. Mitty defeated Hollister 3-2 in non-league play on May 1.

10. Hollister (25-3 – 11th)

With a 7-1 win over Capuchino to start the playoffs, Hollister now gets what it's likely been wanting all month – a second crack at Archbishop Mitty with an Open Division finals appearance on the line.

11. Vacaville (28-1 – 12th)

Yet another week of pitching/defense dominance for Vacaville, which defeated Atwater 8-0 and Cordova 2-0 to advance to the CIFSJS D2 semifinals.

12. Central-Fresno (24-5 – 13th)

The Grizzlies of Central East are now the top-ranked team in the Central Section in our book, and they're also the highest-seeded team left in the Division 1 playoffs. Now they have to beat a familiar foe – Clovis, which went 4-0 against them last season and beat them 4-3 in their first league meeting before Central got revenge by ten runs later in TRAC play.

13. San Ramon Valley (22-5 – 17th)

Still rolling, the Wolves opened the playoffs by beating San Leandro 9-0 and Heritage (Brentwood) 3-2. They'll be the favorite on Wednesday hosting Freedom. 

14. Riverside Poly (23-2-1 – 16th)

As the dust from the Southern Section playoff clears, it's once again easy to see what a remarkable season it was for Poly. The Bears started the season 20-0-1, lost only to Hemet (which they also defeated) and Norco, swept the season series against Valley View and Temescal Canyon for a league title, and defeated both South (Torrance) and Esperanza 5-1 in the playoffs. Not bad for a team that perennially goes under the radar. 

15. Granada-Livermore (21-5 – 18th)

After getting upset at home earlier in the month by Amador Valley, the Matadors got to knock out the team that had just knocked Amador Valley out of the playoffs, which is Castro Valley.

16. Stockdale (21-7-2 – Unranked)

For the second straight season, Stockdale has shocked Clovis North in the Central Section quarterfinals. This time it came by a score of 8-7 in a nine-inning thriller. Up next – formidable Bullard.

17. Clovis North (24-2-1 – 5th)

Assuming this is the end of Clovis North's season, it's a brutal one, as the team dropped two of its last three and didn't win a playoff game. However, 2023 still brought an undisputed TRAC title.

18. Orestimba (23-4 – Unranked)

Rewind one week, and we were hinting about how we thought Sutter was just so far ahead of the pack in Division 5 of the Sac-Joaquin Section. Well, Orestimba made us eat our words, shocking Sutter 4-0 in the semifinals and going on to win the title 8-3 over Wheatland. It now enters regionals on a 15-game winning streak dating back well over a month.

19. Sutter (26-2 – 14th)

Sorry Huskies, didn't mean to jinx you. Despite the upset to Orestimba, Sutter still appears to be a major championship threat with CIF Northern Region playoffs looming.

20. East Nicolaus (28-1-1 – 15th)

You know the drill – with East Nic having recently lost to Sutter without possessing a win against a higher-ranked team, Sutter dropping means East Nic does as well. With that said, the Spartans just thrashed their way to a Northern Section Division 5 title, so they likely aren't too worried about dropping five spots in a power ranking.

21. Poway (25-3 – 24th)

Not only are the Titans on a 13-game tear that includes two playoff victories, but the team they just beat, Carlsbad, was the most recent of just three teams to beat them during the regular season. With a 2-1 season record against Carlsbad now, and no un-avenged losses since the end of March, Poway narrowly takes the top spot in our rankings among San Diego Section teams.

22. Rancho Bernardo (24-4 – 22nd)

Rancho Bernardo is no longer the top-ranked CIFSDS team in our rankings, because Poway is surging and has a 1-0 record against Rancho Bernardo this season. But the Broncos are still in nearly impeccable shape, holding a 12-game winning streak heading into the third round of the playoffs. Both playoff wins, which came against Granite Hills (El Cajon) and Torrey Pines, were shutouts.

23. Great Oak (20-8-1 – 25th)

With an 8-0 rout of Grand Terrace, Great Oak completed an incredible CIFSS Division 2 title run by a combined score of 25-1. Sheesh.

24. Grand Terrace (24-6 – 19th)

Grand Terrace couldn't complete the title run as it came across a buzzsaw in Great Oak, but its tremendous roll to the D2 finals still did wonders for its stock. And guaranteed a regional playoff birth.

25. Esperanza (19-7 – 20th) 

Even though their season ended a couple weeks ago, the Aztecs remain in the top 25 for now for a tremendous regular season.

ON THE BUBBLE:

Valley View, La Mirada, Kennedy (La Palma), Bullard, South Hills, Vista del Lago (Folsom), Marina, Moorpark, Cypress, Pleasant Grove, Central Catholic, Whittier Christian, Rio Mesa, Chino Hills, Santiago (Corona), Capistrano Valley