ESPNHS California

It’s a monster week for softball honor roll, including two homers in a game by All-American candidate Gabrielle Maurice and three from All-American candidate Darian Tautalafua. Week’s best also includes one girl with two grand slams and nine RBIs in one game.

Note: We’re proud once again to collect weekly writeups of the most significant individual high school softball totals in California. We use these as the basis for updating the state record book, which has been published seven times, most recently in the spring of 2009. To report a state stat star of your own, please email highlights to Mark.Tennis@espn.com.

(After games of Saturday, March 24; includes some games as of Wednesday, March 28; Contributing: Bob Barnett, Mark Tennis)

Leilani Akai (Moreau Catholic, Hayward)
Banzai for Akai, after she homered twice and drove in five runs in a blasting by Moreau of crosstown Mt. Eden.

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Tulare Western’s Anthony Avila ties state record, Central Valley’s Fabian Valencia enjoys three-homer outing while Luke Weichec of Los Altos has been swinging red-hot bat despite injury.

Note: We’re proud once again to collect weekly writeups of the most significant individual high school baseball totals in California. We use these as the basis for updating the state record book, which has been published seven times, most recently in the spring of 2009. To report a state stat star of your own, please email highlights to Mark.Tennis@espn.com.

(After games of Saturday, March 24; includes some games as of Wednesday, March 28; Contributing: Bob Barnett, Mark Tennis)

Anthony Avila (Tulare Western, Tulare)
He had a career day by going 5-for-6 at the plate which included four doubles and eight RBIs in a 29-0 win over Kennedy of Delano. Avila’s four doubles in a game ties the reported state record. According to our own Cal-Hi Sports record book, the first time it was done was in 1919 by William Homen of Hanford.

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Norco shows how to enhance ranking even when team already is No. 1. This week’s new rankings also sees significant rises for Northern California powers Sheldon and San Benito.

It is possible to strengthen a No. 1 ranking and proof of that is what the Norco softball team did during last week’s Torrance National Tournament.

Coach Rick Robinson’s club rolled to the tourney title and although the lineup of teams wasn’t exactly the same as the Arizona Tournament of Champions, state-ranked Edison of Huntington Beach was there along with Nevada power Damonte Ranch and a sprinkling of other dangerous squads.

Norco improved to 14-0 on Tuesday with a victory over Centennial of Corona. The Cougars not only remained No. 1 in the state, but are likely going to be lifted to No. 1 in this week’s POWERADE FAB 50 national rankings on the ESPNHS softball page on Thursday.

At this point, even if Norco were to drop a game in the ultra-tough Big VIII League, the Cougars would still be hard to drop from the No. 1 state ranking.

(Through games played Tuesday, March 27)
Contributing: Paul Muyskens, Harold Abend
(Previous ranking in parentheses)

1. (1) Norco 14-0
Ohio State-bound Ashley Goodwin hit a two-run home run and the Cougars defeated North of Torrance 8-0 in the championship game of the Torrance National Tournament. Emily Lockman dominated in the circle as the Cougars won four of their five games at the tournament without allowing a run.

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St. Francis and Valley Christian move up to No. 2 and No. 3 heading into Friday matchup in Mountain View.

Other highlights from this week’s baseball rankings include:

Orange Lutheran rises to No. 5 with Harvard-Westlake going up to No. 7 as both teams travel to North Carolina this week for major invitational.

Highest-rising newcomer is Vista of the San Diego Section, but both West Ranch of Valencia and St. Mary’s of Stockton get some momentum going as well.

One-loss teams Lakewood, Redlands and El Toro are all now in the top 10.

Click here to see the complete list within the ESPNHS rankings tool.

Open Division might be coming next season so here’s a look ahead if it happens and what teams could be in it.

At her last press conference during the CIF basketball championships, retiring executive director Marie Ishida said it was “a toss-up” whether the proposal to add an open division to the basketball championship event would pass when the CIF Federated Council votes on it in May.

To the uninitiated, a preferred total of eight teams in Northern California and eight teams in Southern California would be chosen for the open division after all of the section playoffs are complete. These teams would then compete for north and south open division titles and would then play each other for the open division state crown.

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Mater Dei boys, girls make more history by getting sweep for second straight season.

This boys-girls sweep of the State Team of the Year honor is getting to be old hat for Mater Dei of Santa Ana.

Last year, Mater Dei became the first school in state history to be considered No. 1 in the state overall for both genders. The Monarchs have done it again with the announcement of this year’s final No. 1 team on Monday.

The only difference between the two seasons is that this year’s girls team at Mater Dei was not a clear-cut selection. The Monarchs certainly got a run for their money by La Jolla Country Day of La Jolla.

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Behind 30 points from Katin Reinhardt, Mater Dei beats Sheldon in D1 final and gets state record ninth championship for coach Gary McKnight. Alemany also completes quest with D3 victory while Village Christian upends defending champ for first D5 crown.

The CIF Division I, Division III and Division V state title games in boys basketball were played at Power Balance Arena in Sacramento. The Division II and Division IV titles were decided on Friday (click here for writeups).

Division I:
Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 66, Sheldon (Sacramento) 48

Two hours after Mater Dei girls’ coach Kevin Kiernan became the winningest in CIF history, boys’ coach Gary McKnight topped even that by earning his ninth and the program’s second in a row.

McKnight, who began coaching the team in 1983, broke the state record of eight set in 1997 by retired Crenshaw of Los Angeles coach Willie West.

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Mater Dei three-peats by pulling away from Berkeley in what looks like final game for coach Cheryl Draper. Defensive record also set by Bishop O'Dowd in Division III victory while Brookside Christian brings another state title to Stockton with D5 triumph.

The CIF Division I, Division III and Division V state title games in girls basketball were played at Power Balance Arena in Sacramento. The Division II and Division IV titles were decided on Friday.

Division I:
Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 57, Berkeley 40

In a game that was very reminiscent of the 2011 Division I state title game matchup, Mater Dei (34-3) overcame a first quarter deficit to win easily and claim its third straight state championship.

The 2010 title came in Division II with the last two in the state’s big school division.

The win also solidifies Mater Dei’s No. 1 position in the final Cal-Hi Sports rankings and a top 10 finish in the POWERADE FAB 50 national rankings where the Monarchs were No. 8 this past week.

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Mitty holds off J.W. North for fifth state title, while La Jolla Country Day rolls to early lead and wins first Division IV crown.

The CIF Division IV and Division II state title games in girls basketball were played at Power Balance Arena in Sacramento. The Division I, Division III and Division V titles will be decided on Saturday.

Division II:
Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 56, J.W. North (Riverside) 54

The NorCal representative came in steeped in championship tradition against an upstart SoCal representative looking to win its first state title.

J.W. North, the team with a new coach and a cast of new players looking to become the first Riverside County team to win a girls state title since all-time great Cheryl Miller led Riverside Poly to the Division I title in 1982, played a valiant game.

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Mitty repeats in Division II with Aaron Gordon leading the way. NorCal wins in Division IV as well with Salesian of Richmond topping Price.

The CIF Division IV and Division II state title games in boys basketball were played at Power Balance Arena in Sacramento. The Division I, Division III and Division V titles will be decided on Saturday.

Division II:
Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 78, La Costa Canyon (Carlsbad) 57

It was a vintage performance for Aaron Gordon, one of the nation’s top-ranked juniors, and the rest of the Monarchs’ starting lineup.

The 6-foot-8 point forward dominated the boards, nailed a couple of 3-pointers and scored a game-high 33 points. Gordon’s point total makes the top 10 on the all-time state title game list. He also grabbed 20 rebounds, one short of the Division II record he tied last season.

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We have two weeks full of baseball players to catch up on, including a double no-hitter and a 48-game win streak coming to a close. From this week, a sophomore from Los Alamitos also has cooled off the hot start of state-ranked Huntington Beach.

Note: We’re proud once again to collect weekly writeups of the most significant individual high school baseball totals in California. We use these as the basis for updating the state record book, which has been published seven times, most recently in the spring of 2009. To report a state stat star of your own, please email highlights to Mark.Tennis@espn.com.

(After games of Saturday, March 17; includes some games as of Wedneday, March 21; Contributing: Bob Barnett, Mark Tennis)

Angel Acosta (Gabrielino, San Gabriel)
The junior pitcher already has well over 300 strikeouts for his career since he was a varsity standout two years ago as a freshman. In a 2-1 win earlier this week against Mountain View of El Monte, Acosta went eight innings with a two-hitter and struck out nine. It was not his top extra-inning effort of the season, either. Acosta struck out 18 in a nine-inning game to lead Gabrielo past El Monte, 3-2, one week ago. He also had a two-hitter in that one.

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Johanna Grauer of Amador Valley throws big no-hitter on Thursday in battle of state-ranked teams. San Marino’s Michelle Floyd and Ridgeview’s Nisa Ontiveros are at it again while girl from Stockton gets her name into the state record book.

Note: We’re proud once again to collect weekly writeups of the most significant individual high school softball totals in California. We use these as the basis for updating the state record book, which has been published seven times, most recently in the spring of 2009. To report a state stat star of your own, please email highlights to Mark.Tennis@espn.com.

(After games of Saturday, March 17; includes some games as of Wedneday, March 21; Contributing: Bob Barnett, Mark Tennis)

Maggie Arriola & Tyler Hughes (Garces, Bakersfield)
Arriola hit a grand slam to go along with seven RBIs for the game in a 13-5 win over Wasco. Hughes, meanwhile, moved to 5-0 this season in the circle, struck out eight and didn't allow a hit in a 9-0 win over South of Bakersfield.

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As is our custom prior to CIF state finals in football and basketball, we take a crack at choosing which teams we think will win.

Note: All of the following writeups and selections are done with the highest level of respect to both teams and all coaches. We never use point spreads and, sure, some of the scores might be a bit more lopsided than we might think. But you also never know what might happen. After all, these are teenagers.

We had one of our worst years ever in last year’s CIF finals (boys and girls combined) with just six correct and four wrong. We were 7-for-10 in 2010 and were 9-for-10 in 2009.

The following writeups were completed by Ronnie Flores, Harold Abend, Mark Tennis, Paul Muyskens.

Boys Division I
(Saturday, March 24, 8 p.m.)

Cal-Hi Sports’ predicted score:
Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 77, Sheldon (Sacramento) 66

The marquee game of the 2012 CIF boys state championships could live up to its billing as both teams look for historic victories.

Mater Dei, the top-ranked team in the state and the No. 8 team in the country in the POWERADE FAB 50, is gunning for its second consecutive CIF state title. Sheldon is looking to become the first Sacramento-area Division I state champion ever.

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This year’s CIF state championships on the girls side feature four strong favorites and one game that is almost too close to call.

Note: All of the following writeups and selections are done with the highest level of respect to both teams and all coaches. We never use point spreads and, sure, some of the scores might be a bit more lopsided than we might think. But you also never know what might happen. After all, these are teenagers.

We had one of our worst years ever in last year’s CIF finals (boys and girls combined) with just six correct and four wrong. We were 7-for-10 in 2010 and were 9-for-10 in 2009.

The following writeups were completed by Harold Abend, Paul Muyskens.

Girls Division I
(Saturday, March 24, 9:30 a.m.)

Cal-Hi Sports’ predicted score:
Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 61, Berkeley 48

There’s little surprise that these two teams are meeting again for the state’s big school title. What’s different is the makeup of the two teams from last year.

Two-time defending state champion Mater Dei sent Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis off to Connecticut leaving USC-bound and ESPNHS Girls Basketball Class of 2012 No. 2 Jordan Adams and Washington State-bound Alexas Williamson to carry on.

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With one game to go, Mater Dei (D1), Archbishop Mitty (D2), Alemany (D3), Salesian of Richmond (D4) and St. Joseph Notre Dame (D5) look to complete almost wire-to-wire runs atop their state divisions.

More highlights from this week’s lists include:

Our picks of which teams in the north and which teams in the south can still move up in the final rankings depending on which team wins in the CIF state championships.

With help from Stockton office assistant editor Paul Muyskens, here is the eighth and next-to-last listing of boys teams this season for each division (records listed after regional championship games played on Saturday, March 17; previous ranking in parentheses):

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