Countdown to playoffs for Metro baseball, softball teams begins

The San Diego Section baseball and softball playoffs are set to start Tuesday, May 19, in seven divisions.

The section seeding meeting is Saturday.

Last round regular season games were scheduled Thursday and Friday for teams to sew up league championships to automatically qualify for this year’s playoff field.

Metro Conference baseball teams are playing three rounds to determine a league champion — nine games in both the Metro-Mesa and Metro-South Bay leagues and 12 games in the Metro-Pacific League

The section playoffs will include eight teams in the Open Division, 12 teams in each of the Division I through Division IV brackets and 10 teams each in Division V and Division V-AA.

Championship games are scheduled May 28-30.

Eastlake entered Thursday’s Mesa League finale at San Ysidro with an 8-0 league record to officially send itself to the postseason.

Meanwhile, Mater Dei Catholic and Montgomery were both 6-2 in league ahead of Olympian and Hilltop, both with 2-6 league marks.

Mater Dei Catholic was scheduled to host Montgomery in a winner-take all contest on Thursday for rights to the league title and a trip to the playoffs.

Mater Dei Catholic is the defending league champion.

Mar Vista and Chula Vista entered their respective regular season finales tied for the Metro-Pacific League’s top spot with 8-3 records.

Chula Vista defeated Southwest, 13-7, on Wednesday in advance of Friday’s final regular season contest at Sweetwater (5-6 in league). Mar Vista topped Sweetwater, 7-5, on Wednesday to head into Friday’s final game against Castle Park (3-8 in league).

Chula Vista is the defending league champion.

At 20-6, Eastlake was ranked fourth among Division I teams in a bid to qualify for Open Division play. Bonita Vista (19-8) entered its final week ranked No. 1 among Division II teams ahead of No. 13 Montgomery (14-11).

Otay Ranch (17-10) was ranked third in Division III, followed by No. 6 Mater Dei Catholic (14-10), No. 8 Hilltop (11-15) and No. 13 Olympian (13-14).

Mar Vista (14-12) and Chula Vista (132-14) were ranked 12th and 13th, respectively, among Division IV teams while Sweetwater (10-15) and Southwest (12-14) were ranked 14th and 16th.

Top-ranked Division V teams included No. 4 Chula Vista Learning Community Charter (11-4-1), No. 7 Castle Park (11-16), No. 11 High Tech High Chula Vista (1-15) and No. 14 Bayfront Charter (1-12).

Victory Christian Academy (12-7-1) and Ocean View Christian Academy (8-8) were ranked fifth and seventh, respectively, among Division V-AA schools.

San Ysidro finished runner-up to Mt. Carmel in last year’s Division II final (7-3 loss) while Otay Ranch finished runner-up in last year’s Division IV final to Ramona (8-6 loss). Eastlake advanced as far as the Open Division semifinals with a tough 2-0 loss to eventual division runner-up Patrick Henry.

Softball
Mater Dei Catholic defeated Bonita Vista, 6-1, in last year’s Open Division final while Eastlake defeated Rancho Bernardo, 9-0, to win the Division I banner. Olympian topped Southwest El Centro on a no-hitter by Alexandra Perez to win the Division III banner.

Both Mater Dei Catholic and Eastlake went on to win Southern California regional titles.

Mater Dei Catholic (24-3) and Bonita Vista (19-5) entered the final week ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively in Division I as the top two contenders to qualify for this year’s Open Division field.

Metro-Mesa League teams are playing six league games. The Lady Crusaders improved to 5-0 following Wednesday’s 12-2 win at Bonita Vista (3-2) after previously topping the Lady Barons 9-5. By virtue of Wednesday’s victory, Mater Dei Catholic clinched the league title and a trip to the playoffs.

Power rankings: No. 10 Olympian (12-10-2) in Division II, No.  12 Mar Vista (7-9-2) and No. 13 Sweetwater (9-8) in Division III, No. 7 Montgomery (16-7-1) and No. 12 Hilltop (9-16-1) in Division IV, No. 4 Southwest (10-12) in Division V and No. 3 Ocean View Christian Academy (11-5) in Division V-AA.