The San Benito High baseball team earned the No. 1 seed for the
second straight year, and will face No. 16 Silver Creek on
Wednesday; the No. 3 Lady ‘Balers softball team, meanwhile, will
await the winner between No. 6 Piedmont Hills and No. 11 Mount
Pleasant
HOLLISTER
The San Benito High baseball team earned the No. 1 seed in the CIF-Central Coast Section Division I playoffs for the second straight year on Saturday, while the three-time defending CCS champion Lady ‘Balers softball team earned the No. 3 seed in Division I.
The baseball team, after compiling a 25-4-1 record, will host No. 16 Silver Creek (21-9) on Wednesday at 4 p.m., in Hollister. The winner will advance to Saturday’s quarterfinal round and take on the winner between No. 9 Oak Grove (23-3) and No. 8 Bellarmine (21-10) at PAL Stadium in San Jose.
In the other two first-round games on San Benito’s side of the bracket, No. 13 Homestead (13-16) will take on No. 4 Serra (25-7), while No. 12 Carmel (18-7) will face off against No. 5 Valley Christian (24-8).
Other Division I games include No. 2 Santa Teresa (22-5) battling No. 15 Evergreen Valley (19-11), No. 7 Salinas (22-7-1) against No. 10 Mitty (21-11), No. 3 Wilcox (25-7) facing off with No. 14 Carlmont (18-12), and No. 6 St. Francis (23-9) against No. 11 Gilroy (17-12-1).
The championship final is slated for Saturday, May 30, at San Jose Muni Stadium at 7 p.m.
Last year, the top-seeded ‘Balers routed visiting Silver Creek 11-1 in the first round before falling to Bellarmine 8-6 in the quarterfinals.
The Lady ‘Balers, meanwhile, after compiling a 24-4 record, earned the 3-seed and received a first-round bye as a result. San Benito won’t play until Saturday’s quarterfinal round, when it will take on the winner between No. 6 Piedmont Hills (20-8) and No. 11 Mount Pleasant (18-10).
Those two teams will square off Wednesday on Field 1 at the Salinas Sports Complex at 4:45 p.m.
A quarterfinal victory would equal a trip to the semifinals for the Lady ‘Balers, where it could face one of three opponents: No. 2 Wilcox (20-5), No. 7 Fremont (15-9) or No. 10 Leland (15-11-1).
Other Division I games include No. 5 Watsonville (22-6) against No. 12 Salinas (15-11-2), No. 4 North Salinas (16-6) versus No. 13 Homestead (13-11), and No. 8 Gilroy (13-12-1) facing off with No. 9 Evergreen Valley (15-11), the winner of which will move on to play top-seeded Carlmont (22-5-1) in the quarterfinal round.
The championship final is scheduled for Saturday, May 30, at PAL Stadium in San Jose. Time is to be announced.
Last season, the then-No. 1 Lady ‘Balers topped Evergreen Valley 8-2 in the quarterfinals, Carlmont 5-0 in the semifinals and Gilroy 8-3 in the championship final.
More to come.
