One team travels and one team stays home as the Central Coast
Section Division I pairings for baseball and softball were
announced Saturday.
One team travels and one team stays home as the Central Coast Section Division I pairings for baseball and softball were announced Saturday.
The Hollister High baseballers, co-champs of the Tri-County Athletic League and 20-7 overall, stay in town to host No. 10 Aptos (18-7) on Wednesday in a first round game at 4 p.m. The Mariners won the regular season of the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League, but lost the league tournament championship game to Soquel 8-5.
A victory by the Balers, seeded seventh, could possibly match them against No. 2 seed St. Francis (25-7). The Lancers’ first round opponent is No. 15 Silver Creek (18-3). The quarterfinal contest is to be played at PAL Stadium on Saturday at 4 p.m.
The Baler softball team, at 20-9, is seeded fifth and will meet 12th seed Milpitas (14-11) on Wednesday, as well. That game will be played at the Salinas Sports Complex on Field 3 at 5 p.m. The Trojans won the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League and defeated the Balers 1-0 at the Watsonville Tournament on April 19. The last time the Balers met the Trojans in CCS was two years ago in the semifinals when the Balers prevailed 5-4.
“I really like where we’re seeded,” said Baler head coach Scott Smith. “I feel very confident about winning the first two rounds and making it to the semifinals. I don’t see why we can’t. When we lost to Milpitas before, we didn’t have Kim Dabo. Their pitcher wasn’t overpowering. If we played Milpitas 10 times we should beat them nine.”
Should the Balers win on Wednesday, they would advance to the quarterfinals on Saturday against the winner between Menlo-Atherton and Independence. The top-seeded team on the Balers’ side of the bracket is top-seeded Carlmont.
“I expect either Carlmont or Gilroy to get to the semifinals,” said Smith. “We have the tougher side of the bracket. No question.”
Hollister was seeded lower than expected because it played only two teams which won league titles – Milpitas and Carlmont.
