First of all, thanks for reading. I have said before that we are talking about High School Sports and I don’t go looking for controversy, it has to come to me. With the reaction to the post of the NCS D2 baseball brackets, maybe I should go looking for it.
Just kidding. I wouldn’t be very good at that anyway.
When we get into the NCS Playoffs I find out the World Wide Web stretches to the East Bay.
Who knew?
One person from the East Bay commented on the post and recommended a website that,”takes into account much more relevant factors and they’re usually right on the money.” That told me the website leaned toward the East Bay as higher seeds, which on that point I was right.
As far as, “usually right on the money”, well not really.
I did go to the website and did see a couple of interesting things. The website, which is prep2prep.com/baypreps (google baypreps), predicted the seeding for Division 1, 2 and 3. They nailed the No. 1 seed in Division 1, but for No. 2 and 3 they were wrong. For Division 2 they predicted the No. 1 seed Campolindo to be a No.4 and in Division 3 they had Analy at No.5 (just think of the uproar that would have caused).
The website also had a Bay Area Top 25, which includes the Central Coast (San Jose Area), which had the top four. At the bottom of the rankings were thirteen bubble teams, which included Analy and Montgomery (Maria Carrillo was No. 13). Concord was not listed, yet in the Division 2 forecast, which was written by the same person, Concord was at No. 7 and Montgomery No. 11.
I really need help with this. If Team A is listed higher then Team B in rankings, shouldn’t they be seeded higher also?
The website also said they based some of its seedings on head to head, which for the most part, the North Coast Section does also. In the notes below each Division the Maria Carrillo loss to Clayton Valley and Analy’s loss to Acalanes were mentioned. The Cardinal Newman win over Washington of Fremont was not mentioned and Washington was projected well ahead of Cardinal Newman, which is how it turned out.
I have been doing this for a few years and the East Bay Bias has come up before. I have said that the East Bay has earned it because they usually win the Section Titles. But this is another level of favoring the East Bay. It is an unfair playing field for no other reason than most of the teams in the North Bay League are having their school day messed up for a trip to the East Bay. It is close to graduation which means final time.
It will continue to be this way until the Sonoma County teams start winning the majority of the Section Championships.
That is hard to do in an unfair playing field.
As the saying goes, “it is what it is.”
PLAY BALL
BASEBALL
DIVISION 2 (16 Teams)
TUESDAY (All games start at 4 pm unless noted different)
No. 13 Northgate (18-6) at No. 4 Maria Carrillo (24-2)
No. 10 Petaluma (19-7) at No. 7 Livermore (13-11)
No. 11 Montgomery (17-7) at No. 6 Concord (13-11)
WEDNESDAY
No. 16 Casa Grande (15-10) at No. 1 Campolindo (20-4)
No. 15 Cardinal Newman (14-10) at College Park (23-3)
DIVISION 3 (16 Teams)
TUESDAY
No. 16 John F. Kennedy (Fremont ) 10-14 at No. 1 Analy (22-4)
WEDNESDAY
No. 13 Sonoma Valley (12-13) vs. No. 4 Pinole Valley (20-6-1) at Pinole Valley Park
DIVISION 4 (16 Teams)
TUESDAY
No. 9 Piedmont (12-11-1) at No.8 El Molino (13-10)
No. 12 St. Helena (11-11) at No. 5 Clear Lake (19-5)
No. 15 Kelseyville (12-11) at No. 2 St. Mary’s College (17-10)
WEDNESDAY
No. 13 Middletown (12-12) vs. No. 4 Fortuna (16-8) at Newburg Field, Fortuna
No. 14 Fort Bragg (11-13) at No. 3 Moreau Catholic (13-11)
No. 11 Willits (13-10) at No. 6 Arcata (15-8)
DIVISION 5 (15 Teams)
TUESDAY
No. 8 College Prep (11-10) at No. 9 St. Vincent (16-8)
No. 15 Sonoma Academy (8-11) vs. Branson(13-10) at College of Marin
DIVISION 6 (8 Teams)
TUESDAY
No. 5 Archbishop Hanna (10-3) at No. 4 Ferndale (10-9)
No. 7 Mendocino (8-6) at No. 2 Tomales (9-4)
WEDNESDAY
No. 3 Rincon Valley Christian (15-4) at No. 6 Point Arena (11-4)
SOFTBALL
DIVISION 1 (14 Teams)
TUESDAY
No. 11 Liberty (9-14) at No. 6 Santa Rosa (15-5)
DIVISION 2(16 Teams)
TUESDAY
No. 9 Rancho Cotate (17-6-1) at No. 8 Redwood (18-5)…3:30
WEDNESDAY
No. 10 Dublin (15-7) at No. 7 Maria Carrillo (18-5)
No. 12 American (14-10) at No. 5 Petaluma (20-5)
DIVISION 3 (14 Teams)
WEDNESDAY
No. 14 San Rafael (9-12) at No. 3 Analy (15-6)
No. 10 Sonoma Valley (13-10) vs. No. 7 Pinole Valley (9-15) at Ellerhorst Elementary
DIVISION 4 (14 Teams)
TUESDAY
No. 9 Berean Christian (11-9) at No. 8 Lower Lake (17-7)
No. 11 Cardinal Newman (9-11) vs. No. 6 Marin Catholic (16-6) at College of Marin…4:30
No. 10 Justin Siena (8-14) at No. 7 Clear Lake (18-5)…(Originally scheduled on Wednesday)
WEDNESDAY
No. 13 McKinleyville (13-13) at No. Cloverdale (16-5)
No. 12 Middletown (12-8) vs. No. 5 Moreau Catholic (12-8) at Hayward Larry Standley Field
DIVISION 5 (13 Teams)
TUESDAY
No. 13 Upper Lake (8-10) at No. 4 Valley Christian (10-6)
No. 11 Livermore Valley Charter Prep (12-8) at No. 6 Calistoga (15-8)
No. 3 St. Vincent BYE
DIVISION 6 (2 Teams)
WEDNESDAY
No. 2 CSD (5-13) at No. 1 Rincon Valley Christian (7-8)…
Yes, this is the championship game
My email address is jacpasquini@comcast.net