The way the CIF-SS playoff divisions are organized changed this school year in a number of sports, including baseball.
No longer do all playoff teams from the same league compete in the same playoff division. Now, teams are placed into playoff divisions based on past performance and strength of schedule. The higher a team’s points profile, the higher the division it will be placed.
In the new system, 42 teams are in Division 1 this season, including 18 county teams: Aliso Niguel, Cypress, Dana Hills, El Dorado, El Toro, Esperanza, Foothill, Huntington Beach, JSerra, Los Alamitos, Marina, Mater Dei, Mission Viejo, Orange Lutheran, San Clemente, Santa Margarita, Servite and Tesoro.
The team that just missed being in Division 1 is Beckman, which was No. 43 on the list and was placed in Division 2.
Beckman coach Kevin Lavalle had wondered where his team would be placed.
“I’d heard that we would be right around there at the edge,” Lavalle said.
Lavalle said that no matter where Beckman would have been, he likes the new system.
“If the idea is to make the playoffs competitive every single round,” he said, “then this is going to accomplish that.”
Look for the pitching-deep Patriots to make a run at the Division 2 championship. Junior shortstop, Matt McClain, a starter since his freshman year and who committed to UCLA, was All-CIF Division 3 last year. He was also the Pacific Coast League player of the year. Senior catcher Austin Schell knocked in 32 runs in ’16. Beckman was 24-6 last year and advanced to the Division 3 semifinals.
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O.C. BASEBALL PREVIEW
- Baseball preview: O.C. preseason top 10
- Baseball preview: Orange County’s top 10 players to watch
- Baseball preview: Other players to watch
- Baseball preview: Beckman has already had one close call
- Baseball preview: Important dates
• The baseball season officially begins Saturday with nonleague games. There are several interesting doubleheaders, including Huntington Beach at Aliso Niguel and Servite at Villa Park, starting at 10 a.m.; and Dana Hills vs. Orange Lutheran at Cal State Fullerton, starting at 4 p.m.
• As usual, the large season-opening tournaments are the Loara Tournament and the Newport Elks Tournament. As usual, those tournaments include many of Southern California’s top teams.
• The Loara Tournament – Loara.usapremiersports.com has the information – begins Thursday. The Newport Elks Tournament – NewportElks.usapremiersports.com – also begins Thursday.
• There are seven playoff divisions that will have 32-team brackets. A team that does not finish high enough in its final league standings to get a guaranteed playoff berth can qualify as an at-large team is there are fewer than 32 automatic playoff teams in the division and if the team has an overall record of .500 or better. If a division has more than 32 automatic qualifiers, wild card-round games would be played to reduce the number of qualifiers to 32.
• The Boras Classic’s Southern California competition is April 18-21. Among the teams in it are host schools JSerra and Mater Dei, and other O.C. preseason top 10 teams Aliso Niguel, El Toro, Huntington Beach and Orange Lutheran. The borasclassicca.com website has the schedule.
• JSerra senior shortstop Royce Lewis last season was Trinity League player of the year for the second year in a row. The only other two-time Trinity League player of the year was Austin Hedges, currently the San Diego Padres catcher.
• This is Bob Zamora’s 40th season as Capistrano Valley’s coach. He’s looking forward to it because as he said, “We’ve got a great group of kids.”
Contact the writer: sfryer@scng.com
