The Bonita Vista Barons earned the top seed in the San Diego Section’s Division II double-elimination playoffs and will host eighth-seeded Steele Canyon on Friday, May 20, at 3:30 p.m.
The Barons concluded league play 9-1 as Mesa League co-champions (with Hilltop) and sport a 31-1 overall record — a figure that already matches the mark set by the 2002 BVHS squad that reached the CIF semifinals.
The 2011 Barons, who won their opening 26 games, are ranked sixth in the state and 18th nationally.
Bonita Vista wrapped up regular season play with an 11-6 victory against visiting Otay Ranch on Monday. The Barons racked up 12 hits but committed two errors. The Mustangs trailed 7-6 after rolling across five runs in the top of the sixth inning. However, the hosts responded with four runs in the bottom half of the inning to secure the victory.
Chelsy Ramirez had two doubles and three RBI to lead Bonita Vista while Celinna Cosio had one double and drove in two runs. Ruby Elliott had a triple and one RBI to help make a winner out of Jennifer Hartman, who pitched a complete game while scattering nine hits.
Hartman enters the playoffs 22-1 with a 1.67 earned-run average.
Kayla Jordan leads the Barons with a.516 hitting average. Bonita Vista is batting .412 as a team with a .615 slugging percentage. Other top hitters include Cosio (.479), Alex Vargas (.453), Hannah Flippen (.452), Anissa Pinedo (.435) and Elliott (.425). Cosio leads the team with 48 RBI, followed by Jordan with 43 RBI.
Bonita Vista out-slugged Eastlake, 10-4, last Friday as Cosio racked up two doubles and drove in three runs while Flippen and Jaycee Carlson each picked up two RBI. Freshman Alex Vargas, who pitched three and one-third innings, got credit for the win.
Steele Canyon (18-12) defeated visiting La Costa Canyon, 6-3, in Wednesday’s play-in game. The Cougars finished 8-2 in Grossmont Hills League play.
Joining the Barons as seeded teams in the Division II double-elimination tournament are No. 2 Mt. Carmel (15-9-1), No. 3 Scripps Ranch (21-6-1) and No. 4 San Marcos (18-8).
Hilltop lost its bid to enter the double-elimination bracket after dropping a 10-3 decision to visiting Westview (11-12) in Wednesday’s play-in round. The Lancers finished the season 9-1 in league play, 19-9 overall.
Metro round-up
Hilltop secured its league co-championship by holding off host Eastlake, 7-6, on Monday. The Lancers held leads of 4-0, 5-3 and 7-3 before the Titans rallied for three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Hayden Christensen and Dylan Christensen each scored two runs for Eastlake, which was scheduled to meet Mission Hills in a Division I play-in game on Wednesday.
In Monday’s game, Eastlake’s Brenda Alvarez socked a triple while Dylan Christensen and Kylie Diaz each stroked doubles.
Other teams qualifying for play-in games on Wednesday included Otay Ranch in Division I, Mar Vista and Olympian in Division III and Mater Dei Catholic in Division IV and Lutheran in the new Division V bracket.
Mater Dei, the defending Division IV champion, received the No. 3 seed in this year’s playoffs behind top-seeded Madison and No. 2 Palo Verde. The Crusaders will host the winner of Wednesday’s play-in game between Del Norte and La Jolla Country Day.
Otay Ranch was scheduled to play at Rancho Bernardo, with the winner advancing to play top-seeded Poway, while the Eastlake-Mission Hills winner advances to Friday’s first round game at fourth-seeded Mira Mesa.
Mar Vista was set to host El Capitan in a play-in game on Wednesday, with the winner advancing to meet No. 4 Ramona. Olympian was set to play at San Dieguito Academy, with the winner advancing to meet No. 3 Cathedral Catholic.
Lutheran drew a home game on Wednesday against Borrego Springs, with the winner advancing to meet top-seeded Tri-City Christian.
Playoff format
First-round hosts include teams seeded 1-4 in their respective divisions. No. 1 hosts the Nos. 8/9 winner. No. 2 hosts the Nos. 7/10 winner. No. 3 hosts the Nos. 6/11 and No. 4 hosts the Nos. 5/12 winner.
Second-round games are scheduled Saturday, May 21 at the home site of the higher-seeded team. All games start at either 10 a.m. or 1 p.m.
Third-round games (challenger bracket) follow on Tuesday, May 24 at the home site of the higher-seeded team. All games start at 3:30 p.m. (Division V games are scheduled for Monday, May 23.)
Fourth-round games are scheduled Thursday, May 26 at the following locations: Divisions I, III and IV at Poway Sportsplex, Division II at Scripps Ranch High School. (Division V plays Wednesday, May 25 at Scripps Ranch.)
All five divisional championship games are scheduled Saturday, May 28 at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). Division V starts at 9 a.m., followed by Division IV at 11:30 a.m., Division III at 2 p.m., and Division II at 4:30 p.m. and Division I at 7 p.m.
For more information, visit the Web site at www.cifsds.org.
Note: It was incorrectly reported in the May 7 print edition of The Star-News that the 1992 Bonita Vista High School softball team finished 31-1. The 2002 BVHS team, in fact, won its first 31 games before losing in the San Diego Section semifinal playoffs to end its season. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.
San Diego Section Playoff Scoreboard
Play-in games
Wednesday, May 18
Division I
Rancho Bernardo 4, Otay Ranch 1
Eastlake 2, Mission Hills 0
Division II
Westview 10, Hilltop 3
Division III
El Capitan 10, Mar Vista
San Dieguito Academy 4, Olympian 1
Division V
Lutheran 14, Borrego Springs 10
