Only one school can boast of having two first team and one second team all-staters and if you check the top of the national rankings the name of that school is easy to figure out. Others with multiple honorees include Norco, Hart of Newhall and Sheldon of Sacramento.

By Mark Tennis, Executive Editor
Contributing: Ronnie Flores, Paul Muyskens, Harold Abend, Steve Brand

Congratulations to all of the following 30 players, who have been written up as first team all-state for the CalHiSports.com all-state softball honors. We have been compiling all-state teams in softball for nearly 25 years and our Ms. Softball Player of the Year lists extend back into the 1970s.

Catchers

Taylor Edwards (Vista Murrieta, Murrieta) Jr.
The Southwestern League Player of the Year handles the pitching staff for the Broncos and is also one of the most disciplined underclass hitters in the state. In 111 plate appearances, Edwards struck out only twice and drew 20 bases on balls. She not only is tough and intelligent, she also has power, as her 15 home runs and 1.209 slugging percentage attest to. Edwards, a Nebraska commit, finished her junior campaign with a .571 batting average and 45 RBI while being named to the all-star squads of the Riverside Press-Enterprise and the Los Angeles Times. She's also an EA SPORTS All-American.

Jessica Shults (Hart, Newhall) Sr.
She caught all-state teammate Destiny Rodino at Hart and in college at Oklahoma may catching Keilani Ricketts. Shults, an EA SPORTS All-American, was the 2009 All-Santa Clarita Valley player of the year in a pick over Rodino. On the year, she hit .448 with 10 home runs and 27 RBI. The Indians won three straight games in the playoffs by 1-0 final scores, before losing to Norco, and in two of the three games she drove in the game's lone run as she homered against Trabuco Hills and doubled in a run against Esperanza. On the yea,r she had just two errors while being a part of 284 putouts for a fielding percentage over 99 percent.

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And down the stretch they come in CCS and NCS baseball, softball playoffs. Highlights can be seen of many games on Sunday at 7 p.m. on Cal-Hi Sports Bay Area. Tune to YourTV, Channel 20, San Francisco. Replays during the week throughout Northern California on Comcast Sportsnet.

By Harold Abend, Special to CalHiSports.com

Yes, the Preakness is history, and the Belmont will be run on June 6, but the horses aren't the only ones coming down the stretch, as the CIF Central Coast Section and CIF North Coast Section baseball and softball playoffs are nearing the finish line and will hit the wire this Saturday, a week before the equines race again in New York.

Also in action last week was the CalHiSports.com caravan, hopping back and forth across the Bay to catch playoff action, making stops in Santa Rosa, San Francisco and Danville.

We also caught two track meets on Saturday in Santa Rosa.

As expected, the seedings in the NCS have been pretty true to form with a handful of teams not seeded 1-4 breaking through to the semifinals in both baseball and softball

The same cannot be said for the CCS, especially in Division I baseball, where despite the seedings, four West Catholic Athletic League schools are into the semifinals.  

Baseball Top 20 Teams
(Records through May 23)

1. (1) Serra (San Mateo) 28-6
Citing a rule that said a win over McQueen of Reno on April 15 was unreported to the section and thus becomes a forfeit, the CCS docked the Padres in the Division I seeding and forced the whole pecking order out of alignment. After opening the playoffs with a mercy-shortened 11-0 victory over Homestead of Cupertino, the ruling also forced a fourth game against WCAL rival Valley Christian; and produced a third victory, 2-1, over the Warriors. USF-bound Danny Chavez, whose 90-year-old grandmother sat next to us at a game in San Mateo this season, got the win after allowing three hits and fanning nine against the two-time defending champions. With the two wins, Serra moves up to No. 11 in the state this week. Can the Padres cap it all off by getting retiring coach Pete Jensen a title? The semis are Wednesday with a fourth meeting against Bellarmine.

2. (2) De La Salle (Concord) 17-8
The Spartans also get a bump up to No. 18 in the state. They only had one game in the NCS Division I playoffs last week and took a 9-7 slugfest from EBAL rival Amador Valley. State Athlete of the Week Noah Perio continued to smack the ball around with three hits, including his sixth home run this season. Next up is another league foe California of San Ramon, with Sparta on a 10-game winning streak and facing a team it defeated 9-0 and 9-8 this season. Coach Rick Steen's charges appear to be peeking at the right time. Can they sustain the momentum?

3. (3) Clayton Valley (Concord) 22-3
A third team from the Bay Area cracked the state top 20 this week and it's Coach Bob Ralston's Eagles, who had to go eight innings but got it done against last year's 4A finalist Arroyo of San Lorenzo. The reward is they get the final spot in the state rankings. Sophomore Chaz Meadows pitched eight strong innings and had an infield single in the eighth to ignite a game-winning rally as the Eagles won 4-3. Next up is Casa Grande of Petaluma in the semis.

4. (4) Valley Christian (San Jose) 22-7
The season's over for the two-time defending CCS D1 champions but after a 2-1 loss to the No. 11 team in the state, there's no way we're dropping these boys down yet until we see if one of the three remaining WCAL teams can beat Serra to win the section title.

5. (5) St. Francis (Mountain View) 26-8
Although they too were charged with a forfeit and docked in the seedings for an unreported win over McQueen, the Lancers would seem to have benefited from the skewed draw in the CCS D1 bracket since they were able to avoid meeting a WCAL foe in the first two rounds, which were 4-2 and 9-0 victories over Gilroy and third-seeded Wilcox, respectively. Now they get to avoid Serra in the semis but must face a Mitty team they split with this season.

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