LAKE COUNTY — The Clear Lake Cardinals pulled down the No. 2 seed in the North Coast Section Division IV softball playoff field announced Sunday and could host up to three games depending on how the postseason tournament plays out over the next two weeks.
Also on Sunday, Kelseyville High School”s baseball team drew the No. 7 seed in the NCS Division IV playoffs while the Middletown Mustangs are No. 14.
While there was enough room for 16 teams in both the softball and baseball playoffs, only 12 softball and 14 baseball teams qualified, leading to first-round byes for the top four softball seeds and the top two baseball seeds.
Softball
No. 1 seed St. Patrick/St. Vincent of Vallejo (23-2), the champion of the Bayshore Athletic League (BASL), has reached the sectional title game four times in the last five years, winning titles in 2006, 2008 and 2009, and finishing second to Clear Lake in 2007. In fact, Clear Lake and St. Patrick/St. Vincent have met in the finals twice in the last five years. The Cardinals won 2-1 in ”07 and lost by that same score in 09.
Clear Lake (19-2) is the North Central League I South champion and one of four league champions in the playoff field (along with St. Patrick/St. Vincent, McKinleyville and Fort Bragg).
McKinleyville (20-2) of the Humboldt-Del Norte Big 5 is the No. 3 seed and Salesian (15-4-1) of the BASL is No. 4.
First-round games on Wednesday have No. 5 Justin-Siena of the Marin County Athletic League (MACL) home against No. 12 Willits (8-7) at 5 p.m.; No. 6 Fort Bragg (16-5) of the NCL I North home against No. 11 Healdsburg (6-18) at 5 p.m.; No. 7 Marin Catholic (13-11) of the MCAL home against No. 10 Piedmont (14-9) at 5 p.m.; and No. 8 Cloverdale (10-7) of the NCL I South home against No. 9 Fortuna (12-11) at 5 p.m.
Quarterfinal-round games take place either Friday or Saturday. St. Patrick/St. Vincent will host the Cloverdale-Fortuna winner on Saturday, Clear Lake will host the Marin Catholic-Piedmont winner on either Friday or Saturday, McKinleyville will host the Fort Bragg-Healdsburg winner either Friday or Saturday, and Salesian will host the Justin-Siena-Willits winner on Friday.
Semifinal-round games are scheduled for either May 31 or June 1 and the Division IV championship game is either June 3 or June 4.
Baseball
Kelseyville, champion of the NCL I North, meets a familiar foe in its first-round game today at 5 p.m. at Lloyd Larson Field in Kelseyville, none other than the Fort Bragg Timberwolves, who finished second to Kelseyville in the North standings this season.
Kelseyville brings a 15-7 record into the game and Fort Bragg enters play 15-8. The two teams split their league meetings, each winning on their home turf. Kelseyville prevailed 5-0 in the first meeting at Kelseyville, while Fort Bragg rallied from a 6-2 deficit to win 7-6 at Fort Bragg.
Because the Knights are the only league champion in their half of the bracket, they will host games through at least the semifinals as long as they can keep on winning. If they win today, they”ll host No. 2 seed Healdsburg, which has a first-round bye, on either Friday or Saturday.
Kelseyville lost 13-2 to St. Joseph”s in a first-round road game last season, capping a 12-11 season.
Middletown (13-10) was originally scheduled to play at No. 3 seed Arcata (16-8) on Wednesday night, but that game has been moved to tonight because of the threat of rain in the Arcata area on Wednesday. First pitch is 7 p.m.
It”s a busy week for coach Mitch Tucker”s Middletown squad, and not just because of the Mustangs” participation in the playoffs.
“We”re having a huge struggle with finals and our graduation is on Friday,” Tucker said.
While some Middletown players as well as Tucker will spend tonight in Arcata before returning to Lake County on Wednesday, others will drive home with their parents after tonight”s game because of their finals schedule.
Arcata split a doubleheader with Kelseyville earlier this season and Tucker said he doesn”t have much information on the Tigers, who don”t post their statistics on the MaxPreps website.
“I don”t know much about them,” Tucker said. “I do know my guys are excited to be playing. It”s a great environment up there. It”s a college town and we”re hoping to see a lot of fans out there.”
If Middletown can get past Arcata out of the HDNL Big 5, the Mustangs would meet either No. 6 seed McKinleyville (15-8) or No. 11 Lick Wilmerding (15-10) in the quarterfinals, most likely on Saturday given that Middletown”s seniors graduate Friday and would be unavailable to play.
Middletown dropped a 7-1 decision at home to Marin Catholic, this year”s No. 1 seed, in a first-round game last season.
Marin Catholic (20-4), champion of the MCAL, and Healdsburg (14-10) of the Sonoma County League, are this year”s Nos. 1-2 seeds and have first-round byes.
In other first-round games today, No. 4 Berean Christian (14-9) plays No. 13 Cloverdale (11-9) at 5 p.m. and McKinleyville takes on Lick Wilmerding. On Wednesday, No. 8 El Molino (11-12) hosts No. 9 Salesian (11-11), and No. 5 St. Mary”s (12-11) hosts No. 12 St. Helena (14-11).
Quarterfinal-round games are either Friday or Saturday, the semifinals are May 31 or June 1, and the Division IV championship game is June 3 or June 4.
See www.cifncs.org to see the complete Division IV brackets in baseball and softball.
