Softball Round-Up for CIF Playoffs
Last updated 6/3/2016 at 5:01am
With the awards handed out at the high school and a hard season behind them, two local teams took part in the CIF softball playoffs.
With the help of Phillip Brents from The Star, this is what happened -
'Unless a team goes straight through to the final, the San Diego Section’s double-elimination softball playoff brackets can become somewhat confusing — and downright confounding as well.
Castle Park was guaranteed a second game in the double-elimination format and paired with fifth-seeded Borrego Springs — a 10-9 first-round loser to fourth-seeded Foothills Christian — in a second-round game on May 21.
Borrego Springs won, 6-4, to eliminate Castle Park.
In another second-round elimination game, sixth-seeded Julian downed Escondido Adventist by a score of 16-14.
At this point, there were six teams remaining in contention for berths in the division championship game, with Calvary Christian Academy and Classical Academy receiving byes to fourth round play (i.e. the semifinals).
For some reason that escapes me, HTH Chula Vista crossed from the lower half of the bracket to the upper half of the bracket to meet Borrego Springs in a third-round elimination game.
The Lady Bruins defeated Borrego Springs, 15-5, in third-round play on May 24 while Julian defeated Foothills Christian, 11-6, in another third-round elimination game to remain in the bracket.
That left four teams alive in the tournament, with the No. 1 and No. 2-seeded teams meeting in one double-elimination match-up and the No. 3 and No. 6-seeded teams meeting in the other double-elimination match-up.
In fourth round play on May 26, Classical Academy dispatched Julian, 14-3, to secure a position in last Friday’s division championship game as the loss was Julian’s second in double-elimination play.
Rather than wait another day, the second semifinal game was played two hours later that same day at the Poway USA Sportsplex. The Lady Bruins again triumphed, this time by a rather lopsided score of 21-1, to eliminate top-seeded Calvary Christian Academy.
Second-seeded HTH-CV then advanced to meet third-seeded Classical Academy in the championship game.
Despite the convolution of double-elimination bracket play, the teams that advanced to the title game seemed deserving of that honor after vanquishing their challengers in a fair fight.
As it turns out, the championship game is a single-elimination winner-take-all affair.
The Lady Bruins held an early edge, leading 7-3, before Classical Academy rallied to post an 8-7 victory and finally lay claim to the Division V championship banner.
Don’t even ask me to summarize the other five divisional playoff brackets. Let’s just say that no other South County team made it as far as the championship game. '
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