SDSCIF softball MIA from CIF Regional

The pairings and brackets for the CIF Southern California softball regional were announced Sunday (June 20), and ballclubs based in San Diego and Imperial counties were almost nowhere to be found.

Because of the COVID-19 delayed season which has run well past graduation and into the club sports summer season, many of the top-flight schools in the Southland — especially San Diego County — declined berths to the CIF event.

It’s been long assumed that club sports will take over high school sports for many reasons, one being that colleges do their recruiting and scouting the club circuit, which is considered a higher level of competition. This has been especially true in basketball, volleyball, and soccer for years, yet is quickly spreading to other sports like softball and baseball.

Thus, CIF San Diego Section champions and runners-up like Mater Dei Catholic and Rancho Buena Vista (Open Division), San Marcos and Rancho Bernardo (Division I), Otay Ranch and Helix (Division II), Mira Mesa and El Camino (Division III), plus Division V runner-up Orange Glen, are all missing the event.

Which CIFSDS schools remain? Just five.

Two are Carlsbad (Open Division) and Canyon Crest (Division III), which both finished in third place in the San Diego Section playoffs. The others were from Divisions IV and V: champion Holtville and runner-u Bayfront Charter from Division IV, and Division V titlist Kearny.

Because divisions don’t align evenly between the section and the stats, some schools will be playing in different Southland brackets.

Carlsbad is the third seed in Division I, earning a Tuesday home game with the Westlake Warriors of Westlake Village in Orange County.

Canyon Crest was tabbed the fifth seed in Division III, gaining a road trip to San Fernando. The winner advances to Thursday’s semifinals against two-seed St. Bonaventure, as this field only consists of seven schools.

Meanwhile, half of the six schools in Division IV hail from the San Diego Section. Thus, because of travel expenses and the like, all three were placed in the upper half of the draw.

Kearny gained the No. 4 seed and will host No. 5 seed Bayfront Charter of Chula Vista, coached by 2011 East County layer of the year Mary Grabowski. If the Sharks post a mild upset over the Konets, they gain a CIFSDS title game re-match with top-seed Holtville, in a game slated for the 100-plus degree temperatures of the Imperial Valley.

All four Southland regional brackets can be found HERE.

.– Compiled by Nick Pellegrino