Santa Barbara TOC a tough test
The Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions has a reputation as the toughest in-season girls’ water polo tournament in the CIF Southern Section.
Judging by the field that will once again assemble up the coast off Highway 101 this weekend, that reputation is well-deserved.
All of the top 10 teams in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 rankings will be present at the 24-team tournament, which featured play-in games on Thursday night. The top three teams in Division 2 — ML King, La Canada and Agoura — all had play-in games to make the 16-team main draw.
Laguna Beach is the top seed and is going for its third Santa Barbara TOC title in four years. Before beginning the tournament, the Breakers played against Santa Barbara San Marcos in a key “tune up” game on Thursday night.
The Breakers could possibly see San Marcos again in a tournament semifinal on Saturday morning, but Laguna will first most likely have to get past Huntington Beach in the quarterfinals on Friday night at 5:30 p.m. at Santa Barbara High. The Breakers open the tournament Friday at 1:30 p.m. at Santa Barbara, against the ML King-Agoura play-in game winner.
The No. 8-seeded Oilers open the tournament against the Santa Barbara-Santiago play-in game winner at 12:30 p.m. Friday, at Santa Barbara High.
Corona del Mar is the No. 6-seeded team in the tournament and opens against the Murrieta Valley-San Clemente winner at 2:30 p.m. Friday, at Dos Pueblos. A win, and the Sea Kings could meet No. 3-seeded Mater Dei in the quarterfinals at 5:30 p.m.
Newport Harbor played Royal in a play-in game on Thursday night, for the right to play San Marcos in the first round.
Dos Pueblos is the No. 2-seeded team in the tournament, which has semifinals scheduled for 11:10 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. Saturday at Santa Barbara High and the championship game at 4:35 p.m. If Santa Barbara doesn’t finish top eight, however, the top eight teams will move to Dos Pueblos on Saturday.
I’m making the drive up this weekend, so follow me on Twitter at @mjszabo for updates on our local teams.
Laguna’s Baldridge headed to Stanford
Laguna Beach girls’ water polo senior captain Bella Baldridge committed to Stanford on Tuesday, her father, Scott, confirmed in an email.
Baldridge had also been considering Harvard, but in the end, the lefty decided to join the Cardinal. She will join her current Laguna senior teammate and co-captain Aria Fischer there, as well as Breakers grad Makenzie Fischer.
Baldridge, a four-year starter who is the Breakers’ career leader in assists, came into the week leading Laguna in goals (34), assists (30) and steals (20) this season.
Sea Kings, Lobos top-ranked in girls’ soccer
Corona del Mar and Los Amigos are top-ranked in CIF Southern Section Divisions 2 and 6, respectively, in the most recent coaches’ poll.
The Sea Kings were still unbeaten through Wednesday, with a 12-0-2 record.
Los Amigos had a 10-2-1 record entering Garden Grove League play this week.
The next highest-ranked team is Estancia, which is No. 6 in Division 4. The Eagles have two key league games next week at Jim Scott Stadium, playing against No. 4-ranked Calvary Chapel on Tuesday and rival Laguna Beach on Thursday.
