SOUTHERN SECTION SOFTBALL PLAYOFFS : Three County Teams Seeded in Top Four of 5-A Division

Though no Orange County team was given top billing, several received seedings in the Southern Section 5-A and 4-A softball playoff pairings announced Monday.

Garden Grove (19-5), the Garden Grove League champion, is the second-seeded team in the 5-A division, with Mater Dei (19-6) third and Katella (15-6) fourth. Camarillo (21-4), the Marmonte League champion, is the 5-A’s top seed.

In the 4-A division, Foothill (20-2) is seeded second and Irvine (20-3), the county’s top-ranked team, is fourth. Hart (16-3), the Foothill League champion, is the No. 1 seed and Sierra League champion Charter Oak (15-2) is seeded third.

Garden Grove, Mater Dei and Katella will have to wait until after today’s 5-A wild-card round to find out what teams they will play in the first round Thursday.

Six county teams are participants in 5-A wild-card games, including Kennedy (21-3), the Garden Grove League runner-up and the county’s top-ranked team for much of the season. The Fighting Irish, who were forced into a wild-card game after losing to Garden Grove twice in league, plays host to Paramount (8-10) at 3 p.m.

Rancho Alamitos (10-14) is at Gahr (15-8), Marina (17-9) at Cypress (11-7-1) and Loara (12-11) at Fountain Valley (18-4) in today’s other wild-card games also at 3 p.m.

Fountain Valley suffered the same playoff fate as Kennedy by finishing second in the Sunset League. The Barons were runners-up to Huntington Beach (13-11), which on Thursday will face the winner of today’s wild-card game between St. Joseph (10-7-1) and Santa Barbara (12-7).

In Thursday’s 4-A first-round games, Foothill will be at home against Anaheim (10-5) and Irvine will play host to Villa Park (12-12-1). In other all-county matchups, Sonora (12-12) is at Brea-Olinda (16-6), Mission Viejo (17-9) is at Sunny Hills (15-8), and El Toro (18-12) is at Savanna (13-8).

In other 4-A contests, Canyon (21-5) plays host to Rowland (15-4), La Habra (20-3) is at home against Arcadia (15-8), and Fullerton (11-10-1) travels to Riverside Poly (11-12).

In 3-A first-round action Friday, Laguna Hills (15-7) plays host to the winner of Wednesday’s Ramona (14-10) vs. Montclair (17-7) wild-card game, while Sea View League champion Woodbridge (20-6) is at home against Torrance (16-6). Also playing are Estancia (7-7), which visits Rolling Hills (17-8); Trabuco Hills (17-11), which travels to St. Paul (19-2); Saddleback (13-10), which is at Arlington (19-3), and University (20-6), which plays at South Torrance (23-1).

The 1-A division includes two county teams going head-to-head on Thursday, when Santa Ana Calvary Chapel (9-3) is at Whittier Christian (10-7). The small schools division has three county schools playing first-round games Friday: Express League champion Claremont (12-4) plays host to Avalon (6-10); Liberty Christian (11-9) is at home against Hesperia (15-3), and St. Margaret’s (10-1) plays host to Downey Calvary Chapel (9-8).