Seedings Aren’t Decided This Way

The way Sam Blalock saw it, there was no way first-year Rancho Bernardo could miss the baseball playoffs despite a 7-18 season. In fact, the Broncos could have been seeded No. 1 in the 2-A.

Laugh along with his logic:

“We beat West Hills. West Hills beat Valhalla. Valhalla beat Mt. Carmel. Mt. Carmel beat Poway, and Poway beat Mira Mesa, so that makes us better than a lot of teams who could potentially be the No. 1 seed in the playoffs.”

In fact, Mira Mesa was the No. 1 seed in the 3-A and is playing for the section title. It was pointed out to Blalock that the Marauders were, at one time, ranked third in the nation by a national publication.

“Right,” said Blalock, who won four section championships at Mt. Carmel. “I’ll have to check USA Today, ‘Teams to watch.’ ”

Trivia time: Mt. Carmel won its second consecutive girls’ track and field championship Saturday. Three other schools have won back-to-back titles--which ones?

Giving credit: La Jolla won 20 matches and lost only twice--to University Irvine and Santa Barbara--but Torrey Pines probably could make a claim for being the county’s best tennis team as well.

The Falcons were 18-2, but both losses were in doubles tournaments, to San Pasqual and USDHS.

“I said before the season started that we’d win CIF,” Torrey Pines Coach Ann Meigs said.

Though La Jolla has won five straight 2-A titles, Torrey Pines has won three in the past seven years.

Coincidentally, each year the boys’ have won the title in the spring, it came after Meigs’ girls’ team won the title in the fall.

No-no, no-no: Mira Mesa made up for lost time in the no-hit department. The school had gone its entire history--15 years--without a no-hitter until Mike Bovee threw one against Patrick Henry on May 15, a 3-0 victory in the final game of the regular season.

The school’s principal, Jim Vlassis, has been there for nine years and couldn’t remember a no-hitter being thrown by a Marauder. He asked around. No one else could remember a no-hitter, either.

Then Marc Nielson threw a no-hitter the next game, a 2-1 victory over El Capitan in the first game of the 3-A San Diego Section playoffs, giving Mira Mesa back-to-back gems.

And they thought they had something to talk about after Bovee’s victory.

Take that, North County: The Palomar League, which had five teams make the 16-team 3-A playoffs, had four losers in the first round, including one that won 20 games (Poway) and another (Vista) that won the league title. The only first-round winner was Mt. Carmel, which tied for third place and had five of its previous six.

Add playoffs: All the home teams in the 2-A baseball playoffs won their first-round games, but three visiting teams won in the 3-A, including Sweetwater (11-9) over Poway (20-6), 10-12 Monte Vista (10-12) over No. 3 Vista (16-8-1) and Mt. Carmel (15-10-2) over Chula Vista (14-11).

In the 1-A playoffs, all four of the seeded teams were first-round losers. All were playing at home.

Trivia answer: Morse (1986-87-88), Crawford (1977-78-79) and Point Loma (1975-76) have won back to back (to back) girls’ track and field titles.

A race to the finish: Two of the nation’s best runners staged a fantastic finish to the San Diego Section Track and Field Championships.

San Pasqual’s Erin Blunt, the national leader in the 300-meter hurdles, overtook Mt. Carmel’s Allison Dring, second in the nation in the 400, to give San Pasqual a victory in the girls’ 1,600 relay.

Dring loses a lead as often as taxes are lowered.

“You dream about it,” Blunt said. “It’s exactly what I dreamed. Dreams can come true.”

Blunt is a junior, Dring a sophomore.

Both schools, San Pasqual (3:52.20) and Mt. Carmel (3:52.43), improved on Mt. Carmel’s meet record 3:53.7.

Coming together: Everything came together for Safona Harris of Morse. The shot putter had a best of 36-9 in the section prelims and a season-best 39-6 in a dual meet. But she unloaded a personal best by more than a foot--40-6 1/2--to upset county leader Kristina Mataafa of Orange Glen.

Mataafa’s best had been 41-3 1/2 and putted 40-1.

“I wanted it. I really did,” Harris said. “I choked last year.”

She finished fifth in 1990 (37-9) and last her sophomore season (34-3).

“If I practice like I have been, with a 10-pound shot, I’ll probably throw 42 feet (at the state meet),” she said.