Mater Dei Could Earn High Seeding

Mater Dei’s baseball team can expect to be seeded at least second in the Division I playoffs when the Southern Section pairings are released Monday.

The Monarchs (21-3), who won their only section baseball championship in 1980, finished atop the South Coast League standings for the fourth consecutive year and are expected to be the county’s top-ranked team in the final sportswriters’ poll, which comes out Tuesday.

The division’s top-seeded team should be Fontana, which won the Citrus Belt League and has been the Southland’s top-ranked team most of the season.

Two-time defending champion Fountain Valley (20-6, 12-3 in league), trying to become the first Division I team to win three consecutive titles since Chaffey in 1956-58, probably will not be among the four seeded teams despite winning its fourth consecutive Sunset League title.

Capistrano Valley (21-4), which finished runner-up to Mater Dei in the South Coast League, also could be seeded in Division I.

The county is looking for its fourth consecutive Division I title. Esperanza (14-11), runner-up in the Sunset League this season, won in 1993.

Sonora (20-4-1), the defending Division II champion, probably will not be the No. 1-seeded team after losing the Freeway League title to Fullerton (20-5-1). But the Raiders have a chance to be seeded in Division II, as does Fullerton and Canyon (22-3).

Either La Quinta (21-6), the two-time defending Division III champion, or Laguna Hills (19-5), the Pacific Coast League champion, is expected to be the top-seeded team in Division III.

Calvary Chapel (19-4), the defending Division V champion, should be the division’s top-seeded team.

The playoffs begin Tuesday with the wild-card round. First-round games are set for Friday.