Final Week of Play to Determine Berths

There is still much to be decided as the prep baseball regular season comes to a close this week.

So far, Servite (Golden West), La Quinta (Garden Grove), and Calvary Chapel (Olympic) have clinched outright league titles. El Dorado has clinched at least a tie for the Empire League crown and Capistrano Valley Christian has done the same in the Academy League.

Here’s a look at what other county teams are playing for:

Academy: Capistrano Valley Christian (15-4, 8-0), St. Margaret’s (9-7, 6-2), and Downey Calvary Chapel (13-7-1, 6-2) have nailed down the three playoff berths. Downey Calvary Chapel hosts Capistrano Valley Christian Tuesday and travels to St. Margaret’s Friday in games that will determine the order of finish.

Century: Villa Park (15-8, 11-2), Foothill (13-10, 10-3), and Canyon (18-6, 10-3) are playoff bound. The Spartans need one victory in their two-game set with the Canyon to be get the league’s top playoff spot. Foothill plays Orange twice and holds the tiebreaker edge over Canyon.

Empire: El Dorado (19-5, 12-1), Katella (18-6, 10-3), and Cypress (16-8, 8-5) are in. The Golden Hawks play the Centurions twice and need one more victory to win the league outright. Katella is the only team that can catch El Dorado, but must win both games against Kennedy and hope El Dorado loses two.

Express: Heritage Christian (4-6, 3-4) and Liberty Christian (6-12, 2-4) face off Thursday at Boysen Park. The winner joins league champion Norwalk Pioneer Baptist and Palos Verdes Estates Rolling Hills Prep in the playoffs.

Freeway: La Habra (18-5, 11-2) has a one-game lead over Sunny Hills (17-7, 10-3), which has the tiebreaker against La Habra. Sonora (11-12, 7-6), battling Fullerton (8-15, 7-6) for third, must play two against La Habra while Sunny Hills closes against Troy. Fullerton gets in only if the Indians sweep Buena Park and Sonora loses twice to La Habra.

Garden Grove: After champion La Quinta (23-1, 10-0), Garden Grove (11-11, 7-3), Los Amigos (17-7, 7-4), and Pacifica (11-11, 6-4) are fighting for two spots. On Tuesday, Pacifica is at Garden Grove then on Thursday Rancho Alamitos is at Los Amigos, Santiago is at Pacifica and Garden Grove plays at La Quinta.

Golden West: Servite (21-2, 13-0) is the league champion. Tustin (14-9, 8-5) and Westminster (12-9-1, 7-6), who play each other twice this week, are second and third. But defending section Division IV champion Ocean View (11-11, 6-7) has a tiebreaker edge against Westminster and can knock the Lions out with two victories over Saddleback and a Westminster loss.

Olympic: League champion Calvary Chapel (21-1-1, 9-0-1), which hasn’t lost since the first week of the season, has two games with third-place Ontario Christian (12-4-1, 6-3). Cerritos Valley Christian (12-5-1, 8-3-1) has finished league play and will take second unless Ontario Christian can sweep three games this week. The Knights have a make-up game today with Whittier Christian (9-11, 4-5). If the Heralds can win that contest and twice more against Brethren Christian, one Calvary Chapel victory over Ontario Christian would put Whittier Christian in the playoffs.

Orange: Valencia, Western, Magnolia, and Brea Olinda are all involved. Co-league leaders Valencia (14-9-1, 9-4) and Western (12-12, 9-4) play each other twice this week. A split would make Valencia the higher-seeded team. Magnolia (11-11, 8-5) needs one victory against defending league champion Brea Olinda (12-11, 7-6) to earn a playoff berth.

Pacific Coast: Another tight race for the league title. University (12-11-1, 10-2-1) has a half-game lead on Aliso Niguel (15-8, 10-3), and a one-game lead on Costa Mesa (13-7-1, 9-3-1). All three are in the playoffs. University plays Laguna Beach twice, and Costa Mesa and Aliso Niguel face one another.

Sea View: First-place Corona del Mar (14-7, 9-4) can lock up the top spot with one victory over El Toro (14-10, 6-7). Irvine (14-9, 8-5) needs a split with Newport Harbor (10-12-1, 6-7) to clinch no worse than second. Woodbridge (9-11, 6-7) finishes against Santa Margarita.

South Coast: Mater Dei (17-5, 12-1) has a one-game lead over Trabuco Hills (17-5, 11-2). Those two teams, which play each other twice this week, have locked up two playoff slots. Trabuco Hills has to beat Mater Dei twice to win the league. San Clemente (14-10, 7-6) needs at least a split against Capistrano Valley (9-12, 5-8) to earn the third spot.

Sunset: Los Alamitos (15-9, 9-4) needs only one victory over Marina to clinch the top spot in the Sunset League. Edison (16-8, 8-5) has the tiebreaker edge on Esperanza (15-8, 8-5) for second place. Los Alamitos and Edison are in. Esperanza only needs a split against Fountain Valley (16-8, 6-7) to get the last berth.

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Correspondent Eric Maddy contributed to this story.