Santiago’s Mowatt Has Her Eye on Elusive Title

Taryne Mowatt of Corona Santiago knows that she is one of the Southland’s most successful pitchers over the last four seasons with an 86-16 record and 0.32 earned-run average. She also knows that she has yet to win a Southern Section softball championship.

“It’s always in the back of my mind,” she said.

Before losing to Corona one week ago, Santiago was ranked sixth in the nation by the National Fastpitch Coaches Assn. The Sharks come into the playoffs as the top-seeded team in Division II despite losing two of their last three games. Once again, Division II is the strongest with 12 teams having a legitimate shot to claim the title.

Here’s a look at the playoff divisions:

DIVISION I

Defending champion: Irvine Woodbridge.

Seeded teams: 1. Riverside Poly (21-5), 2. Fullerton Rosary (21-8), 3. Woodbridge (21-9), 4. Santa Ana Mater Dei (23-4-2).

Others to watch: If El Toro (20-9) can stay alive until the return of pitcher Tanza Lewis, who had surgery to remove a benign cyst from her thyroid on May 6, the wild-card Chargers become a legitimate threat -- they had been ranked fifth in the Southland by The Times. The problem: They lost their last three South Coast League games without Lewis, who probably won’t be available until the second round Tuesday and maybe not until the quarterfinals May 27.

Outlook: Saugus (20-5), Valencia (21-7) and Newhall Hart (16-11-1), which plays a wild-card game today, shared the Foothill League title. Saugus could face Poly in the quarterfinals, Valencia could face Rosary in the second round and Hart could face Camarillo (20-7) in the first round and Rosary or Valencia in the quarterfinals. Thousand Oaks (21-5) lost its Marmonte League finale to Simi Valley Royal (19-7), then lost a coin flip for the league’s first-place designation and got stuck with maybe the most difficult path to the championship game among the favorites: The Lancers must beat Long Beach Millikan (18-10-1) for a third time, then probably face Camarillo, Valencia, Rosary and Woodbridge. Camarillo got off to a slow start but has won 11 of its last 12, partially behind the emergence of freshman pitcher Lindsey Dean (9-1).

DIVISION II

Defending champion: Norco.

Seeded teams: 1. Corona Santiago (23-3), 2. Anaheim Canyon (21-7), 3. Norco (22-4), 4. Chino Don Lugo (22-3).

Others to watch: Beware of San Luis Obispo (21-3), whose pitcher, Katie Burkhart, is 20-2 with 329 strikeouts in 148 2/3 innings, and gave up only two hits every seven innings. The Tigers won their first league title in 23 years.

Outlook: For high-powered first-round games, Don Lugo plays Colton (20-6), the third-place team from the San Andreas League. Norco won last year’s title despite being the third-place entry from the Mountain View League. Corona (19-8), ranked fifth in the Southland by The Times, holds that spot this season, and has victories over Santiago and Norco. Perhaps the best-hitting team going into the tournament is Canyon. The Comanches have been shut out only once in the last 22 games.

DIVISION III

Defending champion: Garden Grove Pacifica.

Seeded teams: 1. Pacifica (26-2), 2. Garden Grove (21-3), 3. La Mirada (24-4), 4. Riverside King (21-5).

Others to watch: As dark horses go, Hemet (21-6) has a victory over fourth-seeded King, as well as Division I Upland (20-3) and a doubleheader sweep of Division II Fontana (23-4).

Outlook: Pacifica beat Garden Grove twice this season, 1-0 and 12-0. No team in the division has come close to playing as tough a schedule; the Mariners are 13-0 against teams that have been ranked in The Times’ top 25. La Mirada reached the title game last season and was six outs from beating Pacifica behind pitcher Alyssa Gutierrez, a returner.

DIVISION IV

Defending champion: Westlake Village Oaks Christian.

Seeded teams: 1. Oaks Christian (29-1), 2. Goleta Dos Pueblos (25-1-1), 3. West Hills Chaminade (19-7-1), 4. Santa Fe Springs St. Paul (23-4-1).

Others to watch: North-Hollywood Harvard-Westlake (18-9) has two victories over Chaminade and could see Oaks Christian in the quarterfinals.

Outlook: Given their records, it will be a disappointment if Oaks Christian and Dos Pueblos don’t face each other in the title game. Chaminade has a 14-8 victory over the one team that beat Oaks Christian, Westlake Village Westlake.

DIVISION V

Defending champion: Sun Valley Village Christian.

Seeded teams: 1. Thousand Oaks La Reina (17-5-2), 2. North Hills L.A. Baptist (16-6-1), 3. Pasadena La Salle (23-5), 4. Village Christian (16-10).

Others to watch: Cypress Oxford Academy (20-5), behind pitcher Melissa Porche, has one of the best victories in the division, a 1-0 win over Division I Los Alamitos, a team that tied Santa Ana Mater Dei twice and beat Village Christian.

Outlook: Village Christian would have been seeded No. 1 had it not lost to L.A. Baptist in the Olympic League finale. The Crusaders lost five of their last seven, but had by far the division’s toughest schedule. They are led by Stanford-bound pitcher Lauren Nydam.

DIVISION VI

Defending champion: Riverside Christian.

Seeded teams: 1. San Juan Capistrano Saddleback Valley Christian (18-5-1), 2. Sierra Madre Alverno (16-4-1), 3. Riverside Woodcrest Christian (14-4), 4. Riverside Christian (16-3).

Others to watch: Temecula Linfield Christian (13-7) has won six titles, the last in 2001, and shouldn’t be discounted. The Lions won two of three from Woodcrest Christian.

Outlook: Two of the four winningest schools are from the Victory League: Moreno Valley Calvary Chapel (18-3) and Bloomington Christian (17-3).