Weil Anchors Playoff Run

Brittany Weil won her 100th game as a pitcher for Garden Grove Pacifica last week and will lead the Mariners into the Southern Section Division I playoffs beginning Friday.

Weil’s milestone victory, an 18-0 win over Garden Grove Bolsa Grande in a combined perfect game with Christine Hiner, is well short of the state record of 131 that Alicia Hollowell of Fairfield had when she graduated in 2002.

The only others ahead of Weil are Tory Nyberg of Belmont Carlmont, who finished with 113 in 1999, and Maureen Brady of San Mateo Hillsdale, who accumulated 111 by 1991.

The top-seeded Mariners hope Weil can deliver five more victories, giving them their third consecutive section championship. The last two titles have been in Division III, but this year, Pacifica is in Division I.

Six first-round Division I games feature matchups of teams that have been ranked in The Times’ top 25 at some point this season, including Laguna Hills at Pacifica, and two games have currently ranked teams playing each other: Norco at Fullerton Rosary and Corona Santiago at Riverside Poly.

The best records for teams that have played at least five games against ranked opponents belong to third-seeded Corona (16-2), fourth-seeded Simi Valley Royal (9-2), Pacifica (4-1), second-seeded Valencia (10-3), Santa Ana Mater Dei (8-4), Rosary (9-6), Riverside Poly (6-4-1) and Corona Santiago (10-7).

Toughest game of the first round in Division II is Orange El Modena at Etiwanda.

After the first two divisions, the depth drops significantly, although in Division III, San Bernardino Cajon could play at La Habra Sonora in the second round. Christine Farrell is one of the division’s best, and Cajon hasn’t faced a pitcher of her caliber in two months. Earlier this year, Sonora tied Pacifica in a rain-shortened five-inning game, 2-2. Finals will be played June 3-4 at Barber Park in Irvine.

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Westlake Village Westlake has lost eight of its last 12 games, coinciding with tendinitis in the throwing arm of Ohio State-bound catcher Megan Shie, who has been replaced behind the plate by junior Clarissa Bernardo. Shie is hitting .500 with 16 runs and 18 runs batted in, and should be able to bat against Valencia on Friday. She didn’t play last week in losses to Moorpark and Thousand Oaks.

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Lancaster Paraclete failed to qualify for the playoffs, but Margaret Neill did win her 500th game on May 6 against Los Angeles Brentwood. She has a career record of 501-141-3 after the Spirits finished 9-15.

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THE TIMES’ RANKINGS

MARTIN HENDERSON’S FINAL REGULAR-SEASON SOFTBALL RANKINGS

*--* Rk Team Rec. Div. LW 1 G.G. PACIFICA 26-2-1 Div. I 1 2 ROYAL 23-2 Div. I 2 3 CORONA 25-2 Div. I 3 4 EL DORADO 20-2-1 Div. II 4 5 VALENCIA 25-3 Div. I 10 6 CAJON 25-2 Div. III 6 7 OAKS CHRISTIAN 24-5 Div. III 7 8 SAUGUS 19-4 Div. I 9 9 MILLIKAN 22-6 Div. III 5 10 RIVERSIDE POLY 20-5-1 Div. I 13 11 THOUSAND OAKS 17-8 Div. I 14 12 EL TORO 22-7 Div. II 16 13 ROSARY 21-7 Div. I 22 14 MATER DEI 19-7 Div. I 12 15 DOS PUEBLOS 23-5 Div. IV 18 16 CAMARILLO 22-5 Div. I 20 17 SAN PEDRO 25-2 City 25 18 PENINSULA 20-3 Div. II 17 19 NEWBURY PARK 16-10 Div. I 11 20 VALLEY VIEW 15-10 Div. I NR 21 NORCO 13-13 Div. I 24 22 CORONA SANTIAGO 19-8 Div. I 8 23 RANCHO CUCAMONGA 21-3 Div. II 21 24 ETIWANDA 23-3 Div. II 23 25 TEMESCAL CANYON 21-4 Div. II NR

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