Maranatha, Pasadena Poly softball lead local sextet into CIF playoffs
Softball: Minutemen, Panthers have first-round games Thursday, while San Marino, Westridge, La Salle and Marshall have wild cards on Tuesday.
With five Pasadena area softball teams receiving playoff assignments on Monday morning when the CIF Southern Section released its pairings, three will waste no time in opening up with wild-card games on Tuesday, while Maranatha High and Pasadena Poly will host first-round contests on Thursday.
As for the wild-card round, Westridge takes to the road, while La Salle, San Marino and Marshall Fundamental will play host.
Maranatha (17-9), the only local league titlist after claiming the Olympic League crown, awaits a wild-card entrant, either Jurupa Valley (7-11), which took third in the River Valley League, or Serrano (12-9), an at-large team from the Mojave River League. If Maranatha prevails on Thursday in its Division IV opener, it will face Monrovia or fourth-seeded Dos Pueblos in a second-round tilt on May 21.
Down in Division VI, Pasadena Poly’s second-place finish in the Prep League garnered the Panthers (14-5) a first-round home game hosting Twentynine Palms (15-9), which finished second in the De Anza League. The winner moves on to likely face second-seeded Bellarmine Jefferson, which opens up against a wild-card entrant, in the second round.
La Salle (12-12-1), having finished third in the Del Rey League, will host Crescenta Valley (14-10-1) in an area showdown. The Falcons tied for second in the Pacific League, but enter as the No. 3 team out of the league. The winner advances into Thursday’s first round, where a long drive will take it to face fourth-seeded Righetti, the PAC 7 League champion.
In Division IV, San Marino (15-7-1), after a fourth-place finish in the Rio Hondo League, hosts Ventura (8-13), the third-place squad from the Channel League on Tuesday. The winner advances to Thursday’s first round to face South El Monte, the Mission Valley League champion.
In a Division V wild-card game, Marshall (6-12), the Alpha League’s third-place finisher, will host Barstow (17-11), a Desert Sky at-large entry. The winner moves on to face Lompoc Cabrillo, the No. 3 seed on Thursday.
Back down in Division VI, Westridge (8-8), out of the Prep League, takes on Desert Christian (no record reported) of the Desert Mountain League in a battle of fourth-place squads. The winner travels to face third-seeded Santa Paula, the Frontier League champion, on Thursday in the first round.