We will be covering the San Diego Lions Tournament. I really don't have anything to do with teams or rankings, but if someone wants to email me opinions and comments, I will forward them to the people who actually do the rankings.
Just curious, if these teams just beat up on each other, does that mean they are all among the top teams in the entire country? Does that 34-6 record non-conference record include games with other nationally ranked teams?
Really, it does sound like that is a great league, with a lot of outstanding players. I for one, would enjoy knowing as much as possible about the best players and even the top teams.
email - jerry@perfectgame.org
PG,
It is in the top division in Southern California's Southern Section. Victims include Chatsworth, El Camino, Valencia, Hart, etc., etc., etc.
Some but by no means all of the top players include Nick Barnese (CS Fullerton) at Simi Valley, Andrew Lambo (Arizona State, 1st round?) of Newbury Park, Chris Hannick (CSUN), Chad Smith (junior), Matt Bywater (Pepperdine), Kevin Gelinas (Pepperdine), Byron Minnich and Tyler Peddicord of Thousand Oaks (Thousand Oaks also has freshman Cody Thompson who pitched Conejo to the LL US championship in 2004 and Simi to the Pony WS championship game in 2006 on it's JV team), Alex Gillingham, Cutter Dykstra and Christian Yelich (a freshman who is one of the better hitters in the league) at Westlake, Richard Stock at Agoura, Alex Kurland (USC) at Calabasas and others who are college bound at Royal and at some of the weaker schools in the league. Calabasas, who beat Chatsworth looks bound for 5th or 6th place in league. I believe the backup catcher at Moorpark one of the two relatively weak schools in the league is headed to Tufts.
I would say that Thousand Oaks and Newbury Park are the class of the league with Royal being a close third. Thousand Oaks is probably the strongest team but Newbury Park can beat anyone when Lambo is pitching. I think you saw what he can do to top hitters when he pitched for the Midland Reds. Simi isn't quite up with those three but has a shot against anyone given Barnese or Sandler (works mid 80s sophmore who is primarily a strong hitting catcher) on the mound. Westlake and Calabasas are then a bit of a drop. Agoura and Moorpark are relatively weak and will most likely finish 7th and 8th but still have the ability to beat other teams and are capable of finishing over .500 outside the league. Thousand Oaks and Newbury Park deserve to be ranked. As solid as Royal is with their only loss coming to Thousand Oaks they probably aren't quite up to a national ranking.
I believe TO plays Cypress in the 2nd round of the Lions tournament so that ought to be interesting.
It is in the top division in Southern California's Southern Section. Victims include Chatsworth, El Camino, Valencia, Hart, etc., etc., etc.
Some but by no means all of the top players include Nick Barnese (CS Fullerton) at Simi Valley, Andrew Lambo (Arizona State, 1st round?) of Newbury Park, Chris Hannick (CSUN), Chad Smith (junior), Matt Bywater (Pepperdine), Kevin Gelinas (Pepperdine), Byron Minnich and Tyler Peddicord of Thousand Oaks (Thousand Oaks also has freshman Cody Thompson who pitched Conejo to the LL US championship in 2004 and Simi to the Pony WS championship game in 2006 on it's JV team), Alex Gillingham, Cutter Dykstra and Christian Yelich (a freshman who is one of the better hitters in the league) at Westlake, Richard Stock at Agoura, Alex Kurland (USC) at Calabasas and others who are college bound at Royal and at some of the weaker schools in the league. Calabasas, who beat Chatsworth looks bound for 5th or 6th place in league. I believe the backup catcher at Moorpark one of the two relatively weak schools in the league is headed to Tufts.
I would say that Thousand Oaks and Newbury Park are the class of the league with Royal being a close third. Thousand Oaks is probably the strongest team but Newbury Park can beat anyone when Lambo is pitching. I think you saw what he can do to top hitters when he pitched for the Midland Reds. Simi isn't quite up with those three but has a shot against anyone given Barnese or Sandler (works mid 80s sophmore who is primarily a strong hitting catcher) on the mound. Westlake and Calabasas are then a bit of a drop. Agoura and Moorpark are relatively weak and will most likely finish 7th and 8th but still have the ability to beat other teams and are capable of finishing over .500 outside the league. Thousand Oaks and Newbury Park deserve to be ranked. As solid as Royal is with their only loss coming to Thousand Oaks they probably aren't quite up to a national ranking.
I believe TO plays Cypress in the 2nd round of the Lions tournament so that ought to be interesting.
I see that Thousand Oaks and Newbury Park have made it into the top 50 in the PGcrosschecker rankings. They've earned it, but they'll have a tough time staying there. They'll both have to do well in the Spring Break tournaments and not slip up too much in league.
quote:Among the nation’s three big baseball states, California seems to have a clearer-cut top team than any other state.
No. 2 Woodrow Wilson High of Long Beach ran its record to 16-1 and appears to be a step ahead of its competition in terms of quality and depth, particularly with a lineup that features shortstop Ryan Dent, who began the year as the top-ranked high school senior in the state. Junior outfielder/righthander Aaron Hicks ranks as the top player in the state in the Class of 2008, while junior righthander ranks as the state’s No. 1 pitcher in the same class.
The second-ranked team in California, No. 14 Cypress High of Anaheim, handed Wilson its only loss of the year but lost two other games itself to drop to No. 14. Led by third baseman Josh Vitters, the top-ranked prep position player for this year’s draft, Cypress has the offense to compete with Wilson but might not have the depth on the mound over the course of the year.
That's from PGcrosschecker. Thousand Oaks and Newbury Park were dropped from the rankings because as happens every year the teams beat up on each other during league.
Newbury Park has not done well in the Phil Nevin tournament but Thousand Oaks after losing a close one in the first round to El Toro beat both Cypress and Long Beach Wilson on the same day.
I don't know who plays who today but it seems pretty obvious that the above statement didn't take Thousand Oaks into account or for that matter El Toro who also beat Cypress or Esperanza who has done well in the Phil Nevin tournament so far.
CADad- your southern CA perspective is needed on www.norcalpreps.com. Raging debate about public vs. private schools. Of course private schools have better baseball teams and the West Catholic Athletic League is the strongest in the nation(that was sarcasm). Seems like you have really strong teams in public schools in S. CA. Maybe you could chime in and give the southern perspective.
CaBB,
The WCAL is pretty darn strong.
The WCAL is pretty darn strong.