Southern Section Softball Playoffs : The Teams With Good Pitching Dominate Top Spots

No surprise in the Southern Section softball pairings. The teams with the good pitchers dominate the brackets.

In the 4-A, top-seeded Gahr High School (23-2) is a team led by junior pitcher DeDe Weiman (21-2). She has pitched 13 no-hitters this season. Righetti, with pitcher Heather Compton, is seeded second. Fountain Valley (21-6-1), which won the Sunset League championship behind the pitching of freshman Rae Rice, is seeded third and Sunset League runner-up Edison (15-8-1), with senior pitcher Terry Carpenter, is seeded fourth.

In Thursday’s first-round games, Fountain Valley will play host to North Torrance and Edison will play host to Burroughs. Other Orange County teams in the 4-A are Empire League champion Cypress (15-10), last year’s 4-A winner, which will play host to Mater Dei (17-8), third place in the Angelus League. Los Alamitos (12-10) will travel to Simi Valley; Esperanza (11-13) will travel to Long Beach Millikan; Marina (12-11) will travel to Santa Maria, and Ocean View (13-12) will travel to Simi Valley.

Kennedy (21-5, 14-0 in Garden Grove League play), which played in the 4-A last season, makes its first appearance in the 3-A as the No. 1-team. Kennedy, anchored by freshman pitcher Cheryl Longeway, will host Saddleback (14-6), in Friday’s first round.

In other first-round games, University (15-6) will travel to Covina; Orange League champion Western (14-10) will play host to Garden Grove (16-13); Canyon (16-8-1) will travel to Don Lugo; Buena Park (13-13) will travel to third-seeded Crescenta Valley; Valencia (20-6) will play host to Glendora; La Habra (14-12) travels to Diamond Bar; Sea View League champion Tustin (15-4) will play host to La Quinta; Century League champion Villa Park (14-13) will play host to Walnut; and Freeway League champion Sunny Hills (14-14), last year’s 3-A winner, will play the winner of Wednesday’s wild-card game between Rubidoux and Upland. Santa Ana (13-7-1) and Savanna (14-11) will also play Wednesday in a wild-card game with the winner traveling to Culver City.

In the 2-A, last year’s co-champion Woodbridge (19-6) is the top-seeded team. The Warriors led by pitcher Tiffany Boyd, will play host to Montebello in Friday’s first-round games. Second-seeded San Clemente (18-4), the South Coast League champion, will play host to Orange (11-9). Capistrano Valley (17-8) will travel to La Serna; Mission Viejo (18-7) will play host to Alemany, and Laguna Hills (14-5) will travel to Pomona Catholic.

In Thursday’s 1-A games, Whittier Christian (12-7) will travel to Bassett; Sunrise League champion Rosary will play host to Elsinore, and Connelly (9-5) will travel to L.A. Baptist. In the Small Schools division, California Lutheran (10-5) will play host to Lutheran (LA) in Tuesday’s wild-card game.