Team Rankings
Serra was teetering. After losing on Friday to Valley Christian, the Padres were down, 5-3, to St. Ignatius Prep with their spot atop the WCAL standings hanging in the balance.
The Padres responded.
They scored four runs in fourth and added to more in the fifth to take charge of the game and steady the ship. The 9-6 victory over the Wildcats allows Serra (13-2) to hold its spot atop the rankings.
It was a week when every WCAL team lost a game, which tells you how solid the league is from top to bottom. But the separation process has begun. The race for the regular-season crown is looking more and more like a four-team race between Serra, St. Ignatius Prep, Saint Francis and Valley Christian.
St. Ignatius Prep (8-3-2) climbs to the No. 2 spot – jumping ahead of Saint Francis (11-4) – ahead of Tuesday's showdown between the Padres and Wildcats at Fairmont Park.
Terra Nova was the week's highest riser. The Tigers, who have won 10 straight games – tied with Leigh for the longest acting winning streak – are now ranked sixth in PeninsulaPrepBaseball.com poll.
The King's Academy returns to action this week after two weeks off when its players went all over the world doing missionary work. The Knights (5-3) are ranked eighth.
| Rank | Team | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Junipero Serra (13-2) | Two outta three ain't bad when the opponents are Valley and SI. Tuesday's showdown with Wilcats is shaping up to be a biggie. Getting Harrison's bat healthy is huge. |
| 2. | St. Ignatius Prep (8-3-2) | Archer Horn, Johnson and Delaney are a formidable top-of-the-order trio. Gordon, Shaffer, Guido and Demuth give SI a solid rotation to boot. |
| 3. | Saint Francis (11-4) | The Lancers lost a game and a spot on the rankings this week, but they have the pitching -- Kim, Chow and Cole -- to be dangerous in May. |
| 4. | Valley Christian (10-4) | The Warriors' bats are starting to come alive. That's two straight games with 10 runs scored. The rest of the WCAL should be very afraid. |
| 5. | Menlo-Atherton (11-4) | Two wins over Carlmont showcased the stength of Molise and Peterson. Solid defense and timely hitting doesn't hurt, either. The PAL Bay Division's best. |
| 6. | Terra Nova (10-2-1) | Ten straight wins, including two last week over Woodside make the Tigers the team to beat in the PAL Ocean Division. Donati is on a heater. |
| 7. | Archbishop Mitty (8-6) | Rough week for the Monarchs who lost three games and two key pieces -- Walsh and Munoz -- to injuries for a while. Time for Mitty to stay gritty. |
| 8. | The King's Academy (5-3) | It's been a couple of weeks since the Knights played. Their mission trips are over and it's back to the battles of the PAL Bay Division. |
| 9. | Bellarmine (7-7) | Beating St. Francis on Friday and shutting out Sacred Heart Cathedral on Saturday provided the Bellls with a much-needed spark. |
| 10. | Capuchino (10-5) | The Mustangs are solid, but there have to be ramifications for an inexplicably lopsided loss at home to South San Francisco. |
| 11. | Sacred Heart Cathedral (8-7) | Allowed Riordan its first WCAL victory in two years, but bounced back with a Jacob Vines no-hitter. On any given day, Irish can beat anyone. | 12. | Sequoia (7-5) | Still waiting for the Ravens to go on a tear. The only team in the rankings to neither win or lose more than two straight games. A team in need of a streak. |
| 13. | Woodside (7-7) | The Wildcats lost all three of its games this week. They're at .500 and hold onto the No. 13 spot because there isn't a better option at this point. |
Creepers: Burlingame (7-6), Hillsdale (5-4)
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