What ESPN said:
17. South Hills (Covina, Calif.) 23-8
For the fifth time in eight tries, the Huskies captured a section championship last season as they defeated Beckman of Irvine in the CIFSS Division III finals for the first title under head coach Kevin Smith. The Huskies do lose Division III player of the year, pitcher Derek Klena, but it was a team dominated otherwise by underclassmen. All-CIFSS picks Cody Doyle and Christian Ibarra along with State Freshman of the Year Ty France headline the list of returnees.
19. Bishop Amat (La Puente, Calif.) 26-6
An 11-game winning streak came to an abrupt end for the Lancers last year when they lost in the CIFSS Division IV semifinals in walk-off fashion after earlier in the season finishing undefeated in Del Rey League play. Most teams would be worrying what the pitching would look like after losing a 10-game winner, but the Lancers have to feel pretty good as they will still have senior left-hander Paul Paez, who also won 10 games. He will team up with senior catcher Jerry McClanahan, who led the team with 38 runs batted in and seven home runs.
