Baseball Rankings: Northview takes over top spot, Damien, Bishop Amat drop out of top ten

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FUN FACT: Valle Vista and Hacienda own eight of the top ten spots. When is the last time that happened?

Tribune Baseball top ten rankings

1. Northview (5-0) — Vikings earned No. 1 spot by defeating South Hills 5-3 in Saturday’s championship of the Dick’s Sporting Goods tournament — a tournament that also featured Damien, Bonita, Los Altos and other local heavyweights.
2. South Hills (4-1) — Adding David Denson’s bat along with his ability to pitch makes the Huskies even more complete and the favorite to win the Sierra. But Huskies, help us out, post a roster somewhere.
3. Nogales (4-0) – Nobles already with wins over Capistrano Valley and Estancia in advancing to the Newport Elks tourney final (championship rained out). But the big news is that coach John Romano can get his 600th career victory at home against Temple City on Tuesday at 3:15 p.m.
4. Bonita (4-1) – Only loss a 6-1 setback against South Hills in a game where the Bearcats didn’t use one of their top two pitchers. We know they’re good and you know they’re good.
5. San Dimas (5-0) — Saints are rolling with two wins over Tahquitz and another over Chino Hills during the Chino High tournament. And they’ve done it in dominating fashion, outscoring opponents 39-5
6. Diamond Bar (5-0) — The Brahmas started well last year then faded. Will it happen again? Even though it’s just the Don Lugo tournament, the Brahmas are winning easy and have outscored opponents, 53-5.
7. Glendora (5-1) — Solid wins over Oak Hills and Riverside Poly after only loss against Fontana Kaiser.
8 . Baldwin Park (4-1) — Braves already with quality wins on the resume, beating Charter Oak 2-1 and Crescenta Valley 5-2. Pitcher Ben Fonseca is the real deal.
9. West Covina (7-0-1) — Biggest unbeaten surprise so far. They haven’t beaten or faced any San Gabriel Valley teams to make comparisons, but winning outside the SGV shows how well our teams do when they leave the Fish Bowl.
10. Los Altos (4-1) — Only loss to No. 1 Northview with a win over Damien and Yucaipa. This gives the Hacienda and Valle Vista league four teams in the top ten. Impressive.
Others:
11. Damien (3-2) — Disappointing losses to Los Altos and Crescenta Valley during Dick’s Sporting Goods tourney. They were supposed to be better than this.
12. Bishop Amat (1-3) — Lancers fans will say ‘but look who we played?’ .. But my feeling is playing in the San Gabriel Valley is as tough as playing in any area, including Orange County.

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  • scotty bore as

    you’ve got some serious reality issues if you believe playing in the SGV is anywhere near playing the top teams in OC or Long Beach or the SFV those are just the facts… look at the college rosters and the MLB draft !

  • http://twitter.com/SGVNSports Fred J. Robledo

    Or why don’t you look at college rosters or MLB Draft. UCLA and Cal State Fullerton, two of the best programs in the country, are filled with former SGV players. MLB draft also filled with SGV players year in and year out. Never argued Orange County has more depth or more quality teams, thus produces more players for college and the pro’s. They should, they’re three or four times the size of the SGV. My contention is you take the top five SGV teams and line them up against the top five Orange County teams and I like our chances. I would have taken Bonita and Garza against anyone last year. And I would have liked South Hills, Amat, Damien, and Glendora against anyone 2 through 5 the OC has to offer. The SGV would compete, just like Amat competes in the National Classic and wins.

    • Valley Athletics

      The problem is our valley teams don’t play against these teams so we don’t know . Last year amat lost the first 3 games also and had a decent season . South hills and Damien played in division 2 that was won by Pacifica who amat beat . We didn’t get to see the garza vs kaprielian match up because Alhambra upset Beckman .south hills also did very bad when they went to San Diego and they where one of are top teams .i also believe valley top teams can play with most of the top teams but Amat is the only team who plays these top OC teams and have a target on there back .

      • GP AKA Green Machine

        The SGV has several teams ranked in the top 25 as we speak. That’s almost 1/4 of top 25.
        Northview
        Bonita
        South Hills
        Nogales
        Alhambra
        And Monrovia

        I have seen all the OC teams from Beckman to Villa Park to El Dorado. There really is no difference. It all depends on who’s pitching that day and if there stuff is on! Baseball is a team sport that depends on individual performances. Whether you play oc teams or not, If you are up against a good pitcher Like Garza or a Copping, or Matta, or any of the good pitchers in the SGV it’s going to be tough game and probably low scoring. Sometimes the ball takes a bad bounce. However…SGV Baseball is top tier….

        • Valley Athletics

          Being that Amat is the only valley team playing in these tournaments , all OC teams make sure they pitch there best pitchers against Amat . Amat faced capos 6’6″ ace moriarty who has been dominant in all his starts and Jserras macfarland who is in max preps top 100 seniors which includes 5 OC players and no one from the SGV . garza , Ruiz and saylor where on it last year . amat has a target on there back when they play these OC tournaments . It’s easy to say the sgv can hang but until more valley teams play these teams it’s just opinion . Bonita plays Cypress so they have a chance to win one for the valley . Westco and nogales where also in the elks tournament but they where in the lower division bracket against weaker teams .playing out of the area is what attracts some of the players to amat . These kids want to be challenged and play different teams and against top players from other counties . Otherwise what would be the purpose of going to Amat for these kids when the local schools are good .

          • GP AKA Green Machine

            Valley Athletics….Well Last year…Amat Did lose to all those OC teams including Mater Dei, J Serra, Esperanza, Capistrano Valley Etc.. However La Salle Beat Amat Twice in league, and The Kelly Greenshirts beat Amat in 2nd round of the playoffs. Where was the domination of the SGV? Did those big OC games help them? It may have hurt their pitching arms and Aces going long innings. So you are absolutely wrong. SGV Baseball is top tier whether they play in OC tournaments or not. If you crack the top 25 in Socal your as good as anyone . Otherwise, writers like Fred, or Sodheimer wouldn’t rank any lower division teams above higher division teams, Amat is ranked 12 because they are not playing good baseball, and not winning games, and off to bad start.

          • Valley Athletics

            Tell me where I said amat dominates in the sgv . Just trying to prove to you that playing OC top teams is not the same as playing the top SGV teams .glemdora , Damien and south hills all had top teams last year and lost to OC teams in the playoffs . Not a very good showing for the valley . Of course there are some years that we have a couple special teams like Bonita 2012 , Amat 2011 and Glendora 2010 that where top SoCal teams those years , but as a whole the OC is better.

          • GP AKA Green Machine

            How Many OC games do you see?.. I actually see at least 5-6.. Like I have said I see Orange LU, Mater Dei, El Dorado, Villa Park Ezparanza, Jserra at the big night games at Hart Park ETC… SGV Baseball is no different. It All Depends on who’s pitching….This is not football it’s baseball, and Divisions and all that crap has nothing to do with it. If you have great team and happens to be in D IV so be be it….but unlike the Pac 5…Div 1 Baseball has no apparent advantage over Div 2-4. D IV Fontana Kaiser ranked #6 took DII Glendora ranked # 3. Just because there are 5 prospects in top 100 from OC doesn’t mean crap. They all don’t play on the Same team, and if they are pitchers, they may only get one start in the playoffs. I’ve Seen #1 teams get the Quarters and lose because they ran out of pitch. Baseball is all about who’s playing hot. Any of these SGV teams can beat Any of the OC teams if they played…but they don’t have to play them to prove they are good teams.

          • Valley Athletics

            I live in irvine and have a lot if friends who’s kids play here . So I know the baseball out here . I know the sgv because I have family and friends with kids playing at Amat , Damien , south hills , nogales , diamond bar , Rowland that I have seen play since they where 8 yrs on a weekly basis .

          • GP AKA Green Machine

            I live in OC as well, But played in SGV…I actually get to see all the trinity league night games, Century league games, and Pacific Coast games…I watch closely and compare to likes of SH, NV Bonita, TC, LS and Monrovia….Listen If Mtown can hang with Palm Desert, they can hang with any of the OC teams, because they beat the best OC teams. I think you are just hopping on the OC bandwagon sir.

  • Valley Athletics

    Fred . Nogales beat capo valley Christian not capo valley . Big difference .

  • Guest

    What an amazing feat. I know it’s not high school but look for this athlete for years to come. http://glendora.patch.com/articles/glendora-wrestling-phenom-nominated-for-national-award

    • Guest

      Oh and promote this for everyone to vote for him for this prestigious award

  • VVL

    Covina anywhere in the dicussion? They just beat DIVISION 1 Corona Roosevelt 4-0 to improve to 3-2.

    • GP AKA Green Machine

      My point proven…I said the Valle Vista is among the top leagues in Socal this season.

  • GHS

    Didn’t Glendora sweep Diamond Bar in a double header a couple of weeks ago????

    • GP AKA Green Machine

      D ranch…

  • http://twitter.com/SGVNSports Fred J. Robledo

    Great discussion and like I’ve said for years, baseball is the one sport that San Gabriel Valley teams can compete with any county, and that includes Temple City, Monrovia, Alhambra and Arcadia past and present teams — all of whom are in the San Gabriel Valley.

    • GP AKA Green Machine

      What people don’t understand is that

      Division 1 Baseball does not have any SGV teams…that’s the only reason why they don’t play/beat them. I wouldn’t bus 20 kids way to OC for preseason just prove your good. $$$ that cost. The OC teams don’t bus to the SGV to play us…There are plenty of teams much closer, that are good and can get you ready for league. However Div 2-4 does have teams from just about every county and SGV has been really good for the past 10 years.

  • SGV Baseball fan

    speaking of Garza, he is 4-0 so far this season at CSUF the 9th ranked team in the country.

  • http://twitter.com/cbnboy34 patrick tyrone

    Well looks like DB has begun their traditional slide in league..Dropping 1st game of league to WC 4-1!