The San Diego Section power rankings are out for three spring sports: baseball, softball and boys volleyball.
East County teams are well represented with Granite Hills High School topping the Division I baseball rankings, Mountain Empire topping the Division V softball rankings and El Cajon Valley topping the Division II boys volleyball rankings.
For additional prestige value, Christian entered the week No. 3 among Division I softball teams, West Hills and Santana were No. 3 and No. 5, respectively, among Division II softball teams, Grossmont entered the week No. 6 among Division II baseball teams while Monte Vista was No. 6 among Division V boys volleyball teams.
The rankings will help seed next month’s section playoffs.
Baseball
Granite Hills (10-0-2) defeated Helix (7-8) by scores of 2-0 and 8-1 in a home-and-home series April 9-10 to face off Grossmont Hills League play with a 2-0 record.
Sophomore Eurijah Schutza and senior Parker Vance each drove in one run in support of senior Luke Bailey, who went the distance while scattering five hits to go with seven strikeouts in the series opener to improve to 5-0 on the season with a 1.21 earned-run average.
The visiting Eagles rapped out 10 hits in the return matchup with senior Tommy Entrekin (0.379 hitting average, nine RBI), junior Anthony Miotti (0.355 hitting average) and Vance (0.351 hitting average, 10 RBI) each slicing two hits and senior Phillip Jones knocking in a pair of runs. Miotti and Vance each scored twice in support of winning pitcher Brenden Lewis, who scattered three hits and struck out five Highlanders in six frames to improve his season record to 3-0.
Lewis has amassed 41 strikeouts in 30 innings while Bailey has logged 30 strikeouts in 29 innings.
Grossmont Conference teams play each other three times in league play. Granite Hills hosts Helix in the series finale on May 6.
Grossmont improved to 8-7 after defeating Cathedral Catholic, 4-2, on April 10 as junior Colton Burke (double) collected two RBI. Senior Luis Camargo went 5.2 innings to pick up the pitching victory while sophomore Nate McCance finished up with 1.1 innings on the hill to earn the save.
The Foothillers were poised to take on Valhalla, last year’s Division III section champion, in a two-game series this week (Tuesday and Thursday).
The Christian Patriots (10-4) entered the week at No. 8 among Division II teams, followed by Helix at No. 9, El Capitan (7-7) at No. 12, West Hills (5-8) at No. 13, Steele Canyon (3-9) at No. 15, Santana (5-9) at No. 17 and Valhalla (4-8) at No. 19.
Monte Vista (2-11) sat at No. 16 in the Division III power rankings while Mountain Empire (8-4) was ranked at No. 8, Foothills Christian (8-9) at No. 14 and Mt. Miguel (5-7) at No. 19 among Division IV schools.
The Red Hawks defeated visiting Calipatria, 14-7, on Saturday for their fourth consecutive win.
Hitting leaders for Mountain Empire include junior Michael Nobel (0.559, 10 RBI), senior Jakob Shawcroft (0.463, 24 RBI), sophomore Jacob Arnold (0.457, 13 RBI), junior Luis Cardoso (0.410, 10 RBI), junior Anthony Delgado (0.400), junior Isaac Gonzalez (0.395, 13 RBI) and freshman Jesse Arnold (9.359, 12 RBI).
Jesse Arnold scored three runs and had three RBI in the weekend victory while Jacob Arnold (double) also drove in three runs and scored once.
E Cajon Valley (0-6) was at No. 13 (out of 14 teams) in Division V while Liberty Charter (6-7) was ranked at No. 7 (out of 12 teams) in Division V-AA.
Granite Hills is followed by Pt. Loma (10-3-1), Carlsbad (9-4), St. Augustine (10-5), Torrey Pines (9-6), La Costa Canyon (7-6), San Marcos (9-3-1) and Eastlake (8-6-1) all battling to join the high-flying Eagles in this year’s Open
Division playoffs.
The Division II top hierarchy includes No. 1 San Pasqual (9-2), No. 2 Mt. Carmel (10-5), No. 3 El Camino (10-5), No. 4. Coronado (10-4), No. 5. Southwest El Centro (17-3), No. 6 Grossmont, No. 7 San Ysidro (12-7), No. 8. Christian, No. 9 Helix and No. 10 Mission Hills (6-8).
Playoffs are scheduled to start May 19 and wrap up with championship contests May 29-31 over Memorial Day weekend.
Softball
Christian appears in the thick of things at midseason to contend for an Open Division playoff berth. The Lady Patriots (15-4-1) continue to trail No. 1 Bonita Vista (12-3) and No. 2 Mater Dei Catholic (14-5).
Following in the Division I power rankings are El Capitan (5-4) at No. 11, Steele Canyon (8-7-1) at No, 17 and Granite Hills (2-6-1) at No. 18.
Seniors Kaitlyn Moody (0.484, 22 RB, three home runs) and Lucy Sherburne (0.446, 21 RBI) are both hitting over 0.400 at the plate to pace Christian. Junior Ava Barrios leads the team in the pitching circle with a 10-3 record, 3.52 ERA and 79 strikeouts in 61.2 innings.
Teams also contending for Open Division playoff berths include No. 4 Cathedral Catholic (6-3), No. 5. Poway (14-4), No. 6 Imperial (14-3), No. 7 Eastlake (13-4-1) and No. 8 La Costa Canyon (10-5-1).
Division II leaders include No. 1 Rancho Buena Vista (8-5), No. 2 Pt. Loma (15-3-1), No. 3 West Hills (10-4-1), No. 4. Escondido Charter (15-3), No. 5 Santana (8-5), No. 6 Westview (11-6-1), No. 7 San Pasqual (8-6), No. 8 Helix (8-3), No. 9 Scripps Ranch (6-4) and No. 10 Valhalla (6-11).
Season leaders for West Hills include junior Katy Spargo (0.635 hitting average, 27 RBI, three home runs) and senior Kristina Deal (0.463, 10 RBI, four home runs) and senior Gianna Burign (5-0 pitching record, 1.06 ERA and 75 strikeouts in 52.2 innings).
Santana leaders with more than 30 plate appearances include junior Kaylee Lindahl (0.394), senior McKenna Miller (0.371) and junior Brianna Canty (0.310).
Helix’s leaders are senior Lauren Farace with a 0.5712 hitting average and 14 RBI and freshman Nikaylah Domingo (0.467, 15 RBI). Farace also carries a 4-0 record with a 0.51 ERA.
Sophomore Natalia Marcos paces Valhalla with a 0.320 hitting average while junior Devyn Mack had compiled six pitching wins with a 1.90 ERA and 56 strikeouts.
Grossmont (4-4-1) is ranked No. 12 among Division III teams while Foothills Christian (3-6) is ranked No 14.
The Division IV power rankings include three East County teams: No. 1 Mountain with a nascent 2-1 record, No. 11 Mt. Miguel (2-5) and No. 12 Monte Vista (0-6).
The Lady Red Hawks opened the season with a 28-25 win over Julian and later topped the same Lady Eagles team 19-16. A 27-23 setback to Borrego Springs was sandwich in between.
Grossmont and Helix both opened Grossmont Valley League play with victories for 1-0 league starts.
Sophomore Saraya Roope (0.592, two home runs) and senior Jenna Ennis (0.571, 11 RBI) keyed Grossmont with prolific hitting averages to start the season.
Playoffs are scheduled to start May 19 and wrap up with championship contests May 29-31 over Memorial Day weekend.
Boys volleyball
El Cajon Valley continues to lead Division II teams with a 23-5 record, 5-0 in Grossmont Hills League play, with an eight-game winning streak.
Team leaders include seniors Mustafa Sarfarez with 233 kills, Kaden Porter with 24 aces, Faisal Kakar with 290 digs, Micky Marcelo Perez with 38 blocks and Mohammad Azfali with 516 assists.
Granite Hills (17-8, 3-1 in Grossmont Hills League) is ranked No. 10 among Division I teams while Helix (14-12, 3-2 in Grossmont Hills League) is No. 13 among Division II teams, Santana (7-11), is No. 12 among Division III squads, West Hills (14-9, 5-1 in Grossmont Valley League) and Christian (10-10) are No. 5 and No. 6, respectively, among Division IV teams, Monte Vista (12-6, 4-2 in Grossmont Valley League) is No. 6 among Division V schools and Mountain Empire (4-5) is No. 7 at the Division V-AA level.
Additionally, El Capitan (15-10, 3-3 in Grossmont Valley League) sits at No. 8 and Valhalla (8-9, 4-2 in Grossmont Valley League) at No. 9 in the Division IV power rankings.
Granite Hills leaders include senior Lathan Fry with 456 kills, 200 digs, 33 blocks and 32 aces, senior Tristan McDaniel with 659 assists.
Helix leaders include junior Joseph Jenkins with 284 kills and 39 aces, senior Nathan Steele with 323 digs and senior Nicolas Reese with 524 assists,
Sticks up
Lacrosse rankings are available through the LaxNumbers website. Granite Hills (7-5) owned the No. 13 section ranking among boys teams while Helix Charter (10-1) was ranked 19th, followed by El Capitan (7-5) at No. 23, West Hills (7-8) at No. 26 and Valhalla (7-2) at No. 36 among the 58 ranked teams.
The section will conduct playoffs in four divisions: Open Division (six teams), Division I (12 teams), Division II (12 teams) and Division III (12 teams).
First-round games are scheduled May 6-7. Championship games are May 16-17 at San Dieuigto Academy (girls teams) and Westview High School (boys teams).
Helix’s intrepid boys squad edged Westview, 8-7, on a goal in the final seconds on April 7 to push its season opening record to 10-0 but dropped a 10-9 non-league decision to San Dieguito Academy on April 9 to absorb its first loss of the 2025 spring season.
The Highlanders entered the week 4-0 in league play with preceding victories against Grossmont (13-2 on March 14), West Hills (13-7 on March 17), Valhalla (16-3 on March 24) and Monte Vista (16-4 on April 1).
“I’m so proud of this squad’s ability to stay together as a team and continue to work,” Helix coach John Whittles said. “That hard work is paying off.”
Granite Hills has defeated El Capitan (13-9 on March 24), Grossmont (17-0 on March 31) and West Hills (10-3 on April 3) and lost to Santana (4-3 on March 15).
Valhalla (7-4) was the top-ranked girls team in East County at No. 22, followed by Granite Hills (6-6) at No. 25 and El Capitan (7-4) at No. 29 out of 61 teams.
The Lady Norsemen own East County victories against Grossmont (13-4 on Feb. 25), Helix (16-5 on Feb. 27) and West Hills (14-10 on March 31) and a loss to El Capitan (9-8 on April 3).
El Capitan’s lone loss was 8-6 to Granite Hills on March 31 while topping Santana (16-2 on March 3 and 16-5 on March 24), Helix (7-3 on March 5 and 11-4 on March 10) and Valhalla (9-8 on April 3).
