TCAL continues to bolster status as one of state’s best softball
leagues
Gilroy – When the Gilroy softball team found out it didn’t get into the Central Coast Section Division I playoffs, there was definite disappointment. But after this weekend’s all-TCAL CCS Division I softball final, the Gilroy softball community must really be thinking the Mustangs deserved a bid to the playoffs.
Once again, the TCAL proved its mettle as a softball powerhouse, with sixth-seed Live Oak and eighth-seed North Salinas working their way through the CCS playoffs to the finals, eliminating the top three seeds in the process. North Salinas knocked off top-seed Carlmont in the quarterfinals and Live Oak beat No. 3 Oak Grove in the quarterfinals and No. 2 Monta Vista in the semifinals. The final had Live Oak coming from behind in a thriller to beat North Salinas 5-4 on Saturday.
Gilroy, with a 14-14 record, was on the bubble to get into this year’s playoffs. In 2002-2003, the Mustangs received a No. 9 seed with the same record.
Gilroy head softball coach Julie Berggren didn’t want to express regret over her Mustangs not making it to the CCS Division I playoffs, even after the all-TCAL final of Live Oak and North Salinas had played itself out.
But…
“Yeah, it would have been nice,” said Berggren. “But (the CCS) does a good job. They try to be as fair as they can.”
Still, after Live Oak – whom the Mustangs beat once in TCAL competition this year – and North Salinas made the D-I final, one couldn’t help but wonder how Gilroy would have performed in the 13-team pool.
“They had a lot more power points than other teams (that made it into the playoffs),” said Live Oak head coach Barry McDonnell.
Part of the playoff ranking process is based on “power points.” The tougher the competition a team plays, the more power points it earns. For instance, if a team plays an “A”-rated league team, it gets three points if it wins and two if it loses. TCAL is an “A” league, the highest level league, so TCAL teams get the most points for playing each other and other A-league teams.
But both McDonnell and San Benito head coach Scott Smith said the CCS ranking process isn’t based enough on power points and relies too much on overall record, which can be misleading, especially if a team plays in a less competitive league.
“The CCS ranking is not a true gauge of the win/loss record,” said Smith, whose seventh-seeded Haybalers fell to second-seeded Monta Vista in the quarterfinals.
One other flaw in the system that the TCAL coaches have recognized and will attempt to change for next year involves what order teams from the league can be chosen for the playoffs.
After the top two league finishers get their automatic bids, the remaining teams become eligible for at-large bids in the order they finished record-wise in league.
This year, the two automatic spots went to league champ Notre Dame – which went on to win the Division III championship – and second-place Live Oak.
Although San Benito had a better overall record and power points ranking than Live Oak, the ‘Balers couldn’t be seeded higher than the Acorns because they finished behind them in league play.
Although the two teams finished with identical 6-4 league records, Live Oak won the tiebreaker and was awarded second place.
“We would have been the No. 2 (seed) but because of how the league is structured and because of the tiebreaker, we weren’t,” Smith said.
McDonnell said the TCAL coaches voted after this season to rank the order that its teams can be selected for the playoffs by power points, not league record.
The CCS will select TCAL teams in that order beginning next year. Both he and Scott are hoping this makes for fairer seeding.
Top-seed Carlmont, which plays in the Peninsula Athletic League’s Bay division, had a 27-3 record. But eighth-seed North Salinas upset the Scots in the quarterfinals.
“That’s a great record but they don’t play same caliber teams (as we do in TCAL),” Smith said.
The Mustangs had a 2-8 league record in the extremely tough TCAL. But they had also earned plenty of power points from non-league and league play. Gilroy played in the Circle of Champions tournament, which draws the best 30 teams in the area, McDonnell said.
Berggren said that the fact that Live Oak and North Salinas made it to the CCS finals “shows to everyone that TCAL is a huge force” which is something “that gets forgotten about sometimes.”
It’s difficult to understand how the TCAL could be overlooked. A team from the TCAL (or the Monterey Bay League, before the TCAL was formed) has won the CCS Division I championship five of the last six years. And the championship games in 2001, 2003 and this year featured league rivals.
It’s been said that the TCAL is one of the best softball leagues in the state of California. McDonnell has heard that but said he hasn’t seen enough softball outside the area to know if it’s true. However, Smith believes it could be true.
“I think it is. I would find it hard-pressed to find (many other leagues that are as good),” Smith said. “You could take any TCAL team and throw them in any other league and they would contend for league championship. And that’s talking (about) the worst teams or the best teams (in TCAL).”
Smith said the TCAL is known for its defense and pitching.
In fact, at least three TCAL pitchers have, or will be, headed to Division I college programs. Notre Dame’s Kim Reeder is headed to Ohio State, Live Oak’s Juliette Bowers is off to Canisius College in New York, and former North Salinas pitcher Monica Abbott earned All-America honors last year as a freshman pitcher at Tennessee.
But regardless of just how good TCAL softball ranks with other leagues, Smith said playing in the TCAL definitely has its advantages – especially when it comes to playoff time.
“I think the good thing about TCAL is you have games that are 2-1,1-0. Teams become accustomed to that,” Smith said. “(When teams get to the CCS playoffs) they don’t panic. That’s a huge advantage. We didn’t have a single loss this year by more than two runs, so it just develops that (mental) toughness.”
