Norco Earns Top Seed in Updated Southern Section Division 1 Baseball Playoffs

Norco High Secures Top Seed in Southern Section Division 1 Baseball Playoffs

Norco High School has been awarded the No. 1 seed for the Southern Section Division 1 baseball playoffs, which will commence with pool play on Tuesday. This year’s format allows teams to lose their opening game yet remain in contention, a significant change from previous tournaments.

The playoffs consist of four pools, each containing four teams. The top two teams from each pool will advance to the single-elimination quarterfinals. Norco will kick off its campaign in Pool A with a home match against Maranatha. Additionally, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame will host Ayala and standout pitcher Caleb Trugman in another Pool A matchup. The second round of games is scheduled for May 15, with a potential third round on May 19. Quarterfinals will take place on May 22.

Among other top seeds in Division 1 are No. 2 Harvard-Westlake in Pool B, No. 3 Sierra Canyon in Pool C, and No. 4 Orange Lutheran in Pool D. Notably, due to the Southern Section’s computer ranking system, Orange Lutheran, the Trinity League runner-up, is seeded higher than the league champion, St. John Bosco.

One matchup to watch is Cypress versus St. John Bosco in Pool C, featuring two league champions with exceptional pitchers.

While coaches have long advocated for a best-of-three series format, this revised structure comes closest to that. However, other divisions will continue to follow the single-elimination format with 32-team brackets. In Division 2, Villa Park is seeded No. 1.

For complete brackets from Division 1 to Division 9, the CIF Southern Section website provides up-to-date details.