Sutter, Colusa, Gridley in position to host quarterfinal matchups: Sutter clinched fourth straight league title

May 1—It's almost playoff time in the mid-valley and the area has several teams competing for high seeds and home postseason games starting with the Sac-Joaquin Section that gets underway Wednesday for Divisions V-VII at home sites.

Sutter Union High, last year's SJS D-V champion following a 13-inning win over Bradshaw Christian, is projected as a three-seed right now by MaxPreps. Projections are based solely on MaxPreps' ranking and Sutter took a slight dip after its 22-5 nonleague loss to Colusa (23-3) Monday at Bryant Field in Marysville.

Sutter (19-6-1, 10-1 Pioneer Valley League) currently sits 24th in the SJS full rankings — a fall from within the top-20 where it sat last week. The Huskies wrap up their PVL schedule at Colfax today at 4 p.m. As of Wednesday, Sutter is at least two up in the league, meaning win-or-lose in Placer County and the Huskies are still league champs for a fourth straight year.

Weekly rankings are purely computerized as MaxPreps does not poll coaches, sportswriters or fans. Nor does our staff make any judgments on the merits of any individual team. Prior season history, school size and comments on message boards are not considered in the MaxPreps Computer Rankings.

The system utilizes the huge number of game results stored in the MaxPreps database. Generally, the more a team wins, the higher the ranking. However, the system takes into account quality wins (against other highly ranked opponents) and strength of schedule. For example, a team's ranking is hurt more by losing to a team that is ranked below them than a team ranked ahead, MaxPreps stated.

Other factors that will affect the rankings are times when MaxPreps has incomplete or inaccurate information. MaxPreps will correct errors when they are reported on the team's MaxPreps page.

Movement indicates the up or down movement within the rankings when compared to our previously published rankings. For any additional help with the rankings please email https://support.maxpreps.com/hc/en-us/requests/new.

If the postseason began today, Sutter would host Gustine, an enrollment of 586, in a 3-6 matchup on May 8. Sutter's enrollment stands at 781. MaxPreps will likely project seeds in all seven divisions through the final week leading up to the bracket release this weekend.

In Division II, Yuba City remains on the bubble in the latest MaxPreps projections. The Honkers (14-12, 8-8 Capital Valley Conference) took down River Valley Tuesday at home, 5-2 as Brandon Pelechowicz led a three-headed attack on the hill in the team's first win over RV. The two city rivals meet today at 4 p.m. on the campus of River Valley in game two, with game three set for 6 p.m. Friday back at YCHS.

Yuba City, which remains at 28th in the section in MaxPreps' Tuesday rankings, will need some help to move into the top-3 in league and earn an automatic berth into the playoffs. Maury Castaneda's team sits a game-and-a-half outside the league's top-3.

River Valley, with Tuesday's loss, fell to 7-18 and 2-14 in league.

The section's top-3 on Tuesday is Granite Bay, St. Mary's (Stockton) and Franklin (Elk Grove).

Northern Section poll

Colusa, winners of 10 straight after its league victory over Pierce, is on the one-line in the Northern Section Division IV playoffs that begin on May 10.

Colusa (23-3) has wrapped up another Sac Valley League and sits No 3 behind Pleasant Valley and Chico in the NSCIF poll heading into its regular season finale Friday at home against Pierce at 4 p.m. Win-lose the RedHawks are positioned in good shape to make a run at a third straight D-IV title.

Gridley, slated in D-III, is positioned as the top-seed in the playoffs as 14-6 and 7-1 in the Butte View League. The Bulldogs are the reigning Northern California D-IV regional runner-up after it fell to Sutter a year ago.

Playoffs in D-III begin May 10.

Softball's playoff projections and current end-of-season totals will be unveiled on Friday.