Probably a bit early but how about some predictions for 2008?

Here's mine - Chatsworth will have strong pitching but only so-so hitting by their standards. They'll still win their league and the CIF city section but they'll end up about 30th nationally.

There'll be 2 or 3 very strong Marmonte league teams (Royal, TO and possibly Westlake) and they'll beat each other up knocking themselves out of the national rankings. Most of the rest of the Marmonte league teams will be well over .500 outside league.

Chatsworth pick is a D'oH...

Saw some a couple of good pitchers from Royal in Fall Ball. T.O. is probably a safe pick though. Simi lost some good talent. N.P. obviously lost a key player. All the Maramonte teams are tough and any one could emerge.

Northward - Oxnard should be class of the Northern teams and should take Pacific View and do well in the playoffs. Oxnard was the best summer team we saw. I think Camarillo lost too much talent. S.B. lost 14 Sr's and will not repeat. D.P. will most likely rise through the effete Channel League. Ventura has a shot, but either won't go far in playoffs.

St. Bonnie will win the Tri-Valley again, but who cares because it is such a feeble league. Actually Oaks Chr. has a couple of upcoming young arms that might help them knock off Bonnie.....well maybe not, but there is always hope. Anyway Bonnie will get knocked off in the first round.

Pretty much sums up the are just North of LA.

Man I have to proof read these post better...yikes.

BOF,
This is my annual dig at the fact that Chatsworth plays in a relatively weak league and section which along with their being a very good team leads to a great W-L record each year and possibly a tendency to be a bit higher up in the polls than deserved.

I've heard that Casey Fry has dropped out of Chatsworth (he was 4th on the depth chart anyway) and is now attending Pierce College.

Crespi should be interesting. They won their league last year and lost only one starter to graduation. 2 big bats move up from JV. One became eligible (ineligible in 2007 due to transfer) to play varsity and a sophomore earned his way up with his arm and his bat.

One of the toughest leagues is the South Coast League: Capo, San Clemente, Mission Viejo,Tesoro, Aliso Viejo. San Clemente is the sleeper here.

You South Coast guys have to get through a pretty tough Long Beach Wilson to get to the CIF Southern Section crown.

No doubt, LB Wilson is the team to beat in '08. Any other picks in the Southern Section?

Wilson will likely come out on top, but the Southern Section is so talent rich, it's kinda like asking Midas to pick out his favorite piece of gold.

quote:

Originally posted by no11:
Wilson will likely come out on top, but the Southern Section is so talent rich, it's kinda like asking Midas to pick out his favorite piece of gold.

How true.

MTS,
Any predictions for Saturday if it doesn't rain?

Are we playing against you? I don't know if my son is pitching JV or Varsity.

Think so. I believe both games are at our place.

quote:

Originally posted by CADad:
Think so. I believe both games are at our place.

My son is supposed to be there for a 1:00 start.

I can only offer my unqualified prediction on Marmonte League:

1) Thousand Oaks - Lost a couple of decent players, but is very deep in talent. Some of the kids on JV last year could have started on varsity on other teams in the league....

2) Westlake - Has some very impressive young guns. Christian Yelich is a future Marmonte League MVP.

3) Royal - Pretty solid team. Unfortunately stuck in one of the toughest leagues in SoCal, and this isn't the 2005 team....

4) Newbury Park - Lost Lambo, but still has some solid pitching and non-longball bats. On a good day, can beat any team in the league.

5) Simi Valley - Good set of bats, really like the middle infield. Other teams in the league better not look past their game against Simi....

6) Agoura - Has some talent at key positions, and has a well balanced lineup. But not enough to knock off TO and Westlake.


I make no presumptions about the accuracy of my picks. It's simply based upon what I've seen and includes any prejudices I have (did I see a good team on a bad day?). Anyway, I really look forward to Marmonte baseball this year. Once again, a top league in SoCal. Any parents of a kid playing in this league should feel blessed (I do). It's great competition for our kids to learn and grow from.

CADad and MTS - apologies if I under ranked the teams your kids are on....Hope to see you out there this year...

ProudSocalDad

Proud,
Royal's pitching is probably enough better than Westlake's to make the difference. I'd put them #2. Westlake is probably #3 especially if the pitchers I've heard about come through. Simi is probably #4 depending on who they can bring on the bump. After that NP and Moorpark are probably next. I don't know much about NP. Moorpark has a couple decent starting pitchers. I don't know if those two have the durability to get the job done by themselves. There's a couple pitchers who have good enough stuff to potentially back them up by the end of the season but given that one of those was sent down to JV and the other is looked at as being green despite having as much or more experience than the junior pitchers who he's the same age as I don't think they are going to contend. The juniors they have are all high 70's types who max out at about 81. The "green" one and the one sent down to JV are low to mid 80s guys who have outpitched the others year in and year out. There's several holes in the batting order so they are not likely to score much against the better pitching teams although they've got 3 kids who can hang with good pitching and some kids who can hit fairly well against mediocre pitching. Unfortunately, I'd look for almost a repeat of last season in league, although with a weaker league they could win a couple more games, but a better performance outside league for Moorpark.

I think Agoura and Calabasas will bring up the rear unless Agoura has found something in the off-season.

The reality is that anything can happen in the Marmonte league and you just don't know until they play them.

quote:

Originally posted by ProudSocalDad:

CADad and MTS - apologies if I under ranked the teams your kids are on....Hope to see you out there this year...

ProudSocalDad

No problem. We won 2 weeks ago against Thousand Oaks in an unofficial game.

quote:

Originally posted by CADad:
BOF,
This is my annual dig at the fact that Chatsworth plays in a relatively weak league and section which along with their being a very good team leads to a great W-L record each year and possibly a tendency to be a bit higher up in the polls than deserved.

Weak league?
Cif City at Dodger stadium featured Chats vs Cleveland. Chats defeated ECR in playoff and Granada was in the Invitational at Dodger stadium, Burmingham was in the playoffs, ONLY Taft was not included. How is this a weak league? 3rd in division league ECR lost 1-0 to #3 nationally ranked Long beach Wilson after ECR's coach was thrown out in the first inning.
3 of the division teams quite frequently play Marmonte league teams with good results.

Oh, I forgot to mentiomn that 2 of the 3 games ERC played vs Chats were 1 run games, not bad against a team that had 2 first round and 1 18th MLB picks.....

JB,
Chatsworth and Cleveland look pretty strong this season, but the Marmonte league is 15-6 outside league so far while the WVL is 8-6. Head to head there's not much to separate them as Chatsworth beat Calabasas and TO beat Cleveland.