Kelseyville baseball hits road Tuesday to play Del Norte; Lady Knights are No. 1 seed
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LAKE COUNTY >> Say what you will about the competitive equity playoff format currently in use around the North Coast Section, but the conversations it generates among coaches, players and fans are never boring.
The four Lake County teams participating in the softball and baseball playoffs, which begin on Tuesday or Wednesday depending on where they fell during Sunday’s at-large and seeding meeting, ended up in four different divisions, a county first.
The two biggest surprises involved Kelseyville High School teams, both Division 4 schools by section classification. The baseball team, three-time defending North Central League I champion and 18-4 overall this season, was moved up into Division 3 as the 14th seed out of 16 teams. As an added reward for a fine regular season, the Knights get to travel nearly five hours to Crescent city to take on Del Norte (16-7-1) in a first-round game Tuesday at 5 p.m. While league champions such as Kelseyville normally host a first-round game, the Knights were paired with a higher-seeded league champion in the Warriors.
If Keleyville fans just experienced déjà vu, they should go with the feeling. Kelseyville’s football team, also a league champion, was sent on the road to play Del Norte in a first-round game back in November.
While moving up a division and being forced to make a marathon road trip was certainly not an advantageous occurrence for the Kelseyville baseball team, the Kelseyville softball team received the best possible news of all.
The Lady Knights, 7-7 in league and 7-11 overall, dropped two divisions into Division 6 and ended up as the No. 1 seed. They also received a first-round bye and will host the winner of Point Arena-Ferndale in the quarterfinals Friday or Saturday. Kelseyville will play at home or close to home as long as it keeps on winning.
While being a high seed is never a guarantee of success in the postseason, Kelseyville might have the easiest road to a section title that any county team has ever had, and it could yield the first section title for Kelseyville softball since 2000 when then-head coach Mike Beall led the squad to a win over Geyserville in the Class A finals, that after the Knights stunned No. 1 seed Clear Lake in the semifinals.
Clear Lake baseball, 16-5 overall and the NCL I runner-up this season at 11-3, also moved up a division. The Division 5 Cardinals will host a team they’re quite familiar with, the St. Helena Saints, in first-round of the Division 4 playoffs on Wednesday 5 p.m. Clear Lake is the No. 6 seed and St. Helena No. 11. The two teams met twice earlier this season in league play, Clear Lake winning 6-4 at home in late March and 5-1 in St. Helena last month.
Finally, the Clear Lake softball team, 7-7 in league and 11-8 overall, hosts Albany in the opening round of the Division 5 playoffs on Tuesday at 5 p.m. The winner hits the road to play No. 1 seed McKinleyville in the quarterfinals on either Friday or Saturday. The Lady Cardinals are the only county team playing in their actual section-classified division.
Division 3 baseball
If Kelseyville can get past Del Norte, a team Clear Lake beat 10-3 early in the 2025 season, the Knights would be on the road again Friday against the winner of No. 6 Marin Catholic (13-12) and No. 11 Analy (17-11) in the quarterfinals.
Besides Clear Lake, Kelseyville and Del Norte had common opponents in Arcata and Fortuna. Kelseyville split a doubleheader with Arcata and defeated Fortuna. Del Norte went 3-0 against Arcata and 3-0 against Fortuna (league opponents for the Warriors, the Humboldt-Del Norte Big 5 champions).
Preston Daniels is Del Norte’s ace with an 8-1 record, seven complete games, four shutouts and 95 strikeouts in 62 innings. He’ll likely be opposed by Kelseyville ace Brock Barrick, who is 7-0 with five complete games and three shutouts. Barrick has 69 strikeouts in 49 2/3 innings.
The top four seeds in the Division 3 field are No. 1 California (12-11) of San Ramon, No. 2 Piedmont (15-9), No. 3 Del Norte, and No. 4 El Cerrito (19-7).
Semifinals are May 27 and the Division 3 championship game is May 30 or May 31.
Division 4 baseball
Clear Lake enters postseason play a winner of five straight and eight of nine. The Cardinals and St. Helena have a ton of common opponents because they played in the NCL I. Clear Lake went 1-1 against league champion Kelseyville while the Saints went 0-2. Fort Bragg, the No. 4 seed in Division 4, beat Clear Lake twice even though the Timberwolves went 0-2 against St. Helena.
If the Cardinals can beat the Saints for a third time this season, they’ll face either No. 3 seed Berean Christian (16-8) of Walnut Creek or No. 14 Albany (16-10) in the quarterfinals on Saturday at the home site of the highest surviving seed. Berean Christian beat St. Helena 10-0 early in the 2025 season.
The top four seeds in Division 4 are No. 1 Arroyo (16-9) of San Lorenzo, No. 2 Head-Royce (14-6) of Oakland, No. 3 Berean Christian, and No. 4 Fort Bragg (16-5).
Semifinals are May 28 and the Division 4 championship game is May 30 or May 31.
Division 5 softball
Clear Lake won its final four league games to reach 7-7 in league play. Pretty much anything the Cardinals achieve in the playoffs is gravy, beginning with an Albany squad that went 6-5 in the Tri-County Rock League and 9-11 overall. Like the Cardinals, the Cougars had their share of ups and downs, including a 1-4 start to their season.
McKinleyville, the No. 1 seed, awaits the winner of Clear Lake-Albany in the quarterfinals Friday or Saturday. The Panthers went 14-13 overall, including a 7-7 record and third-place finish in the Humboldt-Del Norte Big 5.
Other top seeds in the Division 5 field are No. 2 Kennedy (10-8) of Fremont, No. 3 Piner (16-8) of Santa Rosa, and No. 4 Miramonte (15-8) of Orinda.
Semifinals are May 27-28 and the Division 5 championship game is May 30-31.
Division 6 softball
Kelseyville hasn’t played any of the other 11 teams in the Division 6 playoffs, a field that includes the likes of No. 2 seed St. Vincent (7-8) of Petaluma, No. 3 Tomales (14-4) and No. 4 Calistoga (14-6).
The Knights and No. 5 Willits (12-9) are the only Division 4 teams in a field dominated by Division 5-6 schools.
Semifinals are May 27-28 and the championship game is May 30 or May 31.
