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It’s been all of one week for East Bay Athletic League play in baseball and softball. Any surprises? Who set a tone and who disappointed?
Let’s look at both sports and check out my thoughts.
Baseball
Two games into the league season and there are only three teams sitting at 2-0. My first take – there are no easy outs this year.
Granada, Dublin and Foothill stand at 2-0, with the Matadors looking like the team to beat.
The Granada offense has been on fire in their 7-0 overall start, five times scoring in double figures. Last week they beat San Ramon Valley 6-1 to start, then closed out with a 5-4 win against De La Salle.
It appears the Mats can bring the lumber and if the arms follow on the mound, they could run away and hide.
Dublin and Foothill beat the same teams last week in California and Monte Vista. The Gaels topped Cal 4-2 to open the week, then beat Monte Vista 9-2 to close.
At this point the Gaels seem to be getting solid pitching, giving up only two runs in their two EBAL games.
Foothill started with a 13-7 win over the Mustangs, then went to Cal and walked away with a 6-4 win over the Grizzlies. The Falcons appear to be able to score as they have scored double-digit runs three times.
The question mark at this point must be the Foothill pitching with the Falcons giving up over five runs a game. Twice this year they have been touched for 10 runs.
Amador figures to be a contender. The Dons lost to De La Salle 6-2 to start league play but came back with a 16-0 win over Dougherty Valley.
They’ve been getting solid pitching and good hitting on the way to their 5-3 overall mark.
De La Salle is obviously a contender because, well, they are De La Salle. After the opening win against Amador, the Spartans had that tight loss to Granada.
At 4-2 overall, the Spartans have played the toughest non-league schedule.
Monte Vista and San Ramon Valley seem to be in the same place right now, trying to put things together. The Mustangs started 2-0 but have lost four in a row.
The Wolves are 3-4 and have yet to win two games in a row. A 6-1 loss to Granada made it the third straight loss, but SRV got its first win in league beating Livermore 13-9 in eight innings.
Softball
The team that served notice in the first week was Foothill as the Falcons went out and beat Livermore 10-0, then knocked off Granada 5-2.
The Cowboys and the Mats are two of the more consistent programs around, so starting 2-0 shows the Falcons are contenders this year.
The only blemish on their 8-1 overall start is a 9-5 loss to Freedom.
San Ramon Valley sits 2-0 as well, beating Dougherty Valley 9-4 and California 2-1.
It was a big win over Cal as the Grizzlies are the defending North Coast Section champs and return their core players.
The Grizzlies beat Monte Vista 13-3 to open the league before falling to the Wolves.
Carondelet is 1-0 in league, beating Dougherty Valley 7-4 in the Cougars’ lone EBAL game last week.
Amador Valley also only played one league game and the Dons beat Dublin 4-3. They stand 4-1 overall, losing their first game of the season before running off the four wins.
Dublin started the league with a big 9-4 win over Granada but then dropped the game to Amador Valley to stand 1-1 in league.
Livermore had a head-scratching week. After getting thumped by Foothill in the opener, the Cowboys came back and beat Freedom 8-3.
I am thinking the Cowboys will be right there when we come to the last week of the season.
Granada is an enigma right now. The Mats opened the season with a 5-3 win over Freedom but have dropped four in a row, including the two first week games in the EBAL.
The Mats pitching have been dinged for 7.5 runs a game in the four-game stretch.
Editor’s note: Dennis Miller is a contributing sports writer for the Pleasanton Weekly. This column originally appeared in Tri-Valley Preps Playbook, a weekly sports e-newsletter published by Embarcadero Media Foundation.
