The article below originally appeared in the San Mateo Daily Journal and is being reprinted with permission.
The Skyline and Cañada men’s basketball teams have their sites set on playoff berths as they close out the regular season.
The Coast North Conference has proven to be toughest in the state, with Skyline upsetting then No. 1 ranked Las Positas College in their first round meeting. Friday’s regular season finale had LPC (10-3, 24-3) at Skyline (9-4, 21-6) in a second place battle. College of San Mateo (2-11) goes to repeating champion and current No. 1 City College of San Francisco (12-1, 26-1) – which has only lost to Las Positas this season.
Cañada (5-8, 15-11) hosted Chabot (9-4, 20-7) in the other finale. The Coast expects to have up to five teams seeded into the playoffs at this weekend’s coaches meeting. Cañada was in fifth place after Wednesday’s impressive 84-76 comeback victory at San Mateo.
The CSM women, meanwhile, have already locked up a postseason berth. The Bulldogs (6-3, 16-10) finished in third place in the Coast North Conference after an 86-58 romp over visiting Las Positas Wednesday. They faced San Francisco (9-0, 17-8) in the regular-season finale Friday night.
Fourth place Skyline (3-6, 9-18) hosted Las Positas (0-8, 4-20). Chabot had already finished in second place at 8-2.
CSM softball off to flying start
The unbeaten College of San Mateo softball team has sprinted to a 10-0 start, having outscored three opponents this week by a 23-0 count.
That includes Thursday’s 6-0 blanking of state tourney regular San Joaquin Delta, which came in with the No. 4 RPI in Northern California. CSM is No. 2, slightly behind Coast Conference foe West Valley (15-0). They are also the top two ranked NorCal teams in the coaches poll.
The Coast has three of the north’s five teams with 10 wins to date, including San Jose CC (10-1). The trio boast a 35-1 composite record.
The Bulldogs entertain another 10-win team Saturday in Fresno (10-2), with a doubleheader beginning at noon.
Pitcher Nohemi Livingston (Capuchino) is off to a 6-0 start and is fifth in the state in both wins with an ERA of 0.41.
Livingston also paces the Bulldogs in hitting at .600. Hannah Ames is slugging 1.278, No. 2 in the state, with four home runs, fifth-best in the state.
Baseball squads just as hot
County CC baseball teams are streaking as well, as Cañada, CSM, and Skyline have combined for 14 wins in a row this month.
All will be in action this weekend, beginning at 1 p.m. Skyline (9-3), ranked No. 11 in Northern California, hosts Marin (5-7-1). Skyline has not lost in the month of February, having won seven straight.
Thirteenth-ranked CSM (6-5) will take on Napa Valley (0-12) in San Mateo, while While Cañada (7-5) will be in Oakland to take on Laney (6-7).
Cañada and CSM both enter the weekend on winning streaks, with the Colts having won four straight and the Bulldogs three in a row.
