BASKETBALL playoffs start this week and pennant races for baseball and softball wind up (Shutterstock).

The jam-packed CIF-SS playoff extravaganza adds basketball playoffs this week, starting Wednesday and Thursday with 19 teams from the area involved.

There are some interesting all-local matchups on tap. In Division 2AA boys play, Edison will visit Fountain Valley on Wednesday. In 3A, Marina will visit Garden Grove and Pacifica will be at Santiago.

For complete local pairings, go to: https://orangecountytribune.com/2021/05/23/19-teams-are-in-hoops-playoffs/

And CIF-SS diamond polls say …

Eleven local teams are ranked or received some votes in the Top 10 polls released by the CIF-SS on Monday. Listed is the top team in each division and local teams are cited.

SOFTBALL

• Division 1: Norco is ranked first. Huntington Beach is second and Pacifica third
• Division 5: Western Christian is first. Unranked but receiving votes are Ocean View and Westminster
• Division 6: St. Bonaventure is first. Unranked but receiving some votes is Rancho Alamitos
• Division 7: Southland Christian is first. Unranked but receiving some votes is Orangewood Academy.

BASEBALL

• Division 1: Ayala is first. Huntington Beach is sixth
• Division 2: Thousand Oaks is first. Ocean View is third
• Division 6: Aquinas is first. Garden Grove is eighth. Unranked but receiving votes is Orange.

And even more playoffs

The brackets for CIF-SS baseball and softball will be unveiled on this coming weekend. Softball will be posted on Saturday at 10 a.m. and baseball on Sunday at 10 a.m.

In boys’ volleyball, Huntington Beach will play Burroughs High of Burbank in a Division 2 quarterfinal game on Wednesday. In Division 4, Marina will visit Pacific Christian of Orange County, also on Wednesday. And don’t forget Rancho Alamitos in a Division 5 quarterfinal at Upland, that same day.

And those league races, wow ….

The Garden Grove League softball race is a real tangle. Loara is on top at 7-2, despite losing 12-6 to La Quinta on Friday. Rancho Alamitos (6-3) can hope to force a tie for the GGL crown if it defeats Bolsa Grande on Thursday, but to complete the stunt the Vaqs have to hope that winless Los Amigos upsets the first place Saxons.

BASEBALL and softball races are still underway (Shutterstock).

In that win by La Quinta, Xochitl Esparza had three hits, including a double, drove in two runs and played the whole game at catcher despite pulling a hamstring muscle and taking a foul pitch off her arm.

Thalina Niang had a single and a double, scored three runs and drove in two runs. Ryann Nadeau scored three runs and doubled. Ally Guzman pitched a complete game and had two hits and two RBIs.

LQ will face Santiago on Thursday in a battle for third in the GGL.

In the Empire League baseball race, the real traffic jam is for the runner-up spot. Ocean View has the crown locked up at 8-0, with three teams – Garden Grove, Segerstrom and Wesminster – each at 4-4 in league play. Today’s game pitting Segerstrom’s Jaguars at Grove’s Argonauts could go a long way toward sorting that out.

Prep Sport Spotlight is posted on Tuesdays during the high school athletic season.