WATSONVILLE — Next season, the St. Francis High baseball program will be without the services of two NCAA Division I players, and six other seniors who helped guide the team to a runner-up finish in the Central Coast Section Division III playoffs.
Yet, the coaches, athletic directors and board of managers of the Pacific Coast Athletic League felt the Sharks will still have enough firepower to compete in the newly-formed league’s top division, the Gabilan.
Head coach Kenny Nakagawa and Co. are counting down the days until they have a chance to prove they belong in the heavyweight division.
“I like the challenge,” Nakagawa said, “and I know our guys are going to love it.”
St. Francis is one of 31 schools who combined forces to form the monstrous PCAL, which will be in its inaugural season next school year. The super league will feature former members of the Monterey Bay League, Mission Trail Athletic League and the Coastal Athletic League.
St. Francis is the lone school from the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League to join the PCAL for all sports. The other seven schools still in the SCCAL — Santa Cruz High, Aptos High, Soquel High, Scotts Valley High, San Lorenzo Valley High, Harbor High and Mt. Madonna — will continue as one of the few remaining single-tiered leagues in the CCS next school year, while also using the PCAL as a supplemental league for sports struggling with numbers, like lacrosse, football and water polo.
In the Gabilan division, the St. Francis baseball team will see San Benito High, Gilroy High, Christopher High, Monterey High, Monte Vista Christian, Palma High and Salinas High. San Benito won the MBL-Gabilan division this spring and was also a CCS Open Division semifinalist, while four other teams made the playoffs.
“I love the fact that you have to play every game, you have to show up every time you’re out there,” Nakagawa said. “It’s a proving ground. We’re not going to see anything in the playoffs that we don’t see in our league.”
St. Francis won’t be coming in blind. The Sharks have played Gilroy, Christopher and Salinas in the past, they eliminated Palma from the CCS D-III playoffs last week and have budding rivalries with San Benito and M.V.C.
Nakagawa said he plans to keep some of the old SCCAL rivalries alive with preseason contests. He also hopes to build some new rivalries.
“Those don’t have to go away and we’ll get to create new ones,” the coach said.
The PCAL will have two more divisions under the Gabilan for baseball.
Watsonville High will be in the Mission division with this year’s MBL-Pacific division champion Alisal High and MTAL champion Soledad High. Carmel High, Alvarez High, King City High, North Salinas High and Pacific Grove High round out the division.
Pajaro Valley High and North Monterey County High, meanwhile, will compete in the Cypress division against Anzar High, Gonzales High, Greenfield High, Marina High, Seaside High, Stevenson and Trinity Christian.
Next year’s move won’t be much of a change for the Watsonville softball program.
Save for one team, the PCAL’s Gabilan will be a carbon copy of this spring’s MBL-Gabilan. CCS Division II champion, Santa Catalina, will take Monterey’s place, making an already powerful division even stronger. The division will also feature CCS D-I champion Gilroy and runner-up San Benito. Christopher, Notre Dame-Salinas and Salinas, a trio of playoff teams, will also compete in the division.
Watsonville head coach Scott Wilson said the new league wouldn’t change much for his girls. The team is already working hard for next season after its heartbreaking loss to eventual CCS Open Division champion St. Francis-Mountain View.
“They’re already fired up as it is,” Wilson said.
The PCAL will have three more divisions for softball under the Gabilan: the Mission, the Cypress and the Santa Lucia.
N.M.C. is in the Mission with Carmel, Alvarez, Monterey, North Salinas and Pacific Grove. M.V.C. and St. Francis will play in the Cypress against Alisal, Seaside, Soledad and Stevenson. And Pajaro Valley was placed in the Santa Lucia with Anzar, Gonzales, Greenfield, King City, Marina, Trinity Christian and York.
Boys golf, boys and girls swimming and diving and track and field were all split into three divisions, while boys volleyball, boys tennis and boys lacrosse were divided into two.
M.V.C.’s boys golf team will compete in the Mission division with Alisal, Christopher, Gilroy, Monterey and North Salinas after winning the MBL-Pacific division this spring. The upper division of the league, the Gabilan, features MTAL champion Stevenson and MBL-Gabilan champion Palma, as well as Carmel, San Benito, Pacific Grove and Salinas. St. Francis, N.M.C. and Watsonville will join Alvarez, Kirby Prep, Trinity and York in the league’s Cypress division.
In boys and girls swimming and diving, St. Francis and M.V.C. were both planted in the Mission with Alvarez, Monterey, Oakwood, Pacific Collegiate School, Pacific Grove and York. Watsonville is a part of the Cypress division with Alisal, King City, Kirby Prep, Marina, North Salinas, Seaside and Soledad. Carmel, Christopher, Gilroy, San Benito, Palma/ND-Salinas, Salinas, Santa Catalina and Stevenson make up the Gabilan division.
Watsonville and Pajaro Valley’s track and field programs were both placed in the Mission with Carmel, Gilroy, Gonzales, King City, Monterey, Santa Catalina, Seaside and Soledad, while M.V.C and St. Francis joined Anzar, Greenfield, Kirby Prep, Marina, Oakwood, P.C.S., Stevenson, Trinity and York in a 12-team Cypress division. N.M.C. earned a spot in the Gabilan division with Alisal, Christopher, Alvarez, San Benito, North Salinas, Palma/ND-Salinas and Salinas.
The boys volleyball divisions will make for compelling drama next spring with former SCCAL power P.C.S. landing in the Gabilan with MBL power Carmel. The two squads have met in the CCS semifinals each of the last two seasons. M.V.C. will join those two, as well as Christopher, San Benito, Monterey, Palma and Salinas.
In the Mission, Watsonville and Pajaro Valley will meet N.M.C. and St. Francis for the first time, as the latter two programs will be in their inaugural varsity seasons next spring. Alisal, Alvarez, Gilroy, Kirby, Seaside and Soledad will also compete in the Mission.
Not much will change in either boys tennis or lacrosse.
In tennis, M.V.C. will compete in the Gabilan against Alisal, Carmel, Alvarez, North Salinas, Palma, Salinas and Stevenson. The Mission will contain Christopher, Gilroy, Gonzales, San Benito, Monterey, Oakwood, Pacific Grove and York.
Aptos’ lacrosse team will enter with a target on its back after winning the MTAL-Mission in its final season. The Mariners will be in the Gabilan division with Carmel, San Benito, Pacific Grove, Palma, Scotts Valley and Stevenson. Watsonville is set to compete in the Mission against Christopher, P.C.S., Salinas, Santa Cruz, Soquel and York.
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PCAL spring sports divisions for 2019
Baseball
Gabilan (8) >> Christopher, Gilroy, San Benito, Monterey, M.V.C., Palma, St. Francis & Salinas
Mission (8) >> Alisal, Carmel, Alvarez, King City, North Salinas, Pacific Grove, Soledad & Watsonville
Cypress (8) >> Anzar, Gonzales, Greenfield, Marina, N.M.C., Pajaro Valley, Seaside, Stevenson & Trinity
Softball
Gabilan (7) >> Christopher, Gilroy, San Benito, ND-Salinas, Santa Catalina & Watsonville
Mission (6) >> Carmel, Alvarez, Monterey, N.M.C., North Salinas & Pacific Grove
Cypress (6) >> Alisal, M.V.C., St. Francis, Seaside, Soledad & Stevenson
Santa Lucia (8) >> Anzar, Gonzales, Greenfield, King City, Marina, Pajaro Valley, Trinity & York
Track & Field
Gabilan (8) >> Alisal, Christopher, Alvarez, San Benito, N.M.C., North Salinas, Palma/ND-Salinas & Salinas
Mission (10) >> Carmel, Gilroy, Gonzales, King City, Monterey, Pajaro Valley, Santa Catalina, Seaside Soledad & Watsonville
Cypress (12) >> Anzar, Greenfield, Kirby, Marina, M.V.C., Oakwood, P.C.S., Pacific Grove, St. Francis, Stevenson, Trinity & York
Boys volleyball
Gabilan (8) >> Carmel, Christopher, San Benito, Monterey, M.V.C., P.C.S., Palma & Salinas
Mission (10) >> Alisal, Alvarez, Gilroy, Kirby, N.M.C., Pajaro Valley, St. Francis, Seaside, Soledad & Watsonville
Boys golf
Gabilan (6) >> Carmel, San Benito, Pacific Grove, Palma, Salinas & Stevenson
Mission (6) >> Alisal, Christopher, Gilroy, Monterey, M.V.C. & North Salinas
Cypress (7) >> Alvarez, Kirby, N.M.C., St. Francis, Trinity, Watsonville & York
Boys lacrosse
Gabilan (7) >> Aptos, Carmel, San Benito, Pacific Grove, Palma, Scotts Valley & Stevenson
Mission (7) >> Christopher, P.C.S., Salinas, Santa Cruz, Soquel, Watsonville & York
Boys tennis
Gabilan (8) >> Alisal, Carmel, Alvarez, M.V.C., North Salinas, Palma, Salinas & Stevenson
Mission (8) >> Christopher, Gilroy, Gonzales, San Benito, Monterey, Oakwood, Pacific Grove & York
Swimming & Diving
Gabilan (8) >> Carmel, Christopher, Gilroy, San Benito, Palma/ND-Salinas, Salinas, Santa Catalina & Stevenson
Mission (8) >> Alvarez, Monterey, M.V.C., Oakwood, P.C.S., Pacific Grove, St. Francis & York
Cypress (8) >> Alisal, King City, Kirby, Marina, North Salinas, Seaside, Soledad & Watsonville
Girls lacrosse
Single-tiered league >> Carmel, Monterey, Salinas, Santa Catalina, Stevenson & York
