SAN DIEGO — The Southwest Eagle and Calipatria Hornet softball teams are a win away from the 2025 CIF-San Diego Section’s Divisional Playoff championship games, with semi-final games in the double-elimination tournament slated for this week.

In a CIF-SDS Division III upper-bracket semi-final game, the undefeated Eagles (18-8, 10-2 IVL) will travel to San Diego today, Wednesday, May 28th, at 4:00 pm, to again face the D-III top-seeded Canyon Hills (19-9) after defeating the Rattlers by a score of 6-1 last Friday afternoon.

Following that loss, Canyon Hills, formerly Serra High, won an elimination bracket game on Saturday, defeating Division III fourth-seeded Morse High for a second time last week, knocking them from the playoffs, 2-0.

That victory set up what was scheduled to be a semi-final game between the Eagles and the Rattlers on Tuesday, May 27th, with the game being postponed to today at the request of Canyon Hills.

“It worked out for them to play Wednesday because of graduation, so we’re accommodating them, and we’ll play up there today,” Southwest coach Joel Manzano said.

Should Southwest prevail today, the Eagles would advance to Saturday’s CIF-SDS Division III softball championship game scheduled for UCSD’s Triton Softball Field at 4:00 pm.

An Eagle loss today would necessitate a second semi-final game tomorrow afternoon, May 29th, which would again be hosted by the Division III higher-seeded Rattlers, whom Southwest has also previously beaten in a tournament game by a score of 3-2 in March.

On Friday at Canyon Hills, the Eagles broke open a scoreless game in the top of the fourth inning when junior catcher Kianah Alvarez got on base with a bunt single and was sacrificed to second by freshman Alexis Trujillo.

After junior Kaydence Wiewel was able to get on base on an error, senior Delylah Santiago launched a pitch over the center-field fence for a three-run home run.

“She has five homers on the season, and they have all been huge,” Manzano said. “She crushed it off the scoreboard, which is high up, and it’s a big field…she got all of it.”

The runs allowed starting pitcher Trujillo to settle in after allowing a run in the bottom of the fourth, striking out four, walking none, and letting her defense help.

“The home run put us on the scoreboard, and it was a huge lift to Alexis, and it allowed her to relax and settle in,” Manzano said. “Our defense not making an error was huge for us…the team that makes the least amount of mistakes usually wins…and their errors allowed us to rally again in the fifth to keep the pressure on them.”

Southwest indeed took advantage of Canyon Hills’ miscues in the top of the fifth inning, loading the bases to open the frame, and then, after two strike-outs, a Rattlers error allowed two runs to score, and a passed ball scored the Eagles’ final run.

The other Valley softball team still in the hunt for a 2025 CIF-SDS championship title this week is the Division V-AA third-seeded Calipatria Hornets, who traveled to San Diego County’s eastern mountains for their second playoff meeting with the Division V-AA second-seeded Julian High Eagles on Tuesday, May 28th.

Calipatria (8-10, 3-3 ML) opened the playoffs with a 13-7 victory at home last Wednesday over San Marcos’ Saint Joseph Academy before venturing to Julian last Friday to win an 18-16 slugfest over the Eagles (11-13).

Julian stayed alive in the Division V-AA double-elimination playoffs on Saturday when they blew past St. Joseph Academy 24-5, and the Eagles hosted the Tuesday game, the score of which was unavailable at press time.