The Chargers were focused on finishing the regular season strong in anticipation of earning a good seeding in the Central Coast Section playoffs.

Leland (17-8) was rewarded for its season-long performance and received a No. 7 seed in Division II and had a first round match-up against No. 12 St. Francis (13-11) on May 18. The winner advances to the quarterfinals with a game on May 21 against No. 2 Leigh (21-5).

"I'm happy with our seeding and the way we've been playing the past couple of weeks," said coach Joe Gron. "I've seen the intensity and approach that we had in the beginning of the year return." That could bode well for the Chargers in the playoffs since that intensity in the early part of the season resulted in Leland rattling off a 12-game winning streak to open the year.

Leland put together a pair of shutout wins last week, blowing out Pioneer 7-0 and then slipping by Mt. Pleasant 1-0. The Chargers closed out regular season action dropping a 1-0 decision to Oak Grove.

The Chargers' bats were hot against Pioneer and they didn't waste any time putting runs on the board, jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first. Sara Adams led off the game with a sharp single and Ashleigh Adams followed by belting a home run--her first of the year--to give Leland a lead it never relinquished.

Leland added another score in the second when Jessica Talaugon blasted a double to drive home A.J. Huffman, who had reached base on a single. The Chargers kept the hits right on coming and put a pair of runs up in each of the third and fourth innings.

A pair of singles by Lauren Jones and Huffman set the stage for Elisa Vye in the third as she ripped a two-run single to increase the lead to 5-0.

Four consecutive singles did the damage in the fourth. Sara Boring and Quianna Sanchez poked one each to set the table for Jones and Huffman. Each came through with a RBI hit to bring home Boring and Sanchez and close out the scoring.

The bats were not quite as productive in the match-up with Mt. Pleasant but did enough, combined with the solid pitching of Vanessa Truan, to nail down the 1-0 win.

The two teams battled to a scoreless tie through 3 1/2 innings before Leland was able to push across its only run in the bottom of the fourth. A. Adams led off with a solid single and then scampered home on a triple that exploded off the bat of Sanchez. A. Adams and Talaugon also ripped doubles in the contest.

"We had our chances against Oak Grove but just couldn't make it happen," Gron said. The Chargers were able to come up with only two hits on the day. Truan was tough on the mound for the Chargers, allowing only two hits and striking out six, but had to settle for the loss and end the season with a 17-8 record.

Gron was anticipating that his Chargers would do well in the first round CCS match-up with St. Francis if "we stick to our game and play with the intensity that we have shown recently."

"If we can win the first round, then we will go up against Leigh and I like that match-up," Gron explained. "It's tough to beat a team three times in the same season and that's what they would be faced with doing."

Leigh was the champion of the Mt. Hamilton Division and beat Leland twice in the regular season, both times by a score of 2-0.

"We're looking forward to the playoffs. It's just a four-game single elimination tourney at this point," the coach added.

In addition to the loss to Leland last week, Pioneer also suffered a 9-0 shutout at the hands of Westmont to close out its BVAL Mt. Hamilton Division campaign. The Mustangs finished at 11-15 overall and 4-10 in league play.

Pioneer struggled through the final two weeks of the season but had enough bright spots, including a win over Santa Teresa, that gave first-year coach Ernie Garcia hope for the future.

"I believe we'll have a good team next year," Garcia said. "We have a lot of young players that got a lot of good experience this year and they'll be returning next season. If they put in the effort for what it takes to have a successful season then good things will happen."