With seven championship finalists in baseball and softball, it was both literally and figuratively a banner year for East County teams to close out the 2026 spring playoffs.
Four softball teams advanced to divisional finals held May 28- 30 at San Diego State University, University of San Diego and UC San Diego’s collegiate fields.
Three baseball teams dueled at SDSU and USD.
Of the seven local entrants, four came home with coveted CIF championships, including a sweep for Helix Charter on the diamond.
The championship parade began May 28 at SDSU with second-seeded Helix (24-4) defeating top-seeded Brawley (19-13) by a score of 6-2 to capture the Division III softball banner — the first in school history.
Monte Vista (Division V) and Steele Canyon (Division I) upheld their end with finals victories Saturday at UC San Diego. No. 3 Monte Vista (19-13) blasted top-seeded La Jolla (16-13) by a score of 17-9 while third-seeded Steele Canyon (21-11) out-slugged fourth-seeded Torrey Pines (17-13-1) by a score of 13-7 in come-from-behind fashion.
It marked the first section title for Steele Canyon in 19 years while Monte Vista reversed a 1-16 finish a year ago to reign supreme atop its division after last winning CIF titles in 1987 and 1989.
Both were long times coming.
No. 3 Helix (21-11) defeated top-seeded Christian (21-10- 1) by a score of 8-4 to tee off Saturday’s baseball finals at USD with an all-East County matchup. It was the first CIF championship for the Highlanders since 2011 and the fourth in school history, adding to banners first won in 1963 and 1988.
Not everyone was a winner.
Besides Christian’s runner-up baseball finish, Foothills Christian’s baseball team (22-13) posted a second-place finish on May 28 at SDSU while Grossmont’s softball tea (18-11-1) recorded a runner-up finish last Friday at USD’s new canyon field, both in Division IV.
Foothills Christian was making its first-ever CIF finals appearance but came up short, 6-4, to fifth-seeded Francis Parker (24-11) while Grossmont took a one-run lead in the third inning over No. 1 Madison (22- 9-1) before falling 14-7.
The Lady Cougars got hot at the right time of the season with a nine-game winning streak that earned them a share of this year’s Grossmont Hills League championship and a coveted San Diego Section title.
The CIF championship reversed losses in the 2017 Division II final and 2024 Division I final under current head coach Kevin Pearlstein. It marks the first time the Lady Cougars have won a grand finale since capturing back-to-back Division
III titles in 2006-07.
“It was a great run,” Pearlstein underscored. “We definitely started off slow with 1-4 and 8-10 records but turned it on to win 13 of 14 to finish the year.
“We set four goals every year and achieved-and-a-half out four — so not bad. The Steele program is good because we have quality players in each graduating year, including senior Ily Barclay, the Grossmont Hills Player of the Year, who will be attending Fairfield University in Connecticut as a student/athlete.
“We are graduating nine seniors but have a very strong foundation with UCSB bound junior Payton Sos, sophomore Sophia Jackel and three excellent freshmen in Avigail Hendricks, Ari Angotti and Izabella Thomas.”
The Lady Cougars mounted their championship game assault with 11 runs in the fifth and sixth innings to erase a 5-2 Torrey Pines lead. Steele Canyon scored six runs in the fifth inning to go in front 8-5 and tacked on five more runs in the next frame to make a further statement.