NorCal Classic softball tournament still going strong

Charlie Pikas swears each year he’s going to make things easier on himself.

The Pacheco High School softball coach sets out to have three 16-team divisions each time he sets up the NorCal Classic softball tournament. But Pikas said there are always a handful of teams that call after the tournament has filled up, and he more often than not creates an extra division.

It’s hard to blame Pikas’ the-more-the-merrier attitude, even if it does mean extra work. The NorCal Classic has become one of the premier softball tournaments in the Central Valley, and like a proud father showing off pictures of his kids, one of the tournament’s founders wants as many people as possible to experience it.

“I don’t know of too many tournaments this size, and I’m willing to put up the level of competition in our Platinum bracket versus that of any other tournament in the area,” Pikas said. “You look at just some of the teams we have in there this year. Oakdale and East Union are probably the top two teams in Division III, and they could meet in the semifinals before they ever meet in league. On the bottom of the bracket, you have perennial powers like Clovis, Elk Grove and then a local team in Merced that has dominated the (Central California Conference).

“Then, you look at the Diamond and Gold brackets, and there’s still very good competition. It always depends on when Easter falls. This year, it was a lot sooner than usual, but teams like to use this tournament as a measuring stick to see where they are at and what they still need to work on heading into the playoffs.”

The 12th annual NorCal Classic, which gets underway Thursday morning, will feature 52 varsity teams and 20 junior varsity teams competing all over Tracy. Eleven local programs will compete: Merced, Atwater, Golden Valley, Buhach Colony, El Capitan, Los Banos, Pacheco, Hilmar, Mariposa, Gustine and Le Grand.

Pikas said the tournament has evolved into a five-school co-op.

“Tracy and West run the divisions at their respective sites,” Pikas said. “Kimball does the JV tournament, and Millennium will run two days at Bland Park for the Silver division. My portion is really just getting the teams in and collecting the money. I’ve found that I enjoy the tournament more since I don’t really have to coach in it, too.

“Calaveras can only play two games, so whatever they do, we’ll pick up their two games on Friday. It works for me – we get two games against some good competition, and I get to relax and watch some really good softball the rest of the time.”

Merced is the lone local team in the Platinum division. El Capitan and Atwater will participate in the Diamond division. The bulk of the area teams will square off in the Gold division, with Golden Valley, Buhach Colony, Los Banos, Pacheco, Mariposa, Gustine and Le Grand represented. Hilmar will participate in the four-team, round-robin Silver division.

Los Banos hopes to make a splash this year. Dustin Caropreso’s team is 8-1 with its only loss to Merced in extra innings to open the season.

“We got into the girls a little bit at practice yesterday,” Caropreso said. “We weren’t happy with their focus and told them we aren’t just going to play some games. We’re going planning to win.

“We still have plenty of big league games ahead of us, but it is a good opportunity to see where we are against playoff-level competition. The main thing I’m expecting is to see good pitching. Turlock has a couple pitchers, GV has a girl, and I know Waterford’s pitcher is really good. Great pitching is what you can expect in the playoffs, and it’s always good for our girls to see it.”

This story was originally published March 30, 2016 at 6:11 PM with the headline "NorCal Classic softball tournament still going strong."