Preview: Open Division title tilt caps day-long slate of section championship games in softball

CIF San Diego Section Softball Championships

When: Saturday

Where: Triton Softball Field, UCSD

Admission: $15 for adults, $9 for students and seniors. Tickets are available at gofan.com./app/school/cifsd. Tickets will be available at the door with credit or debit only. No cash.

Parking: Parking is available in the lot near the Hopkins Parking Structure.

Division 5: (1) Francis Parker (21-3) vs. (3) Castle Park (12-16), 1:30 p.m.

Preview: Francis Parker has had few struggles in this postseason, outscoring opponents 57-10 in three games. The Lancers are seeking their sixth section title in eight final appearances, including a run of four straight championships from 2006-2009. Parker’s roster of 14 includes eight freshmen and only two seniors. ... Castle Park won a pair of back-to-back victories over No. 2 seeded El Cajon Valley to earn the spot in the finals, including Thursday’s 4-3 thriller. Those victories avenged the Trojans’ 13-3 loss to the Braves in the second round. … The Lancers beat the Trojans 15-5 and 15-12 in a pair of March games.

Division 2: (1) Imperial (26-3-1) vs (2) Eastlake (21-11), 4 p.m.

Preview: Imperial won its third section title a year ago beating Christian 3-2 to win the Division 3 crown. The Tigers will play anybody; they earned a split in games against the Open Division finalists Poway and Del Norte. They beat the Titans 3-2 on March 5 in a tournament game. ... Eastlake righted the ship after a five-game Metro Mesa League skid to end the regular season to win four of five in the playoffs. In the postseason, the Titans faced Christian three times, winning twice — including Thursday’s 3-2 victory to advance to just their second finals appearance. They lost the Division 1 Final to Rancho Bernardo 3-0 in 2018. ... Eastlake forfeited to the Tigers in March.

Open Division: Poway (23-6-1) vs. (2) Del Norte (23-5) 7 p.m.

Preview: Reigning San Diego Section Open and Southern California Division 1 champion Poway is seeking its fourth section crown. The Titans raced through this year’s playoff bracket with a pair of wins over San Marcos and a win over Cathedral Catholic by a combined score of 15-6. The Titans' pitching staff has allowed just 59 runs all year, led by junior Mya McGowan, last season's section pitcher of the year and a Cal commit. Her battery-mate, Sophia Burmeister, is heading to Clemson. . ... Del Norte senior pitcher Jessica Phelps threw a nifty one-hitter Thursday over Mater Dei Catholic, leading the Nighthawks to the finals for the first time in school history. She is heading to Princeton in the fall. The Nighthawks, still smarting from a two-and-out postseason a year ago, have yielded just two runs in these playoffs. ... Poway and Del Norte split their two Palomar North County League games this year, with the Nighthawks winning 3-0 on April 25 and the Titans on top 5-0 on May 4.

This story originally appeared in San Diego Union-Tribune .