Baseball and track and field will be the only sports in the Valley Oak League that will have postseason events, and they’ll take place next week just days after schools in the area hold graduations.

The top four teams at the end of the regular season qualify for the two-round tournament that takes place next Monday and Wednesday, May 31 and June 2. As it stands, East Union, Oakdale, Central Catholic and Manteca hold the top four seeds in that order.

Going into this week, Manteca and Kimball were tied for fourth with 9-7 records with the former holding the head-to-head tiebreaker. Sierra trailed by a game. Any qualifying team may opt out of the tournament, and the next highest-placed club could be a replacement. 

The VOL Track & Field Championships is set for June 2 at Oakdale High. Adhering to state guidelines for sports competition amid the coronavirus pandemic, the meet is for varsity athletes only and will be split in half. It begins with boys field events at 8:30 a.m. and track events at 9. Girls will follow at 11:30 for field and noon for track. 

As with all other sports, no official league championships will be on the line next week. Other traditional spring sports such as swimming and boys tennis have already taken place during the VOL’s “Season 1” calendar. No league finales were planned for those sports because of more restrictive protocols at the time.