League play starts next week, and it's business as usual in Kern County baseball, with the Southwest Yosemite League sitting atop the heap.

The big guns, Stockdale and Centennial, are blazing in the early season to lead the league's charge. Centennial is 13-3 overall and 6-1 against the Southeast Yosemite League, with the only loss a 7-6 affair against Liberty. The Golden Hawks and Patriots meet again Friday at Centennial in a key nonconference game. Centennial is hitting heavy, boasting second-team preseason Rawlings All-American Jarret Martin, an outfielder hitting .306. And that's only the 10th-best average on the team. Wow. Sam Westendorf is hitting .600, and Joe Ramirez, Dustin Robinson and Martin have combined for 16 home runs already.

Stockdale is more about pitching, I think, and it starts with Philip Valos, an ace lefthander, and K.C. Hobson, who's also a big bat in the middle of the lineup. The Mustangs are 16-1 and they've have beaten the pulp out of a few teams. Their only loss came in a surprise to Bakersfield High, which we'll get to later. Stockdale's offense, after Hobson and a couple other big bats, is built around getting on base and using team speed to put together big innings.

Centennial vs. Stockdale on April 11 (at Stockdale) and again on May 7 (at Centennial), so mark your calendars.

The rest of the SWYL ain't too shabby, either. North is 12-5 and beat Liberty 8-5 on Thursday, a big win for a team that wants to challenge CHS and SHS at the top of its league. Ridgeview is 11-5 and has perhaps the area's very best player in Art Charles, a first baseman who could go as high as the first or second round in the MLB draft in June. West is only 7-9 but reached the final of the Terrio Therapy Spring Classic, and South is 8-6. Probably only Frontier (4-9) qualifies as an "easy" win in that league.

Meanwhile, in the SEYL, there's two ways to look at things. One, the league is weaker than ever, with even Liberty (8-8-1) struggling a little bit, or two, that it's more balanced than it has been. The Patriots have dominated the SEYL in the past, going 31-1 over the past three seasons. I think it'll be a bit closer this year.

Bakersfield High has proven itself to be a tough game, and the Drillers might present a challenge (at least nominally) to Liberty. BHS is 11-6 with that aforementioned 7-6 victory over Stockdale (the first time the teams played, it was 12-0 Mustangs). Liberty and BHS play April 10 (at BHS) and May 6 (at Liberty).

The rest of the SEYL is typically ho-hum, though Highland (7-8) has shown some spunk and Garces will be competitive. I wouldn't expect a whole lot out of Golden Valley, Foothill or East.

As for the South Sequoia League, Bakersfield Christian is definitely the team to beat. The Eagles have racked up a 14-1 league record, including three wins against Golden Valley and another against Frontier. Taft and Wasco will be the only other SSL teams to touch BCHS, which beat Taft 6-1 in an early league game.

Bottom line, the SWYL is where baseball lives — the league is 43-22 vs. the SEYL and 10-1 vs. the SSL. Nearly every league game will be a dogfight.