The La Mirada softball team is doing everything it can to secure a top seed in the CIF Southern Section playoffs that begin May 15.

The Matadores beat Beckman 3-0 on Thursday to improve to 19-3 overall, and they have a chance to boost their standing a bit more today in the semifinals of their La Mirada tournament.

La Mirada will host California (14-7), a CIF-SS Division 2 finalist last season, in the semifinals at 2:30 p.m. In the other semifinal, South Hills (12-5-1) will take on Orange Lutheran (18-3), also at 2:30 p.m.

The semifinals winners will meet today for the championship at 6:45 p.m.

“To be honest, I haven’t even thought about our tournament,” La Mirada coach Brent Tuttle said. “Been taking everything one day at a time, but certainly, California had a good season last year and has some good players back. We just have to go out and play our game, and when we do, I feel like we can beat anybody.”

Hard to argue with that.

The Matadores are No. 2 overall in this week’s CIF-SS computer rankings behind Norco.

It’s unclear how many teams will be selected for the Division 1 playoffs. That is something the CIF-SS will decide when the regular season is finished. There were 24 teams in Division 1 last season and there has been some discussion of a possible Open Division.

Whatever direction the section goes, La Mirada will be among the heavyweights.

“We have the team that can do it this year,” Tuttle said. “We don’t know what the format will be, but we want to play (for the top) championship. Wherever we end up, I like our team.”

The Matadores are bashing the ball, having belted 37 home runs in 22 games.

Sophomore Riley Hilliard leads the way with seven homers. Texas Tech commit Angelyna Conde and Oregon commit Amanda Urbina have six homers apiece. Reese Hilliard and Angelie Kennedy each have five homers and freshman Juliana Rivara has four.

“We have a lot of power,” Tuttle said. “We knew coming into the season we had a lot of girls that can hit like this.”

The Matadores are also fortunate to have two dominant pitchers in senior Montserrat Reyes-Cardenas, a San Diego State commit, along with sophomore Alison Ortega.

Ortega has been a pleasant surprise. She has a 1.02 ERA in 68 innings with 83 strikeouts.

In Thursday’s shutout of Beckman, Ortega threw a complete game with seven strikeouts and allowed just four hits.

“There have been some games where (Montserrat) has struggled, but we know what she’s about,” Tuttle said. “Our sophomore (Ortega) has been lighting it up. We’re confident they both can do the job when called upon and they’re very supportive of each other.”

La Mirada will be challenged Saturday. The Condors advanced to the semifinals with wins over Schurr (13-4) and Granada Hills Charter (4-0). The Condors also boast two strong pitchers with Pricilla Ramirez and Alexis Salas.

South Hills has a strong hitting team that defeated Legacy (8-0) and Beckman (4-3) to reach the semifinals. Orange Lutheran is No. 3 behind La Mirada in the CIF-SS computer rankings. Orange Lutheran crushed Chino (9-1) and Downey (11-2) to advance in the tournament.