Whitney girls softball coach Mike Mello has been around the block long enough in past CIF Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs to know that the old adage, “you play one game at a time,” better be taken seriously. “At this stage, you can get in real trouble looking ahead,” said Mello, whose Wildcats were awarded the No. 1 seed in the Section’s Division I tournament in pairings that were announced Friday. “You have to stay focused with the game at hand,” said Mello. “Right now our girls are playing well and taking it one game at a time.” Mello’s Wildcats, 21-5 overall and the 13-2 Sierra Foothill League champion, will be riding a nine-game winning streak into Monday’s first-round opener at 4 p.m. against No. 16 seed Chavez of Stockton (14-13), the second-place finisher in the San Joaquin Athletic League. Mello remembers a few years back when he coached at Center High when his No. 16 seed Cougars rose up and defeated No. 1 seed Lincoln. “Lincoln was loaded that year,” said Mello. “But the No. 16 seed won that day. You have to go out and stay focused.” Whitney, led by the 1-2 pitching staff of Nia Trinidad and Sierra Bedrin and the heavy hitting of twins Mazie and Makenzie Macfarlane, Claire Stover and Montanah Hermosillo, has a team earned run average of 2.69 and a team batting average of .336. “I don’t think there’s any added pressure of being the No. 1 seed,” said Mello. “We just have to go out and play our game.” Whitney was one of four SFL teams that came away with high section seeds. Also in D-I, Folsom at No. 6 will host No. 11 McClatchy Monday. Meanwhile, in D-II, Rocklin was tagged No. 1 overall, followed by league rival Del Oro at No. 2. Monday’s winners will advance to second-round home site games on Wednesday before action moves to the Arnaiz Complex in Stockton for semifinal round action Friday and Saturday. Here’s a quick glance at other first-round local area playoff matchups. DIVISION II Rocklin, co-runners-up in the SFL with a 15-8 mark, will host No. 16 seed Rio Americano Monday at 4 p.m. A Rocklin win would allow the Thunder to host a second-round game between the survivor of Monday’s game between No. 8 Oakmont and No. 9 Vacaville. Oakmont, 14-7-1 overall, won this year’s Foothill Valley League crown. Del Oro, 17-8-2 overall and fourth-place finisher in the SFL, played a strong enough schedule to earn the No. 2 seed in Division II. The Lady Eagles will host No. 15 Laguna Creek Monday. The loaded D-II bracket also includes No. 4 Roseville, the Capital Valley Conference runner-up at 17-8, hosting No. 13 Ponderosa and No. 6 St. Francis entertaining No. 11 Woodcreek (10-9). Another team to watch in D-II is No. 5 seed Vista del Lago, the Capital Athletic League’s second-place team. The Eagles (20-5) host No. 12 seed Lincoln, which finished with a record of 15-11-1. DIVISION V Making their first playoff appearance since 2011, the No. 5 seed Lady Falcons of Colfax (10-6) will hit the road Monday to Stanislaus County to meet No. 4 seed Waterford, the second-place team from the Southern League. The Colfax-Waterford winner then advances to the Arnaiz Complex for a second-round game against the winner of No. 1 seed Escalon and No. 8 Amador. DIVISION VII No. 2 seed Foresthill (9-3) will be tested Monday by No. 7 Leroy Greene Academy of Sacramento (10-5). The winner will vie against the winner of Monday’s game between No. 6 Forest Lake Christian, which will play at No. 3 Alpha Charter.