Heads or tails, a first round tough as nails

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How would you like to be a first-place team and have to play someone like Mission Viejo or Mater Dei in the first round? It could happen.

Coin flips on Saturday will determine which teams enter the playoffs in what order, and in the Pac-5 Division, the three-way tie between The Southland’s No. 3 Mater Dei (8-1), No. 5 Servite (7-2) and No. 6 Orange Lutheran (8-1) means someone is going to get stuck.

Add to that the stunning victory by Tesoro (7-3) over Mission Viejo on Friday to win the South Coast League title, and now No. 16 Mission (6-3-1) and San Clemente (7-2-1) -- which shared second place in league -- will flip a coin to see who’s No. 2 and who’s No. 3.

As for the at-large situation, that probably took care of itself when Loyola was beaten by Bishop Amat. The two wild-card candidates are Santa Margarita (5-4) and Los Alamitos (7-3). But coming from a tougher league, and having played a tougher schedule, and having performed better against common opponents, it’s likely that Santa Margarita will get the nod.

-- Martin Henderson