The Preps : Southern Section Baseball Playoffs : El Dorado Tries to Turn It Around

A year of expectation has turned into frustration for El Dorado High School, a team that limps into the Southern Section 5-A division baseball playoffs as the No. 2 entry from the Empire League after being ranked No. 1 in Orange County in the preseason polls.

Last year, the Golden Hawks were seeded first in the division and were named the county’s mythical champion after finishing the regular season with a 22-3 record. This year, El Dorado is 18-8 despite returning the county’s best pitching staff and several other key players.

Despite the disappointing season, Coach Steve Gullotti is looking forward to the playoffs, where the Golden Hawks play host to Nogales (19-6) Friday in the first round.

Lakewood (22-3) is seeded first in the division with Riverside Poly (23-3) second, Simi Valley (21-3) third and Mater Dei (20-5) fourth. For the third consecutive year, an Empire League team will play in the wild-card game with Los Alamitos (13-13) traveling to Bishop Montgomery (13-7) today.

In the 4-A, Anaheim (17-9) is riding a 13-game winning streak and gained its first league championship since 1981, but the Colonists drew one of the toughest No. 2 entries in the division by playing host to Capistrano Valley (16-9).

Three county schools--El Modena (11-11), Irvine (13-12) and La Habra (13-8)--drew wild-card games today with Irvine playing host to La Habra. Buena (18-2-2) is top-seeded and plays host to Valencia (11-10) Friday.

In an interesting move by the pairings committee, Upland (21-5) was seeded fourth but is the No. 2 entry from the Baseline League. Upland lost a coin flip, so the school travels to Western (15-10) Friday.

In the 3-A, Laguna Hills (22-4) is the fourth-seeded team and will play host to Saddleback (13-12) Friday. Laguna Hills has won 19 of its past 20 games and finished the regular season as the top-ranked team in the county.