It’s Playoff Time and So, They Meet Again

The playoffs are considered the “second season,” but Friday’s second-round game of the Southern California Regionals will be second nature for the Rancho Santiago and Riverside baseball teams.

The Orange Empire Conference teams have already met four times this season, splitting the two games at each site.

They also met last year in the first game of the double-elimination regional playoffs.

“Is it deja vu or what?” Rancho Santiago Coach Don Sneddon said. “But this season we are a little healthier.”

Sneddon said he wouldn’t be too happy with a repeat of last season’s playoff game. Riverside pounded Rancho Santiago, 14-7, on its way to winning the regional and a berth in the state tournament.

Rancho Santiago (38-9) plays Riverside (33-12) at 11 a.m. Friday at Riverside. Cerritos (26-14-2) follows with a game against San Diego Mesa (27-12) at 3 p.m. at Riverside. The double-elimination regional continues Saturday with the championship game set for noon Sunday.

The other regional site is Los Angeles Harbor College, where Cypress (30-14) plays L.A. Harbor (34-7) at 3 p.m. Friday. Los Angeles Pierce (23-13) plays Citrus (27-14) at 11 a.m. Friday. This regional’s championship game is 11 a.m. Sunday.

The winner of each regional advances to the state tournament May 25-27 in Sacramento.

The pairings for the state softball tournament this weekend at Golden West have been announced.

Cypress (42-10) plays Ohlone (34-10) and Orange Coast (35-14) plays Sacramento City (48-6) at noon Friday. In the 2 p.m. games, Chabot (48-5) plays Pasadena (33-12) and San Mateo (32-10) plays Palomar (36-8).

This is Cypress’ third consecutive appearance in the state tournament and the first since 1981 for Orange Coast, which lost that year’s title game to Golden West.

Cypress and Orange Coast established records for victories this season.

The first-round winners play at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Friday, and the losers play at 10 a.m. Saturday. The tournament continues Saturday with the championship game set for at 1 p.m. Sunday.

Trivia time. Which was the last county team to win a state baseball title? Hint: This team, which won two others, is the only county team to win a state baseball title.

Just wondering. What more do Mike Burns and Greg Fife of Orange Coast have to do to make the first-team all-Orange Empire Conference? Burns, a third baseman, hit .439 in 98 at-bats overall and .485 (33 for 68) in 22 conference games.

Fife, an outfielder, hit .351 overall with 46 RBIs. He hit .306 in conference games with 17 RBIs. Fife had more RBIs overall than any first-team outfielder, and only two of the first-team outfielders had more RBIs in conference.

The coaches selected 22 players to the first team, so it would stand to reason that a place could have been found for two more.

Also, what did the drinking fountain in the Rancho Santiago dugout ever do to catcher Robin Lindsey to deserve what he did to it after hitting a pop up in Friday’s 7-5 playoff victory over Long Beach?

It would be easy to remember Fullerton’s baseball team as the one that was swept in two games last weekend by San Diego Mesa in the first round of the Southern California Regionals.

But this team instead should be remembered for overcoming the early-season death of left-fielder Kenney Humphrey, who died in an automobile accident in late February.

After his death, the Hornets lost their next six and could have continued their slump. But Fullerton recovered to win five of its next six and finish fourth in conference.

Fullerton had a 25-20 overall record and reached the playoffs for the second consecutive season.

Trivia answer. Orange Coast. The Pirates won the title in 1980 under current Coach Mike Mayne. OCC also won in 1956 and 1960 for Coach Wendell Pickens.

Community College Notes

Ray Haas, the long-time wrestling coach at Cypress, will give women’s soccer a try instead this fall. Cypress, which played as a club team last fall, will compete in the Orange Empire Conference. Haas’ assistant will be Leonard Lopez, who has been the girls’ soccer coach at Los Alamitos High School for the past five seasons. The Griffins won two Empire League titles and finished second three times under Lopez. Mike Flook, the assistant wrestling coach, will take over the program.