Sonora’s Patino Is a Study in Playoff Patience : Division II: He and his team finally are having success in the postseason. Today they are in the final.

Sonora’s Marc Patino has felt the unpleasant side of the Southern Section playoffs. Other times he didn’t feel anything at all.

Patino’s been knocked out of the postseason ritual by a last-second touchdown, left out after losing a four-way coin flip, and kept out another time by superior competition in the Freeway League.

Today, finally, Patino gets to experience what he used to only pretend, starting at third base against San Luis Obispo in the Division II baseball championship game at Anaheim Stadium.

Patino’s misfortunes turned around early this season. After 14 games, he had 21 runs batted in and eventually broke Bryan Beals’ nine-year-old school record of 36 in a season last week.

The record-breaking hit gave the Raiders a 5-3 lead in the top of the seventh and they held on for a one-run victory.

“It was a squibber up the line that hit the bag,” Patino said. “It definitely wasn’t the hardest ball I hit this season, but one of the more memorable.”

Patino has benefited from being the final punch in Sonora’s explosive three, four and five slots of the batting order. Junior Rodriguez and David Miller have put themselves in scoring position for Patino.

“It seems like Junior and Miller are always on base,” he said. “I bet Junior has scored 20 of my RBIs.”

The trio helped Sonora rally to a 9-3 semifinal victory over Temecula Valley Tuesday.

Rodriguez got the Raiders’ first hit: a home run to open the fourth inning. Miller then walked, Patino doubled off the wall and Sonora scored five runs in the inning.

Patino, Rodriguez and right-fielder Albert Lopez have experienced a lot together in the four years at Sonora, but finding success in the playoffs was new to them until this season.

Last fall, Patino was a second-team all-league strong safety for the Raiders, who had a two-game lead with two to play in league.

It had been 21 years since a Sonora football team won a league title and despite losing its last two games, the team won a share of the championship.

The jinx was over, but a problem was still to be settled. Fullerton, Sunny Hills and Buena Park also tied for first and a coin flip was held the night of Sonora’s last game. The Raiders were left out of the playoffs.

“We got back to the locker room and found out everything had been settled and we were out,” Patino said. “We thought we still had a lot of football left.”

In Patino’s junior year, the Raiders lost their last regular-season game to rival La Habra, a loss that kept Sonora from winning the title. The Raiders limped into the playoffs and lost to Lompoc, 27-25, on the last play of the game.

“That game kind of sent us into shock,” Patino said.

Before this season the spring had been equally troubling for Patino and the Sonora baseball program, which has not been to a Southern Section final since 1973.

Patino turned things around quickly this season and despite what some detractors thought, Sonora Coach Pat Tellers had confidence in his third baseman.

“I thought for sure he was going to be a starter this season, but others weren’t so sure,” Tellers said.

Patino answered his critics by hitting .410 with four home runs and 38 RBIs. More importantly, he has outlasted a few of the Raiders’ playoff ghosts.