Seventh-Seeded Santa Ana Limps Into First Round

Santa Ana’s final-round stumble in Orange Empire Conference play has Coach Don Sneddon taking a cautious approach to the opening round of the Southern California baseball playoffs.

The Dons, seeded seventh, host No. 10 San Bernardino Valley (29-8) at 2 today in the best-of-three series that continues at 11 a.m. Saturday, also at Santa Ana.

The Dons (29-13) come into the game having lost four of six due in part to injuries.

Cory Williams, a sophomore second baseman who is hitting .379, injured his wrist in a collision with a baserunner April 23 and has struggled since. He hasn’t taken batting practice this week.

Michael Vinto, a sophomore outfielder, hurt his hand a month ago and hasn’t returned to the lineup. He took batting practice Wednesday, but Sneddon is concerned how he’ll do against game pitching.

Greg Young, a freshman left-hander with a 6-0 record, is also questionable because he has been battling mononucleosis.

“We’ll just see what happens,” Sneddon said, “We’ll see what we can do.”

Saddleback (32-9), which is top seeded, hosts No. 16 Glendale (24-15) and defending state champion Cypress (22-20), which is seeded 15th, is at No. 2 Cuesta (32-6). Both games start at 2.

In softball:

Cypress continues its quest for its 10th consecutive appearance in the state tournament. The Chargers (46-5) are the top-seeded team in Southern California for the first time and take on No. 16 Canyons (15-12) at noon today.

Saddleback (25-11) faces Bakersfield (23-13) at 2 also at Cypress. The winners meet at 4.

In other first-round games today: Fullerton (26-15) plays Pasadena (18-15) at 2 p.m. at Hancock and Santa Ana (20-17) and Ventura (21-20) play at 2 at Long Beach.

On Saturday: Golden West (21-13) plays Chaffey (24-12) at noon at Palomar.