Cats and Birds to battle in regional finals
The Saddleback baseball team will travel to Cerritos College for the 3C2A Southern California Regional Finals this coming weekend. The Bobcats and Falcons will play a best-of-three series starting Friday for a spot in the state tournament.
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The Saddleback baseball team will travel to Cerritos College for the 3C2A Southern California Regional Finals this coming weekend. The Bobcats and Falcons will play a best-of-three series starting Friday for a spot in the state tournament.
Despite being separated by only 37 miles, Saddleback and Cerritos haven't played a baseball game in over 14 years. The last meeting was in February of 2010 (Saddleback 14, Cerritos 2), when most of the players on the rosters were in the early stages of elementary school. They haven't played in the playoffs since 1998, when gas prices were $1.08 and the top box office hit was Titanic.
Flash forward to 2024 and the two programs have very different stories to tell. Saddleback has now appeared in three straight regional finals while Cerritos hasn't made the playoffs since 2018 and hasn't played in a regional final since 2011 when a four-team Super Regional acted as the regional finals. Saddleback has a coach in Sommer McCartney, who in his 13th season has become one of the longest tenured coaches in the Orange Empire Conference. Cerritos has Nate Fernley, who is just a rookie at Cerritos but spent 16 seasons as a coach at El Camino College. Saddleback has won one state title in its history ('04) while Cerritos was a superpower in the 60's 70's and 80's, winning nine state titles under legendary coaches Wally Kincaid and George Horton.
One thing the two programs do have in common is that they both seem to be getting hot at the right time. Cerritos has won seven straight games, including a 5-0 start in the regional playoffs. They disposed of College of the Desert in two straight games before handling both Riverside City College and Long Beach City College in the Super Regional. Saddleback is 7-1 in the past eight games, going 5-1 in the playoffs so far. The Bobcats won a tight series with Orange Coast (2-1) in the opening round before winning three consecutive games against Fullerton College and Los Angeles Valley College, with the latter having won 25 straight entering Friday's game in the Super Regional.
Cerritos was the No. 1 seed in Southern California entering the playoffs. The Falcons (37-8) were the champions of the South Coast Conference (19-5). Saddleback (29-16) was the No. 5 seed for the regional playoffs, finishing second in the Orange Empire Conference with a 12-9 record. The Falcons hold a 21-6 advantage in the lifetime series between the two programs.
The opening game on Friday is scheduled to start at 2:00 PM at Cerritos. Game two on Saturday is scheduled for 1:00 PM. Game three, if necessary, would take place on Sunday at 12:00 PM. The winner will advance to the state tournament at Mt. San Antonio College (May 25-27).
TALE OF THE TAPE
| HITTING | PITCHING | DEFENSE | |||||
| Batting Average | w/state rank | Team ERA | w/state rank | Fielding % | w/state rank | ||
| Saddleback | .294 (36) | Cerritos | 2.48 (1) | Cerritos | .978 (3) | ||
| Cerritos | .271 (58) | Saddleback | 4.72 (22) | Saddleback | .973 (7) | ||
| On-Base % | w/state rank | K's-per-9 Inn | w/state rank | Runners Caught Stealing | w/state rank | ||
| Cerritos | .391 (41) | Saddleback | 7.74 (36) | Cerritos | .263 (17) | ||
| Saddleback | .391 (43) | Cerritos | 7.48 (46) | Saddleback | .222 (27) | ||
| Slugging % | w/state rank | WHIP | w/state rank | ||||
| Saddleback | .452 (23) | Cerritos | 1.21 (1) | ||||
| Cerritos | .359 (64) | Saddleback | 1.39 (12) |
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA RANKINGS/RATINGS
| CCCBCA Coaches Poll | SoCal Rankings | Massey Ratings | SoCal Ranking | |
| Cerritos | 2 | Saddleback | 3 | |
| Saddleback | 6 | Cerritos | 6 |