May I have another dance?

The Saddleback baseball team advanced to the California Community College Athletic Association (3C2A) State Baseball Tournament with a 9-2 win over Cerritos College on Sunday in Norwalk.  It is the second straight season the Bobcats have advanced to the tournament.

Saddleback wasted no time in setting the tone, scoring in each of the first four innings in jumping out to a 9-0 lead.  The Bobcat bats had 11 hits over the first four frames, chasing Cerritos starter Myles Johnson in the fourth inning and giving the Saddleback pitching staff plenty to work with.

Saddleback capitalized on a defensive miscue in the top of the first inning, scoring a pair of runs on a double-play attempt that could have ended the inning for the Falcons.  Instead, the ball went wide of first base allowing both Ben Castelli and Makani Tanaka to score the opening runs.

Saddleback scored two more times in the top half of the second inning when they pieced together three hits, all of which came with two outs in the inning.  Castelli singled home Andrew Nykoluk before Tanaka doubled to left field to drive home Castelli for a 4-0 lead.

Saddleback tallied two more runs in the top half of the third inning, once again stringing together three hits as the lead grew to 6-0.  Jacob Hudson and Jason Wright had run-scoring singles as Cerritos seemed to have no answers.

Saddleback took a giant step toward slamming the door shut in the top half of the fourth inning when they scored three more times for a 9-0 lead.  The Bobcats had three more hits in chasing Johnson from the game, with Hudson singling home both J.C. Allen and Jacob Beauchaine for the final two runs of the inning.

Saddleback started Damon Anderson Wolf (5-3) on the mound, and he pitched through the fifth inning in picking up the win.  The Bobcats then turned to Ryan Seymour, who pitched through the eighth before leaving with a 9-2 lead.  Dylan Blakey pitched the ninth inning in a non-save situation.  

Saddleback improved to 31-17 with the win.  The Bobcats will now head to the 3C2A State Tournament at Mt. San Antonio College, starting on Saturday.  It is the second straight trip to the state tournament after finishing state runner-up in 2023. 

Saddleback will open on Saturday against either West Valley College or San Joaquin Delta College.  The start time has yet to be determined.