Cypress Focuses on Winning, Not Record

Judging by records, it’s natural to assume Cypress doesn’t belong with the other three teams in the Southern California community college baseball regional that starts today at Saddleback College.

Saddleback (34-9), Cerritos (30-10) and Citrus (31-9) won conference titles and have impressive records. Cypress, which won the state title last season but didn’t return a starter, finished fourth and is three games over .500 at 24-21.

But the reason Coach Scott Pickler’s team is still playing is almost as convincing as anything the other teams have done.

Cypress was seeded 15th in the 16-team playoffs and started at No. 2 Cuesta in a best-of-three series. The Chargers lost the first game but upset Cuesta twice Saturday to advance.

Pickler said he is taking the same approach this weekend that he took last weekend. “We’ll see what happens, but it’s going to be fun,” he said.

Cypress is the underdog in overall record only in the opening-round game against conference rival Saddleback at 3 p.m. today. The teams split four regular season meetings.

This is the fourth consecutive season Saddleback has made it to the second round and the second consecutive season the Gauchos have hosted a regional.

Citrus and Cerritos open at 11 a.m. at Saddleback. The winners in the double-elimination tournament play at 11 a.m. Saturday and the losers play at 10 a.m. at Orange Coast. The title game is at 11 a.m. Sunday.

This is the 11th consecutive season Santa Ana (31-13) has advanced to the second round. The Dons open with Palomar (30-6) at 11 a.m. at Riverside. Host Riverside (35-10) then takes on Los Angeles Harbor (29-15) at 3 p.m. Harbor is the only other team to reach the second round for the last 11 consecutive years.

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Cypress is trying to become the first team to win back-to-back state softball titles since Santa Ana did it in 1985 and 1986. Golden West won consecutive titles the previous two years.

The Chargers (49-5) open the tournament, being held at Clovis Buchanan High, against Shasta (31-14) at 2 p.m. Cypress has enough pitching--Reanna Mendoza is 23-1 and Mandy Rockwell is 26-4--to repeat.

The Chargers also have a solid offense, led by Jill Tantardini, who is hitting .452 with 45 runs batted in. Michelle Bailon is batting .400 with 16 doubles and 35 RBIs.

Fullerton also reached the tournament and the Hornets (29-15) open against Sacramento (58-7) at noon. Fullerton’s Marisa Ornelas is hitting .507 (74 for 146) and Nikia Owens has 37 RBIs and needs one more to set the college’s single-season record.