Cats claw back into state finals

The Saddleback baseball team advanced to the California Community College Athletic Association (3C2A) state championship with a 10-4 win over Sierra College on Sunday night at Folsom Lake College.  The Bobcats would have to beat Santa Ana twice on Monday in order to claim the second state title in program history.

Saddleback opened the day by falling to Santa Ana, 13-4, in the winner's bracket game of the tournament.  The Bobcats found a lot of ways to beat themselves, including six defensive errors.  Still, they found themselves in the game in the ladder stages when the Dons exploded for seven runs in the bottom half of the eighth inning to put the game out of reach.

Saddleback entered the second game of the day with one goal in mind…..revenge.  Standing in their way was Sierra, a program that had won in the bottom of the ninth inning earlier in the day to stay in the tournament.

Saddleback never trailed in the game and methodically chipped away at a Sierra squad that was running on fumes.  The Bobcats opened up a 2-0 lead in the bottom half of the third inning when three singles and a walk led to a pair of runs.  The big blow was a two-run single from Cole Koniarsky that drove home Isaiah Morales and Michael Davinni.

Saddleback increased the lead to 4-0 in the bottom half of the fourth inning.  This time the Sierra pitching staff helped out with a pair of walks and a hit batsman.

Sierra cut the lead to 4-2 in the top half of the fifth inning, but Saddleback quickly responded with three runs of its own in the bottom half of the inning to grab a 7-2 lead.  Zachary Schwartzberg had the big blow with his second home run of the season to drive in both Koniarsky and Jason Hefft to create some breathing room. 

Meanwhile, Saddleback received a gem performance from starting pitcher C.J. Zwahlen (pictured). Zwahlen (3-2) threw 106 pitches over seven innings while the offense built up the lead.  The Bobcats then turned the ball over to Blake Butcher, who silenced the Wolverine bats over the final two innings in preserving the opportunity for revenge on Monday.

Saddleback finished with a 13-9 advantage in hits, with five different players collecting at least two hits.  Jack Collins finished 3-for-5 while Schwartzberg was a constant thorn in the side of the Sierra pitching staff, reaching base four times.  

Saddleback improved to 38-12 overall on the season with the win.  It is just the second time in program history that Saddleback has won 38-or-more games.  The Bobcats would need to win twice on Monday to break the school records for wins in a season, and more importantly win the state title. 

Saddleback and Santa Ana are scheduled to start at 11:00 AM on Monday. Should the Bobcats win, they would force a final game 45 minutes later.