Softball faces tough battle at Canyons (preview)

The Saddleback softball team will travel to College of the Canyons this weekend in the opening round of the Southern California playoffs.  The Gauchos will hope to tame a Cougar lineup that won the Western States Blue Division with a perfect 18-0 record.

Saddleback has battled the injury bug for most of the season, but battled through nagging aches and pains for the No. 12 seed for the playoffs.  The Gauchos were knocked out of the playoffs by Canyons a season ago, and would love to return the favor.

Canyons comes into the playoffs hot, losing just once in their past 18 games, a 4-3 loss in eight innings to No. 2 seed Mt. San Antonio last week.  The Cougars mowed down 18 straight conference opponents, winning the Western States Blue Division by four games. 

Canyons has a loaded lineup, led by sophomore ace Kimmie Lockhart.  The sophomore finished 22-4 on the mound with a 3.15 ERA, pitching 22 complete games and striking out 162 batters during the course of the season.  Lockhart is also a force at the plate, batting .439 for the season with four home runs and 36 RBI.  She is surrounded by a loaded lineup with three others batting .425 or higher.  Sophomore Savannah Gutierrez leads the team with a .496 average and has 14 stolen bases for the year.  Freshman Ashley Sandoval-Colon is a very dangerous stick in the lineup, batting .429 for the season with seven home runs and 35 RBI.  Sandoval has a crazy .782 slugging percentage, leading the team with 19 doubles and 14 stolen bases.  Freshman utility player Alyssa Hernandez is another dangerous weapon, batting .436 for the season with four home runs and a team-leading 42 RBI.  If that isn't enough, sophomore outfielder Andrea Blackpool has seven home runs with 35 RBI of her own, rounding out a lineup that is very dangerous on paper as they bat .411 as a team with a .633 slugging percentage.

Saddleback comes into the playoffs with a .350 batting average, but has three more home runs on the season than Canyons with 35 for the year.  The Gauchos have a freshman dominated lineup that can score runs in bunches, led by freshman McCrae Cayton (pictured).  She is batting a lofty .457 for the year, and has three home runs and a team-high 28 RBI on the season.  Freshman outfielder Sarah DiTommaso had a big second half of the season, hitting eight of her team-high nine home runs over the final 14 games of the regular season and finishing the year with a .714 slugging percentage.  Freshman utility player Tiffany McCracken returned from injury a few weeks back and is one of the more dangerous bats in the lineup.  McCracken batted .386 for the season with six home runs and 25 RBI, missing a six-game stretch during the middle of conference play with an injury.  Freshman infielder Tori Duquette proved to be a catalyst on offense, finishing with a team-high 11 stolen bases and 17 bases-on-balls while batting .327 for the season.  Sophomore Kelsey Hodge also found her bat during the second half of the season, hitting all six of her home runs during the second half of the season.  Hodge finished the season batting .409 with 26 RBI.  On the mound, Saddleback struggled to find consistency but has a few arms that have pieced together some fine moments.  Freshman Sydney Abounassar finished the season 12-9 with a 5.28 ERA.  McCracken was 7-3 on the season with a 4.45 ERA while freshman Jordan Hodge pitched in eight of the final 11 games, finishing 3-2 with a 4.30 ERA.

If there is a reason to be optimistic, it was Saddleback finishing 3-0 versus Western States Blue Division opponents during the course of the season.  Conversely, Canyons was just 2-6 against Orange Empire Conference competition.

The best-of-three series will begin on Saturday in Valencia with the opening game at 2:00 PM.  Game two of the series is on Sunday at 12:00 PM, with a third game to follow, if necessary. 

Southern California Regional Bracket