The Saddleback softball team will open the Southern California Super Regional Softball Tournament at Cypress College on Friday when they face the host Chargers at 2:00 PM.  The regional has programs that have combined to win 14 state titles. 

Saddleback will be part of a historic regional this weekend when it heads into play against Cypress, Mt. San Antonio and College of the Desert.  The host Chargers have won nine state titles since 1991, including five in the past eight years.  Mt. San Antonio won four of their own from 2003 through 2009.  Saddleback won a state title in 1987 and College of the Desert is a rising program that enters the weekend at 36-6 and looking for their first state banner.  Since 1997, only four other programs have won a state title in California (Palomar, West Valley, Long Beach City and Sacramento City) as Cypress and Mt. SAC have gobbled up 12 trophies over the past 17 years.

Saddleback (27-14) opens against Cypress (30-12), a program that many say had a down year by finishing in fourth place in the Orange Empire Conference this season, one game ahead of the Gauchos in the conference standings.  Despite finishing in fourth in the OEC, the Chargers still managed the No. 2 seed in the SoCal playoffs as a result of a ton of quality wins against playoff qualifiers, edging out conference champion Santiago Canyon who finished five games ahead of the Chargers in the win/loss column.  Saddleback defeated East Los Angeles College in two straight games last weekend (5-4, 3-2) while Cypress made quick work of Grossmont College (8-4, 8-0). 

Saddleback defeated Cypress in 2-of-3 matchups this season, beating the Chargers 5-2 on March 5 and 12-11 on March 27 before losing on April 22, 12-3.  Saddleback enters the weekend with the No. 13 RPI in the state and No. 9 in the south while the Chargers are No. 5 in the state and No. 4 in the south.  Saddleback's Christina Pantages (pictured above) was the lone player from either team to make the All-State Team, also winning the award for the Orange Empire Conference MVP. 

The second game of the regional will have Desert (36-6) against Mt. San Antonio (34-8) at 4:00 PM.  The Roadrunners were the No. 3 seed for the Southern California playoffs while the Mounties were seeded No. 6.  Desert has the No. 12 RPI in the state and No. 8 in the south while Mt. SAC enters the weekend with the No. 9 RPI in the state and the No. 7 RPI in the south. 

COD and Mt. SAC have not met this season but Desert won easily against College of the Canyons this past weekend in the opening round of the tournament (6-1, 9-1) while Mt. SAC swept past Citrus College (11-3, 4-3).   Desert is led by pitcher Alyssa Fuimaono (pictured right) and first baseman/pitcher Danyelle Sturm, who were both named to the All-State Team. The Mounties had four players named to the All-State Team in first baseman Charlotte Foster, third baseman Niaraye Ceasar, shortstop Celina Felix and outfielder Alexandrea Simmons. 

The winners of the opening round games will meet at 12:00 PM on Saturday while the losers will meet in an elimination game at 2:00 PM on Saturday.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

Batting Average (w/state ranking)
Mt. SAC        .427 (2)
Desert         .380 (5)
Saddleback  .368 (6)
Cypress       .364 (8)

Home Runs (w/state ranking)
Mt. SAC        61 (1)
Saddleback  24 (15)
Cypress       21 (22)
Desert         20 (25)

Runs Scored (w/state ranking)
Mt. SAC       365 (3)
Desert        340 (4)
Saddleback 291 (10)
Cypress      287 (12)

Stolen Bases (w/state ranking)
Desert        86 (8)
Saddleback 76 (12)
Mt. SAC       70 (16)
Cypress      33 (55)

Earned Run Average (w/state ranking)
Desert        1.79 (4)
Mt. SAC       3.10 (21)
Cypress      3.18 (24)
Saddleback 4.38 (42)

http://saddlebackgauchos.com/sports/sball/2013-14/releases/20140507zeoo33