The Cerritos College softball team will open their quest for the state championship on Friday afternoon, as they kick off the eight-team double-elimination tournament by facing Sacramento City College. The state championships are being held at Big League Dreams Park in Chino Hills and it will run from Friday through Sunday. The Falcons (34-9-1), who swept all four of their regional playoff games, are the #4-seeded team from Southern California and will face the North's top seed, the Panthers (47-6), at noon on Friday. Last season, Sacramento City advanced to the state tournament, where they went 2-2.
The Falcons, second place finishers in the South Coast Conference, advanced to the state championships by eliminating both Grossmont College and Riverside Community College on consecutive weekends. Cerritos ousted the Griffins, 9-0 and 10-1 with both games ending due to the mercy rule, while they followed that up with 8-2 and 7-2 wins over the Tigers. For the Panthers, they defeated Napa Valley (10-0 and 9-2) and then eliminated Cabrillo (8-0 and 5-4) to reach the state tournament.
In the history of the school, Cerritos has won one other state championships, back in 1978, which was the first year the Commission on Athletics was the governing body of California community colleges. With a win, the Falcons will play the winner of the Cypress-Sierra game on Friday at 5:00 p.m., while a loss would drop them into the loser's bracket and they would play the loser of the same game on Saturday at noon.
Below is a schedule of the state championship first round games:
1N Sacramento City (47-6) vs. 4S Cerritos (34-9-1) - 12:00 p.m.
2S Cypress (48-4-2) vs. 3N Sierra (42-8) - 12:00 p.m.
2N College of the Siskiyous (47-2) vs. 3S Antelope Valley (40-7-2) - 2:00 p.m.
1S Mt. San Antonio (49-4) vs. 4N San Jose City (42-6) - 2:00 p.m.
