Yes, public school teams tend to be extra excited when playing a Trinity League team.
Cypress baseball coach John Weber said his team will be a tad more fired up than usual Tuesday when it plays at home against Servite in a CIF Southern Section Division 1 second-round playoff game, but not just because Servite is a Trinity League team.
“The opponent doesn’t have to be a private school,” Weber said. “But, yes, the guys get more fired up when it’s a high-quality team like a Trinity League team, for sure. If you look at our schedule, every year you can see we play a lot of good private school teams so this is not an anomaly for us.”
Cypress lost to private school Harvard-Westlake in last season’s Division 1 quarterfinals. The Centurions beat Harvard-Westlake in the Division 1 championship game in 2019 when they allowed only four runs over five playoff games, including a 5-2 win over Servite in the first round. Cypress lost to Servite 4-3 in the first round of the Division 1 playoffs in 2017.
GOLDEN HAWKS HOPE TO SOAR SOME MORE
El Dorado gets another chance to beat a state Top 25 team in the Division 1 second round Tuesday when it has a home game against Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks (21-7-1).
El Dorado (17-12) beat state No. 22 Yucaipa 3-2 in the first round last week with Josh Pugh, Garvey Rumary and Nathan Huy sharing the pitching load. Notre Dame is No. 15 in the latest state rankings by Prep Baseball Report.
El Dorado, which finished third in the four-team Crestview League, entered the playoffs as an at-large team.
“We know we can pitch,” said El Dorado coach Matt Lucas. “We know we can play defense and we’ve struggled offensively all year. But pitching and defense are the two big components of success in the playoffs, and we knew that if we got in maybe would make a little bit of noise.”
NOTES
The “firsts” keep coming for Los Amigos baseball. Los Amigos got its first win in the CIF Southern Section baseball playoffs with a 17-3 victory over Leuzinger in a Division 7 first-round game Friday. Steven Esteves and Juan Gutierrez each drove in three runs.
Los Amigos last week clinched the Garden Grove League championship for the school’s first league title in baseball. The Lobos (23-4) play at Big Bear in the second round Tuesday. …
Isaiah Lievanos pitched a one-hitter for Orange in a 6-0 victory over Loara in a Division 5 first-round game. He struck out seven and walked only one. …
Bryant Smaaladen pitched a shutout for El Modena in a 2-0 win over Adelanto in a Division 4 first-round game. …
UC Irvine-bound pitcher Riley Kelly struck out 17 over six innings for Tustin in a 1-0 win over Oxford Academy in a Division 5 first-round game. …
South Coast League champion Capistrano Valley (17-10-1) plays at JSerra in the Division 1 second round Tuesday. JSerra is 13-1 over its past 14 games. The loss was to Villa Park in the Boras Classic South tournament championship game April 22. …
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Trinity League coaches in various sports often talk about how the league’s high quality level gets its teams prepared for the playoffs. Santa Margarita baseball coach Chris Malec talked about that Friday after the Eagles rallied to beat Trabuco Hills 13-10 in a Division 1 first-round game. “It’s a a gauntlet to go through,” Malec said, “and we’ve been in tough ball games all year against some really good teams, especially in our league.” …
Huntington Beach (20-8) plays at home against Bishop Amat (22-6) in a second-round Division 1 game Tuesday. The Oilers defeated Bishop Amat 2-1 in the Division 1 second round in 2019. Bishop Amat advanced to this season’s second round with a 4-1 win over Ocean View last week.