For the fourth consecutive season both Cerritos College baseball and softball are competing in the playoffs.

Both teams overcame its fair share of adversity in order to get to the playoffs.

But both understand the goal is far from accomplished.

Softball Season Review

The Cerritos College softball team move ahead to the postseason this Saturday against Southwestern.

The women went 28-12 overall, 16-5 in their conference.

The team started off 2-0 in non-conference play.

Head coach Kodee Murray was very happy with the start of their season.

“We played outstanding, we had returners in pitching position, shortstop position, and second base position but none of those players have played in those positions before, so we were basically a brand new team,” she said.

The women started off going 24-7 between the months of January to March.

Sophomore stand-out, Jenny Collazo won CCCAA player of the week for the week of February 14 – February 20.

She said, “It feels great, I was really surprised, I didn’t even know that their was even an honor like that.”

The team went through a little rough patch in the month of April going barely over .500, 6-5.

The team faced some adversity during the season but looked to overcome it, pitcher and third basemen Jenny Navarro said, “We’ve been going through a lot of stuff with our own team we’ve been struggling with some players with injuries.

“Now we’re just trying to get back and recover, now these last two games weren’t the best and we haven’t been performing like we started off and it’s because we’re overcoming something that happened between our team but we all know what we want and we’re fighting for it now.”

The women did finish their season on a three game winning streak.

Collazo added, “There’s always room for improvement but I think that my team and I are right where we want to be, I’m happy with where we are and how we’re performing.”

Collazo finished her season hitting .398 with 50 RBIs and seven home runs.

Softball Playoff Preview

The ladies enter the postseason ranked No. 5 and look to face No. 12 seed Southwestern in a three game series starting Saturday.

Collazo said the team is looking for to the match up, “We’re ready, fired up, and excited.”

Overall the team is hitting .357 with 32 home runs during the regular season.

Baseball Season Review

The Falcons baseball team finished the regular season with a 23-13 overall record while going 15-6 against conference opponents to take second place in the South Coast Conference.

Overall, Cerritos scored a total of 242 runs while batting .295 and hit 10 home runs, according to the stats on cerritosfalcons.com.

The Falcons were led by Mark Pena (.375 batting average), Daniel Lopez (four home runs), Jonathan Marriott (five wins in 57.1 innings pitched) and Jerald Johnston (six saves)

Lopez, for that matter, ended the season swinging a hot bat, collecting eight hits in the final three games of the season, including a home run in the first loss against LA Harbor.

He was also a key batter late in the first game of the El Camino series, when he doubled to clear the bases and put the Falcons in the lead in the top of the ninth inning in a game where Cerritos once trailed 5-2.

The team also learned a lot of lessons during the regular season.

The Falcons were able to come from behind to win games against Long Beach City and El Camino during the regular season.

The team has the potential to come from behind when it seems impossible.

Johnston said, “I learned that we have to stay high and we can always come from behind and to stick to our game plan as well as play together as a team.”

Baseball Playoff Preview

The team is ranked No. 12 and will take on No. 5 seeded Grossmont in a best-of-three series starting on Friday.

Assistant coach Hector Zamora said, “We have to just do the basics if we are going to win this series. The basics are solid pitching, timely hitting, and excellent defense.”

Staying true to what brought them to the dance is what the Falcons need to win the series.

“We just have to play our style of baseball for a full nine innings,” Johnston added. “Our style is to just play together and never get down on ourselves.”

Johnston also said that the team should never let the emotions of individual players get the best of itself or any one player.

“There have been some times when we got down on ourselves because of our feelings and personal matters. We can’t let that happen to us.”

Cerritos’ pitchers had a combined ERA of 4.21 overall during the regular season.