The California Community College Athletic Association is holding their regional baseball tournament on May 5 and 6.
The CCCAA regional playoffs consists of a total of 32 teams which includes 16 teams from Northern California and 16 teams from Southern California. The regional playoffs will consist of eight best of three-game series. The winner of the eight regional series will move onto the super regionals on May 11 -13. The super regionals will be a four team (both north and south) double elimination tournament.
The state championship will take place at Bakersfield College on May 18-20.
Single elimination games
On May 1, the CCCAA staged two single elimination games in Northern California with the winners getting to advance to the regional tournament. The two games saw 16th-seed Sacramento City host 17th -seed Butte College and 15th-seed Cabrillo College host 18th-seed Los Medanos College.
In the Sacrament City - Butte game, Sacramento City scored six runs in the first three innings as they cruised to a 10-2 victory. Sacramento -- third place team from the Big 8 conference -- improved to 19-18 on the season while Butte - second place team from the Golden Valley Conference -- fell to 20-17 record.
The higher seed won the Cabrillo - Los Medanos matchup as well. Cabrillo -- the third place team from the Coast- Pacific Conference -- defeated Los Medanos -- the second place team from the Bay Valley Conference -- 5-1. Cabrillo improved to 22-15 while Los Medanos saw their season end at 16-9.
Conference breakdown
The Northern California playoffs are made up of teams from six conferences with the winners of each conference earning an automatic bid. The six conferences are the Bay Valley, Coast-Pacific, Coast- Golden Gate, Central Valley, Golden Valley and Big 8.
Of the six conferences, the Big 8 Conference received the most bids with five. Three teams from the Bay Valley, Coast-Golden Gate, Central Valley and Coast-Pacific received bids. The Golden Valley Conference earned just two bids though they do have the top seeded team (Feather River College).
The matchups
Top-seeded Feather River College (30-6) -- champion of the Golden Valley -- will host 16th-seed Sacramento City. Eighth-seeded Santa Rosa (22-13) -- second place team from Big 8 -- hosts Diablo Valley (22-14) -- third place team from the Big 8. Fifth-seeded Merced College (25-11) -- second-place team from Central Valley -- hosts 12th- seeded West Valley College -- second place team from the Coast-Golden Gate Conference. Fourth-seeded Fresno City College (25-11) -- champion of the Central Valley -- hosts Canada College (22-14) -- second place from the Coast-Pacific. Third-seeded Ohlone College (26-10) -- champion of the Coast-Pacific College -- will host 13th-seeded Chabot College (22-12) -- the third team from the Coast-Golden Gate Conference. Sixth-seeded and champion of the Bay Valley Laney College (28-7) will host 11th-seed Sierra College -- the last team from the Big 8. Seventh-seeded Consumnes River College (20-15) -- champion of the Big 8 -- hosts the third team from the Central Valley conference and 10th-seeded College of the Sequoias (23-13). Second-seeded San Mateo College (27-9) -- champion of the Coast-Golden Gate --will host 15th seed Cabrillo College.
Daniel Benjamin has followed small college baseball for 20 years.
