One more Sierra Valley Conference win was all that was needed.

But that would not come to pass for the Cordova High School baseball team and its aspirations to earn a Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV playoff berth. Hosting Liberty Ranch in the SVC finale on May 5th, the visiting Hawks swoop past the Lancers 6-0.

The loss put Cordova (7-8 in the SVC, 10-13) in fourth place behind Union Mine (8-7 in the SVC, 16-10), which beat Rosemont 12-7 also on May 5th to grab the final playoff berth. Liberty Ranch (14-1 in the SVC, 20-6) won the conference title and El Dorado (11-4 in the SVC, 19-7) second place. The conference sends the top three schools into the D-IV playoffs, which starts on Monday.

“Plain and simple, we got beat by an outstanding pitcher,” said Cordova head coach Doug Hughes of the Hawks’ Corey Potthoff, who went the distance in the game. “He located the ball well and kept our hitters off balance.”

The Lancers had four hits in the game; Logan Appino, along with Trevor Ready, Zack Guererro and Jeremy Buck, had a hit each. But Cordova was unable to generate runs.

“We had a couple of chances to score but just didn’t get the hit we needed,” Hughes said.
Liberty Ranch’s hits were limited to six in the game. Potthoff struck out one in his quest in shutting out the Lancers.

“The boys were upset about the loss and not making the playoffs,” said Hughes, “but all they wanted was a chance to get into the playoffs, and that’s what we had. Last year, we still had a shot at the playoffs with two weeks left and this year we came within a game. I’m proud of all the kids and the progress we’ve made.” 

Going back to the Lancers’ first practice in February, Hughes reflected back on the team’s progress from that point to battling Union Mine for the conference’s final playoff berth.

“At the beginning of our first practice I asked the kids what their goals were for the season,” recalled Hughes. “In past experiences, the answers I would get would be ‘I want to hit .350, I want to have an 8-0 record as a pitcher, I want to hit 10 home runs or I want to have 40 hits.’ With these kids it’s not I, it was we. We want to win one game, we want to play as a team, we want to win league and we want to make the playoffs. These kids aren’t about themselves, they are about the team.” 

Cordova 5, Liberty Ranch 0
The Lancers put themselves into the SVC finale with a win over the Hawks at Galt Community Park on May 4th.

Cordova outhit Liberty Ranch 6-3. Appino and Buck had two hits each for the Lancers, and Colby McDonald had the other. Appino and Buck, along with Spencer Gudgel, had an RBI each.
On the mound, Ryan Tipton went the distance for the Lancers. He struck out three and walked three,.