Softball: Playoff hopes take a hit in loss to Mt. SAC

File Photo: Raquel Norzagary had one of the Falcons five hits in their loss to Mt. SAC
File Photo: Raquel Norzagary had one of the Falcons five hits in their loss to Mt. SAC

With just one game left on their regular season schedule, the Cerritos College softball team has seen their hopes to make the playoffs hanging by a thread. The Falcons (23-16, 14-7) concluded their South Coast Conference schedule with a 9-0, 5-inning loss to second place Mt. San Antonio College on Tuesday and will close out their regular season with a make-up game at Palomar (32-3-1) on Wednesday.

There are 16 teams that will be selected to make the playoffs, with the top two finishers in each of the six Southern California conference as automatic qualifiers, which leaves four at-large selections. The schools the Falcons will be fighting for those last four spots include Saddleback, Santiago Canyon, Fullerton, all from the Orange Empire Conference, as well as Antelope Valley and Glendale from the Western State Conference.

Cerritos is 1-2 on the year against Santiago Canyon, while they split their two games against Fullerton and beat Saddleback in their only meeting. The Falcons also beat Glendale, but lost to Antelope Valley. Cerritos is currently 12th in the RPI rankings and are ahead of both Antelope Valley (13th) and Glendale (14th), but trail Santiago Canyon (9th), Saddleback (10th) and Fullerton (11th).

In their loss to the Mounties on Tuesday, the pitching duo of Jennifer Navarro (Warren HS) and Ana Pedroza (La Mirada HS/Caldwell (NJ) College) combined to surrender five home runs, which equaled the number of hits for the Falcons. Sophomore Joanna Perruccio (Long Beach Wilson HS) had two hits and stole a base.