Area baseball, softball teams ready for second playoff games

 Both San Luis coach Cesar Castillo and Kofa coach Richy Leon must feel like they've lived through this before.

 As both coaches prepare for the next round of the Class 5A Division II playoffs, both find their teams in the same position as last year.

 For Kofa, its the losers' bracket again after being upset in a first-round home game. This time, it was the Sidewinders who upset the Kings, 13-7 at Boemer Field. Now, they look to avoid losing on the road in the bottom bracket, as they did last year.

 They travel to No. 4 Desert Ridge, which was upset by No. 13 Mountain View Marana, for a 4 p.m. game today.

 "We try to leave it in the past and go from there," Leon said. "We haven't even mentioned anything to those guys, but some of those guys that were with the team last year are feeling a familiarity. We're trying not to focus on that. It's eerie we're in the same situation, but we're going to try to go win a ballgame."

 For San Luis, it won the first-round game last year before dropping two straight and being eliminated. This year, the Sidewinders play Mountain View at Papago Baseball Complex in Phoenix at 4 p.m. today as they look to advance to the quarterfinals and avoid the losers' bracket.

 "We have similar kids on the program from last year's playoffs," Castillo said. "I guess the only difference is obviously defense hurt us in one of the games last year against Deer Valley, but playing defense and timely hitting is going to help us win a ballgame."

 It's not just baseball teams that are in action today. The Cibola and Yuma softball teams look to stave off elimination today. Cibola hosts Barry Goldwater, while Yuma travels to Willow Canyon. Both games are at 4 p.m.

 Yuma will pitch senior Chantel Villalobos, who started the Criminals 7-2 loss to Horizon in the first round. Freshman Larissa Espinoza will also be available to pitch.

 "(Villalobos) is actually throwing better and better every game," Huyck said. "But it's good to know we always have our freshman Espinoza if we need her. She'll be ready to go."

 Yuma didn't score until the final inning of its loss Saturday.

 "We have to come out hitting the ball; we have to be aggressive at the plate like I know we can," Huyck said. "We can't make any mistakes. If we do that, we can easily come out on top. But if we go and have a bad inning, we're going to be taken advantage of and the score will be the other way around."

 Cibola had similar offensive problems, scoring three times despite 11 hits in a 7-3 loss to Boulder Creek, stranding 12 runners.

 "We need to come through with some clutch hits," said Cibola coach Shelly Baumann, who added that Sarah Ray was the likely starter for the Raiders. "We just couldn't come through with a clutch hit. That's going to be one of the main things."

 As for the baseball teams, both go in with little knowledge of their opponents. For the Sidewinders, Castillo thinks it's an advantage - it eliminates the possibility of overthinking or overcoaching the situation and let's the team focus on its game.

 "Not knowing anything about them, we're going to have to play inning-by-inning or pitch-by-pitch," Castillo said. "Hopefully we'll come out swinging like we did on Saturday. It was probably one of the best offensive games we had all year."

 Duplicating that offense, as well as clamping down defense, will lead to a win, according to Castillo. But the Sidewinders lapsed in the field Saturday, committing three errors.

 "(Defense is) always a concern," Castillo said. "As of late we've been playing great defensively. We've had a couple, but we've limited them. It didn't cost us (Saturday), but it could have."

 Leon knows little about Desert Ridge, except of the fact they are an excellent fastball-hitting team - a crafty lefty from Mountain View topped Desert Ridge in the first round. That's made Leon consider his own craft lefty Travis Carter, as opposed to Sergio Sanchez, who has been starting with Preston Burrell - the opening-round losing pitcher - all season. Leon said normal closer Julio de los Reyes may also start.

 "We might have a mixture of those three guys and keep them on a short leash," Leon said. "If they give up a run or two, we might go with the next one and see who can control them."

 With one more loss, the Kings' season - which included its first Gila Valley Region title and a win over the No. 1 team in 5A II, Sunrise Mountain - will come to an end.

 "You often tell players to play like there's no tomorrow, but that's actually the vase with us," Leon said. "We told these guys this might be the last chance they get to experience something like this with a team."