The article below originally appeared in the San Mateo Daily Journal and is being reprinted with permission.
The College of San Mateo baseball and softball teams were two of the hottest teams down the stretch to end the regular season.
CSM baseball (28-11) ended the regular season with an 11-game winning streak, tacking on a 3-2 win over Monterey Peninsula last Saturday in a game postponed from February. This was two days after clinching the Coast Golden Gate Conference with a come-from-behind, 11-8 win over Mission.
The Lady Bulldogs (37-2) were an absolutely juggernaut this season, as their winning streak was nearly three times as long as the baseball team’s. The CSM softball team embarked on a 32-game winning streak following a 5-3 loss to Sierra Feb. 18.
All that means nothing now, however, as both teams enter the second season this weekend with the start of the state playoffs. Both teams will be hosting regional series this weekend: the CSM baseball team, seeded No. 7, will host 10th-seeded Sierra in a best-of-three series beginning at 2:30 p.m. Friday. Game 2 is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday and, if necessary, a third game will follow at 3 p.m.
The softball team, the No. 1 team in the state and the top seed in the Nor Cal bracket, will host No. 16 Solano. Again, Game 1 is scheduled 2 p.m. Friday, noon Saturday and, if necessary, Game 3 is scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday.
If Bulldogs baseball is the superstitious sort, this weekend’s opponent could be a harbinger of things to come. Both San Mateo and Sierra met in the regionals in 2010, when CSM went on to sweep the Wolverines in two games. That catapulted the Bulldogs, as they went on to advance to the state championship game through the loser’s bracket, falling to Ohlone-Fremont in the final, 16-10.
It was the Bulldogs’ last appearance in the final four.
Sierra (29-10) is coming off a third-place finish in the Big 8, one of the toughest divisions in the state. The Wolverines come into the playoffs limping a little bit, having ended the regular season on a three-game slide.
CSM softball has made a second home in the state championship bracket, having advanced to the final four the last six years. The Bulldogs went through the loser’s bracket to make the championship game in 2015, losing 5-1 to Palomar.
Like CSM, Solano captured their conference championship, going undefeated in the Bay Valley Conference. The Falcons and Bulldogs met Feb. 19, the fifth game of the season, with CSM coming away with an 8-0, mercy-rule win.
