No. 1 seed Riverside City College to Host #16 Ventura in Best Two-of-Three Series Next Weekend

RIVERSIDE – The Riverside City College (RCC) Tigers women's fastpitch softball team, ranked No. 1 in Southern California and No. 2 in the state, has been seeded No. 1 in next weekend's regional playoffs.

Riverside – 36-3 overall and 18-3 in Orange Empire Conference (OEC) action – will host the No. 16-seeded Ventura College Pirates (20-17, unranked in SoCal) in a best two-of-three series beginning Saturday, May 4, at 7 p.m. at Brown Field at the Evans Sports Complex. The series will continue on Sunday, May 5, at 2 p.m. If a third game is necessary, it would be played about 30 minutes following game two (around 4 p.m.)

The Tigers have won their last three games and 28 of their last 30. Their only losses during that stretch were at Santiago Canyon College (30-9), the third-place team in the OEC, on March 22 (1-0 loss) and April 17 (4-3 loss) in a pair of "walk-off" setbacks in the bottom of the seventh inning.

A total of five OEC teams earned berths in the 16-team Southern California Regional Playoffs, including the No. 3 seed and co-OEC champion Cypress College Chargers (33-7, 18-3 OEC), No. 6 seed Santiago Canyon (14-7 OEC), the No. 8 seed Santa Ana College Dons (26-14, 12-9 in OEC, fourth place) and the No. 12 seed Saddleback College Gauchos (22-14, 11-10 in the OEC, fifth place).

The other best two-of-three series are: No. 2 Mt. San Antonio (35-4) hosting No. 15 Chaffey (25-15), No. 3 Cypress greeting No. 14 Citrus (24-12), No. 4 Palomar (25-11) hosting No. 13 Moorpark (24-12-1), No. 5 College of the Canyons (20-8-2) meeting No. 12 Saddleback (22-14), No. 6 Santiago Canyon (30-9) hosting No. 11 Grossmont (24-13), No. 7 San Diego Mesa (30-8) entertaining No. 10 Cerritos (29-10), and No. 8 Santa Ana (26-14) welcoming No. 9 College of the Desert (29-8).

Next weekend's eight surviving teams will advance into one of two four-team double-elimination tournaments on the following weekend (Friday – Sunday, May 10-12). The two regional tournament bracket winners will advance to the four-team state championships, Friday – Sunday, May 17-19, at the Dean and Adah Gay Sports Complex on the campus of Bakersfield College.