PALM SPRINGS, Calif. - With the regular season in the books, the stage is now set for the 2018 SCCBL Playoffs.  The Palm Springs Power clinched the top-seed in the two-round tournament, followed by the IV Pirates, the San Diego Force, and the IV Bucs.  The Power and Pirates each earned home-field advantage, meaning they will host the second and third (if necessary) games in the first round. The Power will take on the fourth-seeded Bucs, with the Pirates will face the third-seeded Force.  Information on times and location can be found on the SCCBL Schedule.

The Palm Springs Power closed out regular season play by clinching a first-place finish in the SCCBL standings via a doubleheader sweep (8-2, 8-1) against the Inland Valley Buccaneers on Monday. Reigning SCCBL Pitcher of the Week Jonathan Buckley (St. Mary’s) was dominant once again for Palm Springs in game one, notching seven strikeouts and allowing only two runs (one earned) in his first complete game of the summer. OF Ben Nisle ( Purdue) catalyzed the Power offense over the course of the two contests, going 3-6 with a home run. DH Shunto Kamoshida (Keio, Japan) provided some firepower as well, going 3-5 with a home run and three RBI in game two. Following the conclusion of SCCBL play, Palm Springs closed out the week with a win against the SD Waves. The Power finish the SCCBL regular season with a 15-5 record, and will turn right around to again face the fourth-place Bucs in the SCCBL Semifinals.

The Inland Valley Pirates end the regular season on a hot streak as they enter  the playoffs as the second seeded team. This week, the Pirates finished 3-1, having split their doubleheader against the third-place San Diego Force. The Pirates are 8-2 in their last 10 games and will face the Force yet again. This week Ryan McCanless (Cypress College) clutched up for the Pirates in their three wins. He racked up a .462 batting average this week with six runs, eight RBI and four walks, helping the team total 33 Runs in four games. This Pirates pitching staff has been dominant the entire season, and this week was no different. They rely on everyone to be ready to go and give them two-to-three innings of work and hand the ball over to the next guy.  With playoffs this week, the Pirates will be the number-two seed with home field advantage, hosting game two and three (if necessary) against the San Diego Force.

The San Diego Force played four games this past week, finishing at 3-1 and 1-1 in league play. The bats were on fire to start out the week, defeating the Legends 14-4, followed by a 14-5 win to WBA.  They split the final series of the season against the IV Pirates. The Force finish the regular season in the third-place spot in the SCCBL standings with an 11-9 conference record. The San Diego Force faced off against the Inland Valley Pirates in a double-header on Sunday to decide home-field advantage in the playoffs. The Pirates bats were too much for the Force, winning game one by a final of 10-3, giving the Pirates home field advantage for the first playoff series. Trailing 5-1 in the fifth inning of game two, the Force bats exploded in the bottom of the inning scoring seven runs which gave them an 8-5 lead over the Pirates. The Pirates could not answer back, which secured a final win for the Force.

The Inland Valley Buccaneers played to a 2-2 record in the seventh and final week of the SCCBL regular season, clinching the fourth and final league playoff spot. The Bucs opened the week with two tough losses (8-2, 8-1) at home in a doubleheader with the Palm Springs Power, managing only three runs and 10 hits over the two contests. Needing to win out to keep their season alive, the Bucs scraped together a narrow 6-5 win over the SoCal Bombers on Thursday, achieved with a Kory Brown walk-off sac fly following Gerardo Ramirez’s (Fullerton JC) five shutout innings of relief. The thrilling win at home set up an early playoff showdown with the Riverside Bulldogs Friday night, with both teams entering their 20th and final SCCBL matchup 8-11 records. Clutch RBIs by Brown and OF Christian Valdez helped the Buccaneers to the lead, and closer Hayden Petrovick struck out the side in the bottom of the 9th to secure the win and the final spot in the SCCBL playoffs. With a 9-11 SCCBL record, the fourth-place Buccaneers match up with the first-place Palm Springs Power in the SCCBL Semifinals.

The Riverside Bulldogs come up a game short on making the playoffs this season, finishing the 2018 SCCBL season with a 9-13 record. They fell just short in a close contest with the Inland Valley Bucs in their final game, with the playoffs on the line for both teams. In the final week of the regular season the Bulldogs went 1-2. The offense this week was led by Andrew Navigato (Oklahoma State). Navigato was consistent all season as he finished with a batting average of .450 with 18 Hits. This week, Navigato went 6-11 (.545) with two stolen bases. The offense for the Bulldogs was solid all season as they had 181 Hits all season with 118 Runs. In the Bulldogs win this week, the pitching staff worked to shut out the Bombers.  A quality outing from Jake Barbata (La Sierra) saw a scoreless six innings, only allowing two hits while striking out four. Led by Jake Gallaway, the Bulldogs saw a monumental improvement from last season. After winning only two games in 2017, they fought their way to a chance at the playoffs in just their second season.

The SoCal Bombers close the door on the 2018 season after having a three-game week against the Riverside Bulldogs, IV Bucs, and IV Pirates. Unfortunately, all three teams got the best of the Bombers this week, with a 5-0 loss to the Bulldogs, 6-5 loss to the Bucs, and a 12-4 loss to the Pirates in the final game of the season. The SoCal Bombers finish with a 4-16 conference record, eliminating them from postseason play.