Vaqs set for regional

Should the Vaqueros advance, they would play into one of two Southern California Super Regionals, which are hosted at the top remaining seed’s home field from May 11-13. In GCC’s top half of the bracket, top-seeded Orange Coast College will face either No. 16 L.A. Valley or No. 17 Bakersfield, as the two WSC foes square off in a single-elimination game today. No. 8 Southwestern is hosting No. 9 El Camino and No. 4 Mt. San Antonio is hosting No. 13 Golden West. In the bottom half of the regional, No. 2 Rio Hondo is the highest seed and will play either College of the Canyons, the fourth WSC South representative, or Santa Barbara City. In competition with other squads from the Southern California bracket this season, GCC has gone 9-6.

Winners of the respective Southern California Super Regionals will join a pair of Northern California representatives at the state championships at Bakersfield College May 18-20.

Last season, GCC, then the No. 6 seed, hosted Cypress in the regional and won in a dramatic series that went all three games. Thereafter, it went a perfect 3-0 to win the Rio Hondo College Super Regional before advancing to the California Community College Athletic Assn. State Championships, where it lost twice to eventual champion San Joaquin Delta and defeated Santa Ana in between losses.

Now, GCC looks to maintain its momentum from this season with more than a week off between games.

“We’re gonna try and simulate some games,” Cicuto said, “try and get back in that schedule.”