Cypress gears up for Empire League showdowns with Pacifica and CIF playoffs next week

Coach John Weber and his Cypress players prepare for Friday’s game with Crean Lutheran. (Photo: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).

Cypress High School’s baseball team is where it was expected to be going into the final week of the Empire League season.

The Centurions, coached by John Weber, are tied for first place with Pacifica (20-2, 8-2) entering a two-game series. The teams play Tuesday at Pacifica and Thursday at Cypress at 3:15 p.m.

Cypress (20-6, 8-0) took two Empire League games against Crean Lutheran last week to remain tied with Pacifica, coached by Mike Caira. The Mariners have a 15-game winning streak and their only losses have come against Trabuco Hills and Ocean View.

Cypress won the league title and Pacifica was second last year.

“We start off at their place against (Chad) Gurnea, who is really, really good, so it’s going to be a bang up game for sure,” Weber said after Friday’s wild 13-5 win over Crean Lutheran.

Weber reminds his players, who may be tired or battling injuries, what is at stake, another league title and a possible long run in the CIF playoffs.

“This is what we do when we’re meeting on Aug. 6 on the first day back,” Weber said. “We’re talking about how much work it’s going to be and are you sure you want to do it, and this is what you’re doing it for, so when you have a little tiredness, have a little ache or a little pain or a little uncertaintly, then just remind yourself of all the time and energy and effort and hours you spent to get in this position to do what we have a chance to do.”

Next week, both Cypress and Pacifica will head off to the CIF Division 1 playoffs. Cypress is ranked No. 7 and Pacifica ninth in this week’s poll.

“We’re in Division 1 for the playoffs, which is always tough,” Weber said. “We’ve been there the last eight or nine years so that’s an expectation for us as well so we play a really, really tough schedule, as tough as anybody, so we’re prepared to do what we need to do. It’s just whether we can get out of our own way and do what we need to do.”

Cypress had a number of standouts in the win Friday. Matthew Morrell was solid on relief and also had three RBI. Morrell is batting .351 this season.

Matthew Thomas, who is batting .405 with five home runs this season, had three hits and an RBI and a run scored and Nick Montgomery, who is batting .442, also had a big day at the plate with four RBI and two runs scored.

“Montgomery has been swinging the bat really well,” Weber said. “He’s a special player, for sure. You got to face those triplet towers in Morrell and Montgomery and Chewie (Thomas), good luck to you. Max (Senesac) had six RBI the other day and he’s hitting in the eight hole for us and he’s crushing balls. Our lineup is tough, I wouldn’t want to have to face our lineup. There’s no breaks in our lineup, everybody is really good.”

The Centurions have a talented pitching staff too, led by Wyatt Rosales (7-1), Royce Roberts (4-0) and Luke Matlock (5-3), Morrell and Gabe Cobian have two saves each.

Cypress has won three CIF titles, the last coming in 2019 when the Centurions won the first Divsion 1 title for the program.

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—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com