Falcons fight through growing pains to reach playoffs

Foothill’s baseball team has been somewhat of an afterthought in recent years.

But the Falcons turned things around this spring. A year after going 4-10 in the Southeast League and failing to make the playoffs for the third straight year, Foothill went 11-3 in the league this spring to earn a No. 2 seed for the Sunrise Region tournament, which begins today at host sites.

And the biggest reason for the change?

“We get after it more,” senior infielder Mike Gibellina said. “Last year we were lazy. This year we’re more on our game.”

The Falcons (16-14) host Valley (13-13) today in the first round. In other Sunrise Region games, Silverado (17-14) plays at Las Vegas, Eldorado (15-12) plays at Green Valley (21-10) and Coronado (12-14) plays at Rancho (26-6). All games are at 3:30 p.m..

The Sunset Region playoffs also begin today at host sites. Cimarron-Memorial (27-5) hosts Durango (15-20), Spring Valley (24-8) hosts Centennial (23-10), and Palo Verde (20-10) hosts Sierra Vista (25-5) at 3:30. Legacy (19-7) plays Bishop Gorman (33-3) at the College of Southern Nevada at 5:30.

Foothill coach Matt Iglitz said the team has struggled in recent years as young players were thrust into the lineup. But he said the experience that those players gained has helped this season.

“We knew there would be some growing pains, but we knew this was a year with a lot of varsity experience returning,” Iglitz said. “We expected that the guys would kind of take the next step.”

While the goal to return to the playoffs was set early, an 11-8 win over perennial power Green Valley on March 24 may have been the key.

“The Green Valley win kind of set the tone for us,” Iglitz said. “We’re here and we think we can compete. It was a great win for us, the biggest win we’ve had in the program the last couple years.”

The Falcons have played in plenty of tight games this season, with 13 games decided by three runs or fewer. Foothill is 6-1 in one-run games, and the players hope that has prepared them for postseason baseball.

“A lot of games in the postseason are going to be close,” junior Jake Ferdinand said. “They’re not going to be blowouts. If you get ready for that in the regular season, it’s going to really help out.”

So will having the first-round game at home.

“It’s wonderful. We need our whole school to come out and support us,” senior Jordan Mathis said.

Said Ferdinand: “The crowd’s going to be pumped up. It’s going to be off the walls there.”

The Sunrise tournament continues Wednesday and Thursday with games at Green Valley and Las Vegas. Friday’s championship game is set for  4 p.m. at Las Vegas.

The Sunset tournament has games at Centennial and Sierra Vista on Wednesday and Thursday, with Friday’s championship at 4 p.m. at Sierra Vista.