Oddly enough, this past weekend both the Feather River College's Golden Eagles baseball and softball teams played a best two-out-of-three series against the Consumnes River College (CRC) Hawks during the first round of the California Community College Athletics Association's (CCCAA) Northern California Regional Championship tournament. FRC hosted the baseball games and CRC hosted the softball games.

On Friday afternoon in Quincy, FRC's baseball team took an early lead by scoring five runs in the first two innings. Behind strong pitching by their starter, Dylan Cabral, the Golden Eagles held their 5-0 lead for seven innings. However, in the top of the eighth, the Hawks rallied and scored four runs to chase Cabral and reliever Dakota Todd off the mound before Jason Christianson came in to end the inning two strikeouts In the bottom of the inning, the Golden Eagles responded well by putting two more runs on the scoreboard. In the top of the ninth Christianson struck out the side, earning a save in the home team's 7-4 victory.

On Saturday morning, with the host team batting first, the Golden Eagles again took an early lead by scoring six runs in the top of the second inning. This time, though, the Hawks countered quickly, hitting two home runs and scoring five runs. But then, for the next five and a half innings, the pitchers for the fielders for both teams played excellently and the score remained at 6-5 in favor of the Golden Eagles going into the bottom of the eighth. Unfortunately for FRC, in the bottom of the inning, the Hawks took advantage of errors and questioned walks to score three unearned runs. In the top of the ninth, the Hawks' stopper, Nate Thompson, who struck out 11 during his six and two-thirds innings on the mound, had no problem closing out an 8-6 victory for CRC.

Thus, those in attendance were treated to a double-header.

In the finale to the series, FRC built a 6-0 over the course of the first five innings, scoring once in both the second and third innings and adding two more runs in both the fourth and fifth innings. After CRC got one run on the scoreboard in the top of the sixth inning, taking away the shut-out being thrown by FRC's starter, Scott Lewis, the Golden Eagles got their six run lead back in the bottom of the sixth. In like fashion, when CRC scored twice in the top of the eighth, FRC came right back with two runs to maintain their six run advantage. In the top of the ninth Elijah Hinojosa had no trouble closing out the 9-3 victory for FRC and moving the team into the second round of the 2022 CCCAA championship playoffs.

Yes, on this Friday, Saturday, and, if necessary, Sunday the Golden Eagles will be hosting the Skyline College Trojans of San Bruno at the FRC baseball diamond. The Trojans, a team with 41 home runs in the 40 games they've played this season, are currently on a nine-game winning streak in the wake of eliminating Modesto College from the playoffs in two games, 15-6 and 9-8, this past weekend.

Unfortunately, FRC's softball team did not fare as well as its baseball team last weekend. Traveling to Sacramento to play the higher-seeded CRC softball team, on Friday afternoon, after taking a one run lead in the second inning, they succumbed to the strong pitching and timely hitting of Ashley Toy (she gave up only 4 hits over seven innings and drove in two runs with a double in CRC's four run fourth inning), losing by a score of 4-1.

On Saturday, again facing CRC's ace, Ashley Toy, the game remained close through the first five innings. However, in the top of the sixth inning CRC put up three runs, extending their lead from 2-1 to 5-1. The Golden Eagles replied in the bottom of the inning with one run, but were unable to add any more runs in final inning and, sadly, their season came to a close.