Needing a win for at least a share of the Central Valley Conference championship, Taft College let a close game turn into a landslide on Friday as the Cougars suffered a 19-8 defeat at College of the Sequoias in both teams' CVC finale.
Taft began the day tied with Fresno City College atop the conference standings, but FCC's 24-6 win at Cerro Coso College combined with the Cougar's loss gave the Rams the outright Central Valley title with a 17-4 record. Taft and Sequoias tied for second place in the final standings, just a game back at 16-5.
On Friday, the Cougars and Giants were tied at 8-8 in the seventh inning before COS closed out the contest with 11 unanswered runs to ruin Taft's chances at the conference championship.
Prior to the loss, the Cougars had won six straight CVC contests and was winners of 16 of their last 20 ball games.
Taft, now 24-14 overall, closes out the regular season on Saturday (Apr. 27) with a non-conference game at Antelope Valley College in Lancaster. The Cougars will learn their postseason fate shortly after as the 2019 CCCAA Northern California Regional Playoffs begin next week.