Kofa to face No. 5 Deer Valley

 Simon Corea already threw one complete game in the Class 5A Division II State Baseball Playoffs against a top-five team.

Now the Kofa junior will have the chance to do it again.

Corea will get the start today as No. 8 Kofa battles No. 5 Glendale-Deer Valley in a quarterfinal matchup. The loser is eliminated while the winner will have to play No. 1 Desert Ridge in a semifinal Thursday and beat them twice to advance to the state title game Saturday.

First things first, the Kings (16-7) will have to top the Skyhawks (16-5) at 7 p.m. at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.

And Corea will have a tough task in shutting down a potent Deer Valley offense which is hitting .385 this year with a formidable punch in the middle of lineup.

After Corea, coach Richy Leon said there will be a patchwork of relievers after that, including the two pitchers who split Saturday's win over Tempe-Marcos de Niza, Claudio Valencia and starter Blake Johnston.

"We'll start with Simon probably and relieve with anybody - Claudio, Blake, Albert Alvarez, Gustavo Villegas are available also," Leon said. "We felt (Simon) out today, and his arm felt pretty good to start. So we're probably going to start him, told him to go as long as he can as far as he can, and we'll go from there."

Blaine Schmidt leads the Skyhawks with seven home runs and 32 RBI and is third with a .435 batting average. Josh Dahl and Kyle Herrington are each hitting .440, with Dahl blasting six homers and driving home 17. Herrington has four homers and 28 RBI.

Chris Capper has been the workhorse for the Skyhawks, going 8-2 with a 2.29 ERA and throwing twice as many innings as anyone else. Dahl has the second most innings pitched and a 3.36 ERA with a 2-1 mark as the staff as a whole has a 2.89 ERA.

"Don't know much specifically," Leon said. "We played them a couple of years ago. I was looking at their stats available and they're going to be a tough team. They've been in the top five in power points all year long. They're going to be a tough challenge, but we're going to go up there and do the best we can and hopefully keep doing what we've been doing the past couple games."

Kofa has a 4.22 ERA, while Corea is 3-1 with a 4.13 ERA. He pitched Thursday against No. 4 Peoria-Sunrise Mountain, notching the first Kofa complete game of the season in a 13-4 win. The Kings are hitting .365 with 18 home runs - 11 from Sergio Sanchez (.465, five, 29) and Gustavo Albarran (.356. six, 30)

The Kings are three wins from playing for a state title, but Leon said the team is still playing loose.

"I think the guys are just enjoying playing on those nice fields and traveling," Leon said. "When you get a little bit of success, you just want to keep going on. I don't think there's much pressure. They want to succeed and do well, but I don't think there's a whole lot of pressure. They're just really enjoying it, and so are we as a coaching staff."