Friday, June 5, 2009

Hailey skipper takes team to Final Four

Coach shines in California high school baseball


For Hailey's James Cordes, it was a successful first year of coaching in the highly competitive Southern California high school baseball wars.

Cordes, 27, a 2000 Wood River High School graduate, guided the Redlands East Valley (Calif.) Wildcats into the Final Four of the 64-team CIF Southern Section Division 2 state tournament for schools with 1,100-2,399 student populations.

The Wildcats (23-7) started the 2009 season with a 1-3 record, then won 22 of their next 26 games, including a 10-game late-season winning streak that carried them into Tuesday's semi-final game against Encino Crespi Carmelite High School.

Averaging over .400 in team batting average and 8.5 runs per game, Citrus Belt League runner-up Redlands East Valley knuckled down and won its first four playoff games by a combined 24-4 score. That included REV's 3-2 eight-inning home win over top-ranked defending state champion El Toro of Lake Forest on May 26.

But Tuesday's 7-5 loss to Encino Crespi (20-11) kept the Wildcats from advancing into Saturday's state championship game at Angels Stadium in Anaheim. Still, it was quite a run for Cordes' squad. A highlight was a 12-2 victory over the No. 4-ranked team in the U.S., Yucaipa High School, on April 17.

Cordes, an English teacher at Redlands East Valley, was a three-sport athlete at Wood River who played four years of college baseball at the University of Redlands. He started his coaching with the Wood River Babe Ruth 13-year-olds in 2002.




 Local Weather 
Search archives:


Copyright © 2024 Express Publishing Inc.   Terms of Use   Privacy Policy
All Rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Express Publishing Inc. is prohibited. 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.