Kobee Finnikin of Rancho Mirage is No. 4 on the 2024 Elite 11
The two-way star was an all-league selection on offense and defense as a sophomore in 2023.
Brandon Magpantay, Special to The Desert Sun
For a second straight year, the Rancho Mirage baseball team had a deep playoff run. For a second straight year, the Rattlers were the last desert baseball team standing. But unfortunately, for a second straight year, their postseason run will fall one step short of the championship game.
Rancho Mirage went on the road to Costa Mesa on Tuesday for a Division 6 CIF-SS semifinal at Estancia High School and lost a nail-biter 4-3, ending another remarkable season.
The Rattlers got on the board first on Tuesday as Edward Carlin hit a two-run single in the top of the third. Ezra Aparicio and Kobee Finnikin scored on the play.
Estancia immediately countered with three in the bottom of the third to take the lead. The score stayed 3-2, but Finnikin, who had three stolen bases in the game, tied it up at 3-3 in the top of the fifth with a shrewd delayed steal of home.
Again, the host Eagles countered quickly with an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth to go back in front 4-3. The Rattlers could never find the game-tying run despite getting two men on base in the seventh inning.
Carlin finished with two hits, two RBIs and three stolen bases. Finnikin also had two hits, two runs scored and three steals. The only other hit was a single by Aparicio who also scored a run. The Rattlers were held to just the five singles in the game.
Jamie Ochoa started and pitched three innings, yielding three runs on six hits while striking out two for the Rattlers. Jayden Cunningham pitched the final three innings allowing two hits and one unearned run, striking out three.
The Rattlers finished in a tie for third in the Desert Empire League and made the playoffs as an at-large team, but the postseason is when Rancho Mirage is at its best. They rattled off three straight convincing wins all by five or more runs to make Tuesday’s semifinal.
The loss will be the final game in a Rattlers uniform for some key seniors like Carlin, Marcos Ceja Jr., Adrian Gutierrez, Randy Ayala and Cunningham.
Estancia will move on to the Division 6 CIF-SS championship game against Marshall. Marshall beat Heritage Christan by an identical 4-3 score in the other semifinal.
Rancho Mirage has been the hub of postseason diamond success in 2025 as the Rattlers’ softball team is also on a roll having advanced to the CIF-SS Division 7 championship game. They will play for the title at 1 p.m. on Friday against Culver City in Irvine at Deanna Manning Stadium.
Rancho Mirage is the only school in the Southern Section to boast a softball team in a final and baseball team in a semifinal.