The Rio Rancho High School softball team heads to the postseason for the 11th time in as many years of existence this week, competing in the Class 5A state softball tournament in Farmington.

The Rams (15-10) are the 6 seed at Ricketts Park and meet 11th-seeded Hobbs at 10 a.m. Friday. A loss in their first game, which occurred last season, won’t send the Rams home. This year’s tournament features a double-elimination format, something coach Paul Kohman supports.

“Regardless of what happens in the first game you’ve got a chance to win state,” he said, knowing his team hasn’t had a sniff of the semifinals since their 2003 state championship. This is the first year for the new format, after the NMAA used a 12-team bracket with the top four seeds receiving byes into the quarterfinals in the recent past.

“I don’t know (how long the NMAA will keep the format) but I hope they’ll keep it. Kids will get to play more games,” he said.

The Rams are healthy, except for a few minor nagging injuries, he said. Kohman said he doesn’t know anything about the Eagles, 15-10 overall and finishing second in District 4-5A with a 4-4 record. Hobbs was 3-1 against Clovis this season. The Rams beat the Wildcats 9-1 in their only meeting, and Clovis is the only team common to the Rams and ‘Cats.

“I don’t know enough about Hobbs to talk about,” Kohman said, noting he gave the OK for the Eagles to practice at his Eagle Ridge softball complex this week on their way to Farmington.

“I don’t think it would be fair to watch them,” Kohman said of an unexpected opportunity to scout the Eagles. “If you look at their record on who they’ve played and how they’ve done, (we should be able to beat them). If we don’t play well, we could get beat.”

Never a big fan of the seeding process for state, which Kohman calls more of a placing, he said, “I guess the biggest glaring bit of stupidity is how does La Cueva get seeded fourth when they come in second in their district and their district isn’t that strong?

“If it was placement, we would be seeded above everyone else except Cibola and Carlsbad. Oñate, with 13 seniors, should have run the table. How many one-run losses have we had to some pretty good teams?” he queried. “We lost to West Mesa by one run but West Mesa beat the champion of the La Cueva-Sandia district after that. Then we beat West Mesa (10-1) last time and it was pretty convincingly. Nobody’s been within three runs of Cibola all year but we lost two one-run games to them and beat them.”

Obviously, Kohman likes his team’s chances; especially after the Rams’ 3-2 victory over defending state champ Cibola. That Eagle Ridge victory snapped the Cougars’ 33-game winning streak.

“I think it’s going to be a lot of fun,” he said.

Bunts: In other first-round games Friday, also at 10 a.m., No. 1 Cibola meets No. 16 Albuquerque High, No. 2 Carlsbad faces No. 15 Rio Grande, No. 3 Sandia faces No. 14 Eldorado, No. 4 La Cueva tackles No. 13 Alamogordo, No. 5 Oñate faces No. 12 Manzano, No. 7 meets No. 10 West Mesa, and No. 8 Los Lunas faces No. 9 Mayfield.

… Pitcher Stacy Caldwell’s sister Kelly, then a freshman, was the starting right fielder for the Rams in their 4-3 victory over Alamogordo in the 2003 state championship game. Stacy will do most if not all of the pitching in Farmington.