Area teams get ready for first-round matchups
CIF Southern Section baseball playoff pairings were released Monday, and they revealed which area top teams will play host to first-round games this week.
Divisions 1, 3, 5 and 7 will play first-round games Friday. Teams in Divisions 2, 4 and 6 will play the first round Thursday. All games are scheduled to start at 3:15 p.m.
In Division 1, Notre Dame (20-7-1), which won the coin flip to earn the No. 1 seed out of the Mission League after tying Harvard-Westlake for first place, plays host to Mira Costa (16-12) in the opening round. Harvard-Westlake (20-7-1) plays host to Los Alamitos (18-8-2).
West Ranch (15-13) and Thousand Oaks (14-12) are the other two local teams to earn Division 1 berths. West Ranch will have to travel to No. 2-seeded JSerra (18-10) and Thousand Oaks will be at La Mirada (20-6-1).
Sierra Canyon (25-2) received the No. 3 seed in Division 2 and plays host to Simi Valley (14-12-1) in an all-local game Thursday.
Also in the first round of Division 2, Hart (19-9), winner of the Foothill League, plays host to Royal (19-5). Moorpark (18-9-1) plays host to Lakewood (17-11), and Quartz Hill (20-8) plays host to Paraclete (19-8) in a fun matchup for the High Desert area.
Calabasas (19-9) will travel to Palos Verdes (1810) and Crescenta Valley (15-12) is at No. 2 South Hills (23-5).
Maybe the most interesting team to watch in Division 3 will be Crespi (1612). The Celts finished third in the Mission League and will travel to Monrovia (165-2) Friday. Crespi is the most battle-tested club in the division and has proven it can play with the elite teams when it took a game off Notre Dame and Harvard-Westlake in consecutive weeks during league play.
Other Division 3 firstround matchups: West Torrance (17-7) at Grace Brethren (14-10); Charter Oak (1311) at Agoura (16-12); Saugus (15-18) at Woodbridge (21-7); and Oaks Christian (16-11) at Rio Mesa (15-12).
Watch out for Valencia (15-11) in Division 4. The Vikings, who have come on late in the year and made a run at the Foothill League title, could make a deep run. Valencia will travel to Schurr (18-6) Thursday.