West Valley headlines City baseball, softball
The Los Angeles City Section recently released the baseball and softball playoff pairings, which will begin this week.
The West Valley League — yet again — had five of its six teams earn a berth to the section’s top baseball division in the Open Division. The West Valley League also produced the No. 1 and 2 seed for the softball playoffs.
In baseball, two-time league champion Granada Hills Charter is the No. 1 seed. Birmingham Charter - which won the City title the last time the final game was played at Dodger Stadium in 2019 - is the No. 2 seed, and El Camino Real is the No. 3 seed. Out-ofarea Palisades is the No. 4 seed.
All four teams will receive first-round byes, which in most cases is something to be pleased about, but in this case all four teams will have to wait until May 20 to play its first playoff game.
The opening round of the Open Division playoffs will start May 17. Here are the matchups that round out the 12-team field: No. 9 Chatsworth at No. 9 Carson; No. 12 Cleveland at No. 5 Roosevelt; No. 10 San Pedro at No. 7 Sylmar; and No. 11 Sun Valley Poly at
No. 6 Marshall.
All games are scheduled to be hosted by the topseeded team and played at 3 p.m. The Open Division final is scheduled to be played at Dodger Stadium on May 28 at 1 p.m.
Despite finishing last in the West Valley League, Taft High received the No. 1 seed in Division I and will await the winner of South Gate and VAAS and play May 18. Bell is the No. 2 seed.
To see the full playoff pairings in Division I, II and III, visit LA-City.org.
Softball
To no surprise, El Camino Real softball earned the No. 1 seed in the
Open Division playoffs. But ECR’s season-finale defeat to Granada Hills Charter will add extra interest to the postseason. The Highlanders are the No. 2 seed, which could make for a great rematch in the City final at Cal State Northridge on May 21 if the teams win out.
The opening round begins Tuesday. ECR will host No. 8 Eagle Rock; Granada Hills will host No. 7 Kennedy; No. 6 Carson is at No. 3 Birmingham; and No. 5 Banning is at No. 4 San Pedro.
All games are scheduled for 3 p.m.
To see the full playoff pairings in Division I, II, III and IV, visit LA-City.org.