Birmingham, Chatsworth seek City title today at Dodger Stadium
Plush grass, fine dirt, chalk lines of precision and dugouts that high school baseball players would live in if they had the chance.
The L.A. City Section baseball championships will return to Dodger Stadium today after a twoyear absence, which broke a streak 51 consecutive years.
“I'll never forget playing at Dodger Stadium,” Birmingham Charter senior Domenik Cervantes said earlier this season.
Cervantes, who won a City title at Chavez Ravine as a freshman with the Patriots, will get the experience for a second time today.
Narbonne will play Garfield at 10 a.m. in the Division I final, and Birmingham Charter will take on Chatsworth in the Open Division final at 1 p.m.
Tickets can be purchased only on game day at the stadium, outside of the left field pavilion. General admission tickets are $15, student and senior tickets are $10, and children 4 and younger are free.
It will mark the third time Birmingham and Chatsworth have faced each other at Dodger Stadium. Birmingham is 2-0, winning 6-3 in 2014 and 4-3 in 2017.
The Open Division matchup has the ingredients for an entertaining afternoon. There's a great mix of championship history, a kick of heavy favorite versus Cinderella team, and a dash of drama.
Birmingham, the No. 2 seed, will be playing in its fourth City final in the last
Chatsworth head coach Marcus Alvarado, center, and the Chancellors already had an intense relationship with Birmingham Charter before both schools reached today's City final.
six years, and the fourth straight championship game at Dodger Stadium. The 2020 season was wiped due to the COVID-19 pandemic and last year's final was played at home sites.
The program is 9-2 alltime in City finals, including 7-0 in games in the highest division. The Patriots won three straight titles from 2017-19.
Johan Ceja delivered a walk-off single for Birmingham in the bottom of the seventh inning Wednesday to beat El Camino Real 2-1 at USC in the semifinals.
Chatsworth earned its trip to Dodger Stadium after getting the No. 9 seed in the 12-team field.
The Chancellors went on the road to beat Carson 118, took down No. 1 Granada Hills 6-4, then edged Roosevelt in a comeback victory
at USC, 4-3.
Chatsworth has won nine City titles, eight of which came under legendary coach Tom Meusborn. But the powerhouse program that the San Fernando Valley is used to hasn't been around for a while. Today will be Chatsworth's first City final appearance since 2017, and the program hasn't lifted a trophy since 2009.
To add a little more zest to an intense championship game, it technically will be the fourth time Birmingham and Chatsworth grace the same field this season. The first game on March 29 was played under protest after an umpire's ruling was deemed incorrect by a City Section committee. A Chatsworth batter had too much pine tar on his bat, but was never
called out.
Birmingham coach Matt Mowry formally filed for the game to continue under protest, which prompted a heated discussion between Mowry and Chatsworth coach Marcus Alvarado on the field. The two coaches had to be separated.
The second game was won by Birmingham, 8-2, on April 1. The first game was then replayed from the third inning on May 7. Chatsworth won the game 5-0.
Alvarado is the son of longtime Kennedy baseball coach Manny Alvarado, who was 5-0 at Dodger Stadium as a coach. Maybe Manny's perfect record at Chavez Ravine will rub off on Marcus.
Mowry is 4-0 at Dodger Stadium.
Something's got to give.