Chatsworth is top-seeded team for City playoffs

For the sixth consecutive season, Chatsworth’s baseball team has been seeded No. 1 for the 16-team City Section Championship Division playoffs that begin Wednesday.

The seven-time champion Chancellors (25-5) are tied with Granada Hills Kennedy and Los Angeles Fremont for most City championships. They have reached the City final five consecutive years.

Harbor City Narbonne (24-6) was awarded the No. 2 seed, followed by Los Angeles Roosevelt (31-5-1) at No. 3 and Kennedy (20-10) at No. 4.

The best opening-game matchup could be No. 14 Woodland Hills Taft (12-17) and left-handed pitcher Ryan Santhon taking on Roosevelt and left-handed pitcher Martin Villanueva at East L.A. College. Taft was the only team to defeat Chatsworth in West Valley League play.

The defending champion Chancellors are a different team than they were last season, when they hit 74 home runs, one short of the state record. They have 28 home runs this season while successfully revamping their offense after the loss to graduation of first-round draft picks Mike Moustakas and Matt Dominguez. Important in their success has been defense. The Chancellors have made only 20 errors in 30 games.

Leading the way on offense has been junior third baseman Ryan Cooperstone, who has batted .435 with a team-leading 40 runs batted in. Also making a major contribution has been sophomore designated hitter Derek Neely, who was promoted last month from junior varsity and leads the team in hitting with a .436 average.

Senior pitcher Trevor Takeyama has become the team’s No. 1 pitcher, going 11-1 with a 1.61 earned-run average.

“They’ve done a great job up to this point,” Chatsworth Coach Tom Meusborn said. “I’m really proud of them.”

San Fernando Valley schools have won 34 of the last 35 City titles.

Narbonne, the Marine League champion, defeated Chatsworth in a tournament game and has the strong pitching needed to go far in the playoffs. But a second-round matchup could be looming with West Valley power Woodland Hills El Camino Real.

Kennedy ran away with the Valley Mission League title and has one of the section’s hottest pitchers in Carlos Gonzalez.

Reseda Cleveland, seeded sixth, reached last year’s championship game and should be dangerous in the bottom half of the bracket. The only problem for the Cavaliers is they have lost 20 consecutive games to Chatsworth since 2003.

In the Invitational Division, Southern League champion Los Angeles (19-6) received the No. 1 seed, with Lake Balboa Birmingham (10-16) No. 2.

Maywood (14-7), the second-place finisher from the Southern League, has been seeded No. 1 in the Small Schools Division playoffs, with Sherman Oaks CES (13-6) No. 2.

The Championship Division first-round games on Wednesday:

No. 16 Poly (18-12) at No. 1 Chatsworth (25-5)

No. 9 Banning (20-10-1) at No. 8 Palisades (19-11-1)

No. 12 San Pedro (13-15) at No. 5 Marshall (26-4)

No. 13 Grant (17-9) at No. 4 Kennedy (20-10)

No. 14 Taft (12-17) at No. 3 Roosevelt (31-5-1)

No. 11 San Fernando (16-14) at No. 6 Cleveland (24-7-1)

No. 10 El Camino Real (18-13) at No. 7 Verdugo Hills (22-10)

No.. 15 Sylmar (13-12) at No. 2 Narbonne (24-6)

 eric.sondheimer@latimes.com