Baseball: Voelkel learns the ropes at first City seeding meeting

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Mike Voelkel took a lot of mental notes at Saturday’s City Section baseball seeding meeting.

It was an eye-opening experience to say the least for Palisades’ first-year skipper, who previously coached preps for more than 20 years in Washington state, where postseason placement is pre-determined and not subject to debate.

‘It’s nothing like this up there,’ Voelkel said. ‘There is no seeding. There are four divisions, determined by enrollment, and if you win your league you go one place in the bracket, if you finish second you go to another and so on. It’s already set.’

Voelkel was hoping his Dolphins would be seeded somewhere between sixth and eighth in the 16-team City championship bracket. Palisades ended up No. 8 and hosts No. 9 Wilmington Banning in what figures to be one of the best first-round matchups.

‘From what I’ve been able to find out, Banning is very good and certainly not a team we can afford to take lightly,’ said Voelkel, who led Palisades to 19 wins and a fifth straight Western League title. ‘They finished second in the Marine League and beat Hart and Simi Valley [#11 and #12 respectively in The Times’ latest rankings.]’

Voelkel lobbied for the No. 5 seeding ahead of Marshall, a team Palisades beat head-to-head, but the committee gave Marshall the nod by one vote based on its better overall record. After Cleveland was chosen sixth, the Dolphins were passed over in favor of Verdugo Hills at No. 7 because Palisades lost to Poly--the third-place team in the Sunset Six League behind the Dons and 13th-seeded Grant.

‘I’m new to the process, but I picked up on a few things,’ Voelkel said. ‘The key is those top four seeds. Those are the ones that really matter.’

-- Steve Galluzzo