Baseball: It’s a Cleveland-El Camino Real showdown this week

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The top challenger to Chatsworth in the West Valley League should emerge this week when Reseda Cleveland (15-4, 5-1) and Woodland Hills El Camino Real (15-5, 4-2) play in a two-game series Wednesday at Cleveland and Friday at El Camino Real. The Friday game will be taped by LA36 and aired on the weekend.

Yes, Cleveland defeated Chatsworth last week and is tied for first place with the Chancellors, but El Camino Real has demonstrated it has something the Cavaliers don’t -- two top starting pitchers in Michael Booth and Jose Cardona. And El Camino Real has one of the hottest hitters in Travis Keppel, who went eight for 10 with 12 runs batted in this past week.

Wednesday’s game should be very interesting, with John Wilson (6-0) on the mound for Cleveland against the improving Booth, who started the year slowly after a shoulder injury from a snowboarding accident. Both teams can hit, so the pitchers are going to be tested.

Another huge game this week matches Burbank Burroughs (12-3, 5-1) against Arcadia (14-3, 5-1) on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Arcadia for first place in the Pacific League. Arcadia was on the verge of running away with the league, then lost to Burbank. Arcadia has the best pitcher in the league in Bryce Rutherford (5-1, 1.17 earned-run average).

In the unpredictable South Coast League, Mission Viejo Capistrano Valley (14-5, 5-2) is playing at Dana Hills (12-5, 5-2) on Wednesday in a battle of teams tied with Tesoro atop the league standings. San Clemente and Mission Viejo also are within striking distance. Good luck on figuring out who’s going to finish on top.

-- Eric Sondheimer