Baseball: West Valley League dominates in City Section playoffs
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West Valley League teams won five of their six first-round playoff games in City Section Division 1, leaving the seedings in shambles.
Among the upsets: No. 13 Granada Hills, the last-place team in the West Valley League, beat No. 4-seeded Banning, 4-2, behind a complete game from Nathaniel Pyle. No. 12 Birmingham defeated No. 5 San Pedro, 10-3. Kevin Torres struck out 12 and Jerry Zaragoza had three hits.
No. 1 Chatsworth blasted Westchester, 15-0, in five innings. Steven Karkenny started the game with a home run. No. 2 Woodland Hills El Camino Real defeated Sylmar, 6-0, with Jose Cardona throwing a two-hitter and getting 12 ground-ball outs. No. 8 Woodland Hills Taft defeated East Valley League champion Arleta, 7-4. Zach Friedman threw a complete game. Mike Hymes and Mike Colon homered.
The only West Valley team to lose was Reseda Cleveland, which dropped a 10-6 decision to Narbonne. No. 3-seeded Granada Hills Kennedy got 10 strikeouts from Ryan Cruz in a 12-2 win over Verdugo Hills. San Fernando defeated Palisades, 11-5.
Here’s Thursday’s quarterfinal matchups: Taft at Chatsworth, Granada Hills at Birmingham, San Fernando at Kennedy, Narbonne at El Camino Real.
In Division II, top-seeded Maywood defeated King-Drew, 11-1, in six innings. Junior shortstop Armando Castello went four for four.
-- Eric Sondheimer