SOUTHERN SECTION BASEBALL PLAYOFFS : Katella and La Habra Draw Wild-Card Games

Katella and La Habra high school’s baseball teams continued a trend by drawing wild-card games in the 1991 Southern Section playoffs announced Monday.

Katella (15-10) drew a wild-card game against Servite (14-11) in the 5-A division at 3:15 today in Anaheim’s Boysen Park. The winner will play host to Beverly Hills (17-6) in the first round Friday.

It marked the fourth time in five years that an Empire League team has drawn a wild-card berth. Los Alamitos played a wild-card game in 1989 and 1987 and Esperanza drew a wild-card game in 1988, when it advanced to the division championship game.

La Habra (11-8) will play host to Magnolia (12-10) at 3:15 today in a 4-A division wild-card game with the winner advancing to Friday’s first round against host Gahr (17-6).

Freeway League members will have played wild-card games four times in four years. La Habra was a wild-card team in 1989 and Sonora played wild-card games in 1987 and 1988.

Southern Section administrators schedule wild-card games in the divisions with 11 leagues, sending three entries into a 32-team tournament. The wild-card game trims the field to 32 teams.

As expected, Esperanza (23-2) is the top-seeded team in the 5-A division and will play host to Santa Monica (10-15) in the first round Friday. Fountain Valley (22-5) is seeded fourth in the division and plays host to Eisenhower (11-11-2).

Sunny Hills (19-6) is seeded second in the 4-A division and will play host to Santa Ana Valley (10-15) on Friday.

Championship games in the 5-A, 4-A, 3-A and 2-A divisions are scheduled for June 1 at Anaheim Stadium.