VALLEY ROUNDUP : Pierce Seeded No. 1 in Regional

Western State Conference champion Pierce College on Monday received the No. 1 seeding in the Southern California Regional baseball tournament and will play host to San Bernardino Valley in a first-round, best-of-three series that opens on Friday.

Women’s softball pairings also were issued Monday.

The baseball Brahmas (28-6-1), under the guidance of third-year Coach Bob Lofrano, are making their second appearance in the state playoffs in as many years. Pierce reached the regional final last year.

Pierce is led by Joey Arnold, the conference player of the year, and by all-conference pitchers Eric Raba (10-0) and Mike Eby (8-1).

San Bernardino Valley, seeded last in the 16-team regional, finished second in the Foothill Conference and will take a 21-16 record into Friday’s 2 p.m. game. Game 2 of the series will be Saturday at 11 a.m. with a third game to follow if necessary.

Ventura (24-14), the second-place finisher during in WSC play, was seeded 11th and will open the state playoffs on the road at No. 6 Citrus. Cuesta, which beat Ventura in the WSC tournament final, received the 15th seed and will travel to No. 2 Cerritos.

Because it is the top-seeded team, Pierce is in a position to play host to one of the four regional finals statewide if it can get past San Bernardino Valley. Regional finals are May 15-17, with the winners earning a trip to the four-team State championship tournament May 22-24 in Riverside.

In women’s softball, Canyons (11-13) will play at Long Beach City in a first-round game at noon on Friday. Long Beach City, which finished first in the South Coast Conference, is 35-12 and seeded third in the Southern Regional tournament. Canyons finished second in the Western State Conference. Moorpark (29-10), the WSC champion, opens on Friday at 2 p.m. against Grossmont at Cypress College. Grossmont (18-12) finished third in the Pacific Coast Conference.