Gahr, La Mirada, Millikan Among Local Teams in Playoffs

Gahr, La Mirada and Millikan high schools are among the favorites in their respective divisions in both baseball and softball playoff pairings announced this week by the CIF Southern Section.

San Gabriel Valley League champion Gahr (19-7) of Cerritos is the second-seeded team in the 4A baseball division. The Gladiators play host to Savanna High (12-13) of Anaheim on Friday.

Suburban League baseball champion La Mirada (18-6), which was runner-up last year, was seeded second in the 3A Division. The Matadors play host to Estancia of Costa Mesa on Friday. Estancia (12-13) defeated Harvard-Westlake, 4-2, in a wild-card game Tuesday.

Defending 5A baseball champion Millikan (17-5-1) of Long Beach finished third in the Moore League this season, despite being ranked as high as seventh nationally less than a month ago by USA Today. The Rams play at Crespi (19-5) of Encino on Friday.

In softball, defending champion La Mirada (15-9) will play host to Mira Costa (9-10-1) of Manhattan Beach on Friday in the opening round of the 3A Division playoffs. The Matadors won the Suburban League title.

Gahr (23-2) won the San Gabriel Valley League title and will open the 5A Division softball playoffs at home Friday against Kennedy (16-5) of La Palma, which defeated Huntington Beach, 1-0, in nine innings in a wild-card game Tuesday.

Millikan (17-6) won the Moore League softball title and begins the 4A Division playoffs today by playing host to Anaheim High (9-7).

In other 5A baseball playoff games, Schurr (13-5) of Montebello will be at Fountain Valley (15-12), Jordan (15-6) of Long Beach travels to play Alemany (16-8-1) of Mission Hills, and Moore League champion Lakewood (16-5) plays host to Santa Margarita (15-7) of Rancho Santa Margarita.

Lynwood (12-6) plays at Redondo Union (18-7) of Redondo Beach in 4A baseball playoff action, and Cerritos (14-6), which won its wild-card game Tuesday over Buena Park, 4-2, plays in Mission Viejo against Capistrano Valley (20-5).

In the 3A baseball playoffs, Whitmont League champion La Serna plays host to Bellflower (16-6). The Bucs defeated Santiago of Garden Grove, 11-4, in a wild-card game Tuesday. Another wild-card winner, El Rancho (12-9) of Pico Rivera, plays at Tustin (17-7). The Dons beat Rosemead, 4-1, Tuesday. Other 3A Division games pit Norwalk (13-7) at Saddleback (19-6) of Santa Ana, and Santa Fe (10-5-1) of Santa Fe Springs at home against Garden Grove (14-8).

Pius X (19-2) of Downey, champion of the Camino Real League, is idle in 2A play until Tuesday. St. Anthony of Long Beach (15-8) opens play at Cantwell/Sacred Heart (14-7) of Montebello.

In 1A Division play, Olympic League champion Valley Christian (16-4-1) of Cerritos is idle until Tuesday. Whitney (10-10) of Cerritos, which had to win a doubleheader playoff last Saturday to get in, will play host to Western Christian (8-13) of Covina at 1 p.m. Friday at the Cerritos Sports Complex at Cerritos Regional Park.

All baseball playoff games, unless noted, begin at 3:15 p.m. Friday.