BASEBALL : Few Surprises Among Field for Semifinals

The first two rounds of the City Section 3-A Division playoffs unfolded as expected for the top four seeds.

No. 1 Bell High, Franklin (2), South Gate (3) and Narbonne (4) all won and play in the semifinals on Tuesday, with the winners advacing to the finals at Dodger Stadium on Thursday.

Despite Bell’s impressive wins over Fremont and Manual Arts, Eagles’ Coach Henry Santiago is not looking past his next opponent.

“Narbonne is a tough team and even though we are playing very well, we’ll have to play our best to beat them,” Santiago said. “I’m not even thinking about Dodger Stadium.”

But Franklin, defending 3-A champs, is savoring the thought of returning to the site where it won the school’s second championship in six years.

“Certainly we want to get back there and win it again, because repeating is a true sign of excellence,” Franklin Coach Rick Campbell said. “Not many teams get the opportunity [to repeat], so we want to take advantage of our situation.”

First, the Panthers (22-4-1) must get past South Gate (21-5) in a rematch of last year’s semifinal, won by Franklin, 7-3.

“This is not the best team I have had, but they find a way to win,” South Gate Coach Mike Ryan said. “It’s probably the most determined group of guys I have ever coached.”

Franklin and South Gate play at Crystal Springs in Griffith Park, while Bell (27-2) takes on Narbonne at East Los Angeles College.

In action last week:

Tuesday’s first round

Bell 5, Fremont 1--Francisco Montero went 3 for 3 with two RBIs.

Roosevelt 1, Crenshaw 0--In the first inning, center fielder Chris Minter hit a leadoff triple and later scored the game-winning run on a fielder’s choice.

South Gate 10, Hamilton 2--The Rams scored seven runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to blow the game open.

Franklin 13, Jordan 0--Oscar Cabrera went 4 for 5 with six RBIs and pitcher Alec Adame threw a six-hit shutout with 11 strikeouts.

Thursday’s second round

Franklin 11, Roosevelt 5--David Macias hit a grand slam in the fifth inning and Alec Adame went 2 for 3 with a two-run home run.

Bell 8, Manual Arts 0--Pitcher John Moreno-Orozco gave up one hit, struck out six in five innings and helped his own cause with a two-run single in the third.

South Gate 3, Hollywood 2--Tony Villegas singled in Steve Toriz for the game-winning run in the bottom of the fifth inning. Pitcher Rafael Esparza had five strikeouts while scattering four hits over seven innings.

In other games, Manual Arts beat Wilson, 4-3, on Tuesday and Narbonne beat Garfield, 4-3, on Thursday.