HIGH SCHOOL SOFTBALL NOTEBOOK

In the City Section, championships have been decided in the Sunset and West Valley leagues, but the Valley Mission League is up for grabs with four teams within 1 1/2 games.

Sylmar (12-9) beat Kennedy (11-8) last week to pull into a first-place tie with the Golden Cougars.

Both are 6-2 in league play.

Van Nuys (12-11, 5-3) is in third, one-half game ahead of fourth-place San Fernando (14-8-1, 4-3-1).

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El Camino Real (20-5) is beefing up its schedule at the right time, not two weeks before the playoffs start.

The Conquistadores have outscored City Section opponents, 102-1, and are expecting a high seeding in the playoffs, so playing Southern Section powers in the Thousand Oaks tournament provides a great tune-up.

And they fared better than expected.

El Camino Real was bumped up to the more competitive Green Division when Cerritos requested to be dropped to the White Division because several players would be absent.

The Conquistadores edged Righetti, 2-1, before losing to Thousand Oaks, 1-0.