El Camino Real earns No. 1 seeding for City baseball playoffs

Woodland Hills El Camino Real was given the No. 1 seeding for the City Section Division I baseball playoffs on Saturday. Harbor City Narbonne is No. 2, followed by Granada Hills Kennedy at No. 3 and Wilmington Banning at No. 4.

A big challenge will be staying sharp, because first-round games aren’t until May 28.

“That’s going to be the tough part,” El Camino Real Coach Josh Lienhard said. “We’ll have a couple of intrasquad games.”

The championship game will take place June 7 at Dodger Stadium.

Dorsey received the No. 1 seeding in Division II and Port of Los Angeles got the top seeding in Division III.

El Camino Real tied with Chatsworth for the West Valley League title, but because the Conquistadores owned a win over the Chancellors, they got the tiebreaker nod.

Chatsworth dropped to the No. 5 seed. Complicating matters was that a scheduled game between El Camino Real and Chatsworth to decide the league title was canceled because of air quality issues. The two teams could meet in the semifinals.

The tournament will feature plenty of teams with standout pitchers, creating some intriguing early games that could cause coaches to try to get past the first round with No. 2 pitchers.

El Camino Real came on strong behind the hitting of sophomore Eric Yang and seniors Hayden Rappoport and Erik Whittlesey. Sophomore pitcher Jeremy Polon is 7-2 with a 1.08 earned-run average.

Narbonne went unbeaten in the Marine League behind pitcher Daniel Rocha.

San Fernando Valley teams have won every City championship in Division I since 1973 except for 1992.

Division I wild-card games are on May 21. The semifinals will take place on June 4 at USC.

Here’s a look at the playoff pairings:

DIVISION I

No. 16 Verdugo Hills or No. 17 Roosevelt at No. 1 El Camino Real

No. 9 Palisades at No. 8 Sylmar

No. 12 North Hollywood at No. 5 Chatsworth

No. 13 Garfield or No. 20 Taft at No. 4 Banning

No. 19 San Pedro or No. 14 Hamilton at No. 3 Kennedy

No. 11 Marshall at No. 6 Birmingham

No. 10 Granada Hills at No. 7 San Fernando

No. 15 Cleveland or No. 18 Poly at No. 2 Narbonne

DIVISION II

No. 16 Contreras or No. 17 Fairfax at No. 1 Dorsey

No. 9 Los Angeles at No. 8 Franklin

No. 12 Sotomayor at No. 5 Grant

No. 20 Locke or No. 13 Hollywood at No. 4 South East

No. 19 RF Kennedy or No. 14 Roybal at No. 3 Huntington Park

No. 11 Lincoln at No. 6 Chavez

No. 10 Panorama at No. 7 Eagle Rock

No. 18 Gardena or No. 15 Crenshaw at No. 2 Van Nuys

DIVISION III

No. 16 VAAS at No. 1 Port of L.A.

No. 9 Northridge at No. 8 Central City

No. 12 SOCES at No. 5 LACES

No. 13 Community Charter at No. 4 Rancho Dominguez

No. 14 De La Hoya Animo at No. 3 Animo Venice

No. 11 Animo Robinson at No. 6 East Valley

No. 10 Bright Star at No. 7 Vaughn

No. 15 Harbor Prep at No. 2 Fulton Prep