Armed and Ready: Chatsworth Is Top Seed in City Baseball Playoffs

The first round of the City Section baseball playoffs begins Tuesday, and Chatsworth High, seeded No. 1 for the eighth time over the past nine seasons, is all business.

The Chancellors have won nine City titles – more than anyone else – including seven over the past 11 seasons, but they lost in the semifinals last season, an off year for a program that won consecutive national championships in 2003 and 2004.

“We don’t usually think of ourselves as a being a heavy favorite. We just know that we can’t look too far ahead and make the same mistake as last year,” shortstop Brady Conlan said. “We’ve been practicing hard all week, and we’re coming out hungry, and were just going to take it one pitch at a time.”

Chatsworth opens Tuesday against the Roosevelt-Westchester wild-card winner. First pitch is 3 p.m.

Conlan is among Chatsworth’s key players, along with pitcher/outfielders Aaron Brown and Steven Karkenny, pitchers Angel Rodriguez and Christian Lopez, third baseman Ryan Escobar, catcher Ricky Obando and second baseman Jared Holley.

“We’re definitely looking forward to the playoffs, and we’re fine-tuning various things in practice,” Karkenny said. “We have our work cut out for us, as plenty of good teams are in the playoffs. It’s always exciting when it comes down to the last four games of the season. We’re ready.”

West Valley League rival El Camino Real is No. 2, Kennedy is No. 3 and Banning is No. 4. A team from the San Fernando Valley has won the City title 37 times over the past 38 years. This year, the championship game is slated for Saturday, June 4 at Dodger Stadium, beginning at 2 p.m.

Riding a seven-game winning streak, Chatsworth (21-5) has played a tougher schedule than most of the teams in the tournament. Only one of the team’s five losses is to a City team.

SEASON OVER FOR SIERRA CANYON

After winning the last four baseball games of the regular season to make the Division V playoffs, Sierra Canyon lost 3-2 to Yeshiva on Tuesday night at Birmingham High in a wild-card game. Brian Tucker led the team with a .378 batting average.