Winning the Western League championship was more than just rewarding for the Palisades High varsity baseball team. It also meant that co-coach Tom Seyler could represent his team and the league at the City Section playoff seeding meeting Monday night at Hamilton High. And Seyler did his job at the negotiating table as well as he and co-coach Kelly Loftus did on the field this season, securing the Dolphins the No. 6 seed in the 16-team City Division and a first-round home game against 11th-seeded San Fernando Friday at 3 p.m. Equally satisfying to Seyler was that three other Western League teams made the playoffs’Venice gaining the 14th seed in the City while Westchester (No. 9) and Fairfax (No. 14) made the Invitational Division. ‘Our league was rated the fifth strongest this year as opposed to seventh last year. That speaks a lot to the competition in our league,’ Seyler said. ‘It’s been a long time since our league had two teams in the upper bracket and I don’t think we’ve ever had more than three teams in the playoffs. Usually it’s one in the upper and two in the lower. This year we have two in each division.’ An interesting footnote to Pali’s game against San Fernando tomorrow is that Seyler knows Tigers coach Armando Gomez well. ‘We’ve been friends for 15 years and we play in a league together on Sundays,’ Seyler said. ‘I have a lot of respect for him and his program. San Fernando plays in a good league and they beat No. 3-seeded El Camino Real in a nonleague game so we aren’t taking them lightly.’ After finishing 14-1 in league play, Palisades wrapped up the regular season last Thursday with a 5-3 victory over Franklin. David Bromberg pitched six and 1/3 innings, allowing two runs on three hits with four strikeouts while going two for two at the plate, including a two-run home run. Steve Nirenberg added two hits and two RBIs for Palisades (20-5), whose only losses were to Newbury Park, Santa Monica, L.A. Marshall, Sun Valley Poly and Venice. ‘We were one pitch away from going undefeated in league, but I’m glad we bounced right back against Franklin,’ Seyler said. San Fernando (13-16-1) tied for third in the Valley Mission League behind fourth-seeded Kennedy and eighth-seeded Sylmar. Palisades did not play San Fernando, but the Dolphins beat Monroe, which tied for third place with San Fernando, lost a coin flip and wound up the No. 4 seed in the Invitational bracket. ‘San Fernando is a tough opponent. You can;’t go by their record. They have one of the best pitchers in the City in right-hander, Matt Navarez, who throws about 93 miles an hour. We faced him this winter and he’s the real deal.’ Should Palisades win Friday it would advance to the quarterfinals, where it would either host Venice or travel to El Camino Real next Wednesday at 3 p.m. The semifinals are Friday, June 4 and the City championship game will be June 8 at Dodger Stadium. Defending champion Chatsworth (31-0) was unanimously voted the No. 1 seed in the City Division, followed by San Pedro (28-3), El Camino Real (22-8) and Kennedy (21-10).
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