Baseball Seeded Seventh in City

It was not easy, but the Palisades High varsity baseball team closed out the regular season with a 4-3 victory over Hamilton to put the finishing touch on yet another Western League title. Coach Mike Voelkel crunched the numbers Tuesday night and had his team ranked seventh. He obviously did his homework because that’s just where a nine-member selection committee seeded the Dolphins the following day. “We have no control over where they place us but I do think that our tough nonleague schedule and our head-to-head results against other City teams work in our favor,” Voelkel said Tuesday. “Being a league champion should factor into the criteria also.” Palisades (17-10) will take on 10th-seeded Bell (24-7) in the first round at 3 p.m. next Wednesday at George Robert Field. Coincidentally, it is the only first-round game featuring two schools from outside the San Fernando Valley. Bell enters the playoffs having won 8 of its last 10 games. Just as Palisades posted a 11-1 mark in the Western League, the Eagles went 11-1 to win the Eastern League. They have tournament victories over three Western League opponents: Venice, Hamilton and Westchester. Regardless of how far the Dolphins advance, Voelkel is proud of what his team has accomplished to this point: “We were not the favorites going into the season but we grew a lot as a team and had some individuals who came up big for us in key situations along the way.” Freshman Sam Wasserman has played with poise all season and he did so again Monday, delivering a clutch single to left field with one out in the bottom of the sixth inning to snap a 3-3 tie after Ryan Kim drew a lead-off walk and pinch runner Adam Levin moved to second on Chase Holmes’ sacrifice bunt. For one of the few times all season, ace pitcher Julian Achez was not sharp, but he still led 1-0 when he was lifted after loading the bases with no outs in the top of the fourth inning. Thanks to some gutsy pitching by reliever Hunter Varnum, the Yankees managed only one run. In the next inning, however, Hamilton scored twice more to take a 3-1 lead. The Dolphins answered right back in their half of the frame when Dylan Jeffers’ two-out single to center scored Julian Harrison and Cary Jacobson. Last Thursday, Phillip Joseph pitched four innings of solid relief as Palisades beat Hamilton 6-3. Pali scored four times in the top of the first inning to take command. Achez hit a towering home run over the left field fence in the third inning and Josh Korn scored from third on a balk in the fifth. Should the Dolphins get past Bell they would likely travel to second-seeded Banning in the quarterfinals next Friday, unless the Pilots are upset by the winner of this week’s wildcard game between No. 18 Sun Valley Poly and No. 15 Reseda Cleveland. Last spring, Palisades drew the sixth seed but was upset 1-0 in the first round by 11th-seeded Banning. * * * * * * The junior varsity finished 15-4 and went undefeated in the Western League with Monday’s 12-0 win at Hamilton. Freshman Harrison Simon pitched a two-hitter and Jason Barnett went 3-for-3 at the plate. Last Thursday, Travis Traweek had 11 strikeouts in a one-hit shutout of the Yankees and Sage Lewis homered in the first inning. * * * * * * The Palisades High baseball program will be conducting American Legion tryouts next Saturday, May 22, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at George Robert Field. Tryouts are open to ages 15 (incoming freshmen) through 17 and players must bring their own cleats, bats and gloves. Softball Having finished fourth in the Western League, Palisades was seeded 11th out of 20 teams in the City Invitational playoffs and travels to sixth-seeded Narbonne for a first-round game today at 3 p.m. If victorious, the Dolphins would likely travel to third-seeded Fremont in the quarterfinals next Tuesday. Hannah Fagerbakke was voted first team All-Western League after batting over .600. Catcher Karina Perez and shortstop Jenna Paul made the second team. sports@palipost.com