The Westside will be very busy today (Wednesday) as the Central Section high school baseball playoffs begin.
The California Interscholastic Federation office in Kingsburg announced the playoff brackets on Saturday.
Four West Sierra League schools will host opening-round games, led by champion Dos Palos. The Broncos, which finished the regular season with a sparkling 23-2 record, will host Sierra Pacific-Hanford at Bronco Diamond with the first pitch scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Dos Palos is the No. 2 seed in Div. III, while the Golden Bears, with an overall record of 14-15, are the No. 15 seed. Kingsburg is the No. 1 seed in Div. III.
In Div. V, Firebaugh drew the No. 2 seed and will host McLane-Fresno. Firebaugh finished second in the W.S.L. and came into the game with a record of 13-16. Under longtime coach Jim Sirimarco, the Highlanders finished the regular season with a 9-16-1 record.
Chavez-Delano is the top seed in Div. V and will host Golden Valley-Bakersfield.
The Mendota Aztecs, which won the Div. VI section title last year under head coach Alan Ray Clark will be back in the same division this year as the No. 3 seed. Finishing with an overall record of 15-12 under first-year coach Tony Rojas, Mendota will host No. 14 Kings Christian-Lemoore. The Crusaders come into the contest with a 6-12 record.
The Coalinga Horned Toads are also in Div. VI as a No. 4 seed with an overall record of 9-14-2. They will host Farmersville from the south valley. The Aztecs also have a record of 11-13 in Div. VI, Avenal will travel to Torres High-Madera.
Shafter High (9-11) is the No. 1 seed in D VI and will host Mammoth.
Quarterfinal games will be played this Friday. Visalia’s Rawhide Park will host the Valley finals on May 27th.
As for Westside softball, the opening round games took place yesterday. Firebaugh (No. 11) traveled to Sierra-Tollhouse (No. 6) in Div. VI. Mendota, also in Div. VI played at Fresno Christian in Div. V, Dos Palos, the No. 12 seed, traveled to No. 5 Mira Monte-Bakersfield.
The championships for Central Section softball will take place at Fresno State’s Margie Wright Diamond.
