BRACKET HAS A FAMILIAR LOOK TO IT NO. 1 SAN PEDRO, NO. 2 EL CAMINO REAL ARE TOP SEEDS.Byline: Ramona Shelburne Ramona Shelburne is an American sports journalist currently writing for the Los Angeles Daily News. Shelburne was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She attended El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills, California where she was a class valedictorian. Staff Writer The City Section softball softball, variant of baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Invented (1888) in Chicago as an indoor game, it was at various times called indoor baseball, mush ball, playground ball, kitten ball, and, because it was also played by women, ladies' playoff bracket was released Thursday afternoon, and it looked remarkably similar to last year's bracket - and 2003, 2002 and 2001. That's what happens when one team - San Pedro - so thoroughly dominates the competition. The Pirates have won five consecutive City Section titles and 12 overall. Something felt a little different, however, in the conference room at Hamilton High in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. as representatives from the 10 City Section leagues voted on the 32-team bracket. Even San Pedro coach Tony Dobra acknowledged his team, which easily won an 8-2 vote to be the top seed, isn't as big a favorite as it has been in years past. ``All the teams in our league are very young. We've only got three seniors, I don't think Carson has any, and El Camino Real El Camino Real (Spanish for The Royal Road or The King's Highway) was the name of a series of pre-automobile highways linking the various New World colonies of Spain:
The question is, will San Pedro's youth matter? The Pirates (25-2, 10-0) lost City Player of the Year Ashley Esparza to graduation, but have replaced her in the circle with freshman right-hander Taylor Petty (15-2), who has 170 strikeouts in 106 innings. El Camino Real (22-5, 10-0) of Woodland Hills counters with junior right-hander Megan Miller (15-2), who has developed into a top Division I prospect. ``Megan has matured a lot this year,'' El Camino Real coach Lori Chandler said. ``She's a lot more mentally tough.'' San Pedro and El Camino Real have each won 12 City titles, so this year could be the tiebreaker tie·break·er n. An additional contest or period of play designed to establish a winner among tied contestants. Also called tiebreak. tie . In order for the 1-2 matchup to materialize, barring any upsets, El Camino Real will have to get by No. 3 seed Carson (20-11, 8-2), the City runner-up six consecutive years. Play in the 32-team bracket begins Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. First-round winners move on in the City Bracket. First-round losers continue in the Invitational in·vi·ta·tion·al adj. Restricted to invited participants: an invitational golf tournament. n. An event, especially a sports tournament, restricted to invited participants. Adj. 1. Bracket. Banning of Wilmington (22-5, 6-4), which finished third in the competitive Marine League, was seeded fourth, followed by Valley Mission League co-champion Sylmar (19-5, 9-1), which won a coin flip with San Fernando San Fernando, city, Argentina San Fernando (săn fərnăn`dō), city (1991 pop. 144,761), Buenos Aires prov., E Argentina. It is a district administrative center in the Greater Buenos Aires area. (18-9, 9-1) to go in as a first-place team. San Fernando, which hosts No. 25 Cleveland of Reseda in the first round, was seeded eighth. Birmingham of Lake Balboa (19-11, 8-2), the second-place team in the West Valley League, was seeded sixth. ``I think we kind of surprised a lot of people, including ourselves, this year,'' Birmingham coach Jim Rose Jim Rose may refer to a number of persons:
Ramona Shelburne, (818) 713-3617 ramona.shelburne(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): box Box: CITY SECTION SOFTBALL PLAYOFFS |
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