Prep talk: It's all about trying to challenge Birmingham in City Section baseball
Birmingham's 7-0 start in the West Valley League has the Patriots as the favorites to win the City Section Open Division championship. The final game will be played May 24 at Dodger Stadium.
But there's lots of teams jockeying to knock off the Patriots.
El Camino Real has been gaining momentum with six straight West Valley League victories while showing enough good pitching and defense to be a factor. Birmingham has not won a league title in Matt Mowry's 19 seasons as coach and plays El Camino Real in a two-game series to end the regular season May 6 and 8.
Sun Valley Poly is 7-0 in its first year in the Valley Mission League. Sophomore Fabian Bravo has turned in some top pitching performances against good teams. Poly and Sylmar will meet this month to decide the league championship.
Venice is 14-1 and running away with the Western League title with a veteran team that has 16 seniors. Noel Moreno is 6-1 on the mound.
Banning holds a one-game lead over Narbonne and Carson in the Marine League.
Defending champion Bell has been inconsistent but still is favored to win the Eastern League. Jayden Rojas, the reigning City player of the year, is starting to build up his arm strength. Garfield is putting up a challenge to Bell with a 7-0 league mark. The two teams play April 28 and May 1 to decide the league title.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.
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