Baseball: Five of six West Valley League teams win playoff openers

The opening round of the City Section Division I playoffs showed off the strength of the West Valley League, with five of the six teams winning games.

The only major upset involved No. 14 Granada Hills, the fifth-place league finisher, knocking off No. 3-seeded Kennedy, 6-2, behind Chris Murphy, who threw a no-hitter. Murphy, a junior left-hander, walked seven, struck out nine and hit three batters. Nick Fuentes had three hits.

Perhaps the strangest moment was in Birmingham’s 4-1 win over Marshall. Joey Ramirez of Marshall seemingly put his team ahead, 2-1, in the third inning with a two-run home run. But he failed to touch home plate and Birmingham Coach Matt Mowry noticed. He appealed to the umpire and Ramirez was called out. Edgar Rivas had a home run and RBI double for Birmingham, which got a complete game from Adrian Rodriguez.

Jeremy Polon threw a three-hitter to lead No. 1 El Camino Real past Verdugo Hills, 1-0. Dylan Hirsch had an RBI triple. Josh Garcia threw six strong innings in Chatsworth’s 7-2 win over Palisades. Tyger Goslin, Daniel Zakosek and Jeryd Reuss had two hits apiece for Chatsworth.

Banning knocked off Sun Valley Poly, 1-0, on an eighth-inning walk-off hit by Anthony Vela. Michael Ramirez threw eight shutout innings for Banning. Narbonne defeated Taft, 9-4. Daniel Rocha improved to 9-1 and Isaiah Flowers went four for four.

Hamilton advanced with a 6-1 win over Garfield. Dalton Blumenfeld hit his ninth home run and Ethan Lazar had a single, double and two RBIs. Cleveland defeated San Pedro, 3-1. Ben Kaser got the win and Anthony Rivera had two RBIs.

Friday’s quarterfinal matchups: Birmingham at El Camino Real; Hamilton at Narbonne; Granada Hills at Cleveland; Banning at Chatsworth.

Twitter:@LATSondheimer