Pali High Baseball Earns No. 2 Seed

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

Following a magical regular season in which it won a program-record 25 games and captured its fifth consecutive Western League crown, the Palisades Charter High School baseball team was awarded the No. 2 seed in the City Section Open Division playoffs—its highest ever in 16 seasons under Coach Mike Voelkel.

The Dolphins routed rival Venice 10-0 in five innings May 11 to clinch their 11th league championship since Voelkel took over the program in 2008. They have won 70 consecutive league contests since a 7-3 loss at Venice on March 16, 2017. Twelve of their victories have been shutouts and 11 have come via the 10-run mercy rule.

“We did everything we needed to do and now it’s all about getting back to Dodger Stadium,” Voelkel said. “We’re taking it one game at a time. There are no gimmes in the Open Division. I’m very proud of this group.”

Palisades (25-2 overall, 12-0 in league) entered the postseason riding a 12-game win streak since its 6-2 loss to Steele Canyon in the Classic Division finale of the San Diego Lions Tournament on April 6.

West Valley League champion Granada Hills (21-7) earned the top overall seed in the 12-team Open Division bracket for the third straight season by virtue of its 6-5 win against Palisades in a non-league meeting March 2.

West Valley runner-up Birmingham, which lost to Chatsworth 2-0 in last year’s final, is seeded No. 3, and Marine League champion Carson is No. 4. Both earned first-round byes Wednesday along with Granada Hills and Palisades.

Palisades will host either No. 7 Garfield (the Eastern League winner) or No. 10 Venice (the Western League runner-up) in the quarterfinals Friday, May 19, at 3 p.m. at George Robert Field. Palisades outscored Venice 21-1 in two league games and beat Garfield 7-4 in non-league play April 29.

Should the Dolphins win their opener they would advance to the semifinals May 24 at USC against Birmingham, No. 6 Narbonne (which Palisades defeated 9-5 in an El Camino Real Classic game on April 15) or No. 11 Roosevelt, which finished third in the Eastern League and fell to Palisades 11-2 in pool play at the Lions Tournament.

In other first-round games, No. 8 Cleveland (fourth in the West Valley) hosted No. 9 South East (the Eastern League runner-up), and No. 5 El Camino Real (third in the West Valley) hosted No. 12 Los Angeles Marshall, the Northern League champion.

The championship game is Saturday, May 27, at Dodger Stadium. Palisades last reached the final in 2019 when it lost to Birmingham 9-5. The Dolphins are trying to become only the second team from outside the San Fernando Valley to win the City title in the last 30 years.