Woodland Hills West Seeded 1st for Playoffs

After finishing the season with the best record in District 20, Woodland Hills West (19-3) has been seeded as the No. 1 team in the double-elimination district playoffs, which open today at two Valley-area sites.

Whether this is a blessing or curse is purely subjective.

“I don’t think I like being No. 1,” West Coach Gary Gibson said. “We were No. 1 last year, and it sure didn’t help then.”

Woodland Hills West, winner of the Western Division for the second consecutive season, will play Burbank (13-9), one of two wild-card entries, at Birmingham High at 4 p.m. Last year, West was 2-2 in the tournament and failed to advance to the area playoffs.

Second-seeded Panorama City (17-4), the Eastern Division champion, will play wild-card entry Woodland Hills East (13-9) at Birmingham at 12:30.

At Pierce College, third-seeded Newhall-Saugus (17-5), the Northern Division champion, will play Sun Valley (13-9), the Eastern Division runner-up, at 12:30.

Lancaster (14-8), the Northern Division runner-up, will meet Encino-Crespi (13-9) at 4. Encino-Crespi has won six of its past seven games and swept a two-game series from Woodland Hills East over the weekend to finish second in the Western Division.

Semifinals are Saturday at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. at Birmingham. The tournament final is Sunday at Birmingham at 11 a.m., with a second game at 3 p.m., if necessary.

Unlike last season, when two teams from District 20 advanced, only the district champion will qualify for the 6th Area playoffs, to be held July 27-30 at Birmingham.

For the first time in three years, there will be a new district champion--two-time defending district champion Van Nuys-Notre Dame (11-11) failed to advance to the playoffs.