Norco receives No. 1 seed for revamped Southern Section Division 1 baseball playoffs

Dylan Seward (left) and Jordan Ayala are standout baseball players at Norco High, the top-seeded team in the Southern Section Division 1 playoffs. (Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

Norco High received the No. 1 seed for the Southern Section Division 1 baseball playoffs on Friday that will begin with pool play on Tuesday.

It's the first time you can lose an opening game and not go home. There are four four-team pools, with the first- and second-place teams advancing to the single-elimination quarterfinals.

Norco opens in pool A with a home game against Maranatha. Sherman Oaks Notre Dame hosts Ayala and standout pitcher Caleb Trugman in the other pool A game. Round 2 is May 15 and if another round is needed, Tuesday, May 19. The quarterfinals are May 22.

Other top seeds in the Division 1 pools are No. 2 Harvard-Westlake (pool B), No. 3 Sierra Canyon (pool C) and No. 4 Orange Lutheran (pool D). Since the Southern Section uses computer rankings, you have the strange situation of Trinity League runner-up Orange Lutheran getting seeded ahead of Trinity League champion St. John Bosco.

The best opening game could be Cypress at St. John Bosco in pool C. Both are league champions with outstanding pitchers.

Coaches have been lobbying for years to have best two-out-of-three series, and this comes close but other divisions remain single elimination and 32-team brackets. Villa Park is seeded No. 1 in Division 2.

Here's the link to complete brackets from Division 1 to Division 9.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.