Whittier Christian (17-12) vs. Valley Christian (16-14-1)

7:30 TONIGHT BLAIR FIELD

This is a most unexpected matchup of Olympic League rivals. Cerritos Valley Christian closed the regular season with a sub-.500 record, but the Crusaders did manage to beat Whittier Christian twice during the final week of league play. Whittier Christian, a wild-card entrant, beat top-seeded Riverside Woodcrest Christian in the first round, and Valley Christian defeated third-seeded Lake Isabella Kern Valley in a quarterfinal. Valley Christian is 9-1 in its last 10 games and Coach Ryan Vanderhoek says he doesn’t plan to change a thing: “We’re going to play solid defense and put the ball in play.”

KEY PLAYERS

Whittier Christian

P Anthony Villa

6-8, 2.90 ERA

1B Joey Conrad

.380, 2 HRs

C Anthony Esquer

.355, 34 RBIs

Valley Christian

P Brad Boekestein

8-3, 2.40 ERA, 67 Ks

LF Nick Mahin

.404, 4 HRs, 34 RBIs

CF Greg Verhoeven

.398, 6 HRs, 30 RBIs