Above: Dorian Granados hit a three-run homer to break a 3-3 tie in the fifth inning to lead Damien to a 6-3 victory over Palos Verdes.

Friday’s first-round results
Division 2
Damien 6, Palos Verdes 3: Damien High School junior Dorian Granados is proof that playoff heroes aren’t predictable, they’re timely. After Damien rallied from three runs down in the fifth inning to tie the score 3-3, Granados hit a two-out, three-run homer off the scoreboard in left to lead the Spartans to a come-from-behind 6-3 victory over visiting Palos Verdes.

Glendora 4, Peninsula 1: Glendora High School set the tone early and let its dominant pitching do the rest in a 4-1 CIF-Southern Section Division 2 first-round baseball playoff victory Friday against visiting Peninsula.

Division 4
Bishop Amat 10, Patriot 0: The Lancers rode ace Paul Paez to a 10-0 victory over Patriot that sends the Lancers into Tuesday’s second round where they’ll face Colony.

Northview 7, Barstow 2:Damien Chico had three RBIs and a key two-run double in the first inning and Northview jumped to a quick six-run lead en route to a 7-2 victory over the visiting Aztecs on Friday.

Garey 9, San Dimas 1: Apparently no one told Garey High School ace Vincent Velasquez that he was facing the reigning CIF-Southern Section Division 4 baseball champions. The senior right-hander threw a complete game, allowing just an unearned run and striking out a career-high 17 batters to lead the host Vikings to a 9-1 victory over San Dimas in the first round of the playoffs on Friday afternoon.

Montebello files protest of South Hills’ 3-2 win: Montebello has apparently filed a protest in South Hills’ 3-2 win, alleging that South Hills took illegal batting practice before the game. The Montebello staff told our Steve Ramirez they will discuss it with their athletic department to see if they have a case. South Hills coach Kevin Smith has denied it.

South Hills wins protest — CIF officials denied Montebello’s protest of Thursday’s Division 3 first-round playoff win by South Hills, 3-2. The Oilers argued the Huskies conducted an illegal batting practice before the game. After watching video of the incident provided by Montebello, CIF ruled there was in fact a an illegal batting practice, but it was not enough to warrant a disqualification of South Hills from the playoffs. The rules allow CIF to make a judgment call in situations such as this.

“At the end of the day, nobody is here to penalize kids,” Southern Section Director of Information Thom Simmons said. “Did a penalty occur? Sure. Did a team gain a competitive advantage? No. Did they (South Hills) win on the field? Yes.”

“In the rules, it says a ‘may’ be removed from the playoffs for something like this. Not that they ‘will’ be. The rule allows us that leeway. We don’t think it was worthy of removing a team from the entire playoffs.”