The guests travel cross country for a visit and then take home all of the cool stuff.
And they get invited to come back the next year.
That’s how it has been at the National High School Invitational baseball tournament that begins Wednesday in North Carolina.
Orange County teams have won the championship of the NHSI in eight of the 10 years for the 16-team tournament.
Orange Lutheran won the tournament title three times and three years in a row, 2017-19. The Lancers beat Dana Hills in the 2017 championship game.
Huntington Beach won it last season by beating JSerra in the championship game. Huntington Beach also won the tournament in 2016.
Huntington Beach beats JSerra in nine innings in National High School Invitational final
San Clemente won it in 2015. Mater Dei won the championship the first two seasons, 2013 and ‘14, beating Harvard-Westlake in both finals.
Huntington Beach and Orange Lutheran arrived in North Carolina on Monday to play in this season’s NHSI at the USA Baseball complex in Cary, N.C. Huntington Beach plays St. John’s Country Day on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. PDT. Orange Lutheran on Wednesday plays Farragut at 3 p.m. PDT.
NHSI games will be streamed live at USABaseball.TV.
Huntington Baseball has arrived! Getting a little practice in today before the tournament starts tomorrow!! pic.twitter.com/RmABB27nmZ
— HB Oiler Athletics (@HB_OilerSports) April 9, 2024
“It’s a beautiful complex with beautiful fields,” said Huntington Beach coach Benji Medure. “From the second you get off the plane someone from the tournament is waiting for you. They’ve got your ‘Huntington Beach’ sign and you feel special. All of the little details make it great.”
This is the second NHSI experience for Orange Lutheran senior center fielder Derek Curiel.
“In travel ball we play against the best teams and players in the country,” Curiel said. “But it’s more special when its with the guys you play with and go to school with nine months out of the year. It’s more like our brotherhoods are competing against other schools’ brotherhoods.”
“Only 16 teams are invited to this thing,” Orange Lutheran coach Eric Borba said. “Just the honor of being recognized as one of the top programs in the nation starts it off. Some great programs are never invited, and we’re here for the eighth time.”
NOTES
The Orange County All-Star Baseball Game will be played this year. The Kiwanis Club of Greater Anaheim had organized and managed the game for graduating seniors since its origin in 1968 but is unable to continue running it, so another group has taken it on. Details on that, as well as the date and location of the game, will be announced later, but it looks like the game will be played in late May. …
Mater Dei was the best team in Orange County last week. The Monarchs in the Boras Classic South won two 11-innings games, over La Mirada 3-2 and Huntington Beach 4-3, before beating Corona 5-3 in the championship game. Mater Dei’s Jackson Campbell and Ezekiel Lara shared player of the game honors for the win over Corona. …
Mater Dei’s baseball team celebrates after winning the Boras Classic South championship with a 5-3 victory over Corona on Friday, April 5. (Photo by Steve Fryer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
In last week’s CIF Southern Section Division 1 poll, Corona was No. 1, Huntington Beach was No. 5 and La Mirada was No. 8 while Mater Dei was in the “others” category. This week’s Division 1 rankings have Orange Lutheran at No. 3, Santa Margarita at No. 4 and Mater Dei at No. 5. Corona remains at No. 1. …
Four Orange County teams are ranked No. 1 in their division: San Juan Hills in Division 4, Century in Division 6, Buena Park in Division 7 and Pacifica Christian in Division 8. …
Fountain Valley last week won the All In Tournament at Palm Desert by beating Palm Desert 4-0 in the championship game. Barons senior left-hander Cayden Bonura pitched six scoreless innings with nine strikeouts against Palm Desert. …
Tesoro went 2-2 in the Atascadero Tournament last week. …
JSerra and Santa Margarita play each other three times this week in a Trinity League series. Wednesday’s game is at Santa Margarita and the teams play at JSerra on Friday. JSerra beat Santa Margarita 1-0 in last year’s CIF-SS Division 1 championship game. …
El Modena is 3-0 in the Crestview League going into a two-game league series against Villa Park, which is 1-2 in league. They play at El Modena on Wednesday, at Villa Park on Friday. Villa Park, No. 8 in the Orange County rankings, is 12-9 overall going into this week; El Modena is 13-4-1.
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