Travel team takes second

The H.B. Vikings, a local 13-and-Under travel baseball team, played up a division last weekend and went on to take a second-place finish at the Amateur Athletic Union 14-Under tournament in San Clemente.

The two-day tournament concluded Sunday.

The Vikings went 1-1 in the first day of action on Saturday, a record that earned them a No. 6 seed for Sunday’s Division II playoffs.

In their first game Sunday against the Mission Grizzlies, the Vikings jumped out to a 4-1 first-inning lead, and maintained that lead until the Grizzlies scored single runs in each the sixth and seventh innings and held on for a 4-2 victory.

The win moved the Vikings into the division’s title game.

In the division final, the Vikings ran into an O.C. Hawks team that is ranked as the nation’s top 13-and-under team by the United States Sports Specialty Assn. and had handed the Vikings a 14-0 defeat in their tournament opener on Saturday.

The Hawks scored eight runs over the first two innings before allowing the Vikings a run in the fifth and went on to claim the title with an 8-1 victory.

The second-place finish qualified the Vikings for the upcoming AAU national tournament in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

In their first seven tournaments as 13-and-Under Majors, the Vikings have compiled a 20-10-1 record and have won three first-place tournament titles and placed second on three other occasions.