High school roundup: Huntington Beach earns No. 2 seed in CIF baseball playoffs

Coach Benji Medure, shown congratulating Josh Hahn (9) on March 1, leads the Huntington Beach High baseball team into the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs.

By Daily Pilot staff

May 14, 2018 10:30 PM PT

For the third time in four years, Huntington High received one of the top two seeds in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 baseball playoffs.

Huntington Beach, one of seven local baseball teams qualifying for the postseason, earned the No. 2 seed in Division 1 on Monday.

The Oilers (25-5), ranked No. 4 in the state by CalHiSports.com, open the postseason in the first round on Friday at 3:15 p.m. Sunset League champion Huntington Beach will host the winner of Wednesday’s wild-card game between Vista Murrieta and Riverside Martin Luther King.

The area’s other programs in the playoffs are Corona del Mar, Laguna Beach and Fountain Valley, each in Division 2, while Ocean View and Sage Hill are in Division 3, and Estancia is in Division 5.

CdM (19-6), the runner-up finisher from the Pacific Coast League, plays at Ambassador League champion Riverside Woodcrest Christian (17-5) on Thursday at 3:15 p.m. The Sea Kings are looking to get out of the first round for the first time since 2009.

Orange Coast League champion Laguna Beach (18-9) is at home in the first round against Hemet Tahquitz (18-8) on Thursday at 3:15 p.m. Tahquitz won the Division 4 championship last season.

Fountain Valley (18-11), the third-place team from the Sunset League, travels to North Hills League champion Canyon (18-10-1) for Thursday’s first-round game at 3:15 p.m.

Ocean View (17-13), the runner-up finisher from the Golden West League, plays at Brea Olinda (17-13), the second-place team from the North Hills League, in the first round on Friday at 3:15 p.m.

Sage Hill (16-7), which finished second in the Academy League, opens in the wild-card round at home with Long Beach Poly (14-16), the fourth-place team from the Moore League, on Wednesday at 3:15 p.m.

Estancia (17-12), which shared second place in the Orange Coast League, hosts Anaheim (12-16), the third-place team from the Orange League, in the first round on Friday at 3:15 p.m.

SOFTBALL

Huntington Beach, Edison, Marina and Costa Mesa will all travel in the first round of the CIF Southern Section playoffs, the programs learned after the section released playoff brackets on Monday.

The team that will play first and is guaranteed to play at home is Ocean View (12-8), the Golden West League runner-up. The Seahawks host Channel League No. 3 representative Goleta Dos Pueblos (15-9) in a Division 5 wild-card game on Tuesday at 3:15 p.m. The winner plays at Studio City Harvard-Westlake (9-7-1) in the first round Thursday.

Huntington Beach (19-7) shared the Sunset League title with Los Alamitos, the defending Division 1 champion which is the No. 2 seed this year. But the Oilers earned the league’s designated second-place status for the playoffs. Huntington Beach plays at Inland Valley League champion Riverside Poly (19-8) in a Division 1 first-round game Thursday at 3:15 p.m.

Edison (13-10) is the No. 3 representative from the Sunset League after beating Marina 9-1 in a tiebreaker game on May 9. The Chargers play at Suburban League champion Cerritos (18-5) in a Division 2 first-round game Thursday at 3:15 p.m.

Despite the loss to Edison, Marina (14-11) still earned an at-large berth into the postseason, the only team to do so in Division 2. Marina is at North Hills League champion Esperanza (21-4) in another Division 2 first-round game at 3:15 p.m.

Costa Mesa, which finished third in the Orange Coast League, is the area’s lone seeded team. The Mustangs (17-8) earned the No. 3 seed in Division 7. Costa Mesa plays at El Segundo Da Vinci Design Academy (5-8), the Mulholland League champion, in a first-round game Thursday at 3:15 p.m.

BOYS’ TENNIS

Fountain Valley 16, Crescenta Valley 2: Justin Pham and Tommy Trinh swept at No. 1 doubles for the Barons, who advanced to the CIF Southern Section semifinals for the first time in coach Harshul Patel’s eight-year tenure after winning Monday’s Division 2 quarterfinal match on the road.

Vivek Savsani and Brandon Keller also swept at No. 2 doubles for the No. 3-seeded Barons, who won eight of nine doubles sets. Ben Nguyen swept in singles for the Barons, while Justin Nguyen and Ryan Trinh won twice before being subbed out.

Fountain Valley (18-3) will play JSerra in Wednesday’s semifinals at a site to be determined by coin flip.

Laguna Beach 15, Laguna Blanca 3: Mason Lebby and Andrew Johnson swept in singles for the host Breakers in the quarterfinals of the CIF Southern Section Division 4 playoffs Monday.

Blake Hawkins and Matt Berk won twice at No. 1 doubles for Laguna Beach (14-5), the No. 4 seed.

Laguna Beach will play at Santa Ynez in a Division 4 semifinal match on Wednesday. Santa Ynez defeated El Monte Arroyo 13-5 in the quarterfinals.

JSerra 10, Huntington Beach 8: Rohan Gupta and Daniel Izmirian each won two singles sets for the host Oilers in Monday’s CIF Southern Section Division 2 quarterfinal match.

Tanner Harris and Cole Hazard won twice in doubles for Huntington Beach (10-9).

BOYS’ GOLF

CIF Southern Section Southern Division Team finals: Edison and Newport Harbor finished third and fourth, respectively, in the tournament at Mile Square Golf Course on Monday.

The Chargers finished with a five-over-par 365, followed by the Sailors’ 382. Pete DiBernardo led Edison with a tournament low six-under-par 66, and Newport Harbor’s Campbell Norris finished at 71.

The top two teams, Anaheim Discovery Christian and Long Beach Wilson, advanced to the CIF Southern Section Southern California Golf Assn. Team Qualifier at Santa Barbara’s Rancho San Marcos Golf Course on Thursday.

Twitter: @DailyPilotSport

To report scores or newsworthy items, contact the sports staff listed below:

David Carrillo Peñaloza, Sports Editor

(714) 966-4612, david.carrillo@latimes.com

Twitter: @ByDCP

Fall: football, girls’ golf

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