High school sports

Oilers conquer the National

HUNTINGTON BEACH Oiler baseball team celebrates winning the National High School Invitational in Cary, North Carolina (USA Baseball).

The Huntington Beach Oiler baseball team won a national tournament over the weekend and now has an even bigger honor: the top ranking in The Orange County Tribune’s High 5 baseball poll.

The orange-and-black are 12-6 against tough competition and are ranked 12th in the nation. Victory came when the Oilers scored seven runs in the ninth inning to defeat JSerra 8-1 in the National High School Invitational final in Cary, North Carolina on Saturday.

Named to the all-tournament team were Oilers Tyler Bellerose, Dean Carpenter and Ralphy Velazquez.

With the win, Huntington Beach displaced last week’s top rated team, Pacifica. The Mariners (14-2) are second. The rest of the High Five is Garden Grove (12-5), Westminster (10-2) and Ocean View (10-7).

It’s worth noting that those three are in the Golden West League, so it should be a real scramble for the league pennant.

On the softball side, Marina (17-3) fell from the top spot with an 8-0 loss to Huntington Beach on Saturday.

The new High 5 is Pacifica (10-5), Huntington (10-4), Marina, Ocean View (10-5) and Garden Grove (8-4). On the bubble is Los Amigos (4-2-1).

Note to readers: All records noted here are based on results as the week starts.

Diamonds not all that’s precious

Local high school teams are doing well in CIF-SS polls for baseball and softball, but also stand up well in boys’ tennis, boys’ volleyball, girls’ lacrosse and girls’ beach volleyball.

Here are the CIF-SS polls as released on Monday.

Baseball

  • Division 1: Huntington Beach is fifth; Pacifica is ninth
  • Division 6: Garden Grove is third; Westminster is fourth
  • Division 7: Magnolia is unranked but received some votes

Softball

  • Division 1: Pacifica is fifth; Huntington Beach is seventh
  • Division 5: Westminster is unranked but received some votes
  • Division 7: Los Amigos is sixth

Boys’ tennis

  • Division 2: Edison is second; Huntington Beach is third
  • Division 4: Rancho Alamitos is third
  • Division 5: Garden Grove is second

Boys’ volleyball

  • Division 1: Huntington Beach is fourth; Edison is eighth
  • Division 5: Magnolia is unranked but received some votes

Girls’ lacrosse

  • Divisions 1 and 2: Edison is fifth
  • Division 3: Huntington Beach is first

Girls’ beach volleyball

  • Division 1: Edison is unranked but received some votes.

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