Huntington Beach players celebrate after winning the CIF Division 1 So Cal regional crown. (PHOTOS: Tom Connolly, For OC Sports Zone).
Huntington Beach’s baseball team got a second chance and made the best of it.
After being eliminated in the CIF Southern Section playoffs in May, the Oilers thought their season was over.
However, a week after a CIF playoff loss to La Mirada, Huntington Beach got an opportunity to participate in the CIF So Cal Division I regional tournament as the No. 8 seed and the Oilers redeemed themselves.
“I was in my office the week after we were knocked out of the playoffs and I was putting my uniforms away when I got a call from the CIF saying that we’re the next ranked team and we were invited to participate in the regional tournament,” said Oilers Coach Benji Medure. “It took a few days to sink in, but the guys got excited for the chance to play and they made the best of it.”
Jared Grindlinger homered and Huntington Beach held off a late Dons rally rally to beat Cathedral Catholic 5-3 Saturday. It marked the first regional tournament the Oilers have won since 2023.
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Grindlinger hit a towering two-run homer in the first inning over the right field fence, giving Huntington Beach (25-8-1) a 2-0 lead.
“He threw me three fastballs and then I hit a changeup for the home run,” said Grindlinger, who is committed to play for Tennessee next season. “I thought it was gone as soon as I hit it, but then the wind started blowing it back and I wasn’t so sure, but it finally went over the fence.”
The Oilers got outstanding pitching from starter Duncan McLeod and reliever Mason Tapia. The pair held the Dons (28-7) to four hits, no runs and didn’t allow a Cathedral Catholic runner to reach third base over the first six innings.
The Oilers erupted for three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, taking advantage of two hits, a hit batter, a walk and a wild pitch to take a commanding 5-0 lead.
However the Dons, looking to avoid their first shutout loss of the season, didn’t go away quietly.
Jared Marchbank came in to pitch for Huntington Beach to start the seventh inning and walked Ty Daniels and then struck out Jonas Nalu for the first out.
He walked Jose Partida and then struck out Will Blanton for the second out of the inning. Evan DePodesta drew a walk to load the bases.
Griffin Brown pinch ran for DePodesta. Marchbank was relieved by Grindlinger. Daniels scored from the third on a passed ball, making it 5-1. On the play, the other two runners moved up a base.
Alex Harrington then hit a sharp grounder to second that bounced off the glove of Sol Moriyama and caromed into right center field. Partida scored on the play, cutting the lead to 5-2 and on the play Brown moved up to third base.
Grindlinger then struck out Joshua Priest for the third out, however the ball got away from the catcher and Priest made it safely to first base and Brown scored on the play, trimming the lead to 5-3. Grindlinger struck out Kotsay to end the game and secure the regional title for the Oilers.
“I was little scared in that last inning; I had to look away a few times,” said Medure, whose team finished with a 14-1 home record this season. “Cathedral Catholic is a classy program and they battled all the way and our guys never gave up.”
Following the final out, the Oilers celebrated wildly on the field.
“What makes this win even better, is that I got to do it with all of my best friends; guys that I grew up,” said Grindlinger, who scored two runs in the game.
Tapia said he was happy for the second chance to play.
“It’s amazing to win a regional championship,” said Tapia, who gave up only two hits and picked off a base runner at first base over four innings of relief. “I’m just so grateful to get on the field and play one last time after losing to La Mirada in CIF. I was super excited for that opportunity.”
McLeod pitched the first two innings and gave up a leadoff single to Alex Harrington in the first inning but retired the next three hitters. In the second inning, he gave up a one-out double and a walk but retired the next two hitters to end the rally and keep the Dons from scoring.
“I was nervous as the game began but after a few pitches, I settled down and was fine,” said McLeod, who had four strikeouts in the game.
Parker Leoff got on base base twice and scored two runs for the Oilers. He was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the first inning and then scored on Grindlinger’s two-run homer.
Leoff doubled to lead off the sixth inning and then scored when Dane Cunningham was walked with the bases loaded, upping the Oilers lead to to 3-0.
“We were all excited to play in this tournament and it’s awesome to win it,” said Leoff. “It’s what we all wanted. We wanted to be here. We were fired up to play after our coach told us we had another opportunity and we couldn’t wait.”
Despite the loss, Cathedral Catholic Coach Gary Remiker said he was proud of his team.
“I’m proud of how our guys played,” said Remiker. “We drove up here from San Diego three times this week to play (Tuesday to St. John Bosco, Thursday to La Mirada, and Saturday to Huntington Beach). We were one hit away from tying this game, but they got their horse out there and we came up short.
“Win or lose, the last game of the season is always a mess for me, because it means the season is over and I’m going to miss my seniors.”
Notes:
—Cathedral Catholic’s road record this season was 12-4 and the Dons outscored their opponents this season 237-108. Cathedral Catholic won the Western League this season and were ranked No. 1 in the CIF San Diego Section.
—Trey Kotsay, the Dons starting third baseman, is the son of Oakland A’s manager Mark Kotsay (a Santa Fe Springs High School and Cal State Fullerton alum). Kotsay played for seven different Major League teams over a 17-year career. He batted .276 and played in over 1,900 games). Trey Koysay is committed to play for Princeton next season.
—Huntington Beach won the Sunset League this season and outscored its opponents in the regional tournament 26-9 and outscored its opponents overall this season by 205-92 margin.
—-The Oilers have six seniors who are committed to play college baseball next season: Jared Grindlinger (Tennessee), Jared Marchbank (New Mexico State), Dane Cunningham ((Cal Poly), Cayden Hammond (BYU), Jason Dunham (Long Beach State), Owen Bone (Cal Baptist). Huntington Beach also has four juniors who are committed to playing college baseball after their senior year: Elijah Mason (Oklahoma State), Parker Leoff (UCLA), Christian Haupt, and Tanner Brown (Wake Forest).
—Cathedral Catholic has 13 seniors who are committed to playing college baseball next season: Alex and Hunter Harrington (Stanford), Shoei Darvish (UC San Diego), Trey Kotsay (Princeton), Ty Daniels (Columbia), Kaden Kuhn (Cornell), Jonas Nalu (Colorado School of Mines), Xavier Nady (New York University), Nick Ruder (University of Chicago), Evan DePodesta (Rice), Griffin Brown (Biola), and Joshua Priest and Jose Partida (Arizona State University).
—Dons catcher Evan DePodesta is the son of Paul DePodesta (who attended Saturday’s game), the president of Baseball Operations for the Colorado Rockies and Cathedral Catholic’s pitcher Shoei Darvish is the son of San Diego Padres pitcher Yu Darvish.
—San Diego Union sports writer John Maffei, who covered Saturday’s game, is celebrating his 55th year as a sports writer for the San Diego Union.
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