Huntington Beach, Estancia, Los Amigos baseball teams all seeded in CIF playoffs
The Estancia and Los Amigos high school baseball teams both started 11-0 this season.
The Eagles and Lobos didn’t exactly stop there.
Estancia (23-5) has gone on to set a program single-season record for wins and finished tied for second in the Orange Coast League. Los Amigos (22-4) secured its first winning season in 38 years and won the Garden Grove League crown, the first league title in program history.
Both teams could be primed for big postseasons, too. Estancia is the No. 2 seed in the CIF Southern Section Division 6 playoffs and Los Amigos the top seed in Division 7, they learned when the section released the playoff brackets Monday.
Huntington Beach is the other seeded local team in the playoffs, as the Oilers earned the No. 4 seed in Division 1. Ocean View and Corona del Mar (Division 1), as well as Newport Harbor (Division 3), will also vie in the postseason.
Estancia will host Academy League third-place finisher Tarbut V’Torah (7-7-2) in the first round Thursday. The Eagles have a pair of strong pitchers in senior Trevor Scott and sophomore Andrew Mits, and have progressed after finishing just 8-16 a year ago.
“We appreciate CIF putting us in that [No. 2] ranking because of our hard work all year, acknowledging our record,” coach Nate Goellrich said. “Now we’ve just got to go out and prove that ranking. We’re going to have a target on our back with it, we know that, but we’ll give it a go.”
Los Amigos opens at home Friday against the winner of Wednesday’s wild-card game between Newbury Park Adventist and Leuzinger. The Lobos have excelled as coach Aaron Pines, a teacher at Edison High, continues to battle cancer.
Surf League champion Huntington Beach (20-8) earned a bye in the first round of the Division 1 playoffs as a top-four seed. Each of the other top seeds — No. 1 Orange Lutheran, No. 2 JSerra and No. 3 Cypress — is also from Orange County.
The Oilers, who boast two senior aces in UCLA-bound left-handed pitcher Ben Jacobs and right-handed pitcher Matthew Lopez, will host the winner of Friday’s game between Golden West League co-champ Ocean View (19-8) and Del Rey League runner-up Bishop Amat (21-6) in the second round on May 10.
Ocean View lost to Bishop Amat 9-5 in its third game of the season on Feb. 17, undone by an eight-run third inning. But the young Seahawks, who have moved up playoff divisions in recent years, appear to head into CIF with momentum after Spencer Johnsen’s no-hitter led them to a league title split against Segerstrom on Thursday.
“It’s super-exciting to play Segerstrom, because it sets the tone for the playoffs,” Ocean View coach Tanner VanMaanen said. “That’s what’s awesome ... It was that kind of atmosphere all week long, so our guys did get a taste of it. We talked about it a lot. This is how our emotions are going to react, and we need to be able to control them, because we are going to be so excited. It’s the same way going into the playoffs against Bishop Amat.”
Also in Division 1, Wave League champion Corona del Mar (18-10) hosts Trinity League No. 3 Servite (16-11) in a first-round game Friday. The winner plays at Cypress in the second round May 10.
In Division 3, Wave League runner-up Newport Harbor (16-11) hosts Sea View League No. 2 San Clemente (14-14) in the first round Friday.
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