Like its Sunset League brethren, Newport Harbor took advantage of the second chance offered by the CIF Southern California Regional baseball playoffs to win the SoCal Regional Division II championship.
The Sailors beat Bakersfield Christian, 5-1, Saturday in the SoCal Regional Division II championship game.
Huntington Beach won the SoCal Regional Division I championship Saturday with a 5-3 win over San Diego Cathedral Catholic in the division final.
Newport Harbor had lost to Ganesha in the CIF Southern Section Division 2 semifinals. Huntington Beach was eliminated in Round 3 of the CIF-SS Division 1 playoffs.
The Sailors concluded the season 25-10. They finished second to Huntington Beach in the Sunset League.
Newport Harbor won its second Regional baseball championship. The Sailors won the SoCal Regional Division III title in 2022.
Three Newport Harbor pitchers teamed up to hold Bakersfield Christian (28-7-1) to one run on four hits. Ryan Williams was the starter and pitched three innings, Grant Horsley followed and pitched one inning, and Gavin Guy finished with three scoreless innings.
They combined for 11 strikeouts. Guy had five strikeouts and Horsley and Williams had three strikeouts each. Guy struck out the side in the seventh inning.
Bakersfield Christian had taken a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Newport Harbor scored two runs in the second inning that included a Cameron Hatfield sacrifice fly.
Guy’s RBI single in the fifth inning drove in Keoni Wun to make it 3-1, Sailors. Brooks Francis walked with the bases load to send in another Newport Harbor run and Henry Mann scored the Sailors fifth run on Hatfield’s ground out.