MISSION BAY (KGTV) \u2014 Over-the-Line, the bat-and-ball beach sport born in San Diego, is celebrating more than 70 years with its biggest tournament of the year \u2014 right where it all started.<\/p>\n
Every summer, teams from across the country return to Fiesta Island to compete in the World Championship, hosted by the Old Mission Beach Athletic Club for 73 years.<\/p>\n
The game is played between two teams. A batter tries to hit a softball past a line into a narrow court, and fielders must catch it.<\/p>\n
Trevor Westman-Lavelle, a board member of the Old Mission Beach Athletic Club, said the sport is accessible to newcomers while still demanding skill.<\/p>\n
“It’s actually a game that’s fairly easy to pick up. I mean, if you’ve played a bat and ball game like softball or baseball before, it’s easier obviously to pick up.”<\/p>\n
“There is a high degree of athleticism, but at the same time, it’s a lot of fun,” Westman-Lavelle said.<\/p>\n
For players like David Garcia of Team Shark Attack, the tournament is about more than competition.<\/p>\n
“We come from the Imperial Valley El Central, and it’s just, we just have an amazing time with family and friends,” Garcia said.<\/p>\n
The event draws players who keep coming back year after year, drawn by the welcoming community and the tradition of the sport.<\/p>\n
McKenna Hunting, a player on John’s Automotive, said the atmosphere is what keeps her engaged.<\/p>\n
“Everyone’s so welcoming. They just wanna grow the sport. They want the best for everyone, and that’s kind of what got me hooked on it,” Hunting said.<\/p>\n
Whether teams leave with a championship ring or sand in their shoes, Garcia said the decision to return is easy.<\/p>\n
“I’m back every year,” Garcia said.<\/p>\n
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MISSION BAY (KGTV) \u2014 Over-the-Line, the bat-and-ball beach sport born in San Diego, is celebrating more than 70…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":395487,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[159008,159009,51613,1103,159010,159007,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-395486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-beach-sports","tag-beach-tournament","tag-fiesta-island","tag-mission-bay","tag-over-the-line","tag-over-the-line-world-championship","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/395487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}