It was not so much who the Newport Harbor baseball team lost to, but how it lost.
The Sailors were eliminated in the semifinals of the CIF Southern Section Division 2 playoffs by Ganesha on May 26. They gave up two runs in the bottom of the seventh and lost 2-1. Ganesha scored the winning run when a batter was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Newport Harbor got a second chance. The Sailors were invited to play in the CIF Southern California Regional playoffs.
They beat San Diego’s Madison, 2-0, on Tuesday at home in the first round of the eight-team playoff bracket. Newport Harbor senior right-hander Gavin Guy pitched his latest gem that day, a complete game with seven strikeouts and one walk.
Newport Harbor then defeated San Diego’s Point Loma, 11-6, in the semifinals at home Wednesday. Grant Horsley went 4 for 4 with four RBIs and Guy had three hits and drove in three runs.
Now the Sailors will play for the Division II championship game against Bakersfield Christian on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Newport Harbor High.
Ganesha’s baseball team was pretty much a travel ball team dressed in high school uniforms. Ganesha had star players taking only online classes, players who lived as far away as Aliso Viejo. While that’s not against the CIF-SS rules, sometimes activity does not have to be against the rules to be wrong activity.
Did Newport Harbor feel like it got cheated that day?
“No,” said Newport Harbor coach Josh Lee. “We felt like we showed that we were the better team that day, but we just messed it up at the end.”
And when Ganesha beat Loyola, 6-3, in the Division 2 championship game …
“Our kids thought, ‘that should have been us,’ ” Lee said.
The SoCal Regional can be a second chance for teams that did not win a CIF-SS championship. Mater Dei’s girls volleyball team lost to Sierra Canyon in the CIF-SS finals, went into the SoCal Regional and beat Sierra Canyon in a regional final before defeating Rocklin in a CIF State Championship final.
When Newport Harbor lost to Ganesha, Lee was getting ready to collect the team’s gear to wrap up the season, knowing that only finalists in CIF-SS divisions 2-9 were invited to the SoCal Regional. After the CIF-SS finals, Lee learned that Ganesha declined to play in the SoCal Regional. Newport Harbor was the highest-ranked team available, so the Sailors got a regional berth.
CIF Central Section Division II champion Bakersfield Christian is 28-6-1. Newport Harbor is 26-10.
“This is an opportunity to show what we’re made of,” Lee said. “It’s an opportunity for redemption.”
NOTES
• The Orange County Athletic Directors Association selected Trent Mosley of Santa Margarita and Jaslene Massey of Aliso Niguel as its boys and girls athletes of the year. Mosley was a touchdown-scoring machine as a multi-use receiver for Santa Margarita’s CIF-SS and CIF State championship football team. Massey this past Saturday was the CIF State champion in the shot put and discus, with her mark of 196 feet, 4 inches in the discus setting a state high school record. …
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• The basketball offseason is busy with transfer activity. Ryan Doane, a 6-8 forward who was All-Orange County second team as a sophomore last season at JSerra, has transferred to Mater Dei. Earl Bryson, a 6-2 guard who was All-County second team as a junior last season at JSerra, has transferred to Crean Lutheran … and more to come. …
• Fairmont Prep’s boys basketball team will have a 6-6 freshman with a familiar last name: Josiah Sampson. His father Jamal Sampson played at Mater Dei, went on to play in the NBA and is a cousin of former NBA star Ralph Sampson. …
• Flag football and soccer standout Makena Cook withdrew from Orange Lutheran to enroll at Sierra Canyon, which will make its flag football debut this coming school year. Cook, who will be a senior, was the Orange County flag football player of the year in 2024 and has committed to Georgia for soccer. Her flag football coach at Orange Lutheran, Kristen Sherman, now is coaching at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with husband Rod Sherman, who was ousted as Orange Lutheran’s football coach earlier this year. …
• The CIF Southern Section office processed 7,179 transfers during the 2025-26 school year. That’s an increase of three percent from the previous school year. …
• The CIF-SS broadcast arrangement with Spectrum Sports concluded with Spectrum’s coverage of the CIF-SS baseball championship games. The Southern Section likely will continue with Spectrum. …
• The first CIF State baseball and softball championships will be held in 2027. Like in basketball and volleyball, CIF Southern California Regional champions would play CIF Northern California Regional champions in state baseball and softball finals. The 2027 Regional finals will be played May 29 followed by state finals June 4 and 5. …
• A grand salute to all of the folks who organize and manage high school all-star games. The Orange County High School Baseball Game on Wednesday was run well again by The Ryan Lemmon Foundation, continuing the fine work of the Kiwanis Club of Greater Anaheim that carried the event for decades. …
• The South beat the North, 3-1, in the Orange County all-star baseball game Wednesday at Great Park in Irvine. The South won the game for the fourth year in a row and leads the series, 33-23-1. Villa Park’s Justin Lopez had two hits, including a double, and drove in two runs for the South, which is a South school by all-star game cartography. …
• JSerra baseball coach Brett Kay suggested having the O.C. baseball all-star game played before the season begins. Such a move could make more top college-bound, MLB-prospect players available for the game. Orange County boys and girls wrestling have a preseason all-star event and it attracted standouts like boys O.C. wrestler of the year Max Murillo of Esperanza and county girls wrestler of the year Aubree Gutierrez of Marina. The CIF-SS high school baseball opening day is Feb. 15 next season, so weather could be an obstacle for a preseason baseball all-star game. …
• The Orange County Senior All-Star Softball Game is Wednesday at Deanna Manning Stadium at Bill Barber Park in Irvine. …
• The Orange County Football Officials Association is building its roster of game officials for the coming season. Training is offered. Visit OCFOA.org to register or learn more (and the CIF Southern Section website, CIFSS.org, has links to become officials of other sports).
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