Huntington Beach’s quarterfinal matchup in the Michelle Carew Classic was canceled Friday afternoon because of the rain and muddy fields at Peralta Canyon Park.
The Oilers (13-1) wound up playing other games in the elements, games such as human bowling and human curling on the park’s slick grass.
Huntington Beach’s players were having fun, and why not? Everything’s cool when you’re winning.
Since its only loss of the season a little more than a month ago, sixth-ranked Huntington Beach has arguably been the county’s hottest team, reeling off nine wins in a row by a combined 82-17 margin.
“By far one of the best lineups I’ve had since I’ve been here,” Oilers coach Jeff Forsberg said. “We can score runs. We’ve got a lot of quality kids and they’ve all got the same approach: one pitch at a time, one inning at a time.”
Kristina Inouye and Allee Bunker have been two of the best hitters in Orange County, Alyssa Horeczko, Ivy Davis and Kendall Henschied have given the Oilers quality innings in the circle, while Anna Kufta has been the team’s rock behind the plate.
With no shortage of talent throughout the lineup or on its bench, the Oilers figure to battle it out with Los Alamitos for Sunset League supremacy over the next month.
They Oilers have a busy week ahead. They open league play against Marina on Tuesday, play their Carew Classic quarterfinal game on Wednesday against California of Whittier, and take on Newport Harbor on Thursday.
CAREW CLASSIC UPDATE
Rain threw a monkey wrench into last week’s Michelle Carew Classic schedule, washing out play on Friday afternoon and completely shutting down the semifinals and championship game Saturday.
Only two of the four quarterfinal games in the winner’s bracket were completed Friday afternoon. Canyon del Oro High of Arizona topped Capistrano Valley at the top half of the bracket, while Orange Lutheran edged Amador Valley of Pleasanton behind Maddy Dwyer’s perfect game and two-run homer.
With Sunday being a mandatory off day and Canyon del Oro needing to return home to Tucson, the Dorados were forced to retire entirely from the tournament. The winner of Wednesday’s Huntington Beach-California game will advance to the tournament finale.
Mission Viejo was leading Los Alamitos, 5-1, in the third inning of their quarterfinal Friday before field conditions were deemed unplayable. Diablos coach Troy Ybarra said Monday the continuation of that game has yet to be rescheduled. The winner would go on to play Orange Lutheran in the semifinals on a later date.
Tournament director Lance Eddy has said the Carew Classic championship game will be played on a Saturday later this month at Canyon. An official date has yet to be announced.
BRAGGING RIGHTS
The Crestview and North Hills Leagues both fall under the Century Conference umbrella, but interleague results are technically counted as nonleague contests unless a tiebreaker is needed at season’s end.
The Crestview League’s teams – Canyon, El Modena, Esperanza and Yorba Linda – have recently made up one of the best leagues in the Southern Section. This season, the North Hills squads – Foothill, Villa Park, Brea Olinda and El Dorado – have made a case that they are the superior bunch.
Foothill, Villa Park and Brea Olinda are all ranked in the county’s top 25 this week and each is above the .500 mark. There are no Crestview League teams in the county top 20, and only Yorba Linda (7-5) boasts a winning record.
There will be eight interleague games this week, so bragging rights are on the line.
The Crestview League went 12-6 against North Hills League teams last season.
Contact the writer: kconnolly@ocregister.com
