It’s a memorable finish for Orange County high school baseball and softball teams

Players from Santa Margarita and La Costa Canyon exchange handshakes after Saturday’s regional final. (Photo: Tom Connolly, For OC Sports Zone).

ANALYSIS: Santa Margarita and Canyon win baseball titles and Fullerton brings home softball championship.

Finally, the high school baseball and softball playoffs have ended but only after some great memories for players, coaches and fans.

The fans were very much a part of the post-season along with the players, who put it all on the line for the three-game CIF SoCal Regional tournaments last week.

There were big crowds at the CIF Southern Section and regional playoffs, including Saturday when top-seeded Santa Margarita defeated La Costa Canyon 3-2 for the CIF SoCal Division I regional title.

Fullerton softball coach Trevor Holton said he believes there were more Fullerton fans than fans cheering for Otay Ranch Saturday in the CIF SoCal Division III Regional final in Chula Vista. The Indians knocked off the top-seed 7-0 in Chula Vista. Fullerton fans were on campus welcoming the regional champions back.

The stands were also packed Friday for the Crean Lutheran vs. Canyon baseball Division IV regional final at Canyon matching the No. 1 and No. 2 seeded teams. They saw an entertaining game between two teams with lots of respect for each other. Canyon rallied to win 6-5.

The Canyon players and coaches celebrated with a massive dogpile. Crean Lutheran players handled the defeat in class as they ended the season with a school record 26 wins. Crean Lutheran fans showed up in big numbers throughout the post-season.

While some teams opted out of the softball and baseball regionals, there was still some great competition. Some coaches have said a state final for baseball and softball should be considered similar to what happens in basketball and football. Under the current format, the regional is a three-game tournament and does not include a state final. That’s going to take some advance planning and some creative scheduling toward the end of the school year.

In the meantime, there are memories, lots of them. OC Sports Zone was thrilled to be along to provide these stories.

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—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com