November 17, 2024

OC Sports Zone: Community First

Ryan Lemmon Invitational baseball tourney expanding to 32 teams for first time

The Orange County Great Park Baseball Stadium will again serve as the main home for the Ryan Lemmon Invitational. (Photo, Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone)

The Ryan Lemmon Invitational high school baseball tournament will expand to 32 teams this year, according to Dick Owens of the Ryan Lemmon Foundation, the tournament director.

It’s the first time that the tournament, scheduled for March 28 through April 1, will have 32 teams.

“This is exciting and a big challenge having 32 teams,” Owens said. “We have teams from Northern California, Utah and Illinois.”

There will be 16 teams who are on spring break and 16 who are not, Owens said.

“So doing a schedule is a challenge,” he said.

All the games on opening day will be at the Great Park. On the other days, Windrow Park and Ryan Lemmon Stadium will be used, Owens said.

Among the teams in the tournament are Aliso Niguel, Marina, Segerstrom, Trabuco Hills, Foothill, Irvine, Northwood, Canyon, Capo Valley, Corona del Mar, Dana Hills, Mission Viejo, Newport Harbor, Brea Olinda, Beckman, Portola, San Juan Hills, Tustin, University, Woodbridge and Yorba Linda.

The two brackets are named after former Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli, who was killed along with eight others in a helicopter crash and Ryan Lemmon, the former Woodbridge High baseball star who died in an automobile accident after graduation.

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