The Orange County streak is over in the National High School Invitational baseball tournament.
Huntington Beach and Orange Lutheran both lost to Florida teams in the semifinals Friday at the USA Baseball complex in Cary, N.C.
Orange County teams had won the championship of the past five NHSI tournaments.
Orange Lutheran won the past three NHSI crowns, Huntington Beach won it in 2016 and San Clemente won it in 2015. Mater Dei won the first two NHSI tournaments, in 2012 and ’13, before Florida’s First Academy won it in 2014.
Huntington Beach lost 1-0 to St. John’s Country Day (Orange Park, Fla.) in one semifinal. Orange Lutheran was hammered 13-0 by Stoneman Douglas (Parkland, Fla.) in five innings.
Most of Friday’s games were canceled because of wet grounds left by a rain storm, including Servite’s game. Servite (9-7) will play Saturday, the NHSI’s final day, against DH Conley (Greenville, N.C.).
Huntington Beach (14-5) and Orange Lutheran (17-3) will not play each other Saturday in a third-place-type of game that often involves a tournament’s semifinals losers.
Instead, Huntington Beach will play First Academy on Saturday, and Orange Lutheran will play McQuaid Jesuit (Rochester, N.Y.).