Showtime Baseball of Vancouver reached the semifinals of the NorCal National Invitational Baseball Tournament in Stockton, Calif.
After winning its six-team pool, Showtime fell to All American Baseball of Murietta, Calif, 1-0 in Monday’s semifinals.
The tournament — an invitation-only event — featured 24 teams, most of them from California and some with players headed to Division I colleges.
Showtime Baseball’s college prep team features juniors and recently graduated players from Clark County high schools. It participates against similar teams at tournaments throughout June and July.
“This was probably our biggest tournament just because it was our chance to represent the Northwest against California,” Showtime’s JT Kaul said.
Showtime won four of its five pool-play games, including twice in extra innings. Among the highlights of the four-day tournament for the Showtime team was a seven-inning no-hitter pitched by Dakody Clemmer. The Mountain View High School senior-to-be struck out eight and walked two on Sunday in a 2-0 win over the All-Star Academy Trojans of Santa Clara, Calif.
Kaul, a recent graduate of Mountain View who plans to play college baseball for Lewis-Clark State in Idaho, pitched a four-hit shutout on Saturday in a 1-0 win over the Danville Hoots.
Showtime’s Brian Valentine said many of the players on California tournament teams are bigger than the competition in the Northwest, the caliber of baseball wasn’t much different than at the best tournaments in the Northwest.
“We’ve played in really good tournaments all year,” Valentine said. A senior-to-be at Skyview, Valentine said Showtime’s success “wasn’t a big surprise. We work hard and we were prepared for the competition.”
The team will continue to play in tournaments through late July. The other showcase tournament on its schedule is the Oregon/Oregon State National Showcase at the University of Oregon and Oregon State July 19-21.
