Curt Daniels Invitational returns for 17th year

The Curt Daniels Invitational returns for a 17^th year, but it won’t be played this year at Curt Daniels Field.

Summer improvement projects at Hudson’s Bay High School made Curt Daniels Field at Propstra Stadium unavailable for the annual Fourth-of-July weekend summer baseball event.

“It’s unfortunate,” tournament director Ben McGrew said. “With Curt’s mother Barb passing away last February, we were hoping to have the Daniels family out at Curt Daniels Field to show our appreciation for all that the Daniels family has done for baseball in this area.”

Curt Daniels taught and coached baseball at Columbia River and Hudson’s Bay for 18 years and helped launch the Vancouver Cardinals summer baseball program. Daniels died from cancer in 2003, and the Curt Daniels Invitational was launched in 2005 in his honor.

The event brings many of the best summer baseball teams in the region. This year’s event includes three Clark County-based squads (the Vancouver Mavericks, Northwest Futures and Coast to Coast Astros), two Portland-area teams (Portland Baseball Club and Gunderson Baseball Academy) and five teams from the Puget Sound area (Baden baseball, Lakeside Recovery, Kirkland Merchants, Narrows Baseball and Boys of Summer).

The tournament, which runs through Sunday, will be played at Union and Camas high schools. The event kicked off Wednesday with two games at Union. Four more games are set for Union on Thursday before remaining games are split between Union and Camas.

The championship game will be played at 3 p.m. Sunday at Camas High School.

Players in this year’s event have high school graduation years from 2021 to 2025, but most are either recent high school graduates or seniors-to-be.

Every participating team has players that are either playing for a college program or are committed to playing for a college baseball program.

Division I college commits playing for local teams this weekend include the Vancouver Mavericks’ Zach Blair (Camas HS / Oregon State), and the Coast to Coast Astros’ Zach Swanson (Toutle Lake HS / Oregon State), Kevin Ferguson (Battle Ground HS / Hawaii) and Brady Trombello (Prairie HS / Portland).

While Curt Daniels passed away before many of the players in this year’s event were born, McGrew hopes the players understand what Daniels meant to baseball in this year.

“Curt Daniels helped put Vancouver baseball on the map,” McGrew said. “And so many area coaches now played for Curt or worked with Curt that he continues to have an impact on baseball in the area today.”

17^th annual Curt Daniels Invitational

Wednesday’s games at Union HS

Red pool: Portland Baseball Club 3, Vancouver Mavericks 2

Blue pool: Gunderson Baseball 4, Coast to Coast Astros 3

Thursday’s games at Union HS

Blue pool: Coast to Coast Astros vs. Northwest Futures, 10 a.m.

Red pool: Boys of Summer vs. Narrows Baseball, 12:30 p.m.

Blue pool: Lakeside Recovery vs. Kirkland Merchants, 3 p.m.

Red pool: Vancouver Mavericks vs. Baden, 5:30 p.m.

Friday’s games at Union HS

Red pool: Narrows Baseball vs. Baden, 12:30 p.m.

Red pool: Narrows Baseball vs. Portland Baseball Club, 3 p.m.

Red pool: Vancouver Mavericks vs. Boys of Summer, 5:30 p.m.

Friday’s games at Camas HS

Blue pool: Kirkland Merchants vs. Northwest Futures, 12:30 p.m.

Blue pool: Kirkland Merchants vs. Gunderson Baseball, 3 p.m.

Blue pool: Coast to Coast Astros vs. Lakeside Recovery, 5:30 p.m.

Saturday’s games at Union HS

Blue pool: Northwest Futures vs. Lakeside Recovery, 10 a.m.

Blue pool: Gunderson Baseball vs. Lakeside Recovery, 12:30 p.m.

Blue pool: Gunderson Baseball vs. Northwest Futures, 3 p.m.

Blue pool: Coast to Coast Astros vs. Kirkland Merchants, 5:30 p.m.

Saturday’s games at Camas HS

Red pool: Baden vs. Boys of Summer, 10 a.m.

Red pool: Portland Baseball Club vs. Boys of Summer, 12:30 p.m.

Red pool: Portland Baseball Club vs. Baden, 3 p.m.

Red pool: Vancouver Mavericks vs. Narrows Baseball, 5:30 p.m.

Sunday’s games at Union HS

Red pool No. 5 team vs. Blue pool No. 5 team, 10 a.m.

Red pool No. 4 team vs. Blue pool No. 4 team, 12:30 p.m.

Red pool No. 3 team vs. Blue pool No. 3 team, 3 p.m.

Sunday’s games at Camas HS

Semifinal: Red pool No. 1 team vs. Blue pool No. 2 team, 10 a.m.

Semifinal: Red pool No. 2 team vs. Blue pool No. 1 team, 12:30 p.m.

Championship game, 3 p.m.