Coastal Academy’s baseball team walked away with a championship without throwing a final pitch, as the Oceanside school was awarded the 2026 CIF Southern California Division V crown after a bench-clearing fight on the opposite side of the bracket led to a double disqualification. The ruling closed out the regional tournament with no on-field final and locked in a 25-7 finish for the Stingrays.
According to The San Diego Union-Tribune, the chaos erupted during the Roosevelt vs. Verdugo Hills semifinal after a comebacker resulted in a collision, triggering both benches to stream onto the field. Verdugo Hills led 5-1 in the bottom of the sixth when the melee broke out. CIF officials later told the paper that neither school would advance and that Coastal Academy would be declared the Southern California Division V champion. Coastal athletic director Glen Henton described the outcome as not the way we were hoping the year would end, but we’ll take it, the Union-Tribune reported.
How the Semifinal Turned Into a Double Forfeit
Video of the altercation quickly circulated online, drawing attention from regional sports roundups that noted both semifinalists were effectively bounced from the bracket, clearing the way for Coastal to receive the title by forfeit. Coverage across Southern California playoffs recounted how officials at the game halted play on the spot while CIF opened a formal review of the players and coaches involved.
What CIF Rules Require
Under CIF sportsmanship regulations, any player who leaves the bench area to initiate a confrontation faces ejection and at least a one-game suspension, and officials have the authority to call a forfeit. In particularly severe cases at section or regional championship levels, this can extend to a double forfeit that leaves no team able to move on. Those standards, along with the appeal process, are spelled out in CIF policy documents that guide penalties after bench-clearing incidents. The CIF Sportsmanship Rules outline ejection procedures, suspension guidelines and how schools can challenge sanctions.
Coastal’s Run and What It Means
The Stingrays had already secured the San Diego Section Division V title, beating Canyon Hills at USD’s Fowler Park on May 29, then pushed through the regional bracket with victories over Fremont and Schurr before the semifinal fight reshaped the bracket. MaxPreps lists Coastal at 25-7 for the year, and the San Diego Section championship game is available on the regional video feed; the NFHS Network includes the May 29 CIF-SDS Division V title matchup at Fowler Park in its schedule.
CIF’s next moves will involve issuing formal discipline to those ejected and processing any appeals from the schools, with potential penalties carrying into the next contest or even the following season if they are upheld. The strange finish leaves Coastal with a regional trophy in hand but without the winner-take-all final that most teams expect to decide a championship.
