The semifinals of the 2024 National High School Invitational presented by the Greater Raleigh Sports Alliance showcased some incredible talent on the national stage and provided an action-packed afternoon, as Corona and Orange Lutheran High Schools both secured their spots in the championship game in walk-off fashion. The teams will meet at Coleman Field on Saturday at 4:15 p.m. ET to compete for the 2024 title. Read up on the games below.

CORONA 6, HUNTINGTON BEACH 5

Billy Carlson came up big for Corona in the semifinals of the 2024 National High School Invitational presented by the Greater Raleigh Sports Alliance, as he hit the walk-off single to send the Panthers to the championship game and tossed the final two innings of the game to earn the win on the mound.

The scoring got started early in the contest, as Huntington Beach’s Linkin Garcia put the Oilers on the board with an RBI single to center field, scoring Trevor Goldenetz after reaching on a double.

Corona responded with three runs in the bottom frame to take the two-run advantage. Anthony Murphy led off the side with a base hit, and after Brady Ebel drew a walk to put him on second, he scored on Josh Springer’s single to left field. In the next at-bat, Ebel moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a groundout to the pitcher. Springer then scored on Sam Burgess’s double to right field to cap off its early scoring.

The Oilers managed to knot the score at 3-3 in the third thanks to CJ Weinstein’s double to right field with runners at first and second, and then took a 5-3 lead in the fourth on Goldenetz’s second double of the game with runners in scoring position.

Facing a two-run deficit with its final three outs, Ebel started the rally with a one-out single and moved to second on a wild pitch. Seth Hernandez and Springer strung together back-to-back singles to bring across the tying run. Carlson then delivered the game-winning hit on a single to right-center field to give the Panthers the 6-5 victory and a spot in the finals.

Goledenetz, Murphy, and Springer led all players with 3-for-4 outings at the plate, while Garcia (2-for-4) also turned in a multi-hit performance. Additionally, Carlson, Springer and Weinstein drove in two runs each.

ORANGE LUTHERAN 3, HARVARD-WESTLAKE 2

The second semifinal game of the day at the 2024 National High School Invitational presented by the Greater Raleigh Sports Alliance was a tightly contested matchup in which Orange Lutheran (3-0) came out on top 3-2 in walk-off fashion in eight innings over Harvard-Westlake. (2-1)

This is the first time since 2019 the Lancers have been in the championship game, which was when it won its third consecutive title.

After quiet bats and shutdown pitching through the first four innings, Harvard-Westlake broke the ice in the fifth with a pair of runs. With the bases loaded, Jack Laffitte walked in the first run and Duncan Marsten knocked in the second with an infield single.

Orange Lutheran responded in the bottom frame with a run to cut the deficit in half. With Nate Savoie at second and Wyatt Hanoian on first following a leadoff walk and outfield single, respectively, Derek Curiel laced a double to center field to easily bring home Savoie. Hanoian looked to knot the score in an attempt to cross home plate, but Harvard-Westlake catcher Nate Blum managed to apply the tag to limit the damage.

The Wolverines managed to tie the game at 2-2 in the seventh and send the game to extras. Savoie drew a leadoff walk and Hanoian was hit-by-pitch to put runners at first and second for Curiel, who then delivered the game-tying run when he sent Savoie home with a base hit to center field to keep the game alive.

Following a 1-2-3 inning on the mound by Tristan Ramos, pinch hitter Vinny Hudson came up clutch for his team with the walk-off single, scoring Ben Reiland from third after he led off the side with a walk.

Curiel led all players with a 3-for-4 outing and two RBI’s. He was one of two players to tally multiple hits in the game and the only player to drove in two runs. Ramos earned the win on the bump after yielding just two hits in 3.1 shutout innings of relief.