July 6, 2007

NVTA holds holiday tennis tourney
By Marty James

NOTES AND QUOTES for a Friday in the Napa Valley:

Ten local players were crowned as champions in their respective divisions as the Napa Valley Tennis Association’s 30th annual Fourth of July Tournament drew to a close Monday.

Rene Schlatter (men’s 5.0 singles), Deborah Desousa (women’s 4.0 singles), Pam Schultz (women’s 4.5 singles), Stan Boehn (men’s 3.0 singles), Fred Facchini and Jim Reilly (men’s 4.0 doubles), Bob Walsh and Clair Palmer (men’s 3.0 doubles), and Dick Dalen and Courtney Heathcote (mixed 3.0 doubles) all won titles.

The tournament — sponsored by Merryvale Vineyards of St. Helena and Starmont Winery of Napa — drew 213 players from Northern California and Nevada. These players were entered in 275 events, encompassing 19 divisions.

—

There’s no break from baseball for Brett Wallace, the former Justin-Siena High School star who was named as the Pacific-10 Conference Player of the Year as a sophomore first baseman for Arizona State.

Wallace is playing for the USA Baseball National Team, which is in North Carolina for the 36th annual USA vs. Japan Collegiate Championship Series.

In Wednesday’s opening game of the five-game series, Wallace went 3-for-5 and drove in three runs in Team USA’s 7-2 win over Japan before a crowd of 10,063 at the Durham Bulls Ballpark in Durham, N.C.

Wallace, from Sonoma, is batting over .400 for the summer.

“This series is a huge part of our player development during the summer,” said Paul Seiler, USA Baseball’s Executive Director/CEO, on Team USA’s Web site. “When you play Japan, you have to be ready. We are two countries who take our baseball very seriously.

“It’s not just an exchange of sport; it’s an exchange of culture, too,” Seiler said. “And with it comes some great baseball.”

Past series MVPs have included Huston Street, then of the University of Texas, and former University of Tennessee star Todd Helton.

Wallace also went 3-for-3 with three RBIs in Team USA’s 13-2 win Sunday over Chinese Taipei at the National Training Center in Cary, N.C.

USA Baseball will play in the 2007 Pan American Games July 14-19 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The U.S. will face China from July 22-27 with games in Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina. The summer schedule continues with a series against The Netherlands National Team July 28-29, followed by the World Port Tournament in Rotterdam starting Aug. 2.

The U.S. team also has Tyson Ross, a pitcher from UC Berkeley, and Tommy Medica, a catcher from Santa Clara University.

Wallace led the Pac-10 in batting (.425), RBIs (73) and home runs (15), and helped Arizona State to its 20th overall appearance in the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., last month.

He was named as the 2007 National Collegiate Baseball Writers of America District IX Player of the Year for the Sun Devils, the Pac-10 champions.

—

Emily Talley of Napa and her partner, Kercia Brakel, finished eighth in Division II during the Junior Golf Association of Northern California’s Junior Advisors’ Team Shootout. The JGANC premier event — which is played in an alternate shot format with mixed and coed teams — was held at Skywest Golf Course in Hayward Tuesday.

Talley, who will be a senior this fall at Justin-Siena, and Brakel shot 84.

—

UC Davis, which completed its four-year re-classification from NCAA Division II to Div. I status during the recent 2006-07 academic year, became an official member of the Big West Conference last Sunday.

Davis, which will compete in all 17 sports sponsored by the Big West, is the ninth member of the league and the fourth University of California institution, joining fellow UCs at Irvine, Riverside and Santa Barbara. Other league members are Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Northridge, Long Beach State and University of the Pacific.

In 2003, the Aggies announced their intention to re-classify to Div. I, accepting an invitation to join the Big West Conference. The 2003-04 academic year began a four-year transition period for the school which completed its re-classification requirements this past spring.

—

UC Berkeley’s intersectional football game against visiting Louisiana Tech on Sept. 15 will be televised by Comcast Sports Net in the Bay Area.

Kickoff has been scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at Memorial Stadium. This marks the seventh Cal contest to date to be scheduled for television.

Cal’s 2007 season kicks off on Sept. 1 with the Golden Bears hosting Tennessee.

Season tickets are available at www.CalBears.com or by calling (800) GO-BEARS.

—

Baseball fans attending games at Cleve Borman Field in Yountville should take note that the Veterans Home of California has posted 15 mph signs for motorists driving on the property.