Spring Sports Notebook : No Foes, Just Lots of Friends In Tourney

His baseball team is off to an excellent start, but Tony Diaz has brought more than a winning attitude to Oxnard High in his second year as coach. He has helped organized the International Tournament of Friendship, which Oxnard will host March 26-30.

Six teams from various distant locales will compete, including Fujimonya North High of Japan; Plantel Baja High of Mexicali, Mexico; Sheldon High of Eugene, Ore.; Orem High of Orem, Utah; and Santa Monica and Oxnard highs.

Following opening ceremonies at Oxnard High at 9 a.m. on Saturday, March 26, games will be played at Oxnard High and at the El Rio Senior field on Rose Avenue in Oxnard.

The tournament was held for the first time last year in Mexicali, and Oxnard competed along with Santa Monica and two teams from Mexicali. Diaz won’t say how his team fared.

“There is no champion in this tournament because the whole idea is to promote international friendship,” he said.

Diaz, who coached at Santa Monica for three years before coming to Oxnard, hopes to expand the tournament next season.

Royal flush: Royal High will keep its 4-A Division soccer championship, although it violated Southern Section bylaws by using a player who participated with a junior Olympic team during the season.

Officials learned last week that senior Cam Rast had traveled to the Soviet Union in late December with the Olympic team. Royal broke Southern Section regulations by neglecting to notify Southern Section officials of Rast’s trip at least 30 days in advance.

Royal, which defeated Newbury Park, 1-0, in the title game, will keep its trophy, but three school administrators may be relieved of their interscholastic athletic duties.

Under a Southern Section recommendation, boys’ Athletic Director Glenn Lipman, activities director Jim Cox and Assistant Principal Marge Blackburn would be permanently severed from their athletic responsibilities.

In addition, Royal’s entire athletic program would be placed on two years of probation.

A spokesman for the Southern Section said that officials will reconvene to determine appropriate sanctions should Royal refuse to accept the recommendations.

College bound: David Nunnery and David Davis, two of the county’s best high school football players last fall, have enrolled at Ventura College.

Nunnery was a Times All-County defensive end-fullback at Hueneme and Davis was a tight end-linebacker at Oxnard.

Neither player was expected to graduate from high school this year and both enrolled at Ventura to get a head start on completing equivalency requirements for a degree.

Moving up: The Marmonte League has been upgraded from the Southern Section 4-A Division to the 5-A in baseball this season.

The move is primarily due to the strength of Simi Valley, which has been consistently ranked in the top five the past few years. Camarillo took the 4-A title in 1985.