County Events Are Postponed Because of Rain

Rain caused the postponement of numerous Orange County athletic events scheduled for Saturday.

UC Irvine tennis Coach Greg Patton called off play in the UC Irvine tennis tournament and rescheduled the matches for today.

Patton spent most of the day shuffling back and forth between two phones in his office fielding calls from coaches regarding the final 19 matches.

“This is a nightmare, I can’t believe this (rain) is happening,” said Patton. “It’s going to be a marathon of tennis (Sunday). We’re just going to be jamming all day.”

The contingency plan, provided rain does not interfere today, translates into a 19-match schedule beginning at 7:15 a.m. The championship final is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. at the UC Irvine tennis stadium. Other matches are scheduled to be played at the Newport Marriott, the Mesa Verde Tennis Club, the Balboa Bay Club, the Racquet Club of Irvine and Christ College Irvine.

All games in the Pony softball tournament scheduled to be played Saturday at Cal State Fullerton were postponed until today.

In the championship-round games, Cal State Fullerton, ranked No. 5 in the nation, will play Arizona, ranked No. 10, at 9:30 a.m. Akron plays Cal State Long Beach, ranked No. 11, also at 9:30.

No. 3 Oklahoma State plays Cal Poly Pomona at 11 a.m., and No. 1 ranked Fresno State plays Texas A&M;, also at 11.

Semifinal games are scheduled for 1 p.m. and the championship game is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. today.

Also because of rain, the site of today’s nonconference baseball game between UC Irvine and Minnesota has been changed from Irvine to Loyola Marymount, and the game will be played at 11 a.m. instead of noon.

And the final games of the Saddleback College baseball tournament Saturday were canceled.