LOCAL NOTES : SoCal Water Polo Team Wins 3 Titles at Regional

SoCal, a Tustin-based club water polo team, captured championships in all three age divisions in the Southern California Junior Olympic water polo championships Saturday at Tustin High School.

SoCal defeated ORCA, an all-star team made up of players from Orange County, 6-5, in overtime in the 15-and-under division. Matt Flesher from Brea Olinda scored the winner with 2:13 left in overtime.

Goalie Nick Ellis from Foothill had 12 saves and John Jo from El Dorado had two goals for SoCal, which has captured the last two 15-and-under national championships.

ORCA was led by Joey Pacelli from Costa Mesa with two goals.

The SoCal 17-and-under team, which is the defending national champion, defeated Costa Mesa, 8-4.

Leading SoCal were two Foothill players, Jeff Phlueger, who had three goals, and Brian Brown, who had two goals and four assists.

SoCal defeated Commerce, 8-6, in the 13-and-under game to earn the chance to capture their fifth consecutive national title.

Nick Pacelli of Orange had three goals and Patrick Logan from Santa Ana scored two for SoCal.

Finalists in each division advanced to compete in the National Junior Olympics, July 29-Aug. 5 in Orlando, Fla.

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Jenny Lee of Fullerton was defeated by Jo Jo Robertson from Roswell, N.M., 1-up, in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Women’s Public Links championships Saturday at Hominy Hill Golf Course in Colt Neck, N.J.

Robertson made a 25-foot par putt on the final hole to capture the victory. She then birdied four holes in a 3-and-2 victory over Jill Hamasaki of Aiea, Hawaii, in the semifinals, and will meet Betsy Drambour of Ballston Lake, N.Y., in today’s final.

Drambour defeated Mizue Igarashi of Walnut Creek, 2 and 1, in the semifinals.

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The California All-Stars defeated Oklahoma, 10-8, to defend their championship at the Sunbelt High School All-Star Classic in Shawnee, Okla.

Oklahoma opened a 2-0 lead after one inning. California answered with eight runs in the next four innings to take an 8-2 lead. Oklahoma did not get any closer than two runs the rest of the game.

Craig Kuzmic of La Quinta and Brent Hoard from Bellarmine Prep each had a home run for California, which outhit Oklahoma 11-6.

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Warren Morris was two for three with two runs scored and a run batted in Saturday night to lead the United States to an 8-3 victory over Japan in exhibition action.

Mark Kotsay of Cal State Fullerton was one for three and Rocky Biddle of Long Beach State pitched three innings, giving up one hit and one run for the United States. Biddle also struck out one.

Team USA is on a 13-city, 35-game tour, with the next game scheduled for Tuesday in San Antonio, Tex.