Notebook : Baseball Tournaments to Lose Sponsorship

The Big West Invitational and National Classic baseball tournaments, as sponsored by the Dole Food Co. of North America, will feature some of the best local and national prep teams at county sites starting Saturday.

But both tournaments might change radically next year.

Chuck Reid, Big West spokesman, said the Dole company is set to end its sponsorship of the tournaments after this year’s contract expires. Dole is picking up the National Classic for one year.

“We will continue to put on the tournaments,” Reid said. “But they could not survive at the levels they are at now, with the extra niceties we have, if we have to depend just on the entry fees. That only pays for the baseballs, the umpires and the awards.”

The National Classic could take the hardest hit. It tries to pull in teams from all over the country. For example, playing in this year’s tournament, which begins April 8, are teams from Florida, Kentucky and New Jersey.

The Big West, which begins Saturday features teams primarily from the West.

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Tough week: Huntington Beach, which hadn’t lost a Sunset League golf match since 1993, lost twice in league last week.

Esperanza ended the Oilers 21-match winning streak last Tuesday at the Oilers’ home course, SeaCliff Country Club. After the teams tied, 196-196, in he nine-hole match, Esperanza won a one-hole playoff by six strokes. Esperanza senior Ryan Donovan made the only birdie on the par-five first hole.

Thursday, Huntington Beach shot 192 at Meadowlark, but host Marina shot 189.

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While Fountain Valley girls’ swim Coach Debbi Kelly watched as her defending champion Barons were routed by Irvine Saturday during the Southern Section Girls’ Relays, all she could do was shake her head and smile.

“No one is surprised about Irvine,” Kelly said, after watching Irvine win its third of five relay races at Belmont Plaza Pool. “They have a lot of club swimmers. I mean look at them, the freshmen alone. . . . They have an Olympic athlete on their team.”

Nevertheless, though losing was painful for Kelly, she wasn’t complaining about Irvine’s dominance.

“My girls swam really hard. And it’s hard [to lose], but when you have a swimmer like Amanda Beard competing in these relays, that says something about this sport.”

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Several local softball players will benefit from an Ocean Spray Travel and Training Grant through the Women’s Sports Foundation, which was awarded to Gordon’s Panthers 18-and-under Gold ASA softball team.

Among the local players on the team are Shealee Dunavan, Kelsey Kollen, Lisa Tully, Robin Walker (Mater Dei), Amanda Freed (Pacifica), Samantha Kimura (El Dorado), Jenny Topping (La Habra).

Times staff writers Martin Beck, Erik Hamilton and Martin Henderson contributed to this story.