Vigilantes Have Until Oct. 15 to Tell Their Plans for 1999

Western Baseball League owners, during their fall league meetings in Reno, have given the Mission Viejo Vigilantes until Oct. 15 to declare their intentions for the 1999 season.

Club president and principal owner Pat Elster said Wednesday he will announce then whether the team will stay in Mission Viejo, sit out the 1999 season and look to relocate, or consider selling the franchise.

Elster, who moved the team to Mission Viejo from Long Beach in 1997, has been looking for a new or improved stadium on the Saddleback College campus, where the team plays its games.

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Southern California Christian, still feeling the effects of the resignation of its football coach three weeks before the start of the season, will be forced to forfeit its second game, Athletic Director Eric Stenlake said Wednesday.

The Flames were to travel to Banning Twin Pines on Friday. They forfeited their game at Colton Christian Center Academy on Sept. 11.

Because of their late start--Coach Alan Degenhardt didn’t start until Aug. 30--Stenlake said the Flames haven’t practiced the Southern Section-mandated 14 days needed to play their first game.

Stenlake said SCC’s first game will be Sept. 24, when it plays Palos Verdes Peninsula Chadwick’s junior varsity team.

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Top-seeded Jeff Tarango defeated Pat Crow, 7-6, 6-1, during the first day of matches at the Battle of the Beaches men’s pro tennis tournament at the Palisades Tennis Club in Newport Beach.

Also winning his first match was defending champion Ronald Agenor, who defeated Brett Hansen, 6-2, 6-0.

The tournament continues tonight with matches scheduled to start at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.

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Saddleback men’s tennis coach Chris Boyle has stepped down and will be replaced by Bill Otta, the college announced. Boyle, who won four conference titles and a state championship in four seasons, replaced Otta in 1994.

Otta, who retired in 1994, comes back to the program he established in 1975. His teams won 15 conference titles and five state championships in 20 seasons.

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The state champion girls’ volleyball teams from Newport Harbor, Marina and Ocean View head the field for the Dave Mohs Memorial Volleyball Championships--formerly known as the Orange County Championships--beginning 4 p.m. Friday at four local high schools.

Best-of-three pool play will take place in two divisions and will continue at 8 a.m. Saturday. The first- and second-place teams in each pool advance to the Gold division playoffs, while the third- and fourth-place finishers go to the Silver playoffs.

Saturday’s sites, including Westminster, Marina and Fountain Valley high schools, will be determined after pool play.

The Division 2 final begins at 6 p.m. Monday at Edison, followed by the Division 1 final.

Friday’s sites and pools:

Newport Harbor--Division 1, Pool 1: Newport Harbor, North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake, Dana Hills, Esperanza; Division 2, Pool 5: Etiwanda, Long Beach Wilson, Mission Viejo, Valencia, Sonora; Division 2, Pool 6: Laguna Hills, Woodbridge, El Modena, Pacifica, Katella.

Huntington Beach--Division 1, Pool 4: Santa Margarita, Torrance Bishop Montgomery, Huntington Beach, Simi Valley Royal; Division 2, Pool 4: Helix, Kennedy, El Toro, Tustin; Division 2, Pool 2: Trabuco Hills, L.A. Marlborough, Foothill, Westminster.

Edison--Division 1, Pool 6: Laguna Beach, Edison, San Clemente, Cerritos Valley Christian; Division 2, Pool 1: San Diego Francis Parker, Rosary, Villa Park, Brawley; Division 2, Pool 3: Chino Hills Ayala, Whittier Christian, Sunny Hills, Newport (Wash.).

Ocean View--Division 1, Pool 5: Ocean View, Long Beach Poly, Fountain Valley, Irvine; Division I, Pool 2: Marina, Capistrano Valley, Corona del Mar, La Habra; Division 1, Pool 3: Mater Dei, Calvary Chapel, La Jolla, Los Alamitos.