Youth Scene: MacCallum wins title in Anaheim tourney

Jessica MacCallum of Laguna Beach entered the 32nd annual Anaheim Tennis Center Spring Jr. Open tournament last weekend, won four matches to claim a singles title and also earned a doubles championship.

The United States Tennis Assn. Level 3 event, one of the top tournaments of the year, started Saturday concluded Sunday.

MacCallum, 10 and a student at Top of the World Elementary School, was the No. 5 seed in the Girls’ 10-and-Under singles tournament. She defeated the No. 4 seed in the quarterfinals, No. 2 seed in the semifinals, and won the title by knocking off No. 1-seeded Bianca Molnar (Ladera Ranch) in the division final, 6-1, 6-3.

MacCallum went on to team with Molnar to win the Girls’ 10U doubles crown. The pair, the No. 1-seed in the doubles tourney, defeated the No. 2-seeded team of Samantha Wang (Arcadia)/Eddy Yang (Calabasas), 6-2, 6-0, in the final.

MacCallum trains with the Advantage Tennis Academy at the Racquet Club of Irvine.

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Little League Baseball

Rotary traveled to Rancho Niguel Saturday to take on the undefeated Rancho Niguel Yankees who remained that way by pulling out a 2-1 win.

Jack Payne (four innings) and Griff Naess (two innings) matched the Yankees’ star pitcher pitch-by-pitch and the teams were scoreless heading into the sixth. Rotary rallied in the top of the inning when Carter Johnson reached base and scored on a double by Aaron Childs.

The Yankees countered with two runs in the bottom of the sixth to win.

Rotary again traveled to Laguna Niguel Wednesday and rebounded from the tough loss to the Yankees by using a potent offense to take down Laguna Niguel USC, 19-7. Lucas McKibben had a memorable, big hit to center field, Payne and Chase Hall each had multiple hits, and the rest of the Rotary line-up produced hits and reached base. Payne, Hall, Jett Hamil and Naess each saw time on the mound.

Wednesday’s win put Rotary at 9-4.

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