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Trio of ex-Titans leads Palo Alto Oaks into West Regional by Ari Kaye his past high school season was a tough one for the Gunn baseball program, as the Titans won only twice during a 30-game season and found themselves struggling in the tough SCVAL De Anza Division. A trio of Gunn alums, however, hope to bring some respect to the program while competing for a championship this weekend. Manager Greg Matson, pitcher Ricky Navarro and pitcher/ infielder Graham Fisher are all members of a Palo Alto Oaks squad that just wrapped up its Western Baseball Association regular season with a 14-2 record, and are now set to host the five-team AABC West Regional tournament starting Friday. “It’s great having Gunn grads on the team,� Oaks general manager Steve Espinoza said. “The Oaks have been here for 65 years and it’s always nice to get (Gunn) guys joining us.� Matson and Navarro are veterans on this Oaks squad, having both graduated from Gunn in 2002. Matson has been a member of the Oaks’ organization for the past 12 years, and been a player/ manager of the team for the past three seasons.
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A chance for Gunn to shine
Gunn High grad Graham Fisher helped the Palo Alto Oaks to a 14-2 regular-season record and will be on the mound this weekend at the AABC West Regional, with a title game Sunday at Baylands Athletic Center.
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PRO TENNIS
BABE RUTH BASEBALL
Stellar field set for Bank of West Classic
Palo Alto teams fall in NorCal State tourneys
By Rick Eymer
by Andrew Preimesberger
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ith any luck, Stanford grad Nicole Gibbs hopes she won’t get the chance to qualify for the Bank of the West Classic women’s tennis tournament, which begins Monday at the Taube Family Tennis Center at Stanford. Gibbs is competing in the USTA Kentucky Bank Tennis Championships in Lexington this week, with a possible wild-card entry into the US Open at stake. The semifinal round, slated for Saturday, conflicts with the Bank of the West qualifying tournament this weekend. With one event remaining in the US Open Wild Card Challenge, Gibbs now leads in the standings with 88 points. She is followed by Julia Boserup (63 points), Oudin (48), Louisa Chirico (44) and Sanaz Marand (30). ÂVÂœÂ˜ĂŒÂˆÂ˜Ă•i`ĂŠÂœÂ˜ĂŠÂ˜iĂ?ĂŒĂŠÂŤ>}iÂŽ
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OF LOCAL NOTE . . . Recent Menlo School grad Maddy Price had the fourth-fastest qualifying time during the women’s 400-meter prelims at the IAAF World Junior Track and Field Championships at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field on Wednesday. Price, who came into the meet with the 10th-fastest qualifying time, clocked 53.89 while finishing second in Heat 5 to advance to the semifinals on Thursday. The only runners faster than Price, who is competing for Canada, were Kendall Baisden of the United States (53.28), Gilda Casanova of Cuba (53.43), and Yana Glotova of Russia (53.61). Also advancing to the semifinals was incoming Stanford freshman Olivia Baker. She ran 54.09 in Heat 4. The 400 finals will be Friday, the same day of the heats for the 4x400 relay. Price will run on the Canadian foursome . . . In conjunction with the WTA’s Bank of the West Classic taking place at Stanford this weekend, former WTA player and Stanford All-American Marissa (Irvin) Gould will hold a book signing to promote her new children’s book, “A Magical Racquet Ride: Journey to the Four Grand Slam Tournaments of Tennis�. The book signing will take place Saturday at Kepler’s Books in Menlo Park at 1 p.m. After competing in 22 Grand Slam events, Gould retired from professional tennis and decided to turn her attention to her other passions — children and education. During her Stanford career, then-Irvin was an NCAA champion, Pac-10 champion, four-time All-American, Academic All-American, and the winner of the Honda Award for the Nation’s top female collegiate athlete in her sport . . . Palo Alto’s Anna Zhou, who’ll be a senior at Gunn High this fall, suffered a doublebogey on the back nine and fell well off the pace at the girls’ USGA Junior Amateur Championship at the par-72 Forest Highlands Golf Club (Meadow Course) on Tuesday in Flagstaff, Ariz. Zhou, who shot an even-par 72 during Monday’s opening round, shot a 3-over 75 on Tuesday. She made the turn with a 1-over 37 but took a double-bogey seven on the 552-yard 14th. She followed that with a bogey on the 16th before rallying with a birdie on the par-5 18th . . . Castilleja is looking for a number of coaches for the upcoming school year: JV tennis, JV basketball, JV soccer, lacrosse assistant varsity coach and swimming assistant varsity coach. Interested candidates should contact new Athletic Director Mary Jo Pruitt at mpruitt@castilleja.org . . . Palo Alto High grad Mira Khanna was one of six Hamilton College men’s and women’s tennis players to earn 2014 scholar-athlete status from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA). In order be an ITA scholar-athlete, a player must be a varsity letter winner, have a grade point average of 3.50 or better (on a 4.00 scale) for the current academic year, and have been enrolled at their present school for at least two semesters (including freshman through senior year).
BASEBALL
Dominika Cibulkova will return to defend her title at the Bank of the West Classic next week at Stanford.
ith school just around the corner, the summer baseball season has come to a close for the Palo Alto Babe Ruth program as all three squads were eliminated in their respective NorCal State Tournaments. The 15-year-old all-stars were the last to go, knocked out of the doubleelimination tourney on Monday with a 6-1 consolation loss to East Sacramento at the Belmont Sports Complex. “The season as a whole was fine,â€? said Palo Alto head coach Bob Budelli. “We had to mix and match some of the kids, but the ones that came out were really hungry to play. They got some at-bats and some exposure and they did a nice job.â€? East Sacramento’s Reid Nixon hit a two-run single just past the reach of ÂVÂœÂ˜ĂŒÂˆÂ˜Ă•i`ĂŠÂœÂ˜ĂŠÂ˜iĂ?ĂŒĂŠÂŤ>}iÂŽ