Loose Ends

The South Huntington Beach Breakers took a break from the surf and

sand to travel to Broken Arrow, Okla. recently for the Girls Under-14

Travel Softball National Championships. The team returned home last

weekend from the hot, humid plains with a fifth place national placing in

its division.

“We had a great time,” Breakers Coach Dan Hay said. “I thought the

girls did an excellent job.”

Eighty-eight teams from across the nation gathered in Broken Arrow to

compete for various Amateur Softball Association national titles.

South Huntington Beach, behind the hot bat of Brittany Hay, defeated

the St. Louis Chaos in its tournament opener, 3-0. Hay doubled and

tripled off the left field fence in that win and drove in two of her

team’s three runs. That triumph set the tone for a win streak that

included victories over the Tennessee Elite, Oklahoma Hit & Run, Kansas

City Classics, Pennsylvania Stompers and the Vancouver Ford team from

Washington state.

The Breakers reached the semifinal round before losing to the Fresno

Force and Salinas Storm .

Ashley McDonough pitched in five of those eight games and Crystal Neer

batted an impressive .700 in the leadoff position.

The South Huntington Beach Breakers, consisting of Hay, McDonough,

Neer, Jessica Hancock, Kelly Melone, Amber Fulton, Natalie Mickelson,

Brook Ruiz, Erica Phillips, Kari Best, Vanessa Torrez, Amanda Ford, Kandy

Henry and assistant coaches Kevin Mickelson and Rod Hancock . . .

Huntington Beach High surf team member Brad Ettinger has been a busy

man lately. He recently returned from New York, where Ettinger, who also

dabbles in modeling, was photographed by famed photographer Herb Ritts.

Ettinger was in the Big Apple for a surf wear shoot for a division of

Ambercrombie & Fitch. He returned to Surf City for a few days, before

departing with his Oiler teammates for a surfing safari in Ireland.

Ettinger will captain the Oilers during the upcoming high school season .

. .

For the first time in its five year history, Coast 2 Coast Inline

Hockey Center will hold All-star games. The games, featuring players from

all of their youth recreational divisions, will be held over Labor Day

weekend, Sept. 1-3 . . .

National Junior Basketball will expand in Huntington Beach for the

upcoming 2001-2002 season. The program will be seeking new coaches,

parents and volunteers to become involved with NJB, a nonprofit

organization. Currently, there are two chapters in Huntington Beach. The

program is open to girls and boys in first through eighth grade. Games

will be held on Sundays and the season begins in November. NJB plans to

hold meetings later in the month to organize the lead, although no dates

have been set yet, the program said. For additional information regarding

the expansion, call NJB headquarters at 541-4450, or visit its Web site

page at o7 https://www.njbl.org.

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