Panthers take first place
The Pabco Gypsum Panthers celebrated their first place win May 31 for the Pleasanton Girls Softball League (PGSL) Minor-Upper Championship.
The team was undefeated during play-off and championship games, going 3-0 during the post-season. The Panthers also placed first in the minor-upper division during the regular season.
Eight of the twelve member Panther’s team will be representing Pleasanton in the competitive Phantom Summer traveling team program: Courney Hennings, Victoria Molina, Katey Moore, Reno Moreno, Jennifer Ng, Janelle Tanis, Corinne Valdix and Nicole Yozzo. PGSL will be hosting the 18th annual PGSL Summer Classic Tournament July 11-13 in Pleasanton–for more information, visit www.pleasantonsoftball.org.
Golf Center welcomes world long drive champ to staff
The Pleasanton Golf Center has announced that world long drive champion Eric Jones is joining its staff this month. The mental skills expert and founder of the Seaver Golf Academy will be presenting the center’s programs, including the Golf Coach Program, and instructional model built around supervised practice.
Jones played college golf at Stanford University and began his teaching career there in the early 1990’s with the Stanford Junior Summer camps, and he was also the junior varsity coach and men’s varsity assistant coach at Stanford. He has also taught at the Golf Lab facilities in Palo Alto and Poppy Ridge Golf Course in Livermore. In 2003, he won the Re/Max World Long Drive Championship and in 2006, he became the first golfer to win both the senior and open divisions of the Players Tour Championship. Jones is the grandson of Charlie Seaver, known as “Mr. California Golf”. For more information, visit www.pleasantongolfcenter.com.
Three golf tournaments offered for junior players
The Northern Junior Golf Tour is offering three tournaments for the first summer series. The tour is a member based organization and is dedicated to offering a comprehensive and competitive junior tour for Bay Area junior players ages 11-18.
The tournaments are as follows: July 14, Callippe Preserve Golf Course, starting at 1 p.m.; July 21 at Tilden Park Golf Course–two person best ball tournament starting at 9:30 a.m.; and Aug. 2, Metropolitan Golf Links, starting at 1 p.m. All tournaments are $99 and a portion of the amount will be donated to player’s school golf team. For information, visit www.tournevents.com/ncaljuniorgolftour, email ncaljuniorgolftour@hotmail.com or call 586-0221.
7 selected to All-EBAL lacrosse teams
The following boys from Pleasanton schools were honored by being selected to 2008 All-EBAL Teams for lacrosse: High school boys All-EBAL lacrosse; First team: Midfield–Rob Andrews (Foothill High School), Defense–Austin Theobald (Amador Valley High School), Goalie–Nate Proctor (Foothill); Second team: Attack–Kyle Riddle (Amador Valley), Broc Schall (Foothill), Midfield–John-Michael Beddome (Foothill), Kyle Sensiba (Amador Valley), Defense–Evan Dutcher (Foothill).
Honorable mentions went to: Midfield–Carson Ewanich (Amador Valley) and Ryan Koelling (Foothill).
Rowney, Bodnar win Player of the Year honors
Eighth-grader Travis Rowney from Hart Middle School and eighth-grader Natalie Bodnar from Pleasanton Middle School have won Player of the Year honors by the Tri-Valley Middle School Golf League.
The league consists of 12 teams from the Tri-Valley: co-ed competitive golf teams consisting of about a dozen players per team. The Player of the Year for boys and girls were awarded at the end of the year championship at Las Positas Golf Course to the two players who had the lowest scoring averages during the 12-match season.
Travis Rowney ended his season with a 6 match scoring average of 0.00 even par. Bodnar ended her season with a 6 match scoring average of +2.33 over par.
–Patti Bodnar
