Sandblom/Ndiaye
survive marathon

Erik Sandblom and Dauda Senge Ndiaye completed their run through the Kailua Night Doubles Tennis Tournament last night, enduring a 7-6 (2), 6-0, 6-7 (8), 3-6, 6-3 marathon of a championship match over Stephan Pampulov and Jan Tribler.

It was the first time the team was tested in the tournament, playing more tennis in the championship than it had in the quarterfinals and semifinals combined.

Sandblom/Ndiaye survived a tiebreaker in the first set and skunked Pampulov/Tribler in the next.

Facing a sweep, Pampulov and Tribler battled back, outlasting the champions in a 9-7 tiebreaker in the next set and using the momentum to win the next, 6-3, and force a winner-take-all fifth game.

Sandblom and Ndiaye started the final game up 4-1 before Pampulov and Tribler stole the next two. But Sandblom/Ndiaye battled back to win the next two, and won it with Sandblom holding serve.

Baltazar makes it into Bodyboarding's final 8

Hawaii's Chastity Baltazar made it to the final eight of the U.S. Open of women's bodyboarding at Huntington Beach Calif., yesterday but was unable to advance.

She was placed in a semifinal heat with eventual runner-up Karla Costa-Taylor and third place finisher Kira Llewellyn of Australia. Baltazar recorded the highest score of those unable to advance to the final four, finishing in a tie for fifth with Miku Nakamura of Japan.

Baltazar's next event will be the Sinatra Pro in Portugal, beginning Aug. 29.

Mead throws 2-hitter to lead Canefires

Kaimi Mead fanned six, allowing only 2 hits, to lead the Hawaii Canefires to a 2-0 win over tournament host El Segundo at the Babe Ruth 15-and-under baseball tournament in California yesterday.

The Canefires are an all-star team made up of players from Punahou, Kalani, West Oahu and Waipahu. Winning the tournament would advance them to the Babe Ruth World Series in New Jersey.

In addition to Mead, team members are Justin Ariki, Chris Balatico, Michael Ferreira, Ivan Fujii, Kyle Fujimoto, Reid Ishikawa, Michael Kim, Shaun Kiriu, Kasey Ko, Robert Kurisu, Michael Lam, Landon Nakata, Mel Silva and Mark Veneri.

Warriors drop Game 1 of Cal Ripken World Series

The Hawaiian Warriors lost their first game in the 10-year old Cal Ripken World Series in Vincennes, Ind., yesterday, 2-1 to the team from Glenn Allen, Va.

The Warriors allowed a run to score in the third inning, but rallied to tie it in the fifth when Reyn Kimura scored on a double.

They were unable to score again, and gave up the winning run in the bottom of the seventh on a wild pitch.

The Warriors are scheduled to play Waite Park, Minn., today in the loser's bracket.

Whiting a winner in American Junior Golf

Hilo's Leah Whiting was one stroke better than the field at the American Junior Golf Association Marsico Funds Tournament in Windsor, Colo., on Friday.

Whiting, who will be a senior at Waiakea, needed to sink a 15-foot putt on her final hole to pull off the victory, and did so. The putt enabled her three-day score of 226 to stand up against the 227 by Alyssa Otero of Santa Fe, N.M.

Christian Akau of Waipahu finished tied for sixth on the boys side, shooting a 73-73-71--217, five strokes behind winner Marty Melcher of Redlands, Calif.

Hawaii's Own

Benny Agbayani, Mets: The St. Louis and Hawaii Pacific alumnus did not play in New York's 4-2 win over Arizona.

Mike Fetters, Pirates: The Iolani graduate bailed out Pittsburgh starter Todd Ritchie yesterday, letting a run score but getting out of the ninth inning with a 6-3 win.

Brandon Villafuerte, Rangers: The Big Island native gave up his first runs and hits this year, pitching two innings and allowing two runs in the first game of a doubleheader Texas lost to Boston.

TIMEOUT

Name: Patricia Akana
Occupation: Supervisor
Why: To create well-organized tournaments for kids and to promote the sport of volleyball.
People would be surprised to know: "I don't play volleyball."

Patricia Akana has only touched a volleyball a handful of times in her life. But as the mother of four grown daughters who played the sport, Akana has been around it long enough to have learned a thing or two.

"It was never my aspiration to play," Akana said. "I'd rather do paper and organizing."

Akana has been organizing volleyball tournaments for 19 years. She started at the youth level when her daughters were playing in club tournaments, and she noticed that the tournaments did not seem to be well-run or safe enough for the kids.

Though her children are fully grown (her youngest is 21), Akana hasn't stopped running tournaments.

"I organize all the USA volleyball tournaments for the adults," Akana said. "I officiate high school, small colleges and USA volleyball tournaments. My strength is organizing and letting people have a good time."

Akana began officiating in 1996 when a friend asked her to help out. Now, she holds clinics to train referees for both the Oahu Interscholastic Association and Interscholastic League of Honolulu. And she's been invited to do clinics on the neighbor islands.

Though the fall is a busy time for her, Akana says her real season begins in January. During the adult season, she runs between 120 and 130 tournaments in a six-month span.

So when Mark Zeug, organizer of the Aloha State Games, asked her to run volleyball this year, she didn't break a sweat even though it was her first year as the tournament coordinator.

"For me, it was easy," Akana said. "We were prepared for any kind of changes. I had a lot of help and that's what makes it good."

In fact, Akana's tournaments are so efficiently run that she doesn't even have to be there. But she is.

"I can put a tournament on cruise control," Akana said. "It's like a well-oiled machine. But I'm not going to ask anybody to do anything I won't do."

Except, maybe play volleyball.

---

Grace Wen, Star-Bulletin

To nominate a volunteer, please call 529-4782 or e-mail nabramo@starbulletin.com

[WE GET LETTERS]

Pung unique

Just a quick note to let you know that Jackie Pung (a former LPGA player and Wahine golf coach) is truly a unique person.

My wife and I just completed a vacation on the Big Island. We stayed at the Paniolo Greens Condo complex in Waikoloa, right on the golf course. After watching golfers for several days, we couldn't stand it any longer, so we wandered over to the clubhouse to see if we might play as walk-ons.

A large group of players were signing in to play, and behind them was a grandmotherly looking lady who waited patiently in line for her turn. There were so many people that we decided to forget it and just hit a bucket of balls.

After hitting a few, the grandmother walked over to us and we told her we weren't playing because of the crowd.

To my surprise, she invited us to join her and her grandson. So we ran into the clubhouse and informed them that the grandmother had invited us to play with her.

They asked us if we knew who we were joining, and we told them we had no idea. They then told us she was Jackie Pung and pointed out her name on the golf bags displayed in the pro shop and showed us her pictures. Wow! What had we agreed to?

So we introduced ourselves and proceeded to play a wonderful round of golf with a very delightful lady. I can't think of a better way to start a vacation. She plays down the middle and on the green, not long, but very accurate. We were amazed.

When it was over, Jackie had us wait while she went into the pro shop. She came out with an autographed golf ball and also signed my scorecard.

The day we left the resort, I ran into her at the course again, and she was excited about receiving a packet of information from the LPGA concerning starting a golf school for young ladies in Hawaii. She said it keeps her young to work with kids.

I just wanted to let you know that Jackie Pung is truly a person to remember and Hawaii is lucky to have such a person.

Ben Flowers
Spokane, Wash.

Hawaii pipe dream

Regarding the prospective reintroduction of baseball to Hawaii, which I would love as a past spectator of Hawaii Winter Baseball, and earlier, the old Hawaii Islanders:

I saw the Islanders play several times at Aloha Stadium, and a few times I was dragged along by my aunt to the old "Termite Palace."

But alas, I think the future of baseball in Hawaii is a pipe dream. Fellows such as Mark Rivers do not have a grip on reality. Unfortunately, the closest we'll ever get to baseball having a future home in Hawaii is to swat at a "fly" with the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.

Tim Fern
Kaneohe

[WINNERS & LOSERS]

[WINNERS]

<< Trent Dilfer: The Super Bowl champ didn't spend his entire summer at Disney World, he spent it preparing for the unemployment line.

He finally got a call just before the first preseason game and was signed as a backup to Seattle's Matt Hasselbeck. That means he should be starting again in about a month.

Jake Paine: Now this is getting ridiculous. We applauded Michelle Wie and Rachel Kyono for being so good so young. Then along comes this 3-year-old who shoots a hole-in-one.

Where will it end?

Damien Memorial High School: Whether they were right or wrong, the whole forfeit mess was over with as soon as Monarch brass actually let their kids have a say in what was -- for the kids -- a simple decision all along.

[LOSERS]

>> Mike Fetters: Usually this whole trading deadline thing works out for all the players. The veterans go to winning teams and the youngsters get sent off to Canada to get playing time. It didn't work out quite that way for the 13-year veteran though, going from the front-running Dodgers to the perennially pitiful Pirates.

ESPN: We would normally give new programs a chance to fail on their own, but since this is the 20th anniversary of MTV, we know where this one is going. The "worldwide leader" plans to use $25 million to produce and run sports-themed soap operas, game shows and movies at the expense of actual sporting events.

The definition of toughness: What many of us considered strength was lost along with Korey Stringer last Tuesday, when the big guy showed just what kind of resolve it takes to become the best at his chosen field.