Gambill 1st-Round Winner
Jan-Michael Gambill of Colbert got off to a strong start in the $1.04 million Pilot Pen International tennis tournament in New Haven, Conn., Monday.
Gambill, a 1995 graduate of Mead High School who is ranked No. 239 in the world, knocked off Filip Dewulf of Belgium 7-6 (7-1), 7-5 in first-round action at The Connecticut Tennis Center.
Dewulf is ranked No. 44 and was a semifinalist in the 1997 French Open.
But it could get a little tougher for Gambill today. His opponent is Petr Korda, who was a French finalist in 1993 and received a first-round bye in the Pilot Pen.
Gambill, 20, is in his second full year on the circuit. He was the No. 1 junior player in the 1994 USTA national singles rankings and won the USTA Aptos Challenger in Aptos, Calif., in July.
Baseball
Two of the local entries in the Pride of America youth baseball tournament swept doubleheaders Monday, but a third was swept.
The Spokane Heat defeated the Prosser Thunder at McEwen Field in Coeur d’Alene, 8-3 and 6-0, and the Spokane Ice took the Vancouver Storm 11-4 and 6-1.
But Baseball Academy of Oregon beat Grocery Outlet of Freeman 8-3 and 33-9 in five innings.
Justin Williams had a three-run home run and Tim Bolson pitched a six-hitter, striking out seven, in the Heat’s first-game win. Brian Miller pitched a three-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts in the second.
Grocery Outlet got all its firstgame runs in the second inning for a brief 3-2 lead against Ryan Phillips, but was swamped by a 13-run Oregon first inning in the second game and never recovered. Phillips and Trevor Brown each had two of Oregon’s nine home runs in a 27-hit onslaught.
Golf
You might call it home-course advantage.
Indian Canyon assistant Dave Christenson and his boss, Gary Lindeblad, went 1-2 in the professional division of the Athletic Round Table Pro-Ladies event on the hilly Canyon layout Monday.
Christenson had an 8-under-par 64 on nines of 32-32 while Lindeblad (34-32) was two shots back .
Ron Barker of Ritzville was third with a 33-34-67.
In the women’s competition, Patty Aunan of MeadowWood shot a 1-under 73 on 37-36 to lead Megan Thrash of Downriver by a stroke and Brenda Hall of Liberty Lake and Susi Stone of Spokane Country Club by two.
Corey Prugh of Manito tied for medalist honors and four other area golfers were among the leaders during qualifying for the Pacific Northwest Amateur junior boys and girls championships.
Prugh shot a par 71 at Burlington, Wash., in the 43rd boys event while Reid Hatley of Manito and Robert Selland of Wandermere had 72s to share third.
In the 42nd girls event at Bainbridge Island, Wash., Bridget Johnson of Hangman Valley was one shot back at 8-over 78 while Lani Elston of The Creek at Qualchan was at 79.
Chris Curran of MeadowWood was in a four-way tie for 15th, and last, in the Pacific Northwest Section Apprentice championship in Ridgefield, Wash., with an 8-over-par 152 for the 36-hole event.
, DataTimes