Nick Haluschak of Vancouver was the home-plate umpire for Saturday’s Little League West Region championship game in San Bernardino, Calif.
Huntington Beach defeated Red Bluff in the game between California all-star teams to earn a berth at the Little League World Series. The game was televised live on ESPN, and played before an announced crowd of 13,872.
Haluschak was selected to call balls and strikes by the tournament’s umpire staff.
Haluschak is one of several Little League umpires from Clark County who were selected to umpire at various Little League tournaments this summer.
Dave Palenshus and Darrin Leggett traveled to Kutno, Poland, to umpire in the Europe, Mediterranean, Africa Region Tournament for Junior League Baseball (14 and younger). Leggett also umpired at the West Region Tournament for Senior Softball (16 and younger) in Missoula, Mont.
Linda Newton umpired at a Little League Softball regional in Ramstein, Germany, and is currently an umpire for the Little League Softball World Series at Alpenrose Dairy in Portland.
Don Fitzgerald umpired at the USA West Region Tournament for Big League Softball (18 and younger) in Palmdale, Calif.
Umpires selected for Little League tournaments are volunteers.
Area players share in club soccer title
Four players from Clark County contributed to a national soccer championship for a Beaverton, Ore., club.
The Westside Metros Galacticos won the boys under-15 Super Group title at the U.S. Club Soccer National Cup X, played July 29-Aug. 1 at Boise, Idaho.
Contributing to the championship were forward Nathan Beasley, defenders Niko De Vera and Austin Kernion, and midfielder-defender Isaac Strever. The four are entering their sophomore years at area high schools: Beasley and De Vera at Camas, Kernion at Skyview and Strever at Mountain View.
“The four boys (from Clark County) all played very well during the tournament,” said John Bain, the team’s head coach.
The Super Group is considered the elite level of U.S. Club Soccer, which is a different organization from U.S. Youth Soccer. Westside Metros went 4-1 during the tournament, defeating a team from San Jose, Calif., in the championship match.
Over the past year, the Galacticos team won the Oregon Premier League title and the Northwest Champions League, which involved the top four clubs from Oregon and the top four from Washington. The team did not participate in the 2011 state cup tournament that qualifies teams for the U.S. Youth Soccer regionals.
In 2010, the team was a runner up in the U.S. Youth Soccer West Regional.
Bain, who played professional soccer for the North American Soccer League version of the Portland Timbers, said this group is one of the better team’s he has coached. Hew noted that it won the high school division of the Clash at the Border tournament this summer in Camas.
“It’s a really talented group of boys,” Bain said, adding that talent is matched by their drive.
“They want to get better and they just push themselves to be good,” Bain said.
At the U.S. Club Soccer National Cup X, Galacticos lost its first game of pool play to a New Jersey team. They outscored their next two pool-play opponents 12-1 to qualify for the semifinals. In the semifinals, they defeated Eastside United Pumas from Gresham, 4-0.
In the championship, Galacticos beat Almaden Real of San Jose, 3-1. They defeated the same team 6-0 in pool play.
A girls team from Vancouver United Soccer Alliance — Timbers Red (1993) — won the championship for the under-17 Premier Division at U.S. Club Soccer National Cup X. A report about that championship was published in the Aug. 2 edition of The Columbian.
Deaf swimmer wins gold in Portugal
Swimmer Peggy Liang of Vancouver won six medals, three of them gold, at the World Deaf Swimming Championships last week in Coimbra, Portugal.
A recent Mountain View High School graduate, Liang won individual gold in the women’s 100-meter freestyle with a time of 59.57 seconds, and in the 50-meter butterfly with a time of 29.77 seconds.
Liang won a third gold medal as a member of the Team USA 800 free relay. The time was 8:49.55, a World Deaf Swimming Championships record. This was the third time the meet has been held.
Liang’s silver medal was in the 50-meter freestyle (27.44 seconds). That race was won by 26-year-old Aksana Petrushenka of Belarus in a meet-record time of 26.93. Liang won bronze medals in the 100 fly (1:06.45), and as a member of the 400 medley relay (4:40.03).
A swimmer for the Columbia River Swim Team in Vancouver, Liang and will be a freshman at the University of Hawai’i.
Hoops on the River this week
Hoops on the River, a three-on-three basketball tournament, will take place Friday through Sunday at Vancouver Landing.
The sixth-annual tournament has competition in a variety of age and ability divisions. Entries closed on Monday.
The tournament is a fundraiser for Share programs, which assists needy residents of Southwest Washington. There is no charge for spectators.
Vancouver Landing is along the Columbia River adjacent to the Red Lion Inn at the Quay. For more details, visit www.hoopsontheriver.org.
COMMUNITY SPORTS NOTEBOOK news items can be submitted by calling 360-735-4521 or by sending email to paul.danzer@columbian.com.
