Retirement Opens Up Opportunities for Ickes

Just because Bob Ickes retired doesn’t mean he’s staying away from baseball.

Ickes, who stepped down as Mater Dei’s head baseball coach after 25 seasons and 451 victories, will serve as an assistant coach for California’s representative at this week’s Sunbelt All-Star Classic high school tournament in Shawnee, Okla.

“Before, I didn’t have time to do something like this,” Ickes explained with his previous commitments to Mater Dei’s off-season training.

So now Ickes, with Garden Grove assistant Myron Pines and four players--Canyon’s Jason Corapci, Katella’s Mike Martinez, Los Alamitos’ Greg Schwenn and Edison’s Dale Thayer--will represent Orange County in the five-day tournament.

Teams from California, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Ohio, Oklahoma and Texas will each play eight games with the finals Saturday.

The California team, which was selected at the California State All-Star series June 11-13, won’t have a chance to practice before its first game Tuesday.

“We won’t see each other until we meet in Denver, Monday afternoon before we get on the same plane to Oklahoma City,” Ickes said. “We believe we have the best players in in California. But in Texas, Florida, they think the same thing. It will be fun to see how well we do.”

WIGOD ADDS NEW TITLE

Rob Wigod has replaced John Barnes as the boys’ athletic director at Los Alamitos, the school announced. Wigod, a first-year baseball coach for the Griffins, was the athletic director at Lakewood High for six years before he came to Los Alamitos.

“John said he wanted to devote his energy to football,” said Wigod, who will continue as the school’s baseball coach. Barnes, who has a career record of 176-55-6 at Los Alamitos, will continue as the school’s head football coach.

The Griffins also named Dave Carlson as the boys’ and girls’ water polo coach. Carlson led the Marina girls team to a Southern Section Division I championship in 1998. Ken Torres, formerly of Lakewood, was also named the school’s wrestling coach.

PATCHELL STAYS HOME

When Northwood announced the hiring of Chris Cole as its new volleyball coach, it ended several months of waiting.

The Timberwolves hoped they could hire Shawn Patchell, but he decided to stay at Laguna Beach after its new administration recently offered him a tenured teaching position to accompany his current volleyball coaching job.

“It was a tough decision,” said Patchell, a third-year coach who played at Brigham Young. Patchell helped the Artists reach the Southern Section Division III boys’ final last month.

TALENT SHIFT

Cole could send a hearty thank-you note to Irvine volleyball Coach Mark Mednick.

Since Northwood’s enrollment boundaries include students who attended Irvine High this year, many of Mednick’s former players will attend Northwood for its inaugural season in the fall.

“Half of my 16 frosh-soph girls’ players will be at Northwood next season,” Mednick said.

But that’s not the worst of it. After the Irvine boys’ frosh-soph team finished 16-0 last season, 13 of those 16 players will be at Northwood next season, Mednick said.

GOLF UPDATE

In junior golf last week, Fountain Valley’s Candie Kung, who will play at USC next season, shot a final-round two-over par 74 to finish in second place at 218 in the American Junior Golf Assn. San Antonio Shootout at the San Antonio Country Club.

Kung finished behind Leigh Anne Hardin of Martinsville, Ind., who shot a final-round 71 to finish at 216.

Nico Bollini of Servite High finished ninth in the AJGA Las Vegas Founders’ Legacy tournament at the Legacy Golf Club in Henderson, Nev., shooting a final-round 71 to finish at one-under 215. Winner David Evenson of San Diego shot seven-under 209.

Ron Won (University High), who will play at Stanford next season, and Ryan Dwight (Santa Margarita) finished tied for 19th at 221.