ROUNDUP : Cruz’s Hit Helps West Into Gold-Medal Baseball Game

Outfielder Jacob Cruz contributed a key single Thursday as the West defeated the North, 5-2, to move into the gold-medal game of the baseball competition of the U.S. Olympic Festival at USC’s Rod Dedeaux Field.

Cruz, who graduated from Channel Islands High last month, singled in the first inning as part of a two-run rally that helped hand West a berth in Saturday’s gold-medal game against the East at 7 p.m. Cruz was one for three and drew two walks. He also stole two bases.

The East and West are each 2-1 in the tournament. The North (0-3) was the defending Festival champion. The South also finished 2-1 but was eliminated based on the run differential tiebreaker.

TRACK

Considering that Quincy Watts missed several days of training last week with a case of strep throat, the former Taft High standout was happy with a second-place finish in the 400-meter dash at UCLA’s Drake Stadium. Watts, the runner-up in the 400 at the NCAA Championships, timed 45.84 seconds for the West.

Thursday’s race was only the second race--and the first 400--Watts has run since finishing third in the 400 in a personal best of 44.98 at The Athletics Congress Championships a month ago.

CYCLING

Amanda Henry of Thousand Oaks clocked a personal best of 1 minute 14.923 seconds to win the women’s one-kilometer time trial cycling event for the West team at the Olympic Velodrome at Cal State Dominguez Hills. Henry--who finished third in the same event at last week’s national championships--defeated runner-up Laura Peycke of the East.

SOCCER

The West team--which includes midfielder-forward Craig Hampton of Simi Valley--defeated the East, 2-1, in a pool play match at El Camino College.

Andy Strouse of Huntington Beach scored the winning goal for the West at the 82-minute mark on an assist from Jason Vanacour of Glendale, Ariz.

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL

Raphael Tulino of Canoga Park had 11 kills, but could not prevent the West from sweeping the North, 15-11, 15-7, 15-10, in a pool play match at Loyola Marymount’s Gersten Pavilion.

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL

Debbie Penney of Burbank had a match-high 16 kills in the West’s 15-6, 15- 11, 5-15, 15-6 victory over the North in pool play. She has 26 kills for the West (2-0) during the Festival.

MEN’S TEAM HANDBALL

Dennis Fercho of Camarillo scored five goals as the West defeated the North, 18-16, in pool play at UCLA. James Hop of Camarillo added three goals and Jeff Fruin of Reseda had one for the West (3-0).

WOMEN’S TABLE TENNIS

Lan Vuong Tieu of Reseda compiled a 3-1 record in singles play and a 2-0 mark in doubles for the West (1-0-1) after the first two rounds of the team competition at Cal State Los Angeles.