Heads will be spinning this week for local sports fans as tournament madness hits the area.
There are three basketball and one boys soccer tournament going on, and a four-team girls water polo get-together that features the Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 7 teams in the CIF Division 1 rankings.
On top of all this, the boys basketball teams from Dos Pueblos and Cabrillo will meet on the main court at UCSB’s Thunderdome in a special high school game on a college arena. Kansas City Royals pitcher Danny Duffy, a Cabrillo grad, is sponsoring the event.
A rundown of events that run through Saturday:
SAN MARCOS INVITATIONAL
San Marcos has put together an eight-team soccer tournament that features some quality programs.
The San Marcos Invitational will run Friday and Saturday at the Royals? Warkentin Stadium and at Santa Barbara High?s Peabody Stadium. The tournament field will be divided into two four-team pools, with each team playing everyone in its pool. The top two will meet for the championship on Saturday at 3 p.m. at San Marcos. The final will be preceded by a fourth-place match at 1:30. At Santa Barbara, the third-place pool finishers meet at 1:30 and the runners-up take the field at 3 p.m.
San Clemente leads the entries in Pool A. The Tritons start the season ranked No. 1 in Orange County and No. 4 in CIF Division 1. They have one of the top offensive players in the Southern Section in forward Gage Zerboni. He scored 20 goals and had 11 assists last season and was named first-team All-Orange County. Senior Collin McDermott leads an experienced defense.
Two years ago, San Clemente defeated Santa Barbara for the CIF-SS Division 1 title and then won the CIF Division 1 Regional championship. The two schools meet in the final pool-play match on Saturday at 9 a.m. at Peabody Stadium.
The other teams in Pool A are Righetti and Hueneme.
Santa Barbara is led by senior centerbacks Jelan Hutton and Peter Gamboa and goalkeeper Elvis Mancilla.
The Dons open against Righetti at 1 p.m. and play Hueneme in their second match at 4 p.m.
Host San Marcos is in Pool B with Capistrano Valley, Golden Valley of Bakersfield and Santa Maria.
Capistrano Valley has reached the CIF Division 2 Final two years in a row. The Eagles are led by senior forward Kevin Baboiyan and All-CIF goalkeeper Matt Bermudez.
Golden Valley is one of the elite programs in the CIF Central Section. It reached the section semifinals last season and was a finalist in 2011 and 2010. Santa Maria is a perennial power on the Central Coast.
San Marcos, which is led by Ian Hall and Robbie Landeros on offense and Kevin Shaw on defense, opens against Golden Valley at 2:30 p.m. and plays Capo Valley at 5:30. The Royals finish pool play on Saturday against Santa Maria at 10:30 a.m.
All matches will be 80 minutes.
GOLD COAST CLASSIC
San Marcos and Rio Mesa in Oxnard co-host this annual girls basketball tournament, which tipped off Wednesday and runs through Saturday.
Santa Barbara, Dos Pueblos, Santa Ynez, St. Joseph and the host Royals are the area schools entered. They are joined by Rio Mesa, Pacifica of Oxnard, West Ranch of Valencia and Chaminade of West Hills.
After opening against a tough St. Joseph team on Wednesday, Santa Barbara faces another difficult opponent in Chaminade on Thursday at Rio Mesa. Chaminade has a veteran team that was bolstered by the addition of 6-3 transfer Devin Stanback and freshman standout Valerie Higgins.
Santa Barbara, which is coming of a title at the Lompoc Tournament, has a couple of veteran standout players in Ivette Gil and Dessy Coleman.
The Dons finish pool play against San Marcos on Friday at 7 p.m.
Dos Pueblos plays Santa Ynez at San Marcos on Thursday at 5:30 and meets West Ranch on Friday at Rio Mesa at 5:30 p.m.
San Marcos hosts St. Joseph on Thursday at 7 p.m.
St. Joseph has two of the tournament?s marquee players in Kaitlyn Flowers and Tatiana Dunlap. Other players to watch include Mi?Chael Wright of Chaminade and Whitney Branham of West Ranch.
The final day of the tournament will played at Rio Mesa, with the title game slated at 7 p.m.
BIRD CAGE CLASSIC
Bishop Diego hosts an eight-team girls basketball tournament at its brickhouse gym and at Carpinteria High?s gym Thursday through Saturday.
The field includes Bishop, Carpinteria, Cate, Providence Hall, Hueneme, L.A. Grant, Villanova and Cabrillo.
Pool-play games are at 5:30 and 7 p.m. on Thursday and Friday. All games on the final day will be played at Bishop Diego, beginning at 10 a.m., with the seventh-place game. The championship is at 2:30 p.m.
Bishop Diego opens against Villanova Prep on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. At 7, Cabrillo plays Providence Hall at the Bishop gym. Carpinteria plays host to city rival Cate at 7 p.m.
Friday?s games have Cate playing Grant at Carpinteria at 5:30, Hueneme at Carpinteria at 7 and Providence Hall playing Bishop at 7.
40TH SBCC CLASSIC
The Vaquero men?s basketball team opens its eight-team tournament against Cypress College at 7 p.m. on Thursday.
The other teams in the field are Hancock, Mt. San Antonio, Victory Valley, Pasadena, L.A. Valley and Bakersfield.
The tournament championship is Saturday at 7 p.m.
GIRLS WATER POLO SHOWCASE
It?s not a tournament, but perennial powerhouses Santa Barbara and Dos Pueblos will open their seasons by hosting two top-ranked opponents: No. 1 Corona del Mar and No. 2 Foothill of Orange County.
Santa Barbara, ranked third in CIF-SS Division 1, plays Foothill at 3 p.m. on Friday, while No. 7 Dos Pueblos takes on the top-rated CdM Sea Queens.
On Saturday, Corona del Mar visits Santa Barbara at 10 a.m., and Foothill moves up the freeway to play at Dos Pueblos at noon.
The four teams will feature several future NCAA Division 1 players. From the local schools, Jamie Neushul of Dos Pueblos will join her sister, Kiley, at NCAA defending champion Stanford, while Santa Barbara?s team includes UCLA signee Kelsey O?Brien, California-bound Maddie Trabucco and UCSB recruit Sophie Trabucco.
Foothill has six players who signed letters of intent: Ashley Zwirner (UCLA), Kelsey Roland (Cal), Katy Schneider (San Diego State), Eleanor Lee (Loyola Marymount), Nikki Stansfield (USC) and Brenna Thomas (UCSB).
From Corona del Mar, Cassidy Papa signed with Stanford and twin sisters Stephania and Ioanna Haralabidis are headed to USC.
