Ortega fires 1-under 71 to place 5th in Desert Classic

Saralisa Ortega recorded her best collegiate round with a 1-under 71 on Sunday in the final round of the Desert Classic women's golf tourney at Indian Canyons in Palm Springs.

  The sophomore from Santa Barbara High finished fifth in the two-day, 36-hole event with rounds of 77 and 71. She had the second-best round on Sunday with three birdies and two bogeys. Her previous low round was 75 last year.

"She played great today and she's going to get better and better as the year goes on," said Vaquero coach Chuck Melendez.

April Chang (76-69) of Sierra and Lexandra So (73-72) of Citrus were co-medalists at 1-over 145.

SBCC tied for sixth in the 11-team field with a 680 total, shaving 16 strokes off its first-round score with a 332. Laine Johnson posted a 178 (92-86) and Nicole Reynolds shot 181 (89-92). Colleen Sullivan showed the greatest improvement with an 87 that was 16 strokes better than her first-round score.

"Our goal was to have everyone improve by 5 strokes and half our team achieved that," noted Melendez.

College of the Desert shot 302 and won the team title by 22 over Sierra with a solid 598. Desert players averaged 74.8 strokes.
  
Desert Classic
Final scores
At par-72 Indian Canyons Resort
 Team – 1, Desert 296-302--598. 2, Sierra 314-306--620. 3, Sacramento City 328-320--648. 4, Palomar 334-328--662. 5,  Mt. San Antonio 327-347--674. 6 (tie), SBCC 348-332--680, Butte 331-349--680. 8, West Hills 357-329-686. 9, Citrus 344-344--688. 10, Irvine Valley 333-363--696. 11, Bakersfield 408-419--827.

 Medalists – April Chang, Sierra, 76-69--145, Lexandra Ho, Citrus, 73-72--145.

 SBCC scores – 5, Saralisa Ortega 77-71--148, Laine Johnson 92-86--178, Nicole Reynolds 89-92--181, Tiffany Huang 94-88--182, Rebecca Valice 90-92-182, Colleen Sullivan 103-87--190, Sara Pettersson 92-98--190, Stella Dulay 92-98--190.