Ortega shoots 75 in 1st round of North-South Invitational

Saralisa Ortega shot 3-over 75 in Sunday's opening round and SBCC is in sixth place in the prestigious North-South Invitational women's golf tournament at Morro Bay GC.

Ortega, a sophomore from Santa Barbara High, is tied for fifth in the 36-hole tourney that features the top community college teams in the state. Fumika Matsumoto of Desert was the medalist at 73.

Desert carded a 313 and leads the 17-team field by 15 shots. Sierra is second at 328, followed by Canyons (329), Irvine Valley (331), Modesto (337) and SBCC (339). Tiffany Huang turned in an 85 for the Vaqueros, her second-best score of the year.

"The conditions were excellent but the greens were tough to putt on because of the speed," said SBCC coach and tournament director Chuck Melendez. "I think everyone will go a little lower tomorrow."

The final round gets underway on Monday with an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start.

North-South Invitational
First round
At par-72 Morro Bay GC
 Team – 1, Desert 313. 2, Sierra 328. 3, Canyons 329. 4, Irvine Valley 331. 5, Modesto 337. 6, SBCC 339. 7 (tie), Butte, Canada 340. 9, Mt. SAC 351. 10, Palomar 352. 11, Sacramento City 356. 12, Reedley 369. 13, Citrus 370. 14, Delta 371. 15, Fresno City 378. 16, West Hills 393. 17, Bakersfield 399.
 Medalist – Fumika Matsumoto, Desert, 73.
 SBCC scores – 5 (tie), Saralisa Ortega 75, Tiffany Huang 85, Laine Johnson 89, Nicole Reynolds 90, Sara Pettersson 96.