By Jessica A. Taylor
•
June 16, 2025

Orange Beach, Ala. — (OBA) — As the summer sun climbs higher over Alabama’s Gulf Coast, this week offers a full slate of activities for locals and visitors alike. From educational wildlife programs to beachside yoga and community music nights, there’s something for every age and interest. Whether you’re looking to connect with nature, dive into local art, or simply enjoy a sweet treat in downtown Foley, the week ahead showcases the region’s rich blend of culture, recreation, and family fun.

SAN MARCOS, Calif. (KGTV) – Several more youth sports leagues across San Diego County are reporting break-ins at their storage facilities, with thieves targeting snack bars and equipment rooms.

The San Marcos Girls Softball League is the latest to be impacted, suffering two break-ins within a week that resulted in more than $3,000 in losses.

“There’s an element of anger. I think it’s violating,” said Ashley Gragido, a softball mom and league board member.

Gragido said the first break-in occurred last Monday night when someone kicked a roll-up window so hard that a bracket bent open, before the window was forced open.

“They took all the food that you see we’ve restocked,” Gragido said.

The thieves cleaned out snacks and drinks, along with a safe containing snack bar proceeds. The money was intended for equipment and scholarships to help families pay for participation costs.

A second break-in occurred Saturday night, resulting in the theft of tools.

Emma Renteria, who plays in the league, expressed her disappointment about the thefts.

“Made me feel disappointed. Why would someone do that?” Renteria said.

I first reported on similar break-ins in early June, when the Mira Mesa Girls Softball League had their equipment room targeted. Generators and canopies were among the items stolen from one of two units run by youth leagues in Mira Mesa.

Since then, more break-ins have been reported, including several in San Marcos and one at Rancho Bernardo Community Park, where The Ranch Girls Softball League’s equipment room was raided Tuesday for the fourth time in nine months. Items stolen in these thefts include a ball machine, generators, and netting.

“Everything comes from the community, so you’re stealing from community,” said League President Nora Haripotepornkul.

Investigators have not yet linked any of the cases, but Gragido believes the timing may not be coincidental.

“It’s all-star season. If it’s connected, someone is following social media, aware of leagues, knowing tournaments are happening and snack bars are stocked,” Gragido said.

The affected leagues have implemented extra security measures, including additional locks on the targeted storage rooms.

Anyone with information on these cases is asked to call Crime Stoppers 888-580-8477.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

MOSES LAKE – The Moses Lake Top Tier Sports baseball teams have now entered the summer tournament season. Top Tier is partnering with the Moses Lake Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Department. 

The association began the weekend tournaments mid-March for youth and mid-May for high school. 

“We just like providing a safe space and an entertaining space for players and coaches to go out there and compete,” said Ryan Arredondo, the high school tournament director with Top Tier. “Just get better at baseball and have a better summer.” 

The season begins in the late winter months to early spring, with indoor baseball tournaments being held until the regular outdoor tournaments can begin in March. The typical tournament season runs from either March or May until the end of July, said Arredondo. 

“It’s been a great turnout with everybody. We appreciate everybody coming out,” Arredondo said. “Weather has been treating us well since the beginning of March.”  

Top Tier Sports covers youth baseball tournaments throughout Eastern Washington, primarily playing in Moses Lake and Ellensburg, said Arredondo. These tournaments will also feature teams visiting from Western Washington as well. 

The teams from the East side of the state mostly come out of Ellensburg, Moses Lake, Othello, Selah, Wenatchee and Yakima, with the main teams from the Basin being the Columbia Basin RiverDogs, the Central Washington Sixers and the Moses Lake Youth Baseball Association All Stars. Teams on the road from the West side are typically from Ferndale, Seattle, Mercer Island and Northshore.  

“I’d say the split is 60/40, East side Majority,” he said. 

For many teams such as the Central Washington Sixers, this is their first year working with Top Tier Sports. Trey Evans, who runs the Sixers alongside Jameson Lange, said they joined the organization in November of 2024 and have seen immediate changes as they have gone through the first half of the season. 

“It starts with our guys and just kind of how they wear their uniform and how they carry themselves and interact with each other,” said Evans. “It starts with investing in each individual player that’s coming in and then we dive into the actual baseball aspect of it.” 

There are five tournaments left for the youth and high school divisions, with Dune City Dust Up June 28-29 and Moses Lake Meltdown on July 18-20 being the two to be hosted in Moses Lake for the youth baseball teams. The high school-aged teams have the Big Bend Summer Classic this weekend, the Big Bend Summer Finale on July 10-13 with 15u and 16u teams and July 24-27 for 16u and 18u teams. 

Arredondo said the Dune City Dust Up is shaping up to be a very large tournament with 66 teams slated to participate. Games are set to start at 8 a.m. and will be spread across the Basin, with some being held at Warden and Othello high schools for 9-14u age groups. 

“I wanted to bring baseball back to Moses Lake,” said Arredondo. “There were a ton of tournaments being run in Moses Lake about a decade ago, and then it slowed down, so I’m just glad that the city is giving us the opportunity to hold these big tournaments again and get everybody out to Moses Lake.” 

    Central Washington Sixers 11u pitcher Maverick Meseberg pitches from the mound in their tournament this past weekend. Since joining Top Tier Sports in November, Sixers’ director Trey Evans said that the team has been able to invest more in each individual player.
  

    The Central Washington Sixers 9u team became tournament champions this past weekend after going 4-0. Top Tier Sports has brought together teams from both sides of the state for tournament play.
  

    The 11u team with the Central Washington Sixers in the dugout for the Father’s Day tournament over the weekend. The Sixers will have their 18u team participating in the Big Bend Summer Classic this weekend and multiple teams in the Dune City Dust up next weekend.
  

    Cooper Vasquez pitches with the 14u River Dogs last summer. The River Dogs’ 12u team will be one of the 66 teams participating in the Dune City Dust Up June 28-29.
  

    A pitcher for the 11u Moses Lake All-Stars last season. They will have multiple teams participating in the Dune City Dust Up June 28-29.
  

NOBLESVILLE, Ind. (WISH) — The Noblesville Boom, the NBA G League affiliate of the Indiana Pacers, will host a youth basketball camp from July 14-18 at The Arena at Innovation Mile.

The camp, ran by the National Basketball Academy, is open to children ages 7 to 15 and will run daily from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The program is designed for both beginners and more experienced young players.

Participation in the camp costs $250, and registered campers will receive a Boom T-shirt and two tickets to a Boom home game in the 2025-26 season. Campers will also have the opportunity to play on the official Boom home court.

Campers are required to bring their own water, snacks, and lunch. Space is limited, so early registration is encouraged.

The Noblesville Boom, formerly known as the Indiana Mad Ants and based in Fort Wayne, recently finished its 18th season and continue to engage the community through events like this basketball camp.

This story was formatted for WISHTV.com using AI-assisted tools. Our editorial team reviews and edits all content published to ensure it meets our journalistic standards for accuracy and fairness.

A young girl lines up a putt during a round of golf while her playing competitors walk by on June 3, 2024. (Photo courtesy of Youth on Course)

PHOENIX – For many years, golf was reserved for the elite, for country clubbers, for those with financial means.

In 2006, however, a nonprofit in Monterey, California began partnering with golf courses nationwide to keep prices down for the next generation.

With Youth on Course, children ages 6-18 can get out and play for $5 or less. And, more than likely, they bring a parent along so the partnering course truly gets the best of both worlds: providing opportunity for youth and earning extra foot traffic with a paying adult.

Buckeye native Abigale Morris was one of the hundreds of thousands that Youth on Course has positively influenced.

Morris said her mother, Aiesha, introduced her to the program and it was a way for her to practice the game she then took to the collegiate level at NCAA Division II Biola University. Morris and her friends primarily utilized the three 18-hole courses at The Wigwam in Litchfield Park due to how close it is to her family’s home.

As a junior at Waddell’s Canyon View High School, she was one of 20 across the nation to be selected to the program’s GenZ Council in 2021. Inclusion with that group sparked Morris’ curiosity. That summer and the next, Morris said she interned in marketing and communications, handling tasks such as contacting golf courses about Youth on Course partnership.

“It really just opened my mind to the idea of working in golf, which I thought was really cool, and I was really young when I did it too,” said Morris, who learned of the internship via former Youth on Course VP of Communications and Marketing Ashleigh Guerra.

Founded by CEO Adam Heieck, Youth on Course has been active in Arizona since 2015, but its impact has never been greater.

Buckeye, Arizona native Abigale Morris competes for NCAA Division II Biola University’s women’s golf team after interning for Youth on Course in marketing and communications for two summers. (Photo courtesy of Abigale Morris)

On April 10, Youth on Course and Bank of America announced a three-year partnership that extends free one-year memberships through the Golf with Us initiative. Prospective members had until June 15 – lengthened from an originally set May 24 – to take advantage of the promotion and 80,000 did with just over a week left.

“We’re targeting 95,000 new (Youth on Course) members,” said Steven Martin, chief marketing officer for Youth on Course. “So, you think of the effect. … A round of golf can change somebody’s life. So if you have 95,000 members and the average member’s playing five or six rounds a year, you know, that’s a lot, that’s a lot of rounds, a lot of effect.”

Junior Golf Association of Arizona Executive Director Scott McNevin said more than 2,000 of those newest members are based in Arizona.

Over the past 10 years, the state of Arizona has seen membership growth from about 1,000 to 6,665 as of June 5, according to Martin. Golf club participation has also increased greatly from what McNevin estimated to be 10 to 43 in 2025.

McNevin said Youth on Course membership, which carries a $30 annual value in Arizona, is included with JGAA’s $120 competition membership. Once activated via a mobile app, a junior golfer can not only play at a significantly discounted rate on local courses but can use the perk at any of 2,000-plus participating courses in the country.

“Say, ‘OK, I’m going on a road trip to Oregon, Washington (and) Colorado for two weeks in July. I want to check out these courses,’” McNevin said. “I’ve heard stories about building a vacation around it.”

Youth on Course also has partner courses in Canada, Mexico and Australia.

Morris’ career trajectory has stayed within the golf industry in large part due to her pre-college internship.

Now a rising senior at Biola, Morris has interned with the United States Golf Association (USGA) and Ping and recently began interning for First Tee – Phoenix in June.

“I want to stay in marketing and communication or like brand development,” Morris said. “I would love to work social media for like the LPGA or PGA Tour. That’d be fun to be in that like tournament atmosphere.”

Children, in addition to play, gain free access to virtual golf instruction through GolfPass (normally a $49 value), an official handicap number and several career opportunities such as applying for a six-week paid internship with Pebble Beach Company.

“A really cool program is if you go on GolfNow and you book your tee time, you can round up to the next dollar and that money comes to us,” said Martin, who has been with Youth on Course since June 2023.

And that funding is vital as Youth on Course subsidizes up to $15 for every member round to uphold their $5 promise with the national junior rate at about $20, according to Martin.

Martin said Youth on Course chipped in an average of $6 for more than 20,000 rounds last year in Arizona. Local golf associations, like the JGAA, also play a role in keeping the costs down.

In 2024, one Arizona course dominated rounds played not just in the state but in the entire nation.

Scottsdale’s Starfire Golf Club logged the most Youth on Course rounds (6,928) in the country in 2024. (Photo courtesy of the JGAA)

Scottsdale’s Starfire Golf Club logged 6,928 rounds, according to McNevin.

The club benefits from a central location and The Mulligan 9, a short nine-hole course separate from its regulation 18-hole course, The King.

The real secret sauce? Youth on Course members can play the course any day of the year and seven days a week, according to Starfire’s website.

All partner courses have control over their accessibility, the typical restrictions in Arizona found during winter months. For example, Encanto Golf Course in Phoenix offers tee times for Youth on Course members after 1 p.m. from October to May and anytime on weekdays from June to September.

“Really (Youth on Course) exploded since COVID just with the golf boom but before that the concept was, ‘OK, we’re trying to get more youth to play and use unused tee times maybe in the afternoon when people aren’t using them,’” McNevin said.

Martin said of the existing municipal golf courses in the U.S., about 40% are in league with Youth on Course. This percentage of buy-in is something the nonprofit is hoping to increase with its new strategic partnership.

“We’re partnering with Bank of America to open that up by basically providing more money for those municipalities to partner with Youth on Course and kids that are members of ours,” Martin said. “So that’s key when you look at golf in general is having places for kids who are not financially able to be involved in a country club with their parents.”

The multiyear deal could not have come at a more opportune time in Martin’s mind, as Bank of America was one of only four champion partners of the Masters Tournament in April. The hometown bank company already had relationships with major tournaments in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur (since 2019) and the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (since 2022).

Corporate partnerships aside, Martin said social media influencers Roger Steele and Tisha Alyn, who boast about 730,000 combined Instagram followers, have been invaluable ambassadors for what they are trying to accomplish.

“What we’re trying to do is kind of feed that niche of just lifestyle golf,” Martin said. “We’re attracted to those folks that do that because they’re just playing for the masses. … Most folks are just kind of fed up with how much money’s in golf and they just want to play, enjoy it and love it.”

With those advocates – former U.S. secretary of state Condoleezza Rice is also an ambassador for the organization – Martin said Youth on Course is currently executing a five-year growth plan. They want to reach 500,000 members (currently at about 350,000) and 5,000 partnered courses (currently at about 2,500) by 2029.

“I think it’s really exciting that (Youth on Course) is investing in the future of golf because I feel like in the last 10 years or so, the landscape of the game has changed,” Morris said. “(The Bank of America partnership) is kind of making it a sport for everyone…and just seeing how it’s going compared to when I was a junior, which wasn’t even that long ago, ‘till like now, it’s just insane how many more kids are playing golf.”