NOTES AND QUOTES for a Wednesday in the Napa Valley:

Jessica Ponce of the Napa Sheriff’s Activities League lost by decision to Colleen Loo of Hawaii 8-7 to open the U.S. Amateur Boxing National Championships in Denver Monday.

Ponce qualified for the event last fall when she won the National Police Activities League Championship in Oxnard. She is on the National PAL team and will be competing against regional champions from around the country.

Ponce is entered in the pinweight division and this is only her second open women’s tournament, with the national PAL tournament being her first. The 17-year-old Ponce won several Junior Olympic national titles prior to entering the open women’s classification.

She is currently ranked No. 3 by USA Boxing. Other competitors in Ponce’s weight class include Samantha Guzman of Illinois, Laura Ramirez of New York, and Sadie Roberts of Iowa, all of whom are nationally ranked boxers. Ponce, however, does have prior wins over both Guzman and Ramirez.

Loo is a two-time National PAL champion, a former National Golden Gloves winner, and has been previously ranked No. 2 by USA Boxing before slipping in the rankings due to inactivity. She also was on the 2006 national team when it competed in the Pan American Games in Argentina.

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Brittany Jaques batted .545, Makenzie Miller hit .454 with three doubles and six RBIs, Delana Miller batted .444 and had a .545 on-base percentage, and Caroline Vellucci batted .363 as the Napa Valley Express 16-and-under softball team went 3-1-1 in the RR Gold Showcase of Talent in Stockton last weekend.

Makenzie Miller tossed a one-hitter as the Express opened with a 6-0 win over the San Jose Lady Sharks. Adri Schwartz threw a four-hitter in a 3-2 win over the SB Stars in Game No. 2. Miller’s four-hitter led the Express in an 8-0 win over the Salinas Wildcats in the final game of the day Saturday.

In Sunday’s action, the Express lost to the NorCal Shockers 8-0, but came back to tie the Marin Blue Angels 1-1.

The Express (8-3-2) continues its season at a tournament in Petaluma.

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In their final tune-up before going to Redding for a USSSA baseball tournament this weekend, the Napa Legion 14’s beat Stockton 10-1 in a Central Valley Athletic League matchup Monday night at the Veterans Home of California’s Cleve Borman Field in Yountville.

Napa (8-2-1) had a staff no-hitter going into the seventh, but ended up giving up a single to start the inning off. Napa threw six different pitchers — Brett Obranovich, Kyle Mitchell, Matt Estes, Emmerson Hipp, Sam Bair and Nathan Edwards — in the one-hit gem.

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Local martial artist Jerry Bull was awarded his sixth-degree black belt last month. Joshua Leon Guerrero, Brenda King and Tim Beers were awarded their fifth-degree black belts, certifying them all as Masters of Kenpo Karate.

They all serve as instructors for Black Dragon Kenpo Youth Organization, a non-profit group that has offered free instruction through the Greater Vallejo Recreation District to at-risk teens and children in the Bay Area for 11 years. In that time span, the organization has had well over 1,000 students, 22 of them achieving the rank of black belt and many more putting a troubled past behind them to become college graduates.

Bull’s instructor for over 25 years, Doug Meeks of Napa, was himself promoted to 10th-degree, making him a grand master and punctuating his many years of dedication to martial arts training and instruction.

A few of the other practitioners from Black Dragon Kenpo Youth Organization were also recently awarded higher ranks, marking a very unusual convergence of promotions that happen very rarely.

Jon Leon Guerrero (third-degree), Christian Santos (third-degree), Chris Moises (third-degree), Jose Acosta (first-degree) and Rick Cancino (first-degree) all earned their rank within the past quarter.

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On the strength of league championships in men’s soccer and men’s golf, along with many other solid performances across the board, the Sonoma State department of intercollegiate athletics finished second in the 2008-09 California Collegiate Athletic Association Commissioner’s Cup standings. It is the highest finish for Sonoma State in the four-year history of the competition.

UC San Diego won the title for the fourth consecutive year.

E-mail Executive Sports Editor Marty James at mjames@napanews.com or call 256-2223.