McGuire’s Release Tied to Bee Sting

Ryan McGuire of UCLA has returned to his Woodland Hills home after the former El Camino Real High first baseman was dropped from the U.S. national baseball team.

McGuire had impressed the coaching staff with his fielding, but a .227 batting average--combined with a severe allergic reaction to a bee sting he suffered last week in Cuba--snuffed out McGuire’s chances for a ticket to Barcelona.

“The coaches didn’t have much patience with him after the sting,” said Ken McGuire, Ryan’s father. “He tried to play through it, but he really couldn’t. Then he sat for a few games and they said, ‘Hey, we’ve got to move on.’ I guess if he was hitting .400, they might have had more patience.”

McGuire seemed to have secured a spot on the squad last month when his primary competitor, Cal State Long Beach first baseman Jason Giambi, was cut during tryouts in Millington, Tenn. But McGuire experienced considerable swelling in his throwing elbow after the bee sting, forcing him to the bench. Giambi was returned to the roster, which held steady at 25 after Monday’s three cuts and three additions. Twenty players will make the trip to Spain.

McGuire will return to UCLA this fall for his junior season.

Akiem Brown of San Diego Serra High, Maronke Sims of La Puente Nogales and Maya Greene of Oakland Bishop O’Dowd have signed letters of intent with the Cal State Northridge track and field program.

Brown won the San Diego Section title in the boys’ 400 and has a personal best of 49.10 seconds. Sims finished fourth in the girls’ 100 low hurdles in the Southern Section Masters meet and has a personal best of 14.29. She also has timed 12.1 in the 100.

Greene has a personal best of 56.20 in the 400. She and Brown qualified for the state championships the past two years before being eliminated in their qualifying heats.

Basketball leagues are forming for men at the Tarzana Recreation Center. League play will begin the first week of August.

Information: Bryan Rodgers, 818-342-8570.