24-03-2025
Castillo And Oshiro Take Home Caribbean Gold At The APP Cayman Island Pickleball Open
APP Cayman Open 2025
APP
This past weekend, the Association of Pickleball Players (APP) headed to the Cayman Islands for a 'test run' of a pro stop in George Town, at the brand new 24-court Pickleball Cayman facility just outside the city center. A slew of top APP touring pros took advantage of the recent cancellation of PWR commitments to take a quick Caribbean vacation and hit up Grand Cayman Island for a weekend of fun and competition.
Here's a quick recap of the Open Draws. There was prize money to be had, but no APP ranking points. The event had more than 240 players, a pretty sizeable draw for a resort community.
Click here for the home page for the event, where you can get tournament details, draw sheets, and results.
Let's recap the action.
Former UCLA star and now South Carolina player Max Wild upset No. 1 Foster in the quarters and made the singles final, but could not overcome veteran No. 2 Riley DeHeart, who topped him 12,11 for the win.
Gold: Ryler DeHeart. Silver: Max Wild. Bronze: Richard Livornese Jr.
Judit Castillo upended No. 1 seed Yana Newell in the final for the singles win. Newell had topped teenage sensation Schull in the semis. Texas-based pro Nicole Pitts had a huge back-draw run to claim Bronze.
Gold: Judit Castillo. Silver: Yana Newell. Bronze: Nicole Pitts.
The Mixed draw was filled with APP heavyweights, and the back end of the competition did not disappoint. The reigning APP event champion Bobbi Oshiro teamed with Richard Livornese to upend the No. 1 seeds Megan Fudge & Jack Munro in the final, a great win for both.
Gold: Oshiro/Livornese. Silver: Fudge/Munro. Bronze: Newell/Kawka.
Richard Livornese made it three medals out of three divisions, pairing with Jack Munro to take the gold.
Gold: Munro/Livornese. Silver: Mick/Newell. Bronze: DeHeart/Kawka
Bobbi Oshiro & Judit Castillo both secured dual golds for their weekend at the Beach, cruising to a title together.
Gold: Oshiro/Castillo. Silver: Fudge/Pitts. Bronze: Newell/Mayorga-Perry
The local club has five teaching pros (by the way, is that possibly the greatest job in the world? A pickleball pro in the Cayman Islands?), some of whom also competed against the traveling APP pros. The best finishes by local pros I could find:
- Michael Carse finished 8th in Open Doubles.
- Dana Karani finished 18th in Open Doubles, 18th in Open Singles.
- Steve Thompson finished 16th in Open Doubles.
Unlike in normal pro events, there were no Senior pro events this weekend. Most of the budding Senior Pros were at an NPL combine in Houston.
Next up on the Pickleball Calendar? According to my Master Pickleball Schedule, next week is the PPA Red Rock pro stop, the APP Collegiates event at Cape Coral, a USAP golden ticket event in Tucson, and a PPA challenger event in Columbia, South Carolina. Busy week. And that's after the PWR pulled the plug on its spring schedule.
