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Slack continued this morning at the arena, and a special pre-rodeo
performance will take place tonight at 7:30 p.m. with competition in
steer roping and ladies barrel racing, along with a special section of
bull riding that will be highlighted by former world's champion Tuff
Hedeman on board `Warrior' the bull ho scored 89 points on last week at
the Weatherford rodeo.
Brock Bean of Fort Hancock and Cody Guess of Colorado City set the new
arena record in team roping with a 6.8 time, but were tied by Robert
Gonzales of Magnolia and Jacky Stephenson of Charlotte, Tx. Less than a
second behind in fifth place were defending National Finals Rodeo champs
Steve Purcella of Hereford and Steve Northcott of Odessa, with a 7.6
second time.
The two leading teams both got $1,736 for their first place efforts.
In steer roping, where all of the Top 15 finalists at last December's
NFR are competing, Jim Davis took the early lead. Davis, of Abilene, who
won the title in 1985-86 and was seventh last year, picked up $2,011 for
his 10.9 second effort, while Lionel Burns of Lovington, N.M. was second
with an 11.3 time.
Mack Altizer, whose Bad Company Rodeo is again producing this year's
West of the Pecos Rodeo, scored an 11.4 time to claim third place
following Monday's competition.
In calf roping, Stran Smith of Tell posted a 9.0 time to take the early
lead and earn himself $1,912. Kaid New of San Antonio was second at 9.3
while a pair of ropers, Bill Stockton of Big Spring and Johnny Grimes of
Kerrville, tied for third with 9.7 times.
In steer wrestling, only three-tenths of a second separate the top eight
finishers on Monday. Craig Cavaness of Fushear holds the lead at 4.4
seconds, Butch Myers of Athens, Tx., is second at 4.5 while Bryan
Burleson of Fort Worth and Guy Yarbrough of Balch Springs are tied for
third at 4.6 seconds.
Cavaness earned $1,963 for his first place finish on Monday.
Tonight, along with Hedeman's ride, the bull riding section will also
feature another former world's champ, Jerome Davis, riding `La Bamba'.
Jim Sharp, David Fournier, Royd Doyal and Philip Elkins are among the
other bull riders scheduled to perform tonight.
The steer roping will feature 11-time world's champ Guy Allen, along
with the last two West of the Pecos Rodeo All-Around Cowboy winners,
Arnold Felts and Trevor Brazile. Felts will be seeking his fifth
All-Around title in Pecos this year, while Brazile was the Professional
Rodeo Cowboys Association Rookie of the Year in 1996, and won the West
of the Pecos in 1995 just after graduating from high school.
Andrews' Dan Fisher, who was second to Allen at the National Finals
Rodeo in December and set the arena record in Pecos last July, will also participate in tonight's steer roping competition.
After scratching out a pair of two runs in the first three innings of
their game against Ozona, the Senior Leaguers pushed across six runs in
the fourth inning off pitcher Matt Castaneda in the fourth, then added
three more in the fifth off Castaneda and Peter Rodriguez for an 11-1
victory.
The win earned Pecos another home game on Wednesday night against either
Alpine or Big Lake, who also played Tuesday. No score was available on
that game.
Pifi Montoya shut out Ozona until the fifth inning, surviving leadoff
errors in the first two innings that put runners on second with none
out. He allowed only two hits while striking out nine in five innings.
"Pifi's a good pitcher. He's got a couple of things he can throw," said
manager Frank Rodriguez.
Peter Rodriguez reached second to open the game when Jacob Esparza
mishandled his line drive into right field. He would reach third and Tim
Maldonado second after a walk, but three strikeouts got Montoya out of
trouble.
The lefthander hurt himself in the second, throwing away Casey Jameson's
hard shot back to the mound, which went off Montoya's glove. But two
more strikeouts and a pop up by Rodriguez ended the threat.
Meanwhile, Castaneda survived the first after a two out single by Luis
Salgado, before giving up a run in the second, on Esparza's leadoff hit
and Gilbert Fierro's two-out single to left. Fierro would then be thrown
out trying to score on Montoya's single to right, a play that would be
repeated three innings later. But by then, Pecos had a comfortable lead.
They made it 2-0 in the third on a Joe Robert Lara leadoff double, two
walks and a passed ball, then pushed six runs across in the fourth,
after Castaneda fanned David Rodriguez and Jason Payne to start things
off.
He walked Fierro, and then left fielder Ray Ramos misplayed a deep fly
by Montoya into a double. Lara followed with a two run single and after
an infield hit by Ricky Herrera, Salgado singled to left for two more
runs and a 6-0 lead. Joshua Casillas then walked, Esparza reached on an
error by Rodriguez at shortstop, scoring Salgado, and a passed ball and
throwing error by Maldonado at catcher scored Casillas with the eighth
run.
Pinch-hitters Kenny Vargas and Jarrod Shorter got Ozona on the board in
the fifth. They walked and singled ahead of an RBI ground out by Paul
Sanchez. But Pecos ended the game in their half of the fifth under the
10-run rule by scoring three more times, off Montoya's third hit of the
game, a passed ball by Maldonado and a wild pitch by Rodriguez, who came
in moments earlier to replace Castaneda.
Despite the 11-run game, Pecos did struggle at times at the plate
against the Ozona pitcher, who had six strikeouts in his 4-plus innings
of work.
"That slow pitcher got to them," said coach Abel Dominguez of Pecos'
early hitting problems. "It's been like this all along. Pecos batters
always have trouble with slow pitchers."
Rodriguez said he wasn't sure who would pitch Wednesday 7 p.m. game at
Maxey Park. The winner there will be off until next Tuesday, when
they'll host a quarterfinal game in the double-elimination tournament.
The loser faces a game on the road on Sunday.
Pecos' Little League All-Stars, meanwhile, will travel 75 miles tonight
to Crane, where they'll play their first-ever District 4 game against
the newest member of the district tonight at 7 p.m. Crane won their
tournament opener by a 5-1 score over Big Lake, while Pecos began
District 4 play Sunday night with a 16-4 win over Big Bend (Alpine) at
Chano Preito Field.
The winner will face a long trip on Sunday, either to Winters, Ballinger
or Tri-County (Miles), while the loser will come back and play a
Thursday night home game to avoid elimination.
Pecos' Junior Leaguers will be at home on Thursday for their District 4
Tournament opener. They'll face San Angelo North at 7 p.m. at Maxey
Park, with the winner hosting a Saturday night game while the loser hosts an elimination round contest on Sunday.
Tyson threw himself at the mercy of Nevada boxing regulators on Monday
in the wake of his disqualification for biting Evander Holyfield, saying
he ``just snapped'' and will not contest any penalty the commission
wants to impose.
But he begged the commission not to ban him for life from the sport he
has dominated for the last decade.
``I only ask that it's not a penalty for life for this mistake,'' Tyson
said, reading from a prepared statement.
Tyson apologized to everyone from the judge who sentenced him for his
rape conviction in Indianapolis to boxing fans around the world for
behavior he said even he couldn't explain.
Most of all, though, he apologized to Holyfield for the bizarre end to
the fight.
``Evander, I am sorry,'' Tyson said. ``You are a champion and I respect
that. I am only saddened that this fight did not go further so that the
boxing fans of the world might see for themselves who would come out on
top.''
Tyson said he was prepared to ``pay the price, like a man'' and expects
a severe penalty from the commission, which meets today to begin the
process of disciplining the former heavyweight champion.
The New York Times and the New York Daily News reported today that
Tyson will receive at least a one-year suspension, according to Nevada
sources.
The New York Post reported Tyson will likely be suspended for a year
and fined $3 million, the maximum allowed under Nevada law.
Standing alone in front of a lectern, his right eye still puffy and
bandaged from the fight, Tyson spoke in a calm, yet vulnerable voice and
took full responsibility for his actions.
For 4 minutes and 16 seconds the most feared man in boxing pleaded for
forgiveness and said he was seeking psychological help for biting
Holyfield on the ears, taking a gash out of one.
On his 31st birthday, Mike Tyson, a man of intimidating arrogance and
power, was now just a man admitting he needed help.
``I have reached out since Saturday to ask my god to help me and to
renew my faith as a true believer,'' said Tyson, who converted to Islam
while serving his prison sentence. ``I have also reached out since
Saturday to the medial professionals for help to tell me why I did what
I did. And I will have that help.''
Holyfield, meanwhile, said Tyson's apology was ``a good gesture.''
``The fans truly deserve it most,'' he said. ``They are the ones who
didn't get to see a full show. I felt I was going to knock him out
anyway, but still the fans need to see that we as athletes get paid a
lot of money and we should be able to hold our composure and not do
anything illegal.''
Holyfield believes Nevada officials should hand down a stern penalty.
``Whatever punishment they give him will show what kind of commission
we have,'' Holyfield told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. ``It has to
be something to make a statement; otherwise, other people are going to
be doing the same thing.''
Holyfield said he had not talked to Tyson, but said he would accept his
apology.
``I'll let him know that his apology is accepted -- and I'll probably
ask him a few questions,'' Holyfield said, ``but they'd be personal.''
By law, boxing commissioners can only fine Tyson up to 10 percent of
his purse, or $3 million. But they can suspend him from the sport of
boxing for as long as he lives if they choose.
Ironically, a new federal law takes effect Tuesday that would force
other states to honor any suspension that Nevada imposes.
Commission director Marc Ratner said the commission legally could not
act on the penalties Tuesday, but said he hoped to have a full hearing
to issue sanctions within a week.
``I want to do it as fast as we can,'' Ratner said. ``But they still
have to do the legal things.''
Tyson, who had planned to celebrate his birthday at a New York
nightclub, instead found himself in a position the feared puncher may
have never thought possible -- standing in front of the media and
apologizing publicly and profusely for his actions.
Tyson is still on probation for his rape conviction. But authorities
said his actions during the fight and his efforts to brawl with police
who tried to separate the two camps after the disqualification would
probably not be cause to revoke his probation.
Pecos Enterprise
Mac McKinnon, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail: news@bitstreet.com
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