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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide for Reeves County, Trans-Pecos, Big Bend of West Texas

Sports

Wednesday, February 11, 1998

Coaches use scrimmages differently

By JON FULBRIGHT
Sports Editor
PECOS, Feb. 11 -- Pecos Eagles' baseball coach Bubba
Williams and softball coach Tammy Walls took different
approaches to their season-opening scrimmages Tuesday
afternoon.

With a long-established program and with several three-year
varsity players back, Williams used the early innings of his
matchup against Kermit to look at some younger players.

Walls, meanwhile, was trying to put the pieces in place in
the Eagles' first-ever scrimmage, and looked at all-new
players at every position against the Monahans Loboes.

The Loboes defeated the Eagles, while Pecos rallied to down
Kermit to open pre-season play, as both Williams and Walls
looked at four pitchers on the mound, along with others at
the infield and outfield spots.

"We certainly know what we have to work on," Walls said.
"Our hitting didn't look too bad, but we need to work on our
pitching, and the secret to that is repetition."

Senior Annette Marquez started on the mound and worked two
innings, while Heather Uptergrove, Katrina Quiroz and Ashley
Mendoza also pitched for the Eagles.

Marquez was touched for eight runs in the first inning, as
walks and errors hurt the Eagles. But she did retire
Monahans in order in the second, on a grounder back to the
mound, a strikeout, and a ground out to Gabi Bafidis at
shortstop.

The Eagles had one other 1-2-3 inning, while Quiroz scored
the team's first-ever run. She reached second on a error,
when her grounder to short right field was thrown past first
base, then advanced to third and scored on a pair of wild
pitches.

Pecos has another scrimmage on Friday in Monahans against
Greenwood, and Walls said she would continue looking for
both starters and reserves.

"We don't have a lot of depth," she said, while adding that
one of her non-starters, Tammy Perkins, "Did an outstanding
job at catcher, and she's only a freshman. Gabi also did a
real good job at shortstop."

While the girls looked to fill a bunch of openings, Williams
looked at some of his younger players, along with three of
his five senior pitchers.

Sophomore Joshua Casillas started on the mound and went a
couple of innings, while seniors Jason Aguilar, Eric Muniz
and Richard Gutierrez finished up.

"I looked at a lot of kids who are trying to make the team,"
Williams said. "Joshua did a good job, but we made a lot of
mistakes behind him."

The Eagles trailed at one point 5-2 before rallying for
eight runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings.

"Eric Aguilar looked real good hitting the ball from the
leadoff position, and two of the sophomores, Luis Salgado
and Ricky Herrera hit the ball real good," Williams said.
Aguilar had an RBI double in the second inning, while
Salgado had a two-run homer in the fourth.

Williams won't have all his players out until next week, but
did take a look at one returning player, Cisco Rodriguez, in
a new position. Rodriguez, the Eagles' starting left fielder
the past two seasons, was at catcher, after Pecos lost Mark
Abila for the year due for disciplinary reasons.

"Cisco looked real good. He just needs some work back
there," said Williams. "He's got a strong arm and he's
quick, so he'll get some time back there, and Oscar Luna
will get some time there against (Odessa) Permian," whom the
Eagles scrimmage next, in Pecos on Feb. 17.

Eagles stay cold in 79-51 loss

PECOS, Feb. 11 -- Three-point shooting, which was an asset
for the Pecos Eagles at the start of the 1997-98 basketball
season, has turned into a liability of late, and the result
Tuesday night was the second straight big loss for the
Eagles.

Pecos -- which opened the road portion of the season by
outscoring Monahans from 3-point range, 24-0 -- closed out
their road schedule Tuesday in Fort Stockton, where the
Panthers outscored them from behind the 3-point line, 24-6,
and cruised to a 79-51 victory.

"We can't hit from the outside. They just pack it (the
defense) down in their low and we can't score," Eagles'
coach Mike Sadler said.

Pecos trailed by just four after one period, but were
outscored in the middle quarters, 44-26. They managed just
one 3-pointer in the second period by Oscar Luna and one in
the third by Frank Perea, while Fort Stockton's Eloy Fabela
had two in each half, as part of his game-high 24 points.

"He just had a good game, and we weren't running out of his
shot. It was just poor defense combined with his good game,"
Sadler said.

Inside, Eagles' posts Omar Hinojos and Fabien Adame actually
outscored Panther starters Luke Groth and Armino Cabello.
Hinojos got over his recent foul shooting woes and was
7-for-9 as part of a 15-point night, while Adame came back
after two low-scoring games last week to put in 12.

"Fabien had a great game. He really played hard," said
Sadler, whose team has one last chance to get a District
4-4A victory this season, Friday night at home against
Sweetwater. The Mustangs downed Andrews on Tuesday, 65-50,
to tie them and San Angelo Lake View for first with Andrews.
Those two teams meet in San Angelo on Friday.

The Panthers also won Tuesday's junior varsity game, by a
62-56 final score.

PECOS (49)
«FL»Garcia 1 0-0 2; Herrera 0 0-0 0; Perea 1 0-0 3; Barreno
0 0-0 0; Luna 2 2-6 7; Martinez 0 0-0 0; Navarette 3 0-0 6;
Hinojos 4 7-9 15; Matta 0 0-0 0; Adame 5 2-2 12; Marquez 1
2-4 4; Chavez 0 2-2 2.» Totals 17 15-23 51.

FORT STOCKTON (79)
Gonzlaez 2 1-3 5; Groth 3 0-0 6; Leyva 1 2-3 4; Fabela 9 2-2
24; Pules 0 0-0 0; Rivera 2 0-1 4; Poage 4 2-2 12; Sawyer 1
0-0 2; Hernandez 1 2-2 4; Ward 1 0-0 2; Cabello 4 0-0 9;
Terrazas 3 0-0 7. Totals 31 9-13 79.

Pecos 12 11 15 13 --51
Fort Stockton 16 20 24 19 --79
Three-point goals: Pecos 2 (Luna, Perea), Fort Stockton 8
(Fabela 4, Poage 2, Cabello, Terrazas). Fouled out: Pecos,
Luna; Fort Stockton, Sawyer. Total fouls: Pecos 17, Fort
Stockton 21.

Bears close season with victories

PECOS, Feb. 11 -- The Balmorhea Bears closed out their
second straight undefeated campaign in District 29-A boys
basketball play, while Balmorhea's girls pulled out a
district win in their final attempt Tuesday night in
Grandfalls.

The boys improved their record to 20-2 and coach Adolfo
Garcia was able to rest his starters for half the game in
the Bears' 82-52 victory. The girls closed out their season
by snapping a five-game losing streak with a 50-49 victory
over the Cowgirls.

In the boys' win, Balmorhea outscored Grandfalls 66-22 in
the first and third periods, while the Cowboys were able to
close that gap against the Bears' substitutes in the second
and fourth quarters.

"In the second and fourth quarter he (coach Adolfo Garcia)
kind of pulled off on them," said girls' coach Ennis
Erickson. Kevin Castillo led Balmorhea with 22 points, while
Zane Rhyne and Arturo Miranda both put in 15.

Despite the lopsided loss, Grandfalls will still go into
the playoffs with Balmorhea as the district runner-up, with
a 4-2 mark. Both they and the 6-0 Bears await the outcome of
the District 30-A race, where Rankin, Garden City and Irion
County are still in the playoff picture.

Balmorhea's girls were able to tie Grandfalls for third in
the final standings with their victory. "For the last 90
seconds in went back and forth," Erickson said. "We went
ahead with about 35 seconds left, the held on."

"The girls were excited about winning (in district), and
winning their last game was part of it, too," Erickson said
of his team, which will have all but two players back next
season.

Cherry Garcia scored 23 points and Terry Hernandez had 10
to lead the Bears, who wound up with an 8-14 mark this year.

Decision on Pecos schedules delayed


PECOS, Feb. 11 -- Pecos-Barstow-Toyah ISD officials had
their first meeting with their new District 2-4A members on
Monday, but no decisions were made as far as next year's
high school athletic schedules.

"We're going to come back on March 2 and decide," said
Eagles' coach Bubba Williams. "The UIL says you can't get
anything settled until Feb. 24 anyway."

With their five district rivals --Fabens, Clint, El Paso
Mountain View, San Elizario and Canutillo -- all in the El
Paso area, Pecos is trying to get the other schools to allow
the Eagles to play as many home games as possible on
Tuesdays in volleyball, basketball, baseball and softball.
Too many road games on Tuesday would force some multi-sport
students, and those in other extracirricular activities, to
miss games to avoid exceeding the state's 10-day excused
absence limit.

"One (administrator) was against it," Williams said.
"Tuesday-Saturday (games) was brought up, Friday-Saturday
was brought up and two games on Saturday was brought up, but
nothing was finalized."

The scheduling will affect both varsity and junior varsity
teams in volleyball and basketball, while the Eagles'
football, baseball and softball JV teams will still play
most of their games in the Permian Basin.

The Eagles will also be the only school with lights on
their baseball and softball fields when 2-4A play begins
next year, meaning Tuesday night games will only be possible
in Pecos.

Street, Moseley claim U.S. gold medals

By TIM DAHLBERG
AP Sports Writer
NAGANO, Japan -- One down and one downhill to go for Picabo
Street.

America's free-spirited skiing sensation won the race she
wasn't supposed to win today, helping break a U.S. medal
drought in the closest finish in Olympic Alpine history.
She'll now be favored to win Saturday's downhill and become
the first U.S. woman skier to capture two gold medals since
1952.

While the United States got its first two golds, Canada
lost one, when snowboarder Ross Rebagliati tested positive
for marijuana. And for the second Olympics in a row,
Japanese ski jumper Masahiko Harada let a gold medal slip
away.

With snowfall giving way to clear skies, the day couldn't
have been more brilliant for American skiers who -- along
with the rest of their teammates -- had been shut out of
medals through four days of the Nagano Games.

Skier Jonny Moseley quickly pulled the U.S. team out of its
Olympic funk by shaking and juking his way to the gold in
the moguls competition.

Then Street shook off the lingering effects from a
concussion and a mistake midway down to win the women's
super-G by the slimmest of margins -- .01 seconds -- over
Michaela Dorfmeister of Austria.

``It made me mad and I just went for it,'' Street said of
her wobble.

Street, whose specialty is the downhill and not the
super-G, had strapped on her longer downhill skis and posted
the time to beat as the second skier down the hill. She
watched nervously as skier after skier failed to catch her
for the gold.

``I don't believe what I'm seeing,'' she exclaimed in the
finish area, then pumped her fist and screamed in delight as
favorite Katja Seizinger of Germany was unable to beat her
time.

The silver medalist behind Seizinger in the 1994 Olympic
downhill, Street finished in 1 minute, 18.02 seconds to edge
Dorfmeister. Alexandra Meissnitzer of Austria was
six-hundredths of a second further back.

Street, who grew up in Sun Valley, Idaho, and now lives in
Portland, Ore., returned to competition just last month
after recovering from knee surgery. Only 12 days ago, she
was knocked unconscious for two minutes in a scary accident
in Sweden and had been suffering lingering headaches.

-- DRUGS: What apparently was the first Olympic case
involving marijuana cost Rebagliati the gold medal he won
Sunday in snowboarding, the hippest and most rebellious
sport in the games. Canadian officials said they would
appeal after the International Olympic Committee board voted
3-2 to revoke the medal. A Canadian spokeswoman said
Rebagliati told officials he had not used marijuana since
April 1997 but spends a significant amount of time ``in an
environment where he is exposed to marijuana.''

-- MOGULS: Moseley, of Tiburon, Calif., knew he had won
when he landed his 360 Mute Grab Jump after doing a full
``helicopter'' rotation. He was the last of 16 skiers to go
down the bumpy hill and scored 26.93 points to edge
Finland's Janne Lahtela, who scored 26.00. Another Finn,
Sami Mustonen, took the bronze with 25.76.

``I wasn't thinking about the gold at the top,'' Moseley
said. ``But as soon as I landed the `heli' at the bottom, I
knew I was golden.''

Things weren't so good for the U.S. women, who had been
considered a threat for a possible sweep. Instead, they were
shut out as little-known Tae Satoya won the second Japanese
gold medal of the games. Donna Weinbrecht, the 1992 Olympic
gold medalist, came in fourth after wobbling near the finish
line.



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