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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas

Sports

Tuesday, July 7, 1998

Senior League's opening opponent set


PECOS, July 7 -- The Pecos Senior League's first round
opponent in District 4 Tournament play was set Monday night,
as the tournament opened with games in the San Angelo area.

After drawing an opening round bye, the 14-15 year old team
will host San Angelo Northern in their second round game
this Thursday at Maxey Park. Northern routed Ballinger in
their opener on Monday by an 18-2 final score, while San
Angelo Southern won the other game play, 11-3 over
Tri-County (Christoval/Miles). Southern will advance to face
San Angelo Western, which defeated Pecos for the District 4
title in 1997.

The other first round games are tonight, and match Sonora
against Winters and Ozona against `Concholand' -- the
compilation of tiny towns around Tom Green and Coke counties
that make up both the North Concho and South Concho leagues.

The winner there faces San Angelo Lake View on Wednesday
while Crane plays Thursday against the Sonora-Winters winner.

The first round opponent had already been set for Pecos'
9-10 year old team, which is participating in District 4 for
the first time this season. They take on North Concho in the
Calrsbad-Water Valley area on Wednesday.

Pecos Little League and Junior League All-Star squads will
have to wait until Wednesday to find out who their first
round opponents are on Friday. The Little Leaguers open on
the road, either at Sonora or San Angelo Lake View, while
the Junior League also has a road trip Friday, either to
Reagan County or San Angelo Southern.

Tri County beat North Concho, 6-1, and San Angelo Northern
routed Sterling City, 23-0, in Monday's Little League games,
while the 9-10 bracket opened with Crane beating San Angelo
Southern, 17-3, and Lake View downing Winters, 12-4.

All-Star pitchers hope to limit mile-high HRs


By BEN WALKER
AP Baseball Writer
DENVER -- Mike Hargrove has seen enough baseball to know
that good pitching usually beats good hitting. He also
admits he's never seen a game at Coors Field.

Mark McGwire gave a clue as to what might happen at the
All-Star game tonight. His 510-foot drive was the highlight
of Monday's home run derby, won when Ken Griffey Jr. --
booed in batting practice -- hit a few third-deckers.

Kevin Costner, John Elway and country singer Tim McGraw
also reached the seats during a celebrity round of batting
practice.

Then again, none of the pitchers serving up those shots
that left the park headed toward Wyoming was named Greg
Maddux, Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling or Roger Clemens.

``I managed for a year down in Colorado Springs in the
Pacific Coast League in 1989. I'm a little bit familiar with
how well the ball travels in this part of the country,''
said Hargrove, the Cleveland manager who will guide the AL.

``I think this has a chance to be a very, very interesting
game,'' he said. ``Given the pitching that has been
assembled and the hitting, I'm going to be really interested
to see who really does prevail.''

Certainly, there will be a slugger's attitude mixing with
the Mile High altitude this evening.

There's McGwire, leading the majors with 37 home runs.
There's Griffey and his 35 homers. And there's Juan Gonzalez
with his 101 RBIs.

``I think I have a vision of a high-scoring game,'' AL
starter David Wells of the New York Yankees, ``but hopefully
not when I'm in there.''

Just in case, he's got a strategy for pitching n Denver --
``Duck!''

In the year that Roger Maris' record of 61 is in danger,
fans are no doubt hoping to see a repeat of the 1971 game
when future Hall of Famers Reggie Jackson, Hank Aaron,
Johnny Bench, Roberto Clemente, Frank Robinson and Harmon
Killebrew all connected at Tiger Stadium.

Playing at Coors, which ranked No. 1 among major league
parks for most home runs in 1996 and 1997, it could be a
wild affair.

``It's a great hitters' ballpark,'' McGwire said. ``You
have to realize that Coors Field has a gigantic outfield
where balls will fall in,'' McGwire said. ``Normal singles
in most ballparks will be doubles if you have speed.''

A crowd of more than 51,000 watched Monday when Griffey
became an unexpected winner in the home run derby.

Griffey had said for more than a month that he would not
participate, a stance that led to him being booed loudly
when the AL took batting practice. But when it came time for
the contest, Griffey was in the lineup and he wound up
beating out Jim Thome in the final round.

``I felt if I felt good in BP, I'd be in it. I don't like
to get booed. I've got 4 million reasons to do it,'' said
Griffey, the top vote-getter in fan balloting for All-Star
starting spots.''

Home runs, however, are not the only way to score at Coors.
Because as even the best pitchers in the business realize,
playing at Denver presents all sorts of problems.

``Slider don't slide as much, curve don't curve as much,''
said Maddux, the NL starter.

Maddux, a four-time Cy Young winner, knows from first-hand
experience. In three starts at Coors, the Atlanta ace has
allowed 14 earned runs in 18 1-3 innings.

Pak's damp, not wet after victory at Open


By ARNIE STAPLETON
AP Sports Writer
KOHLER, Wis. -- Had she won, amateur Jenny Chuasiriporn was
going to jump in the water. She even encouraged Se Ri Pak to
do it.

But the youngest winner in the longest U.S. Women's Open
already had enough experience in the water at No. 18, where
she had to get both feet wet hitting her second shot.

And Pak already believed she let her guard down far enough.

``First time I cry in my life,'' the 20-year-old South
Korean said after her long birdie putt on the 20th hole put
away Chuasiriporn in the first sudden death of this event.

Impervious to pressure through 92 holes, Pak was a bundle of
emotions when the tournament finally ended after five hours
on the rugged Blackwolf Run Golf Course.

But taking a dunk was a bit too much.

``I told her to jump in the water, but she wouldn't,''
Chuasiriporn said. ``I told her she had to. She said, `No, I
can't do it.'

``I was going to, though.''

What Pak did do was pump her right fist, then hold it high,
along with the putter in her left hand. Then she searched
the crowd for her father, Joon-Chul. As he raced across the
green to meet her, she jumped into his arms. That's when she
cracked -- a smile, then tears.

``I didn't give up, I just kept playing my game,'' said Pak,
who had to take off her shoes and hit out of the pond on the
18th hole. Both players bogeyed that hole to force the
sudden death.

Pak remained stoic and businesslike even as the 20-year-old
Chuasiriporn, whose passionate and expressive play is
reminiscent of Nancy Lopez, grabbed a 4-stroke lead after
five holes.

The twosome was tied at 2-over 73 after 18 holes; it was the
first time in the 53 years of this event it went to sudden
death.

Chuasiriporn, who made a riveting 40-foot birdie putt on the
final hole Sunday to force the 18-hole playoff, barely
missed a 10-foot putt for par on the same hole Monday that
would have made her the first amateur U.S. Open champion
since 1967.

``I guess I really feel like I am going to win one,''
Chuasiriporn said. ``So I am really not too disappointed.''

Pak, who won the LPGA Championship in May, became the first
rookie to win two majors since Juli Inkster captured the
Nabisco Dinah Shore and du Maurier Ltd. Classic in 1984.

Pak, who didn't take the lead until the 14th hole, overcame
the early 4-stroke deficit thanks to a triple-bogey by
Chuasiriporn on No. 6.

``Blackwolf Run got me,'' Chuasiriporn said of the
unyielding Pete Dye-designed course where only one golfer
broke par after Friday.

Chuasiriporn, a Thai-American from Maryland who is entering
her senior year at Duke, was trying to become only the
second amateur to win the Women's Open, joining Catherine
LaCoste, who won it at age 22 in 1967.

On Sunday, Pak was awarded the first-place check of $267,500
because amateurs are ineligible to collect prize money. All
that was at stake Monday was the trophy -- and a jump in the
water.

Before Pak, LaCoste was the youngest woman to win an Open.
The last woman to win consecutive majors was Meg Mallon in
1991.

The sudden death playoff came after high drama on No. 18,
where both golfers bogeyed the par-4, 421-yard hole.

Pak's tee shots were true all day until she hooked one
toward the water on 18, the ball landing in the rough on a
steep slope. Her caddie, Jeff Cable, had to help her so that
she didn't slip into the water as she took a look.

After conferring with a tournament official, Pak decided not
to take a drop. Instead, she took off her spikes and socks
and stepped into the calf-deep water, took an A-wedge and
pitched the ball into the rough on the other side of the
fairway.

``I didn't know how I was going to get of there,'' Pak said.
``I just played my game.''

Chuasiriporn, who munched on Power Bars while waiting,
didn't think for a minute that the unflappable Pak was
trapped.

``I knew she was going to be on the green for par,''
Chuasiriporn said. ``And I knew she was going to probably be
close because she is a really good pressure player. I really
didn't think it was over then.''

Sure enough, Pak hit a 148-yard shot onto the green, about
15 feet from the hole.

Chuasiriporn's chip for a birdie from the rough was way too
hard and ended up 10 feet past the hole.

Pak's putt for par was short, leaving Chuasiriporn, who had
parred 10 through 17, with a chance to win it all. But the
ball went past by less than an inch, and her tap-in for
bogey sent the twosome back to the 564-yard, par-5 10th hole
for sudden death.

``I thought I had that putt,'' Chuasiriporn said. ``But my
hands were shaking a lot.''

At No. 10, they each parred with tap-in putts.

And it was off to the 374-yard, par-4 11th, where
Chuasiriporn missed a 20-foot birdie putt, then watched Pak
make an 18-footer for the win on the tournament's 92nd hole.

``You have to jump in the water!'' Chuasiriporn told Pak.
``I just need to see that.''

Maybe she'll get to take that dip herself someday.




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