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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
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Sports

Thursday, July 9, 1998

Pecos routs N. Concho in opener


PECOS, July 9 -- The first-ever game in the 9-10 year old
division of District 4 Tournament play was a definite
success for Pecos' All-Stars, as they routed North Concho
Wednesday night by a 16-1 final score.

It was the first of four tournament openers for Pecos'
youth baseball teams. The Senior League All-Stars are up
next, when they host San Angelo Northern at 6 p.m. tonight
at Maxey Park.

Eddie Vela and Jacob Jaramillo combined on a no-hitter in
Wednesday's win, with Vela going three innings and Jaramillo
the final half-inning before play ended under the 10-run
rule.

"Eddie just threw an excellent game. He threw strikes and
they had a hard time touching the ball," said coach John
Salcido. Vela had seven strikeouts and two walks, while
North Concho got their run off Jaramillo in the fourth, as
he struck out the side but walked five batters.

Offensively, Salcido said Pecos had 12 hits, including two
apiece by Vela, Cody Hernandez, John Paul Salcido and Kenny
Rayos. Those included doubles by Hernandez, Rayos and
Salcido, while Isiah Rayos added a double and Mark Mendoza
had a triple for the 9-10 year olds.

Pecos will now come home to face San Angelo Lake View on
Saturday, in a 6 p.m. start. Lake View owns 12-4 and 6-4
wins over Winters and San Angelo Western so far in the
tournament.

The game will come a day after Pecos' 11-12 Little League
All-Stars face Lake View in San Angelo, at 6 p.m. Friday, in
their District 4 Tournament opener.

Manager Steve Reyes said Elario Bustamantes would probably
be his starting pitcher on Friday against Lake View, which
routed Sonora, 13-3, in their opener on Wednesday.

The Little Leaguers are one of two Pecos teams playing
Friday in San Angelo. The Junior League All-Stars will begin
their District 4 Tournament play at San Angelo Southern,
also in a 6 p.m. start.

Pecos won the district title at the Junior League level
last year, while most of the players on the team finished
second to Ballinger as members of the 1997 Little League
All-Star squad. Southern opened tournament play Wednesday by
beating Reagan County, 8-1.

This evening, Pecos and San Angelo Northern will be seeking
a berth in Sunday's District 4 quarterfinals against San
Angelo Western, which beat Pecos for the District 4 title a
year ago. Several members of that squad are back this year,
including starting pitcher Pifi Montoya, while other Pecos
players come off last year's Junior League squad, which
reached the sectional finals before being swept by Big
Spring.

San Angelo Northern opened tournament play on Monday, with
a 18-2 rout of Ballinger. Western, like Pecos, drew a first
round bye, then began play Wednesday by outscoring San
Angelo Southern, 14-8.

France celebrating berth in Cup finals


By NESHA STARCEVIC
Associated Press Writer
SAINT-DENIS, France, July 9 -- A banner hanging from the
bleachers of the Stade de France begged ``Les Bleus'' to let
the nation dream on.

The French team was ever so obedient.

France beat Croatia 2-1 on Wednesday night to reach the
World Cup final for the first time, setting off wild
celebrations throughout the nation, including thousands
marching triumphantly toward, naturally, the Arc de
Triomphe.

When the game ended just before 11 p.m. Paris time, an
estimated 21 million French men, women and children were
tuned in.

``We played our hearts out and that made the difference,''
French coach Aime Jacquet said.

``It is truly the most beautiful day in the history of
French sport,'' French President Jacques Chirac added.

Perhaps only until Sunday, when France will try to lift the
trophy in the competition invented by Frenchman Jules Rimet
when it meets four-time champion Brazil.

Croatia will play the Netherlands for third place Saturday.

France had to come back against the clever Croatian team and
played the last 20 minutes with 10 men after the ejection of
defender Laurent Blanc.

That carries an automatic minimum one-game suspension, but
the French team today appealed the ejection in hopes of
having the Blanc available for the title game.

With French forwards still struggling to find the target, it
was defender Lilian Thuram who fired France into the final
by scoring both goals, his first for the national team.

``This is fabulous,'' Thuram said. ``To think I don't even
score in training. It's 200 percent luck. It's not that I am
a hero because I scored; to be a hero, that's for the
final.''

His goals ended France's semifinal jinx on its fourth
attempt and allowed his team to become the first host nation
in 20 years to reach the final. No host has met the
defending champion for the title.

Chirac cheered with hands aloft while Croat counterpart
Franjo Tudjman applauded his nation's stunning march.
Croatia almost scored the biggest upset of the tournament,
even taking the lead before finally falling to French flair.

``If we had held the lead for five minutes, they were going
down,'' Slaven Bilic said. ``The players, the fans. They had
played two matches of 120 minutes each. They looked tired.''

First Croatia stunned the crowd 26 seconds into the second
half when Aljosa Asanovic split the French defense and Davor
Suker scored his fifth World Cup goal, slipping the ball
under goalkeeper Fabien Barthez.

One minute later, Thuram stole the ball from captain
Zvonimir Boban near the Croat penalty area, played a 1-2
with Youri Djorkaeff and sent the ball past goalkeeper
Drazen Ladic.

In the 70th minute, Thuram was even bolder, surging up the
left and setting up a 1-2 with Thierry Henry. The ball
seemed to go straight to Robert Jarni, but Thuram won it
back and then unleashed a curling 20-yard shot that went
wide of Ladic and into the corner of the net.

As tempers flared after France's second goal, Blanc tugged
at Slaven Bilic's shirt and slammed the palm of his hand in
his face. Referee Jose Manuel Garcia sent the standout
defender off.

``The expulsion of Blanc was terrible,'' Jacquet said.

``We knew that we would have difficulties, because Croatia
is difficult to parry. The goal we conceded was shocking,
but it produced a great response.''

Croatia, which had several opportunities to tie it late in
the match -- Barthez made a lunging save at the crossbar in
the dying seconds.

``We were not careful enough,'' Croatian coach Miroslav
Blazevic said. ``We scored and then the worst thing in
soccer happened -- we conceded a goal in the same minute.
This energized France and they deserved to win.''

Now, they get Brazil, the defending champion.

``It will be a wonderful game,'' Jacquet said, ``a festival
of football.''

Bud's case made for commissioner's job


CHICAGO, July 9 (AP) -- For the first time in nearly six
years, baseball gets a commissioner today. And the choice
won't leave fans surprised or speechless.

Owners love him, because he's one of their own.

Others deride him as Bud Lite.

Instead of being baseball's acting head, he'll be the real
thing.

No more independent leader for baseball. The ninth
commissioner will be Milwaukee Brewers owner Bud Selig.

``A commissioner is not a czar sitting above the law,''
Selig said as his election approached. ``Yes, a commissioner
has a lot of power, but it must be confined to certain
areas.''

Selig, the owner of the Brewers since 1970, was part of the
group that helped force Fay Vincent to resign on Sept. 7,
1992. He was angered that both Vincent and Peter Ueberroth
deemed themselves impartial and immune to owners' wishes.

That won't happen with Selig, called baseball's champion
vote-counter by several owners. Even though he'll have the
title and a five-year term, he'll still rule by consensus.

Don't expect another Kenesaw Mountain Landis. Or even
another Ueberroth.

``I don't think people realize how the office of the
commissioner has changed since 1921,'' Selig said.

His term as acting commissioner, which began two days after
Vincent's resignation, already has gone on 2,131 days,
longer than the span of four of his eight predecessors:
William Eckert, Ueberroth, A. Bartlett Giamatti and Vincent.

Selig presided over the start of interleague play, the
introduction of three-division leagues and wild cards and
vastly increased revenue sharing between the large- and
small-market clubs.

And he also was in charge during the 230-day strike that led
to a sharp dropoff in attendance and popularity. But with
that behind, he hopes the next five years will be calmer
than the last five.

Three issues figure to dominate his agenda during the
remainder of the year: Marge Schott, the Minnesota Twins and
Pete Rose.

Schott, the Cincinnati Reds owner, was forced to give up
day-to-day control of the team in the middle of the 1996
season because of inflammatory remarks that angered women,
blacks and Jews. The sanctions against her expire after this
season, but baseball officials informally have discussed
whether the team should continue to operate largely without
her influence.

``We'll deal with that in due course,'' Selig said.

The Twins, angered that Minnesota's government won't fund a
new ballpark, have threatened to move to North Carolina, but
voters there voted down one stadium proposal and it's
unclear if Charlotte will fund a stadium.

Rose figures to be the easiest issue for him. Baseball's
career hits leader, banned for life in 1989 following a
gambling investigation by Giamatti, has applied for
reinstatement, which would make him eligible for the Hall of
Fame. Selig shows no inclination to reverse the ban.

``I think Bart did the right thing,'' Selig said earlier
this year. ``There's no reason to change that.''



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Copyright 1998 by Pecos Enterprise