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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas

Sports

Thursday, July 16, 1998

Fastballer slows down Pecos' hitters


By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
SAN ANGELO, July 16 -- The game started late and the bats
were swinging late for the Pecos Little League All-Stars on
Wednesday in San Angelo, and as a result, the Little
Leaguers find themselves in a must-win situation tonight
against Crane in the District 4 Tournament.

San Angelo's Sean Winscher blew the ball past Pecos' hitters
for most of the night, while Northern's hitters got to
starter Elario Bustamantes for three runs in the first
inning, then put two runners on in the second before Brett
Eggenberger took reliever Rigo Ramirez' first pitch over the
fence in right field. That gave San Angelo a 6-0 lead, and
Pecos wouldn't manage a hit off Winscher until the final
inning, as Northern earned a berth in the tournament finals
with an 8-1 victory.

"It wasn't pretty, it wasn't pretty," said coach Lee
Serrano, who was unhappy with the delayed start of the game.
Pecos arrived for a 6 p.m. start, but were told the game
wouldn't begin until 7 p.m., because the San Angelo field
was one of only two in District 4 certified for night play
(surprising, since the field has just four light towers)
"When you're ready to play at a certain time and they come
back and move the game to 7 o'clock they just couldn't get
pumped up again."

Most Pecos teams go through five years of District 4 play,
from Little League through Senior League, without seeing a
good fastball pitcher. But that won't be the case for this
year's group, who'll likely have to face Winscher again on
Sunday if they can reach the tournament finals.

Throwing exclusively fastballs, the righthander limited
Pecos to just singles by Robbie Saldana and Geraldo Mendoza
in the final inning, which combined with a wild pitch
accounted for the Little Leaguers' only run. Until then,
Mendoza's foul fly was the only ball Pecos hit out of the
infield, while Winscher finished up with 11 strikeouts on
the evening.

Bustamantes had beaten San Angelo Lake View in Pecos'
tournament opener by a 12-1 score, tossing a one-hitter, but
ran into problems at the outset. Leadoff hitter Ben Nyland
singled, went to second on a wild pitch, and one out later
scored on Winscher's single to left. Then with two away, and
after a wild pitch and passed ball moved Winscher to third,
he scored when Chance Evans singled off Victor Reyes' glove
into center field.

Northern would load the bases before Bustamantes got Blake
Scandolari to retire the side, but with one out in the
second Nyland reached on Joshua Anchondo's throwing error,
Matt Catril single to right, and Winscher then doubled down
the line in left to make it 3-0.

That brought on Ramirez, but Eggenberger sent his first
pitch deep over the fence in right, and Northern had a
six-run lead. Ramirez would allow just two unearned runs in
the sixth inning after that, but the damage was done.

"Rigo pitched a heck of a game after that (the home run). He
settled down and we played defense until that last inning,"
Serrano said.

Pecos did have one chance to get back into the game in the
second, when Ramirez walked and was safe at second when Cory
Dyer missed West Moreland's throw off Oscar Parada's
grounder to second. That put runners on the corners with
none out, but Winscher came back to strike out Jacob Marquez
and Anchondo, and Moreland and Dye then did make the play on
Zoe Serrano grounder, to end the inning.

Tonight's game against Crane will be the first and only home
game for Pecos in this year's tournament. Pecos won at Crane
on Sunday by a 15-0 score, while Crane stayed alive
Wednesday with a 15-9 victory. The winner will play Saturday
night at San Angelo North, with a deciding game, if needed,
on Sunday at 7 p.m.

Robbie Saldana shut out Crane in Sunday's win, but manager
Steve Reyes said they would probably try to start either
Anchondo or Serrano on the mound tonight, and hopefully save
Saldana for a Saturday game at Northern.

Midland Chamber hosting tournament


PECOS, July 16 -- The Midland Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
has scheduled its inaugural Class C Men's ASA Softball
Tournament for Aug. 8-9 at the Bill Williams Complex in
Hogan Park.

The double elimination tournament will have trophies and
T-shirts for the first through third place teams, along with
a home run derby and live Tejano entertainment.

Entry fee is $110 per team with a deadline of either Aug.
6, or when the team tournament limit is reached. Entries
should be sent to MHCC, P.O. Box 11134, Midland, Tx., 79702.

For further information, call either Steve Sanchez at
915-688-6330, Roger Robles at 915-682-0470, or Melissa
Sanchez at 915-699-6364, ext. 4.

Cowboys' Bates takes coaching job


By DENNE H. FREEMAN
AP Sports Writer
WICHITA FALLS, July 16 -- Year after year, Bill Bates
managed to extend an improbable NFL career by starring on
special teams for the Dallas Cowboys.

On Wednesday, the first day of training camp, the
overachieving 15-year veteran figured the time was right to
try something new. He became an assistant coach to help new
head coach Chan Gailey turn the Cowboys back into a Super
Bowl contender.

Bates will assist Joe Avezzano on special teams.

``He's been a coach on the field in that department for
years anyway,'' Gailey said. Bates will also help Mike
Zimmer coach the secondary.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones left open the possibility Bates
could play this year if the team needs him, but said he'll
be ``a full-time coach, not a player coach.''

``In my mind, Bill Bates can beat out rookies and
second-year players, but that might not be the best things
in the long run for this team,'' Jones said.

Bates, 36, who made the Cowboys as a rookie free agent, had
hoped to set a club record by playing 16 years. Offensive
lineman Mark Tuinei, who was not invited to camp, and Ed
Jones also played 15 years for the team.

Bates earned three Super Bowl rings playing special teams,
linebacker in the nickel defense and also in the secondary.
On Wednesday, he was so emotional that he had to read from a
prepared statement.

``This is a close as you can get to a retirement speech,''
Bates said, wiping away the tears. ``I was blessed to get
the chance to play for coach (Tom) Landry, coach (Jimmy)
Johnson, and coach (Barry) Switzer. I was hoping to play for
coach Gailey. But I'm willing to take any part for this
organization that I was asked.

``Each year I kept trying to stretch it out one more year.
There had to be a time when I didn't play,'' Bates said.
``Now is the right time. I accept the challenge.''

Albert back to old roots at Garden


By DAVID BAUDER
AP Television Writer
NEW YORK, July 16 -- An apologetic Marv Albert will get his
second chance at the same place he got his first.

A broadcasting career that took Albert to the top of his
profession before unraveling in an embarrassing sex scandal
10 months ago began when he called New York Knicks and
Rangers games on the radio in the 1960s.

On Wednesday, the MSG Network said it would rehire Albert to
do radio play-by-play of Knicks games and anchor a nightly
sports show on television.

``We consider Marv part of the family, and loyalty is
important to us,'' said Dave Checketts, president and CEO of
Madison Square Garden.

It was a far more contrite Albert who sat before a
microphone at a news conference, saying he was a changed man
because of time off and 10 months of therapy.

Albert resigned from MSG in September and was fired by NBC
after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge. He
was accused of throwing his former girlfriend, Vanessa
Perhach, on a bed in a Virginia hotel room in February 1997,
biting her on the back more than a dozen times and forcing
her to perform oral sex.

After stopping his lurid trial in September to plead guilty
to assault and battery, Albert was spared jail time if he
stayed out of trouble for a year.

Albert began his news conference on Wednesday by apologizing
for his conduct, the very thing his critics said he didn't
really do in a round of interviews last November.

``What I did was wrong,'' he said. ``I hurt many people,
including my fiancee, my family, my friends and my
employers. For that, I am sorry.''

He said he'd take his comeback ``one step at a time'' and
wouldn't say whether he would try to get back into network
sports. He was NBC's lead NBA announcer before being fired,
and also called NFL games.

Albert said he would continue his therapy and wouldn't be so
work-obsessed, which got him in trouble in the first place.
``My lifestyle and my hectic schedule did not allow me to
call a timeout,'' he said.

He'll call about half the Knicks games on the radio. He will
also anchor ``MSG Sports Desk,'' a half-hour rundown on New
York sports, beginning Sept. 14. That job harks back his
days as sports anchor on WNBC-TV in New York from 1975 to
1987.

Although Checketts called Albert ``family,'' he said
bringing him back was also a business decision. He checked
with MSG sponsors and shareholders to see what objections
they would have, and even spoke to Albert's therapist about
whether he was ready.

``I think we're going to get tremendous support,'' Checketts
said. ``I think people are going to rally around him. How
long do we have to hold some people out ... and punish them?
It's not our right. He's ready to come back.''

One expert in crisis communications said Albert's first step
back was ``totally predictable.''

``However, the larger question for the networks and the
sports world concerns the message they will send if he is
restored to his former status,'' said Helene Solomon, a
principal of Bishoff Solomon Communications in New York
City. ``Doing play-by-play on the radio is one thing, but
television would include not just his voice, but the face we
now associate with some pretty sordid images.''

NBC Sports has no plans to rehire Albert, according to
network spokesman Ed Markey. The sportscaster said he has
met ``socially'' with Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Sports.

An industry executive who spoke on condition of anonymity
said Albert had predicted months ago that he would be back
on network television within a year of returning to MSG.

Financial terms of Albert's deal were not disclosed. He made
more than $2 million a year from NBC and MSG before he lost
his jobs.

Albert said he had no control over how people would react to
him coming back, or if they would taunt him in sports
arenas.

``I think that my personality has certainly changed after
going through the entire situation,'' he said. ``It will
take a little while for me to get back to my normal
personality, but I think that will come in time, and I think
I will be taken seriously in time.''



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