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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
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Sports

Wednesday, September 16, 1998

Eagles go over .500 with pair of victories


By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
PECOS, Sept. 16 -- After spending all of about two hours
during the first four weeks of the 1998 volleyball season
over the .500 mark, the Pecos Eagles will get to spend the
week before the start of District 2-4A play in that
position, after Tuesday's sweep of the Monahans Loboettes
and Presidio Blue Devils at the Pecos High School gym.

Facing Monahans for the first time in two seasons, the
Eagles swept the Loboettes by 15-9, 15-12 scores, then took
Presidio, 15-9, 15-7 for their fifth straight victory going
into next Tuesday's 2-4A opener against Fabens.

"We're starting to understand the game," said Eagles' coach
Becky Granado, whose team stood at 4-8 on the season on
Labor Day weekend, after being blown out by Lubbock Estacado
at the Seminole Tournament. "We're starting to understand
what we're supposed to be doing out there."

Loboes ' coach Patty Hall said her team went into Tuesday's
match with a new lineup, due to an undetermined illness that
has sidelined 6-foot junior hitter Cassidy Avary. And it
showed in the first game, as the Eagles went out to an 11-0
lead. Philonicus Fobbs had a pair of kills for points, and a
pair of blocks on Traci Jasso and Dedra Wessel during the
run, while the Loboes remaining `twin tower,' junior Vanessa
Collins, was called for a series of net violations.

Collins finally came up with a kill and a block on Sherrie
Mosby, while Shayla Terry's kill got the Loboes on the
scoreboard. But Mosby returned the favor on Collins, with a
block and a kill of her own to make the score 14-4. The
Eagles then struggled to get game point, giving Monahans
five straight points off bad hits, before breaking serve and
winning on a bad set by Mandy Wilson.

Another block by Collins of Mosby gave the Loboes their
first lead to start the second game, and they would then
bounce back after two aces by Linsey Hathorn and a spike by
Fobbs put Pecos up, 4-3. They held as much as a 12-7 lead
when the Eagles got things together, scoring the final eight
points to close out the match.

A hit by Mosby started the rally, and the Eagles also got
kills from Shaye Lara and Fobbs during the run, the last
coming at match point after a block on Wessel.

Mosby had the best kill of the night against Presidio,
killing an overset just before match point in the second
game. She also had the first point of the match for the
Eagles, scoring off a kill after two bad hits and a dink by
Olivia Carrasco gave the Blue Devils a 3-0 lead.

In both games the Eagles pulled away from the Blue Devils
midway through the match. A trio of Presidio errors and the
kill of an overset by Mosby took Pecos from a 6-6 tie to as
10-6 lead in the opener, and a back line over-the-head hit
by Lara which fell in and a serve by Maggie Mendoza finished
off the game.

In the second game, Presidio held a 7-6 lead when a pair of
unforced errors and hits by Monique Levario and Mosby put
Pecos in front to stay. Mosby and Lara would add kills after
that, and she and Hathorn would block Blanca Coffman before
things ended with a spike into the net by Coffman.

"I used all my kids on the back line tonight. I gave them
all a chance to play and the came out and did the job,"
Granado said. She also said the Eagles are doing a better
job on offense getting the ball to the open hitters and
finding openings on the court.

"We've been working on out hitting. We went from high sets
to short sets and that helped the girls a lot. they don't
have to stand there waiting for the ball to come down, so
their timing is better," she said.

Pecos' junior varsity and freshmen teams also swept their
games against Monahans and Presidio on Tuesday. The JV beat
the Loboes, 15-5, 15-11 and the Blue Devils, 15-2, 15-3. The
freshman gold team beat Monahans, 15-7, 15-6 and Presidio,
15-8, 15-10, while the ninth grade purple team downed the
Loboes, 15-13, 15-8.

The purple team will be the only squad in action this
weekend competing at the Greenwood Tournament. The JV and
varsity squads will play their next matches against Fabens,
whom the varsity defeated at home, 15-13, 15-7, in the fifth
place semifinals of the Pecos Cantaloupe Classic on Aug. 29.

Netters edge Panthers on tiebreaker


PECOS, Sept. 16 -- The Pecos Eagles' tennis team won a
tiebreaker to earn their second victory of the season on
Tuesday, as they finished in a 9-9 tie at Fort Stockton
against the Prowlers.

The Eagles used a 7-2 advantage on the boys' side and a
21-19 victory in overall sets on the varsity level to earn
the victory, and improved to 2-4 overall for 1998.

The top seeds on the boys' side -- Jonathan Fuentes, Mark
Marquez, Tye Graham and Jeff Lam -- continued to play well
after accounting for almost all of the Eagles' victories
this past Saturday against San Angelo Central and Lake View.
In singles play, Fuentes downed David Yanez, 6-3, 6-3;
Marquez beat Travis Sawyer, 6-1, 6-1; Graham downed Jeremy
Sanchez, 6-2, 6-0; and Lam beat Benny Coronado, 6-3, 6-0.
Earlier, Fuentes and Marquez defeated Yanez and Coronado in
doubles play, 6-3, 7-6, while Graham and Lam blanked Sawyer
and Sanchez, 6-0, 6-0.

On the girls' side, Vanessa Miranda also won both her
matches on Tuesday. Playing at No. 3 singles, she defeated
Christy DelaO, 7-5, 6-0, and teamed with Rachel Pharoah to
beat Pam Tavarez and Diana Falcon, 7-6, 6-2.

Casey Love had the Eagles' other victory, 6-0, 5-7, 6-2 over
Marlin Espino.

Fort Stockton did dominate the junior varsity matches,
sweeping them by an 8-0 margin for a 17-9 final score in the
complete 1-9 seedings.

The Eagles will be off for the next week, before spending
two days in El Paso on Sept. 25-26 for matches against
District 1-4A's El Paso High and El Paso Burges and El Paso
Jefferson from District 1-5A. Their next home match is Oct.
1 against Monahans, followed by their District 2-4A opener
two days later against Clint.

Pecos (9-9) at Fort Stockton (9-17)
Boys Singles
Jonathan Fuentes defeated David Yanez, 6-3, 6-3; Mark
Marquez defeated Travis Sawyer, 6-1, 6-1; Graham defeated
Jeremy Sanchez, 6-2, 6-0; Jeff Lam defeated Benny Coronado,
6-3, 6-0; David Lam lost to Joe Madrid, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2; Casey
Love defeated Marlin Espino, 6-0, 5-7, 6-2.
JV -- Sonny Celaya lost to Jon Duarte, 7-5, 6-3; Anthony
Casillas lost to Tye Arnette, 6-2, 6-1; Chase Saunders lost
to Hector Natividad, 6-1, 6-2.

Girls Singles
Teresa Minjarez lost to Alynn Marquez, 6-4, 6-0; Erin
Dominguez lost to Kristi Lawson, 6-1, 6-4; Vanessa Miranda
defeated Christy DelaO, 7-5, 6-0; Rachel Pharoah lost to Pam
Tavarez, 6-4, 6-4; Lorrie Minjarez lost to Sarah Blanco,
6-1, 6-0; Priscilla Levario lost to Brenda Olivas, 6-0, 6-4.
JV -- Sara Metler lost to Dana Falcon, 6-1, 6-1; Megan
Joplin lost to Michelle Mowery, 6-1, 6-1; Abagail Garza lost
to Smita Bhakta, 6-0, 6-2.

Boys Doubles
Fuentes and Marquez defeated Yanez and Coronado, 6-2, 7-6;
Graham and J. Lam defeated Sawyer and Sanchez, 6-0, 6-0;
Love and Celaya lost to Madrid and Espino, 6-3, 6-7, 6-0.
JV -- Casillas and Saunders lost to Arnette and Natividad,
6-2, 6-1.

Girls Doubles
T. Minjarez and Dominguez lost to Maruqez and Lawson, 6-2,
4-6, 6-3; Pharoah and Miranda defeated Tavarez and Falcon,
7-6, 6-2; Levario and Metler lost to Blanco and Olivas, 6-3,
6-0.
JV -- L. Minjarez and Joplin lost to Mowery and DelaO, 7-5,
6-3.

McGwire's pinch HR regains lead


By R.B. FALLSTROM
AP Sports Writer
ST. LOUIS, Sept. 16 -- Mark McGwire was still a reluctant
home-run king, even after hitting No. 63.

McGwire said before the St. Louis Cardinals' doubleheader
split with the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday that he didn't
care whether he or Sammy Sosa ended up winning the home run
derby.

``Whatever I end up with, I end up with,'' McGwire said.
``And does it make it any less if I don't lead it? No.''

He reiterated those thoughts after his pinch-hit,
ninth-inning homer off Jason Christiansen in the first game,
an 8-6 Pittsburgh victory, ended a six-game, 18 at-bat
drought and put him back in the lead. The Cardinals won the
second game 9-3.

``Like I've said since Day 1, I can only take care of Mark
McGwire,'' he said. ``If I look at what he (Sosa) does, I'm
taking myself out of my game, and the same goes for Sammy
looking at what I'm doing.''

No matter that McGwire is now the sole record-holder again
after Sosa went 1-for-5 without a home run Tuesday night for
the Cubs.

``It's not a record 'til the season is over,'' he said.

McGwire didn't start the first game, in part to protect a
bad back that forced him out of a game in Houston after four
innings Sunday. But he wasn't surprised when manager Tony La
Russa called on him to pinch-hit for Delino DeShields with
one out and nobody on in the ninth.

``I've been with Tony too long; I'm getting ready by the
second inning,'' McGwire said.

McGwire's swing was out of sync after he hit his 62nd home
run Sept. 8, and he had only three singles to show for his
previous six games. That changed with his sixth career pinch
homer and 13th hit in 32 at-bats Tuesday.

After McGwire sent a 1-0, down-and-in fastball 385 feet
into the left-field bleachers, La Russa was in awe.

``He's been doing it for a year and two months, people
cheering `C'mon Mark, we want you to hit one,''' La Russa
said. ``Boom, he hits one! How does he do it? I have no
idea, except that he's remarkable.''

It was a gratuitous appearance, given the Cardinals were
down three runs, but La Russa said this was a special case.
He would have liked to have had McGwire hit for reliever
Jeff Brantley, who was up fifth that inning, but he didn't
know if the game would last that long.

``You sit around and wait for that, you may not get
there,'' La Russa said. ``I gave him a shot.''

Pirates manager Gene Lamont had no complaints.

``Under ordinary circumstances, you wouldn't send McGwire
up in that situation,'' Lamont said. ``But I understood why
Tony did it. It was a good idea.''

Christiansen was about the only person who didn't get a
good view of No. 63.

``I didn't know if it was going out,'' he said. ``By the
time I turned around to watch it, it had already carried
over the wall.''

The fan who caught the ball had no immediate plans to give
it back. McGwire has received every ball from homer No. 56
on, but John Grass, 46, of St. Louis, was looking to cash
in.

``The ball is worth something to someone, and I'd like to
have something for it myself,'' Grass said. ``He makes
millions of dollars. I don't think there is anything wrong
with something coming to me.''

Cardinals general manager Walt Jocketty said he didn't
expect the team to negotiate a deal for the ball, and
McGwire wasn't concerned.

``That's all right,'' he said. ``He can keep it.''



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Pecos Enterprise
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324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net

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Copyright 1998 by Pecos Enterprise