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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Friday, July 23, 1999
Volleyball schedule avoids long Tuesday trips
PECOS, July 23, 1999 -- Five weeknight trips to El Paso were cut down
to just one this fall for the Pecos Eagles' volleyball team, after a meeting
of District 2-4A administrators on Tuesday.
With just two weeks to go before the start of preseason workouts, the
District 2-4A portion of the Eagles' volleyball schedule had yet to be
set, because of the adjustments made last year to accommodate Pecos' travel
problems compared to their five district rivals.
All of the Eagles' road games last season in 2-4A play were on Saturdays,
to avoid five midweek trips of between 175 and 220 miles. But when this
year's schedule was sent out by the Clint Independent School District,
it flipped the home and away dates, sending the Eagles to El Paso five
straight Tuesdays in September and October, prompting Tuesday's meeting.
"All the coaches except for Fabens agreed to switch dates, that's why
we have three home games in a row," Eagles' coach Becky Granado said.
Pecos will go to Fabens on Tuesday, Sept. 21, for their district opener,
then head to El Paso Mountain View for the first of four Saturday road
games on Sept. 25. The three straight home games will be on Oct. 5, 9 and
12, when they host San Elizario, Fabens and Mountain View.
The season starts for Pecos on Aug. 17 at Odessa High with matches against
the Bronchos and Alpine Bucks. Granado said the Eagles will go back to
the Monahans Sandhills Tournament the first weekend of the season, after
going to the Ector County ISD Tournament in Odessa the past three years.
The Eagles' own Cantaloupe Classic Tournament will be held the weekend
of Aug. 26-28, which will also be the only home matches for Pecos during
pre-district play. Their only other home appearance prior to facing Clint
on Sept. 28 will be the first of two pre-season scrimmages, scheduled for
Aug. 13.
Senior League awaits sectional finals foe
PECOS, July 23, 1999 -- It's been three days since the Pecos Senior League
All-Stars won the Region I western subsectional in Lubbock, but it will
be another two days before they find out who their opponent in the sectional
finals will be.
Pecos began subsectional play last Friday, and won the title on Tuesday
with a 13-3 victory over Perryton. Meanwhile, the eastern subsectional
just got underway on Thursday in Abilene, which is where Pecos is scheduled
to go Monday for finals competition.
Abilene won the opening game of the eastern subsectional by a 9-3 score
over Bowie, and will face the winner of Thursday's second game, between
Allen and Southeast Arlington, this afternoon. No score was available for
Thursday's second game.
The winner tonight will advance to the championship game, set for Sunday,
and the winner there in the double-elimination tournament will face Pecos
on Monday. If the eastern winner suffers a loss in the subsectional, it
will carry over to the sectional final.
Pecos went through its subsectional undefeated. The winner of the sectionals
will advance to the state tournament in Waco.
Baseball hires first replacement umpires
By RONALD BLUM
AP Sports Writer
NEW YORK, July 23, 1999 — Signaling that it's prepared to let squabbling
umpires depart, baseball hired 10 minor league umps to take their place
later this season.
Commissioner Bud Selig and his top officials, in their first response
to the umpires' mass resignations, decided Thursday to hire the Triple-A
replacements, who had been working as vacation fill-ins.
They were notified they were being added to major league staffs on a
permanent basis starting Sept. 1 Ï the day before the resignations
of the current umps take effect.
The bickering umpires have split into two camps — those for and against
union head Richie Phillips. The faction backing him is mostly in the National
League.
Some are having a hard time deciding whether to follow Phillips. For
example, American League ump Greg Kosc resigned, withdrew the resignation,
then quit again.
So far, 33 of the 36 NL umpires plan to quit, according to a count by
The Associated Press, but only about half of the AL's 32 umpires plan to
leave.
Umpires on each side have been pressuring their wavering colleagues.
"A lot of this is all posturing, negotiating tactics," said AL ump Tim
McClelland, who hasn't quit yet, but says he intends to. "You have to take
it with a grain of salt."
Baseball's decision to hire new umpires wasn't expected so soon.
"It's part of their strategy, but I don't know what their strategy is
yet," Phillips said.
Meanwhile, 51 major league umpires held a conference call Thursday to
discuss their position, NL umpire Bruce Froemming said.
"I think there's a lot more solidarity than there was two or three days
ago," he said.
However, there were some umpires who think Phillips has to go.
"I am adamantly opposed to this kind of leadership," said the AL's Dave
Phillips, who is no relation to the union head. "There are times when you
pull out your gun, your mortar and go winner-take-all. But communication
and negotiation are the most important ingredients we need."
Richie Phillips said he has been opposed by an AL faction that existed
since before the 1995 lockout.
"They do not like me personally, do not like my style and believe I'm
too confrontational a lawyer," he said. "The media is providing them with
a forum. Fifty-five guys say Richie Phillips is the greatest thing that
ever happened to officiating in any sport and has won battle after battle
after battle for us since 1978."
The decision to hire the new umpires came after virtually every top
baseball official went to Milwaukee to meet with Selig, a group that included
NL president Len Coleman, AL president Gene Budig, chief operating officer
Paul Beeston, executive vice president Sandy Alderson and five lawyers.
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net
Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium.
Copyright 1999 by Pecos Enterprise
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