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Times Advocate, 1993-09-08, Page 13Rookie Senior 'B' Geotighia •=truer Rookies march onto fiche field during the opening ::ceremonies, above. Below, Tim Meidinger keeps his foot firmly on first base. Exeter's Arnanda'Wuerth concentrates as she gets re to hit the ball . ariereter Rookie catcher Tim Snell tried to come up with the ball against Blenheim but it just out of his reach during action on Saturday morning. was By Fred Groves T -A staff EXETER - It took two games to dont, but once the dust had settled in Exeter on Sunday afternoon, Georgina was the Ontario Basebatll Association Rookie Senior 'B' champions. In a game which uses a pitching machine instead of pitchers, Georgina came -from -behind to beat the Georgetown Eagles 8-6. Trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the :*ird inning, Georgina scored four Ilg runs to take control. A Sebby Quartarone triple meant -two 'rens batted in for him as he 'gave -his team a huge lift. But the -well disciplined Eagles, who won the rfirstfinal.game•iuthe double clmockout format, -came back themives and tied it up 6-6 as VinceBurke.belted abases load-, ed double. -1nat4name which has clot:of.ball contact; • but .relatively low -scoring games because of the excellent.de- fence, Burke and Quartarone were named the Most Valuable Players in the championship final. A Kenny Young single:clinched the win for Georgina indhe:irottom of the fourth inning. There were seven .teams from across the province in. Exeter for the two-day tournamentthe farthest southerly tears was Leamington and the farthest to the north, Georgina which is near Barrie. Georgina went undefeated in its frrst-threegames, beating Blenheim 4-0, Georgetown 12-3 and Leam- ington 32. "The Eisiiio tamed .with. a. 9-0 utout over Pt. Colbaroe. a slim 1- 0 win over Mitchell, the loss to Georgina -and the Eagles went to .'the final with a 10-4 victory over Mitchell. Since Georgina had not lost, the Eagles had to play a second game after taking the first final contest 7 - 2. Home team beaten: The Exeter Becker Farrn Equipment Rookies came up short m .both :of their games as they lost 40-2 to Bien- heini and were eliminated follow- ing an 11-5 loss to Leamington. Against Blenheim, the hosts were leading but Blenheim plated seven =sin the fourth inning and three more in-the.ftfth and final frame. One ofT aaeter runs, the one inthe fifth came after Kevin Overholt, Matt Dietrich, Amanda Wuerth and Matt Austell. all singled. First base- man Kevin Dickins was named Ex- eter's MVP for that game. Game Two against Leamington once again saw the locals give it a good try and they scored the bulk of their runs in the fifth inning. Tim Meidinger, Darryl Bourne, Dickins, Deitrich, Austen and Branden Buchanan all had hits be- fore Jamie Johns crushed a basses loaded triple. Johns was named Ex- eter's MVP for the game. Notes:—Congratulations to con- veoor Dan Meidinger and his coaches, Wayne Dickins, Dan Overholt and John Werth for a well-run tournament- Dickins who is an Exeter Junior 'D' Hawks train- er in the winter was kept very busy on Sunday as he looked after more than a doien bee stings,.. Goodbye to tnt � London Tigers lthough it may not be the same as slip-' ping out of town In the middle of the night, the London Tigers exit has the same results. Fans get used to having a professional team in their town and then it's gone. But' this has not been an ovemight occurrence. Other than 1990 when the Tigers won the Eastern Division, there has been little fan support. It is true the Tigers have not had the talent like they did that year especially with shortstop - third baseman Travis Fryman. But I've been to Labatt's Park a couple of times and I en- joyed it. The field is kept in excellent condition, there's lots of promotions to keep things moving and the ball isn't that bad. So why did I and probably many others not become regulars at the park - I blame it on the media to tell you the truth. Here in Southwestern Ontario we are bombarded in print and broadcast with the Blue Jays but there are still a lot of Detroit Tiger Fans out there. When you've got the chance to watch something on the TV in the comfort of your own home or go and watch a lesser cal- ibre live, many choose the latter. When the Minnesota North Stars of the National Hockey League began having their lack of fan support and the owners began talking about moving that franchise, people in Minne- sota began to take notice. But it was a little too late as the Stars are now in sunny Dal- las, Texas and the Minnesota North Stars are now just a mem- ory. hacking their bats and balls and heading to Trenton, New Jersey, the Tigers watched their attendance fall from a high of 167,710 to this summer of 105,385. The novelty wore off.es- -pec1ally:as=hefiigers slipped in the standings. ale 3alk.now about the Tigers revolves around dollars tandcents,randbow much they owe the Citybf.-London, we as ball fans, should'i'hstk real hard if we ever wanta'profae ssional main like that inourbackyard again. Still on baseball, what a joy it was to watch_the rookie ball tournament in Exeter this past weekend. It's :always expected forExeter to put on a good tournament, no matter of what:calibre or of what,sport but this one Arras .a little different in that it brought a new kind of excitement .to the field. This is cmly the second year.thatthe Exeter Minor Baseball Association has had rookie ball and if anything else, it is an excellent training tooifor young players. Rookie hall is very fast. in thatxverycne hits :the -batll,-they may get nut, -hurt they tare plotting it into -play. Learning the swing, :getting a little corifidence .at the plate and making those great defensive plays like I saw is -what it's all about. • Any sport requires riovelopment.and this is exactly what rookie.ball does. Tobe honoat, Inan:see Cookie ball elimioat- rte-pitch:al Sagether in the near future.. - Coaches pitch to -their own team in five r and a lot of • times those pitches aren't consistent where the pitching ma- chine has them going in there at the same spot and the same speed. When we add the pitcher to the game, especially at the age of nine, it really slows the game down. There is nothing we can do about that, it's pan of baseball but we _as coaches just have to make sure those kids playing mosquito (first year with a pitcher) stay interested after playing a much faster game as rookie. • From the sidelines: Just a reminder tonight about the Jun- ior'B' hockey game in Lucan between the St. Marys Lincolns and the London Nationals. The Exeter and Area Ringeuc As- sociation is hosting a promotion night Thursday and next Thursday for. anyone .who want to conte out and give the game .a try. All ibat is required is a helmet and a pair of skates: The,action hens between 6 and 7 p.m. at the Hen- sall Mena. For more infatuation vontact Michelle Hodgen at 229-6730 or. John .Wuez h:at235:2886... tOnament Wires Georgina 8, Georgetown 6 F.iral '- Georgetown 7, Georgina.: O1heriScores Mitchell 3, Leamington 0 Georgetown 9, Pt. Colborne 0 13leriheirn 10, Exeter 2 Georgetown 1, Mitchell 0 Georgina 4, Blenheim 0 Leamington 5, Pt. Colborne 4 Georgina 12, Georgetown 3 • Leamington 11, Exeter 5 Mitchell 7, Blenheim 3 Georgina 3, Leamington 2 Georgetown 10, Mitchell4 By Fred Groves T -A Miff ZURICH - The minor hockey .aacociation in the Village of Zu ;each is attempting to break new ;ground. Zurich Minor Athletic Associa ,,;lion president Bud Markham says •auris fall, young hockey players fyp{ id be put into a new develop .apt program called initiation to 419rikey. If parents of pr -tyke players want to have it. they will. Mark- ' ham says it will be up to the par - CMS this year, but next winter, ZMAA will be pushing the pro gram a lot harder. Last year. pre -tyke (as young as three years -old) were someiimes playing two games a week, one in Zurich and one out of town. "There were several.pPeopple who voiced a concern WWI prclyke be ing too competitive," said Mark- ham. Initiation to Hpckey is apro- graan sanctioned by the Canadian Amateur Hickey Association and the 20 lesson Progno►r ia cipaiVied to teach the basica. Lots o tion is`'' v ZMAA arc ieanin wards. "A lot of people 't think a three, four or five year ,should be travelling around, especially in the evenings Jo play hockey." ZMAA is faced with a couple of main obstacles when it cones to trying out the new program - some parents will still•.want competition for the pre -tykes and then there is the Zurich Figure Skating Club who feel they could be losing sonic of their participants to initia - tion to Hockey. "We still don't know if we're go- ing with it. The figure skaters want thein in the Can Skate pro- But Markham says the farthest thing away from moor hockey's intentions is to.cellae any friction 4 between hockey and figure skat- ing. "I don't want anyone to think we're crying to take away sun figure skating." What he said the program does is offer an alternative. One of the things the now pro- gram will do is provide a little more attention to each player. With a minimum of 15 in.thc pro- gram, this could.providc up to a one -to -five each and player ratio. Also, as pointed out by Mark- ham. as muny as half of the drills in initiation to Hockey require the players to skate without the use.of a hockey stick. Hc said that the old theory was to have players put both hands on , the suck when.skating but he saitj what this did was cause too muc)l" dependency and players weren't • developing their skating. And just what are the wishes of the parents in Zyrich? "We had our registration before this was resolved and they (par- ents) had expectations of pro -tyke hockey," said Markham. Even if Initiation in Hockey docs not sell in Zurich this wiiitylar, it's something they can look to • - wards for the future.