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Times-Advocate, 1984-06-20, Page 8, Page 8 Times -Advocate, June 20, 1984 Sports Spotlight By Ross Haugh Add pitching prowess Sparky Anderson of the Detroit Tigers is not sitting on his laurels which are at the top of the standings in the American League eastern division. Anderson came up with two additions to his pitching staff this week signing up a minor leaguer right hander in Carl .Willis and a veteran southpaw in the person of Sid Monge. Although Monge did not get off to the best of starts in his first two outing against the Toronto Blue Jays his experience and williness should be very helpful to the Tiger hurling staff when the final month of the season 'rolls around. A lot of media people and so called experts are call- ing this month of June as the run for the pennant in this strongest division of all of baseball. Don't let anyone fool themselves, when the third day of Septerf'�ibedrolls around look for an exciting stretch of almost one month of pennant fever.- - The Tigers currently are in the driver's seat by about seven games, but, Tuesday night in•Toronto they show- ed they were human as the Blue Jays shellacked them 11-3. The first part of June will be repeated in the first two weeks of September as Detroit, Toronto and Baltimore have an almost carbon copy of the just completed. schedule. • The Tigers take on Baltimore on September 3, 4 and 5,in Detroit, travel to Exhibition Stadium for three games against the Jays and the next three days find them in Baltimore. If that isn't enough, another three game series against the Jays follows immediately. The final 13 games for Detroit are against the Milwaukee Brewers and New York Yankees. Neither club will be lying down. Even if they are out of the pen- nant race, their pride will bring out their best efforts against the clubs who still have pennant hopes. A seven, or eight game Lead at this time of the season or even in early September can go down the drain very quickly if one club gets really hot and another goes in- to a tailspin. The recent seven game series between Toronto and Detroit shows how evenly matched the two clubs are although the Tigers may appear to have a bit of an edge in experience and in player depth especially in the pit- ching department. Both Sparky Anderson and Jays mentor Bobby Cox are usng platoon systems and go with the percentages in most instances in pinch hitters and in making pit- ching changes. It didn't take Blue Jays very long to come up with a wave of their own trying to copy the pattern of cheer- ing going on at Tiger Stadium. A Detroit announcer said Tuesday night that the pat- tern of the wave in Toronto was a cheap imitation of the original one in Detroit. What we haven't said about the pennant chances of our two favorite clubs is that they play almost complete- ly western division teams during the months of July and August. In fact in their 54 games during those two months, the Tigers only play 13 times against eastern teams and they are seven against the Cleveland Indians and six with the Boston Red Sox. In the same time period, the Blue Jays have exactly the same number of outings against the east, but, there is a difference. The Jays play Cleveland six times, but, their seven other games are against the Baltimore Orioles. A little bit tougher, would you not think? The Tigers who were Neaten four games to three by the Blue Jays will be glad they don't run into Ernie Whitt of the Toronto club until September. Whitt, a native of Michigan has been bashing Tiger pitching every since he made the big leagues. In fact, of the 39 major league home runs hit by Whitt, an even dozen have come against the Tigers. • Central league folds The training grounds for up and coming young Na- tional Hockey League stars are being reduced considerably. Bud Poile, president of the Central Hockey League announced recently that his group syspended operations for at least one year as only three healthy franchises were left. The main reasons for suspension are the lack of in- terest in NHL clubs as far as sponsorship is concern- ed, high travel costs and the disparity of the Canadian and U.S. dollars. The real crunch came when the New York Rangers announced they would discontinue backing of the Tulsa team. The only three teams remaining with strong backing are in Indianapolis, Salt Lake City and Denver. The league operating for 21 years has had 32 fran- chises in 25 different cities. The best year for the AUL was in 1979-80 when nine teams competed. Only five clubs were in this past season. The other 1983-84 team was in Billings, Montana. Switch to slo-pitch More than 200 NHL players are expected to be in the Niagara Falls area this weekend to compete in the annual Molson's NHL slo-pitch challenge. The New York Rangers are the only one of the 21 Nig league clubs not sending a team. The NIIL, referees and an oldtimers team will round out the class of 22 teams. The favorites are again expected to be the Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings and Los Angeles Kings. Bill Derlago of the Leafs is one of the top per- formers and according to team-mate Rick Vaive could make it in the big leagues of baseball. The Red Wings have lost their super softball star in Willie Huber, but, still have fellows like Paul Woods, John Barrett, Brad Smith and Greg Stefan. The best of the Kings are Charlie Simmer, Marcel Dionne, Dave Taylor, Bernie Nicholls and Jay Wells. Wayne Gretxky who is also very competent on the diamond is not expected to participate due to previous commitments. f ti Plenty of action in local minor soccer leagues In squirt soccer play, Exeter 1 played Exeter 3. In a very exciting game, both teams had a few good scoring chances before halftime but neither team could score. In the second half, Exeter 3 took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Dennis Hodgins. With about five minutes to play, however, Marty DeBruyn scored on a well placed shot to pull both teams even. Final score: 1-1. Exeter 2 remained unbeaten after two games with a 2-0 win in Arva. The Exter defense again played excellent and now has not allowed a goal in two games. After a well played game with goals scored by Jamie Van - Dam and McCann, Exeter 2 is now in first place in the standings. Exeter 2 and Exeter 3 atoms clashed at the high school Monday night in a well played game that saw the Ex- eter 3 team execute their chances a little better than their opponent. Once they had their lead, the Exeter 3 defense played excellent to defend that lead. The final score was 3-0 wt Derek Campbell scoring two goals and Steve Rankin get- ting his third goal in as many games. Exeter 1 mosquitos travell- ed to Ilderton and made it an uncomfortable night for the Ilderton defense and goalie. Exeter exploded for four unanswered goals in the first half and added five more in the second half. 4 TALKING SCHOOL SPORTS — SHDHS athletic director Ron Bogart, guest speaker Darwin Semotiuk, chairman of intercollegiate athletics and former Western foot- ball coach, student council president Alice Dietrich and chairman George Tomes chat prior to Thursday's. athletic banquet at the local high school. T -A photo CONGRATULATES -- South Huron District High School principal Bruce Show con- gratulates Scot Merrylees and Kendra Arthur on being chosen school*presentatives to the Ontario Athletic Leadership Camp. T -A photo Express close in tournament The Express didn't win any games in the recent senior baseball tournament in Tillsonburg, but, they did come up with some excellent performances in bowing to top notch clubs. in the opening game, the Express lost 9-8 as the host Tillsonburg club came up with the winning run in the sixth inning. The second con- test saw Cambridge edge Ex- eter 4-2. in regular league play this week, it was the Express' turn to win the close ones witha 9-8 decision over the Exeter Co -Op juniors. In the first tourney loss to Tillsonburg, the Express rallied with four runs in the top of the seventh, but fell one run short of squaring the score. Dave Hunt walked in the Exeter first and carne around on an error and a single from the bat of Dave Shaw. In the Express second turn at the plate, Dave Bogart and Brian Mercer singled and came around to score on a double delivered by Dave Hunt. A similar situation occur red in the fourth when Bogart Foursome at Ironwood Doris Hackney and Beth Anstett combined for the lowest score in a two hall ladies foursome at the Iron- wood golf club. Wednesday evening. Gail Skinner and Helen Webber were second and Grace Farquhar and Mary Jane Taylor recorded the third lowest score and Rarh Wein and Helen Burton re- quired the fewest number of putts. Helen Burton won the door prize. and Mercer again singled. This time they were driven home on singles by Dave Hunt and Doug Fairbairn. }Lunt and Fairbairn doubl- ed to start the Exeter seventh inning rally to notch one run. Walt Parkinson followed with a walk and Doug Hoffman cleared the bases with a home run to get three runs hatted in. In the loss to Cambridge, the Express scored both runs in the fifth frame as Doug Hoffman and Brian Mercer singled and came home on a similar blow by Dave Atthilt. The Express scored four times in the first inning in their win over the juniors Walt Parkinson, Paul Gilmour and Brian Mercer delivered the Express hits. in the third Parkinson and Gilmour singled to produce a single run and in the fifth Parkinson collected his third straight hit. Ile was followed by Perry Stover who dt•ew a walk and both scored on a single from p teller Steve Pearce. The two final ?xpress runs crossed the plat in the sixth as Walt Parkins n hanged out his fourth hit.. double and Paul Gilmour at 1 Dave Hunt added one base 'lows. The juniors 7ored four times in the secs d inning as Dave Hayter nd Kevin Draeger doubly ind Trevor Johnston and .teff McKellar ,added ingles. 1)an.1)ittmer doubled and scored the fifth junior marker in the sixth 'inning. In the seventh, Dave Hayter and Dwayne Laporte drew walks, .john Hamilton was safe on a tielder's choice and .1. Laporte singled. ,arker • s JJt1lrs1y1lnq 2 BARBER - STYLISTS OPEN Mon Tues. Thurs. 8:00 - 5:30 Fri. 8:00 - 8:00 & Sat. 8:00 - 4:00 423 MAIN ST., EXETER, ONT., NOM 130 235-0451 Merton got a little reward for their efforts when they scored from a penalty shot in the second half. Fxeter 1 coach Kevin Pfaff was happy that his players, after missing a lot of their scoring chances last week, finally found their range. Scoring for Exeter 1 was Steve Dubarry three, Shane Pfaff two and Sisavay Sengkhounmany, Kevin Fick, J.P. Maurer and Andrew Downing one each. Exeter 2 played at the high school against Lucan 1. The game saw one of the best mosquito games played in this area. Both teams attack- ing and defending with ex- cellent skill and an excellent display by both goalfenders. Lucan went ahead in the first half by a score of 1-0. Early in the second half, Ex- eter 2 got the equalizer on a goal by Craig McEachern and then took the lead with about 15 minutes to go in the game. Lucan poured in on in the last 10 minutes but failed to tie the game. Exeter 1 peewees travelled to Grand Bend this week. Game conditions for the Ex- eter 1 team have been far frotn good. After last week's mud ballet at -the Canners field, the last half of their game was played in a pouring rain. Despite the conditions, it was an excellent and close game. Exeter 1 went ahead 1-0 in the first half on a goal from a long shot by Justin O'Rourke. Grand Bend, however, tied it before halftime. The second half saw Exeter pressing and this pressure resulted in a handball by one of the Grand Bend players. The penalty kick that was awarded was taken cleanly by Henri DeBruyn putting Exeter 1 ahead by 2-1. As play Hope for July 2 date for Nationals Heavy rains dampened the Hglly Gully track, but not the spirits of the majority of riders from across Canada on Sunday for the Expert Na- tional Motocross Champion- ships held there. The Varna motocross facili- ty had prepared the track in preparation for the forecasted rain, however, not to the ex- tent it fell. CMA chief referee, Bob St. Goddard of Winnipeg deter- mined first that the races should be delayed in case the rain would stop. After the delay, and a continuing tor- rential downpour, with a forecast of even more, and the fact that muddier track conditions would develop, he determined the race would not be competitive enough for, a National event. With this in mind, St. God- dard made the nearly un- precedented decision to call off the event. This was the first time Hully Gully organizers have had a race cancelled in eight years. At the present time, Hully Gully is attempting to reschedule the race to July 2 immediately after the World 500 Grand Prix near Durham, Ontario, when the champion- ship calibre riders will be in the area again in order to minimize their travel. At present, the Canadian Motorcycle Association has not determined an alternate date and organizers hope for a quick decision on the July 2 progressed, Grand Bend became stronger and their pressure resulted in a penal- ty kick that was converted in- to a goal by Grand Bend. Both teams had chances to win the game but could not capitalize on any of them. • Exeter 2 entertained Ilder- ton at the Canners field Wednesday. The Ilderton club fresh from their 7-2 drubbing of Nairn last week had a lot of confidence and the Exeter 2 team found that out. The Ilderton team manag- ed only one goal but they made it stand up after weathering a storm in which Exeter 2 threw everything they had at them but Exeter could not come up with a goal. A disappointing finish for coach Ron Hannah who has now seen his charges lose two games by one goal. The Exeter bantam team played their first game of the season this week against Grand Bend. The Exeter atom set the pace during the game and never really were in any trouble leading 2-0 at halftime on goals by Sivilay Sengkhounmany and Brian Quinn. The second half had barely started when Henri DeBruyn finished off a beautiful pass- ing play to bring the score to 3-0. Grand Bend never gave up and kept playing an ex- cellent brand of soccer and managed to score to bring it back to a 3-1 game. But that was all that goalie Randy MacDonald allowed. Exeter kept their passing game alive and this resulted in a goal from a scramble scored by Dennis Crawford. Final score was 4-1. The ban- tams will be playing at home against Goderich, Tuesday. MATHERS MOTORS Chrysler - Plymouth - Dodge Dodge Trucks Bob Laramie ., 136 Main St. N., Bus: (319)235-1325 ,� Exeter, Ontario Res: (519)262-2134 NOM 1S0 The Maxim 400. I Becauseyour first bike should be pgreatelnice. . 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