June 16, 2000

Northeast
Four eighth-graders helped the Manchester High (Mass.) girls' tennis team win a state title Wednesday. In the MIAA Division 2 finals against Notre Dame Academy, sisters Marni and Kara Powers won their doubles match, 6-0, 6-2. The other doubles contest went to Manchester's other eighth-grade duo of Sarah Rich and Mallory Miller, 6-3, 6-1. Sophomore Megan Routzong picked up the other point in a win at No. 3 singles, 6-3, 6-3.

The heroics of the Ashland High (Mass.) baseball team continued Tuesday. Carrying a 5-2 lead into the seventh inning against Amesbury High in the Division 3 EMass finals, Ashland gave up two runs (making the score 5-4) and was faced with a first-and-third situation. But reliever Dave Bressler picked off the runner at first base and got an Amesbury batter to fly out to ice the win.

Believe it or not, the game was one of Ashland's least nerve-wracking victories in this year's postseason. In the state quarterfinals, the Tri-Valley League team was one strike away from a loss before rallying. In the semis, it was a walk-off homer that carried Ashland.

Midwest
The Waterford Kettering High (Mich.) softball team broke the state high school record for most wins in a single season. Kettering knocked off Midland High, 4-3, in eight innings Tuesday in the Division I quarterfinals. The win pushed the squad's mark to 42-2 on the season.

Cretin-Derham Hall (Minn.), ranked No. 23 in the final SchoolSports.com baseball poll, didn't pick the best time to lose its first game of the season. Against Mounds View High (24-1) Thursday in the Class 3A state quarterfinals, the Hall allowed three unearned runs to lose, 5-1. Two of those unearned runs came in the fifth inning to break a 1-1 tie. Mounds View's Steve Grasley was masterful on the mound, giving up just five hits and striking out seven.

After 35 years in the Brother Rice (Ill.) baseball program, head coach Cliff Petrak is calling it quits. The 57-year-old cited the need to spend more time with his sick mother as the reason for his departure. His teams won four Catholic League titles during his reign.

West
Starring in the San Fernando Valley All-Star Softball Game Monday was Canyon High's (Calif.) Sonia Zapata. Zapata had three hits, drove in two runs and scored twice in the East's 4-3 win over the West.

Rusty Kennedy, a senior at Brophy College Prep (Ariz.), had his "A" game working yesterday at the World Junior Golf Team Championships in Japan. Kennedy shot a 4-under-par 67 to help the four-man United States junior squad pull into first place with a two-round score of 424 - seven strokes ahead of second-place England. Two more rounds will be played at the Asahi Kokusai Tojo Country Club.

McKinney High (Texas) senior Hunter Mahan was steady as ever, going 4-under for the day to push his two-round total to a 5-under-par 139 (three-way tie for third). Kennedy is tied with Canada's Matt McQuillan for second place at 138, while Columbia's Oscar Alvarez remains ahead of the individual field at 136.

Lakewood High's (Calif.) James Oh shot a 71 yesterday (147 overall), while Ken Lewis of Dennis-Yarmouth High (Mass.) shot a 76 (157).

Atlantic
Track fans will have to wait until the fall for more Alan Webb headlines. The South Lakes High (Va.) junior, who was making a run (no pun intended) at breaking the four-minute mile barrier, decided Monday that his season was over. Webb will not travel to Raleigh, N.C., today for the Foot Locker National Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

Ballard High (Ky.), ranked No. 19 in the final SchoolSports.com baseball poll, edged Boyd County High Thursday, 4-2, at the University of Kentucky's Cliff Hagan Stadium. Ballard pitcher Jeremy Sowers, who was unhittable throughout the season (12-0, 0.11 ERA), gave up the two runs but was hurt by plenty of Boyd mistakes. All of Ballard's runs were unearned, including three in the first inning. Ballard will meet Henderson County High today in the state final. Henderson knocked off Nicholas High, 5-2, yesterday.