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Show Thursday, April 14, 2005 Page 6 COMMUNITY SPORTS, PEOPLE AND OUTDOOR FUN Shay Conder American Fork Spring sports face challenge of unpredictable weather if f ' Beky Beaton It has been a typically unpredictable unpre-dictable spring in Utah G)unty, and the weather can present some serious challenges for coaches and teams. "It is one of the crazy parts of the season, you are always trying to juggle games and with that, pitching," said Ijehi baseball coach Joel Perkins. "An example, last week we played one game, this week we play four, thanks to two reschedules. "Maintaining the pitching rotation is oftimes a matter of great deliberation," he added. "Hut, that is the nature of the beast, and I lieheve some of the fun for coaches. "Baseball is a game of adjustments, adjust-ments, and we ail, coaches and players, just have to make the k name and American Fork's Hap Holmstead pitches in u recent game against Spanish Fork. American Fork's Hap Holmstead matures into role of pitcher Jason Franchuk I lap 1 lolmstead found his joy of baseball last summer in Nebraska Ne-braska as an eyewitness to the dedication it takes to play at a high level With his father, high school coa h and a teammate, the American fork junior pitcher went to the College World Series Se-ries I here, the quartet was the first inside Omaha's Rosenblatt Stadium, the last out. and even Caveman baseball falls to Neil K.Warner With the tying run on third and two fjts in the top of the seventh inning. Springville second sec-ond baseman Mark Averett made a diving stop up the middle, got to his knees and threw to shortstop short-stop Scott Pickering at second for a force out to end the game and help Springville hold off American Fork 4 .'1 on Tuesday afternoon. American Fork trailed 4 2 in the top of the seventh before embarking on an improbable comeback against Springville ace Mark Pawelek Pawelek struck out 1 1 in his 4 ' inungs of relief, including seven sev-en straight during one strMch, and had alkwed just one hut But with two exits in the seventh, sev-enth, Casey Houghton singled and Josh Jones was then hit by a pitch. Catcher Ale Johnson tried to pick off Houghton at second, but his threw bounced into center cen-ter field, allowing the runners to forward adjustments and find a way to be successful," he went on. "Another major challenge is field scheduling; when a varsity game gets bumped back, it generally gen-erally affects the JV, soph and freshman teams. Make-ups at those levels are more difficult and often these games are not rescheduled," which robs teams of precious developmental time. Perkins does have access to back-up facilities, however. "We are fortunate enough to have an indoor cage in our gym, and over the years we have become very adept in indoor in-door practices," he said. "Also, thanks to generous donations of time, labor and LOCAL "'I' ' found an odd celebratory snack. "Hap came out of the stadium with vime of the grass," Caveman Cave-man coach Jarod Ingersoll said. "We all ate a little bit, just to have the experience inside us." Holmstead, though, didn't need to pasture-ize himself to feel a touch of excellence. 'revvind advance. Pawelek struck exit the next man, but the pitch got away from Johnson, allowing a run to score and the tying run to take third. It kxked like Tyson Davis wixild tie the game when he hit a sharp ground ball up the middle, bin a junior who was playing in just his second varsity inning of the season dove to his right, stopped the ball and got the force at second. "I thought that last one was through there He made a nice play, kept his composure and got an out," said American Fork coach Jarod Ingersoll "Even though we lost, it's still a positive thing for us. "Any time you play these guys, especially w ith the pitching pitch-ing we saw today in a 4-3 ball game and have a chance to win U4 capital, last year we were able to pour concrete floors for the bottom of our outdxr cages, so even if our field Ls unplayable but outside weather is acceptable, accept-able, we can hit in our outside cages." For track teams, the show mainly goes on, albeit with some modificatioas. "If it is cold, snowy, or rainy, we'll move warmups inside, but many of the athletes will still do their workouts outside," said American Fork track and cross-country coach Timo Mo-stert. Mo-stert. "They'll just wear more clothes. "If it is really bad, we'll run in the halls," he added. "Track meets are only cancelled or postponed if there is lightening." lighten-ing." Pleasant Grove track coach John Kernan takes a similar approach. "We cope by having cpacy to Hive op to His great grandfather, also Hap Holmstead, was the first athlete to letter in four sports at Utah. He is also in the Utah Sports Hall of Fame. The second Hap named after the other one's lifelong nickname has a father, Jay, who once earned the award as the best all-around athlete at American Fork, which was then named after his grandfather. That's a confusing last paragraph, para-graph, sure. For Holmstead, it's simply a lot to live up to. And Springville; at the end, that's pretty much all you can ask for." Springville took a 2-0 lead in the second inning. Springville's starter struck out five Cavemen in the first two innings, but in the third, American Fork struck back for a pair of runs. Jones reached with a one-out single and after T. J. Spencer bunted him to second, Davis and Austin Haws hit back -to-back doubles to tie the game. Springville got the lead back in the bottom of the third. The Red Devils had Caveman starter Hunter Boone on the ropes, but Boone got out of the inning fairly cheap. With catcher Shay Condor bkjcking everything in the dirt, Boone could throw his curvebaJ without fear of a wild pitch. Boone got Pawelek to hit a ground ball to second and followed with a strikeout of Johnson. TTie next batter singled past a diving Davis at .shortstop, but Davis managed to get a gkve cxi the hall and knock it down. He the kids dress appropriately for the conditions," he said. "I have an 'old school' saying that I use with the kids," Kernan Ker-nan said. "It's an all-weather track. If I can see it, you will be outside." Competition is sometimes compromised, even though meets are seldom canceled. "We are affected the most by the wind," the coach explained. "Most of the time we can run, jump, or throw in almost anything, any-thing, but if it is really windy, it can mess things up even if we have a dry track." Soccer is another sport where games are generally played unless there is several inches of snow on the field, but the weather still affects things. "This year seems to have been wetter and colder than normal," said American Fork soccer coach Eric Hundley. "It doing so has not come easy. Holmstead has battled issues of weight and attention span. When he was 13 years old, he was about 5-foot, 190 pounds. "Really fat," Holmstead said. His family hired him a trainer. His mother, whom he lovingly calls "Sarge," kept him on a program to shed pounds so that he no longer had to be a disappointment to himself. The kid could play baseball. But his health issues came with obstacles. boys soccer jumped to his feet, grabbed the ball and threw out pinch runner Brenan Foster at home. The inning was over, but the two runs Springville scored proved to be the difference in the game. "A Fs a good team They kept battling," said Springville coach Willy Child. They made plays and their pitchers got us out when we had guys on. They put the ball in play when Mark was pitching. They came ready to play." Boone and Taylor Mangum, w ho relieved Boone in the seventh, sev-enth, pitched exceptionally well, holding top-ranked Springville to just seven hits. Haws went 2-for-3 for American Fork. I April 7 Payson 13, American Fork 10: The teams each scored in five innings and had three errors er-rors in a lively contest. Haws hit a solo home run in the first inning, while Conder doubled and later scored on a Hap Holmstead single. Spencer and Davis each had two-run is difficult to move practices inside because other sports like baseball and softball seem to have priority over soccer for indoor gym time. "We always talk to the guys about being prepared for cold weather by having a long-sleeved long-sleeved shirt, a jacket and long pants, but they don't seem to take it seriously," he added. "It amazes me to see guys outside in 35-degree weather in a T-shirt T-shirt and shorts, but it happens. "We usually will practice unless un-less it's raining hard or snowing, snow-ing, then we will usually cancel practice or have an indoor team meeting in a classroom for chalk talk," Hundley said. "The weather does affect us when we lose practice time, but I usually usu-ally figure that the other teams are affected as well." See FORWARD, Page 7 JEREMY HARMONDaily Herald "I wasn't able to run," Holmstead Holm-stead said. "And I couldn't be as good as I wanted to be. I got sick of it." He ate right, ran, dropped 35 pounds. That's the kind of discipline Holmstead needs to keep now. Not for his girth, but for his game. Spanish Fork coach Jim Nelson recalls the once-flighty Holmstead around 10, when See PROFILE, Page 7 loses to Pleasant Grove base hits with two outs. Softball I April 7 Springville 6, American Ameri-can Fork 2: The Cavemen lost to the Red Devils in a good game on the road. April 11 Payson 17, American Ameri-can Fork 6: At home, the Cavemen Cave-men pounded out 10 hits but the Lions did a better job of capitalizing capital-izing on their opportunities in a high-scoring contest. Lindsey Phelps doubled and tripled, Carrie Christensen also had a triple and Ashlee Broad-head Broad-head a double. I April 12 Spanish Fork 16, American Fork 0: The Cavemen fell to 3-10 and 0-4 in region following fol-lowing this loss to the powerful Dons. Soccer The American Fork soccer team dropped a final non-league contest as the team was edged Parents: Ftobby and Tina Conder Age: 18 Year: Senior Sport: Baseball Position: Catcher Favorite sports team: Atlanta Braves Favorite food: Fettucini Alfredo Favorite restaurant: Famous Dave's Favorite book: "The Mental Side of Baseball" Favorite movie: "Bull Durham" Hero: Johnny Bench Goals: To win Region, to graduate gradu-ate from high school, and to be on the state championship team. Favorite class: Sports medicine Dislikes: Loud ringing from cell phones. Most memorable career moment: mo-ment: Beating Provo last year to go to State. Head baseball coach Jarod Ingersoll said: "He's a great defensive de-fensive player. He's come a long way. He throws really well and calls out really good signals. He hit a home run against Las Vegas High in the St. George Tournament." Tourna-ment." Museum reopens Fairfield Schoolhouse Camp Floyd Stagecoach Inn State Park and Museum invites the public to celebrate with them as they reopen the historic Fairfield Schoolhouse on Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m. This event is open and free to the public. Admission fees to the museum are also waived for the day. Events begin with the ringing ring-ing of the school bell by 99-year 99-year old Ethel Meacham, who taught classes here in 1925. She will then share stories about her experiences in the schoolhouse. Mock school sessions await throughout the afternoon providing pro-viding the public an opportunity opportu-nity to experience a one-room school setting by sitting in period school desks, working on chalk slates and having a teacher in period attire. Other activities include recess games and toys of the time period. Visitors can play graces, hoops, jacks, marbles and other games. Many of the toys and games will be available for purchase at the event. Light refreshments will be served. The schoolhouse, which was constructed in 1898, was recently renovated and restored to provide today's students with a one-room schoolhouse living history experience. The schoolhouse is available avail-able to all Utah school classes to visit. The schoolhouse is also available for weddings, family reunions and private parties. For more information, informa-tion, call (801) 768-8932. out 2-1 by Pleasant Grove at home on April 7. Caveman coach Eric Hundley said, "Our guys played extremely extreme-ly well. Again, it was a case not of finishing plays with putting the ball away into the net." The first half of the game was mainly a goalie duel between American Fork's Nick Perucca and Joey Webb. With the Vikings spending spend-ing most of the first period on American Fork's side of the field, Perucca proved he could hold up under the pressure that Pleasant Grove put on him Perucca Pe-rucca picked off many a direct shot. The Caveman goalie was not invincible, though. Early in the game, the Vikings kicked in the game's first goal. While Pleasant Grove stayed ahead through the rest of the period, Cavemen Creggan Wag-staff Wag-staff and Eric Hammer frustrated the Vikings by making great defensive plays against them See REWIND, Page 7 (POOR |