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Show O P Page 6 OREM GENEVA TIMES Thursday, April 6, 2006 1 VllVi ( eye COMMUNITY SPORTS, PEOPLE AND M V, LP Jared Lloyd II n t h ( lassie movie "The Bla k Stallion." two dominating domi-nating racehorses meet in a titanic title showdown. While Cyclone and Sun Haider are the champions, champi-ons, it's the title character who steals I he show by outsprinting the others to the finish line. Region 1 l)oys soccer teams already know who the two lug guns are coming into the 2')) season, hut the other four teams believe this could be the year they ride the "dark horse" role lo the title. It's the some old thing," Pleasant Grove Mead coach Ink Uavles sai'!. "You've got to beat Mount a, n View and I, one Peak. They're the studs, and even though Lone Peak lias struggled in the preseason, you still have lo beat them in region." I he Knights come into the year with the added pressure of the "Defending 4A State champions" title, something new head coach Dave Woolley said has both hurt and helped his squad. "T hese players are following follow-ing a team that didn't lose all season last year," he explained. So when they lost (in the preseason), it was a foreign experience. They had to learn that someone else got the wins last season; now they have to go out and win the match. It's become a nice maturing thing and they've figured out what they need to do." Hut although Lone Peak won last season, many of the league teams see the Bruins as the ' 1 i t ' t off, J y ' f 4 r ' ' - . i '' ' ' ' $ r'r ' ... ' v-yi- . ; :. .?... ' x MATT SMITH, Daily Herald Mountain View left fielder Matt Draper dives for a fly ball during Iriduy ufternoon's game aguinst American Fork. American Fork blasts past Mountain View in Region 4 baseball Chris Peterson American Fork played seven innings against Mountain Moun-tain View on Friday, but all the Cavemen really needed was one. The Cavemen (7-2 overall, H) Region -1) demoralized the Bruins early on. scoring seven runs in the first two frames of their 9-1 Region 4 opener in Orem. American I-ork head coach Jared Ingersoll was pleased with his t(?am's pitching, but not much more else. "Our pitchers did a terrific job today, and that was good because we didn't hit the ball as well as we can. and our defense needs to be better, crisper," he said. Starter Hap Holmstead worked five strong innings and gave up just one run, while reliever Aaron Baddley closed the game out with five strikeouts in two innings of work. "(Holmstead) worked ahead in the count and threw strikes when he needed to," Ingersoll said And Baddley 's follow-up performance w asn't too bad. either. He struck out the first four batters he faced and perhaps would have collected col-lected another if it weren't for a questionable no-strike call. Speaking of questionable calls. Mountain View's Mar-kie Mar-kie Peterson struck out on a called third strike that was on top, others look to challenge early frontrunner in 2006. It's a designation that surprised first -year head coach Mark ( iraham. "We have a new coach and lost arguably the best player in the state (James Jaramillo, who graduated early)," he said. "I don't think we're the most athletic ath-letic or the most physical team. But it's good if the guys have confidence and an attitude that they're going to win." With the Knights regrouping with a number of new players and Mountain View working on coming together with a new approach, the rest of the teams in the region could pull off some upsets and end up bringing bring-ing home the crown. Here's a brief look at each of the teams in Region 4: Mountain View The Bruins only allowed two goals in their first five games on the way to a 4-0-1 record. Graham said he's been pleased with how the players are working hard to comply with what he's asking of them. "They really want to do well, so they practice with purpose pur-pose and give good effort," he said. "I see these kids improving improv-ing every week. I do enjoy coaching them. They're as fun of a boys team as I've ever coached." Mountain View will rely on midfielder Dust in Graham and forward David Salazar to provide pro-vide the punch up front, while defender Brett Henry and talented sophomore keeper Michael Chesler take care of the back line. "If we have a dominant 1,, , r ' 4 appeared to be clearly away and low in the second inning. That raised the ire of Bruins' coach Chris Cooper, along with the fact that the home plate umpire waited several seconds to make the call. In spite of a lengthy, voluble protest. Cooper stayed in the game. Mountain View (341, 0-1) didn't help its cause, committing commit-ting four errors during the opening two innings. The Bruins Bru-ins totaled seven errors for the game. Steve Parker drove in American Fork's first run, followed fol-lowed by Holmstead's two-run single. In the second inning, Gentry Bean scored on Josh Jones' sacrifice fly. Two other mis-cues, mis-cues, plus another sacrifice fly, plated a trio of runs to put the Cavemen in complete control of the game. The Bruins' Corban Carlson Carl-son reached on a single, then scored on a sacrifice fly after he advanced on a throwing error. er-ror. That was all of the scoring Mountain View could muster for the afternoon. Ingersoll said that getting off to a quick start was important. impor-tant. "It was nice to jump on them early," he said. I Chris Peterson can be reached at cpetersonf heraldextra.com. AmrtcanFoit 341 000 1 111 Mountain View 100 000 0 1 ST Hwmsieaa Baotfey 16; na Payne Howy Draoef 14) anc Can WP Hoimsteaa if -Hovey 28 Bean if OUTDOOR FUN Mountain View's David Salazar heads a ball during practice on March keeper, we can be very, very good," Graham said. "We also have a lot of players that can come up big for us, since we go 15 deep." The head coach believes the big area they need to work on is being more physical, so they don't let opponents push them around at all. Lone Peak The Knights had the benefit of being the best team in 2005, but almost all of the players from that squad graduated. Young Tigers prepare for Region 7 foes Phillip Morgan HERALD COPRESPOroi V Goals are important. For each of the six teams in Region 7, the goals are simple: Win the region title and move into the state tournament. Usually there are one or two teams that stand out as clear-cut clear-cut favorites to walk away with the region crown. This is not one of those years. Each team is improving game to game and will be looking for that special magic that comes in region Play-Here Play-Here is a look at each team in Region 7: Orem With a young team with not a lot of depth, Orem coach Ed Jar-vis Jar-vis is scrambling to fill starter spots after two key injuries to juniors Michelle Duncan and Jessica Saliby. "We are struggling right now," Jarvis said. "They were key players in our defense as well as our offense, so hopefully we can group together, compete com-pete and get to the state tournament." tourna-ment." Duncan, the Tigers' starting first basemen, broke her hand and will hopefully be back with the team by May. Sailby recently had a compound com-pound break of her tibia in her right leg in a game agaiast Tim-panogos Tim-panogos when the T'Wolves' Rachel Hecker slid into Saliby at third. Because of the injuries, four of the eight freshman on the team have been thrust into starting roles. It's times like these that teams need someone that they can look to for inspiration. Enter Lindsie Wilson, the 2006 Utah Valley 4A Player of the Year in girls basketball. "Having her on the team, we have realty benefitted from it," Jarvis said. "The girls look up to her and her work ethic is an example to the whole team." Defensively, Whitney Kar-ratti, Kar-ratti, Delyse Downey and Kylee Miller will be called upon to make plays in the clutch. On the hill, Orem will rely on the arm of Meghan Mullen to keep opposing hitters off balence. In the game against Timpanogos, Mullen struck out two T"Wolf hitters and only gave up two hits before the injury to Saliby deflated the Tigers' spirits. Springville Unlike the other teams in Region 7, the Red Devils are loaded with seniors returning from last year's run into the Now Woolley is getting a group of talented but inexperienced inex-perienced newcomers to gel together. "We've got a very good team," he said. "Now we've had three disappointing losses, but we're excited to go to region. We're putting things together and I think we'll be very competitive." com-petitive." One of the decisions Wool-ley Wool-ley has already had to make is where to play senior Nate Dennis. While very talented as a goalkeeper, Dennis also has been productive on the field as Orem's Delyse Downey dives into experienced players on Orem's state tournament. "We have nine seniors and six start for us," said Springville assistant coach Dennis Gore. "We are really deep this year and that should help us." Returning to the mound are seniors Amanda Cole and Natalie Nata-lie Nance, who combined for 10 strikeouts against Lone Peak early in the season. "They are probably two of the better pitchers in the state," Gore said. "So we will use them a lot." Payson Consistency will be the biggest big-gest key for the young Lions in making a run for the region crown this year. Payson returns only two starters from a 2005 team that won the Region 6 crown and competed in the 4A state tournament before being knocked out by Box Elder in the consolation bracket. This year the Lions are 4-6 in non-region games and recently went 3-2 in a Springville tournament, tourna-ment, beating teams such as Viewmont and Box Elder. "We are improving ach game," said Payson head coach Megan Meredith. "We haven't played a complete game yet. Either our hitting or fielding JEREMY HARMONNorth County 29. a goal scorer. "He spent a lot of time playing play-ing futsal over the winter and his foot skills have really improved," im-proved," Woolley said. "He's got speed, he's a great athlete and he's been doing some nice things. We might put him a lot more in the field." Sophomore Brian Hale may be asked to step in as keeper with Dennis covering more ground. He'll get help from defenders senior Clint Burgess and junior Scott Wyman. Mid-See Mid-See SOCCER, Page 7 third base during a game in 2003. young softball team. doesn't show up." Senior pitcher Keelie Ballard Bal-lard will be the anchor on this Lions team. Ballard threw a one-hitter against Lone Peak, a game in which the Lions fell 1-0. Freshman Rikki Christensen has begun to pitch as well and will come in to give Ballard rests throughout the rest of the season. Lehi The Pioneers have moved up in the world. One of the top teams in 3A in 2005, Lehi is looking toward a run at the Region 7 title as well as the 4A crown. "We feel that we can play with anyone," said Lehi coach Kale Gillman. "We have been playing 4A competition in our non-region schedule for the last couple years, so we feel we can compete with a lot of teams." With senior pitcher McKenzy Hillstead on the mound, the Pioneers Pio-neers will be able to keep opposing oppos-ing batters off the base paths. "She's pitched on varsity since she was a freshman," Gill-man Gill-man said. "I think she has quite well so far this year." Quite well is right. She threw a no-hitter against Mountain RECREATION Registration open for spring sports NORTH COUNTY Registration is now open for several spring sports at the Orem Fitness Center. I Girls softball Orem City's Recreation Department is accepting registration for the girls fast pitch softball program at the Orem Fitness Center (580 W. 165 S.) Cost for girls softball is $47; non-residents will be charged an additional $10. This program is for girls in 3rd through 12th grades with team divisions being grades 34, 5-6, 7-8 and 9-12. Games begin the week of May 22 and will be played on weekday evenings from 4:30 to 10:30 p.m., and possibly some Saturdays. Volunteer coaches are needed. For additional ad-ditional information, please call the Orem Fitness Center at 229-7455. T-BallCoach PitchMachine Pitch The Orem Recreation Department is accepting registration for T-ball, coach pitch and machine pitch at the Orem Fitness Center through April 21. T-ball is for boys and girls ages 5-7. Coach pitch is for boys and girls ages 7-9. Machine pitch is for boys and girls ages 9-11. Ages are determined as of September 1. Please sign your child up in the program that they will be successful in. Games will be played Saturday mornings beginning be-ginning June 2. Cost for T-ball a nd coach pitch is $27 and cost for machine pitch is $32 (non-residens will be charged an additional $10). Volunteer coaches are needed. For additional ad-ditional information, please call the Orem Fitness Center at 229-7167. North County file photo She is one of the few View, a game that saw Lehi dominate 7-0. Provo First-year head coach Jillian Messenger is turning the Provo softball program around. "Provo has never been a winning win-ning ball club and I am trying to change that," Messenger said. "This year we have the talent at this point in time and it is a matter of gaining confidence in ourselves and that is all it comes down to." Timpview The Thunderbirds are looking for a lot of improvement, especially espe-cially in the win column, over last year's disappointing finish in which the T'Birds finished in fifth place just in front of American Fork. "We didn't win many games last year," said Timpview head coach Leslie Jones. "We were mostly sophomores that hadn't had much playing time. "We are returning six starters start-ers from that team last year. The experience from last year will help us to grow this year and improve into the team we want to be." POOR -A 1111 |