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Show v byfe Bonne. J iu Baseball mderway today By Todd Veenker Sports Correspondent Pleasant Grove baseball ' gets its start this afternoon ; f with a 3:30 p.m. first pitch at the newly named, Jon Hoover Field. Cyprus will j rbe the Vikings' first oppo-,! oppo-,! nent of the season and " , "thanks to good weather this past week, the game should be played under perfect con-t con-t ditions. Along with the newly lamed field comes the ..opportunity for new coach Ryan Hall to introduce his new team to the fans of Pleasant Grove. Hall takes ','(over the Pleasant Grove program with a great deal bf youth and inexperience ' that he will be able to mold into the future of Viking faseball. Highlighting this year's - 5roup of players will be the all-around skills of Kyle feeecher. Beecher will be the bikings' starting pitcher. When he isn't on the mound i ,. he will man the third base )i position. As well as leading ! ,the Pleasant Grove defense, eecher's bat will be called upon to spark the team. M Among the other Pleas ant Grove players who will be asked to carry a portion bf the team's production will be seniors Jordan Smith, Alex Iorg, Nic Bea-jley Bea-jley and Josh Smith. Jor-ian Jor-ian Smith's bat will be a big contribution to the Viking ipffense as well as his lead ership skills from behind i 1 LVfi inn crrfthnll tonm I WVII IV VVIIMMII I W III still has experience 1 By Dean Von Memmott Sports Corrfspondfnt The Pleasant Grove soft- sail team opened their sea son this week. They were jcheduled to host Riverton Puesday, then play at American Amer-ican Fork Wednesday. Today, they were to host the Nest High Panthers. I Details from those games vill be in next week's newspaper. news-paper. j "Like last year, we again lave a young team," said iking coach Jeff Wilson. -jWe have only three seniors: sen-iors: Lauren Roderick, Marti Francom and Erin ,plazier. The underclassmen Ara the team have a lot of I'arsity experience. The :p.rls worked together in the ;ff-season." j With Region 7 promising jo be tough this year, Wilson has scheduled a string of " "on-league games with 'itrong teams. The coach iaid, "We have some 5A ... r Wilson didn't have to , ' pok outside his own house T''Jor a pitcher to guide his - farsity players. The coach 'aid, "My daughter McKell vill be pitching for us this TRAILER ACCESSORIES TRAILER JACKS $!995ea Wheel -$241 HITCH TUBING Make your own! DROP IN AND BROWSE! metalmart.biz METTvurfartj" 181 S. 1200 E. Lehi 768-3332 s M-F 8-5 SAT. 8-12 s Flot- jrof. Call 756-7669 to place a classified ad tioo s; Mar ;thef )7 p. ff r: sure1' to get the plate on defense. Alex Iorg will get the nod at shortstop for Pleasant Grove, and his experience at bat will be much needed as this young team develops a team chemistry and identity. iden-tity. Josh Smith and Nic Beagley will anchor the outfield out-field positions, with both hoping to play an important offensive roll as well. Region action will be as tough as ever with Lone Peak and Timpanogos slated slat-ed to claim the top two spots as early season favorites. Each team in Region 7 will be on the schedule three times, and therefore the opponents will become very familiar with each other. Pleasant Grove will continue con-tinue preseason play tomorrow tomor-row afternoon with Spanish Fork at Hoover Field. Next Wednesday the Vikings will hit the road for the first time and the match-up makes for an interesting storyline. After retiring from Pleasant Pleas-ant Grove, Jon Hoover was offered the chance to rebuild the Cottonwood High School baseball program. pro-gram. The Cottonwood game, already on the Viking baseball schedule prior to Hoover's move, makes next Wednesday's game all the more interesting. All game times will be 3:30 p.m. until the time change in April, when play will move to 4 p.m. year. She has prepared through the year for this season. She has a lot of strength. She'll be throwing batters off balance. "Our infield will be our core this year. My niece Allyce Wilson will play at short, Leah Stoker third, Lauren Roderick second and Erin Glazier third. Our catcher will be either Kim Burton or Alisa Sampson. Marti Francom will be providing pro-viding leadership in the outfield." He said that while some of the girls have played club softball during the summer, "I encouraged them to spend the summer as much as they could with their families, then get together to work out during the school year." He said this season's Viking players get along well. The coach said, "Since we are a young team, we're going to be the underdogs in the region. I do expect we're going to surprise a lot of teams." Wilson said, "My assistants assis-tants this year are Becky Gwilliam, Shad Wilson and Roger Orton." Most cars Full Service Oil Change Disposal Charges Added- Up to 5 qts. 492-6300 South of Kohlers in Highland With this coupon Expires 3-31-04 j Merrell earns honor as official of year By Beky Beaton Pleasant Grove resident Paul Merrell, 42, was honored hon-ored last month with a 2003 Official of the Year award from the National Federation Federa-tion of State High School Associations. The National Federation honors an official from each sport annually. Nominees are submitted by the Utah High School Activities Association. Asso-ciation. Merrell has worked high school volleyball games for the past eight years and was selected to officiate at the 5A state finals last season, sea-son, an assignment based on merit. "He's a good official, and has been for a long time," Springtime on After a winter-like entrance to the month of March, this week's balmy weather has brought forth early spring flowers flow-ers like these Pickwick crocus. Spring weather is highly variable and often has an impact on high school games. Sportsman's Expo is this weekend In its sixth year, the International Sportsmen's Exposition returns March 11-14 to the quarter-million-square-foot South Towne Exhibition Center in Sandy. Bigger and better than ever, this event will jump start all outdoor enthusiasts enthusi-asts to spring and summer outdoor activities throughout through-out the state. With an additional 50,000 square feet of exhibit exhib-it space this year, the show promises great family fun in preparation for spring and summer activities. Show-goers will have an opportunity to visit with more than 400 companies from around the world, offering the Rocky Mountain's Moun-tain's largest selection of products and services for travelers, anglers, campers, hunters, boaters and recreational-vehicle enthusiasts. lllLlB Fish 'N Chips T5 -4J7 580 IMi2iXyiSa?3iT VTHE BURGER BOY'S T said Jerry Bovee, associate director of the UHSAA. "His choice for this award especially reflected the help he gave us during last year's strike situation." .'. -- v After Utah's Paul high school coaches elected to switch to rally scoring, the established volleyball officials' associations wanted want-ed a pay increase to cover what they thought would mean longer hours. When they didn't get it right away, some officials decided to strike. UHSAA officials wanted to try the new system first to see if a pay adjustment was war- the way ... This event also showcases showcas-es some of the world's finest wildlife paintings, sculpture, sculp-ture, photography and log v furniture available. Visitors at ISE's Ultimate Ulti-mate Campsite can see the latest camping gear, then listen to informative and fun presentations offered at the Campfire Theater. Local radio show host and author Brian Brinker-hoff Brinker-hoff will host activities throughout the day featuring featur-ing fishing opportunities, camping destinations and acoustic campfire concerts. In addition, the Campfire Theater will cover RV tips and gear, "Things that go Bump in the Night," fly-in destinations, and fishing Utah's remote waters. Live broadcasts will be conducted Saturday morning morn-ing by radio hosts, Roger B. and Brinkerhoff on KALL 700 and AM 630 KTKK. PHONE ORDERS WFI COME! F. State RrL Am Fork Credit cards gladly accepted. i?TT Pleasant Grove Review New Utah - ranted. According to Bovee, "Paul did not want his colleagues col-leagues to think he was selling out, but he realized if this thing fell through, the girls would bear the Merrell brunt of it. A new association associa-tion was formed of those officials willing to work, and Paul was elected to the board. "He became an overall liaison with those officials who were working, and was a big hitter for us last year," Bovee said. ' After a trial period under the new system, the UHSAA did make some V Competitions include the World Championship Dutch Oven Cook-off, the Best-of-the-West distance fly-casting championships, the third annual Utah Duck-and Duck-and Goose-Calling Championship Champi-onship and the 3rd Annual Utah Elk-Calling Championship, Champi-onship, hosted by world champion caller Chad Schearer. To introduce new recre-ationists recre-ationists to the outdoors, hands-on features include an ATV track, Fly-Tying Video Theater and sporting-dog sporting-dog demonstrations with nationally recognized Dez Young and Dash. As an additional treat, fishing presentations will take place at the world's largest mobile aquarium, the ISE Super Tanker, with multiple fish species. There will also be a record display of Utah animal ani-mal mounts, plus horn and VILLAGE GREEN An active Senior Adult Community Located in the of American Fork Luxurious Accommodations Carefree lifestyle for active seniors over 55 Garage size storaye ADA Available 32 Easily accessible. Spacious 2 -Bedroom Townhouse. Approx 1400 sq ft 1'iideryround Parking with Llevator RV Parking Beautiful landscaped common areas Another quality Panda Home development $164,000 22 South Thursday, March 11, 2004 - Page 7 adjustments in both the time of contests and the pay for officials. Merrell is a maintenance worker at the BYU heating plant. He and his wife Jodi are the parents of five children. chil-dren. He is also a bishop for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "He just loves sports," Jodi Merrell said. "He loved volleyball growing up and still plays softball. I was the one who actually signed him up to be an official without him even knowing it. I knew he'd be good at it. "He was surprised when he got the invitation, but he's just taken off with it," ' she said. He also officiates at the college level. .1 4 Photo by Kent Davis antler measuring information informa-tion for trophy hunters. To support the future of outdoor recreation, the weekend Youth Sports Fair, sponsored by the Utah Division Divi-sion of Wildlife Resources, features a catch-and-release trout pond, SCI Sensory Sen-sory Safari, BB shooting trailer, rock-climbing wall and archery range. Show admission is $9, with discount coupons available at Gart Sports stores. Youth 12 and under are admitted for free. Show hours are noon until 9 p.m. Thursday and Friday; 10 a.m. until 9p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Sunday. The South Towne Exhibition Exhibi-tion Center offers thousands thou-sands of new free parking spots across the street and free shuttle buses. For more information, visit www.sportsexpos.com. Mop in and sec our fabulous model or call for information: Dona I. e 376-3772 Kihhc 836-5463 -J ill 372-9400 700 East t - for' |