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Show SECTION 1 1 II fJf 1 Vy Neil Warner j THURSDAY, JULY 17. ll yCJ , . 2008 SPORTSEDITORlDarnellDickson-344-2555-ddicksonheraldextra.co- MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL The Front Row SPANISH FORK PLAYERS MAKING A NAME IN MEN'S SOFTBALL When Chris Norris Rewind:high school was cut from the baseball team. Fast forward: Four years later, Norris played for the USA Junior Men's national softball team at the 2008 ISF Junior Men's World smiQ Championships in Canada. It turns out Spanish Fork is more than just a baseball town. h softball town. It's also a How does a high school baseball player end up becoming one of the top softball players in the nation? That's a long story, but suffice it to say that instead of complaining and quitting after the disappointment in baseball, Norris realized he had options. He was a sprinter and he was a hitter. No wonder he got an invitation to play softball. This whole idea was actu- ally hatched by Robby Black, who got the It turns out idea from his father who Spanish Fork is more played for Page Brake, a national men's than just f astpitch soft-ba- ll a baseball power. Like father, town. It's like son, like friends. also a "I played fast-pitc- h baseball my )) i" - r t--II r 3 fast-pitc- AT THE BREAK: Tampa Bay Rays The Rays are in good position to make a run at the postseason. With players like Evan Longoria (at right), Tampa Bay led the AL East for much of the first half of the year. The Rays are only e behind Boston in the East, a even after a seven-gam- e losing streak. half-gam- NC W j f , .. fCA sSy Tjfm I V 7??' f Jfj u If A sX WM SUJL k i IfTft j Y f $ ,. V ( . j ; I l X f J c" j whole life, but when we started a team four years ago i asked a lot of guys to play," Black said. "Like most high school baseball players, they didn't know what to expect. A lot of them ended up liking it and ended up making the junior national team." Black recruited Norris and found another prospect in Spanish Fork outfielder Gentry Mitchell. Norris, meanwhile, talked another Dons baseball player into giving softball a try when he asked Mi- ' - vV Vi ' N - " "VS2 - . I softball town. AT THE BREAK: Chicago Cubs ' I chael Hayes. Tyson Lambourne, a mutual friend, also joined the group. The five have been playing softball and are also involved in the f astpitch baseball world. After being spotted in a junior men's national tournament in Minnesota, the Utah County players were found and were part of just 50 players who were invited to participate in the selection camp in January. The field was cut to 22, where those players were invited to California to begin training for the tournament. Black made the team but opted not to play with Team USA. The other four players left home for a fast-pitc- h The Cubs are tied with the L.A. An- gels for the best record in the major lead leagues and have a 4 on St. Louis in a strong NL Central. Chicago acquired Rich Harden (at left) from Oakland to help bolster the pitching staff for the season's second half. Solid first half of MLB season has given Rays, Cubs big hopes for second half "We would have taken the spot we're in (when the season started). We're in a great position. We just have to get back to what we were doing." Jay Cohen THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Raise your hand if NEW YORK you had this in your preseason picks. Evan Longoria and the Tampa Tampa Bay's Evan Longoria e back of Boston in the AL East Bay Rays are sandwiched between On the Rays being just a g Boston Red Sox the AL and New York Yankees and leading mid-Julrace in gasp! the wild-carNot one team is above .500 in the Coming off the longest The Chicago White Sox are on in major league history, baseball NL West, and the St. Louis Cardinals game with the AL in the Central, top for a second half that also is set muddled Marlins have Florida and up in and Detroit Tigers third could provide last weekend drama. the picture in the Central and East. Cleveland languishing in last. halt-gam- East-leadin- month of training prior to participating in the tournament, which was held in Whitehorse, Canada, and included teams from 12 countries. AU-St- "We would have taken the spot were in (when the season started)," said Longoria, whose team was leading the East before closing the first half with a skid. "We're seven-gam- e season-wors- t in a great position. We just have to get back to what we were doing." Longoria and teammates Scott Kazmir and Dioner Navarro were roundly booed by the Yankee Stadium crowd before the American League's win Tuesday night, 4-- 3, See SECOND HALF, C3 See WARNER, C4 2008 BRITISH OPEN Real threat at Royal Birkdale is the wind Doug Ferguson THE ASSOCIATED PRESS On BRITISH OPEN SOUTHPORT, England Adam Scott and Justin Rose, friends since they were teenagers and top contenders in this British Open without Tiger Woods, passed each other on the putting green Wednesday and stopped to discuss their final day of preparation. "Did you play?" Rose said. "Nine holes," Scott said with a smile, his hand on the bill of his cap to keep it from blowing off. "Not much point today." That was more than Rose First Round, today 5 a.m., TV: TNT d 18th, where Geoff Ogilvy hit sand wedge for his second shot. Throw in the other holes, and a links course known as being the most fair has become a real beast. the the air fl) four closhad on his agenda Birkdale at holes Royal ing that was all he would need to experience the relentless, 25 mph wind off the Irish Sea. d The loop includes the 16th, where some players struggled to reach the fairway that is only about 210 yards from the tee. It concludes with 439-yar- 473-yar- absence of any one player. The real threat arrived Weanesday in the strongest wind of the week, with no evidence it is leaving anytime soon. "The wind is affecting the ball 20, 30, 40 yards at times," Scott said. "It's hard at the best of times." Steve Strieker played his "It's just survival, anyway," Rose said. "There's not a whole bunch you can learn out there. It is just brutally tough, first practice round Sunday in a gentle breeze and hit and you've just got to go out second d into the there and deal with it on the In his final nine holes of hole. day." For all the bluster about this practice Wednesday, he hit a JON SUPERAssociated Press British Open being easier withFl for the British 10th nlavc durine tee vractice FrniA nn the out Woods around, the difficulcourse on Birkdale the Wednesday. at golf B4 BRITISH Royal OPEN, See Open ty has nothing to do with the 421-yar- 3 |