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plmtstot JBailg HJmmtal SATURDAY, JULY 15, 2006 The Home Journal’s SANPLOT ON DECK Saturday Major League Baseball ■ Atlanta at San Diego, 10:05 p.m., TBS IN BRIEF Memorial Stampede date set The 2006 Jim Herrin Memorial Stampede takes place Aug. 12. The 5K and 10K runs start at 7:30 a.m., and the 1 Mile Fun Run starts 8:15 at the Galleria Mall in Centerville. Each year, the Robins Pacers Running Club sponsors a SK/1 OK Road Race as a memorial to the late Jim Herrin, past president of the Robins Pacers. The proceeds of this race will be split evenly to fund two annu al one-time scholarships for a senior boy and a girl graduating from a high school in Houston County who has significant track and field and/or cross-country participation and college ambi tions. Entry fees are sls post marked on or before Aug. 7, $lO for participants 19 and younger (anytime), $lB for Race Day reg istration from 6:15-7:15, and $lO for the One Mile Fun Run (any time). Refreshments will be avail able for all participants after each race. There are awards for overall top three male and female finish ers in 5K and 10K, overall top male apd female masters in 5K and 10K, top three finishers in the following 5K and 10K age categories: 9 and under, 10-14, 15-19, 20-24, 25-29, 30-34, 35-39, 40- 44, 45-49, 50-54, 55-59, 60-64, 65-69, 70-plus, and overall top male and female runner in the 1 Mile Fun Run See robinspacers.org for additional race information and results. For further information, contact David Erpelding at 328-3208. Registration can be done online at active.com. Youth center sets registration The Robins Air Force Base Youth Center’s sports registration will be held July 15. Parents may resister from 1-6 p.m. on that day and from 3-6 p.m. the following Monday-Friday. Youth may register for cheer leading ages 5-12, NFL flag foot ball ages 5-10, tackle footbail ages 11-12 and fall soccer ages 5-16. Registration will continue until teams are full. Also, the center is currently accepting applications for volun teer cheerleading/football/soccer coaches. No experience is required. Training will be provided though the youth center. Apply in person at Robins Youth Center or call Ron Hayes at 926-2110. Cross country series dates set Warner Robins High School head cross country coach David Erpelding is hosting the Sixth Annual Middle Georgia Cross Country Summer Series at Pearl Stephens Elementary School in Warner Robins. The races - two have already been held - are open to everyone and the following race is left: July 20: 5000 Meters. The race is slated to start at 7:30 p.m. on the Thursdays listed above. Awards will be given for the top five in each age group male and female. 14-and-under, 15-19 and 20 and over. \ Runners register on race day. Contact Erpelding at 328-3208 or via e-mail at Erpelding@bellsouth. net for more information. The entry fee is $5. HLCC to host clinic, more Houston Lake Country Club will be holding a Junior Club Championship July 27. Call the Pro Shop at 218-5252 to sign up or for more informa tion. In addition, the 25th Annual Ron Stafford Invitational Two-man Best Ball tournament sponsored by Coca-Cola will be held July 22 and 23 at the course. Sign up is in the pro shop. Demons return from classic in Hawaii By.MATTHEW BROWN HDJ Sports Writer How did you spend your summer vacation? A pair of Warner Robins High School students will have one of the better stories to tell once classes begin again. Through their talents as Demon baseball players, Jordan Beatty and Matt Hvizdzak received an invita tion to play for Team Georgia in a tournament called the King Kamehameha Classic in Hawaii. For these young sters, it wasn’t a case of getting off the plane, put ting the uniforms on, tak ing their turns at-bat, then waiting for the next game. These first-time visitors got the whole Hawaiian experience. “I was expecting just mountains and beach,” said Hvizdzak. “Honolulu is Hfe P*% JPjH ■ jobs . * M 'JBL imm , * i ENI/Gary Harmon Jason Varnadoe with the Tiger is out at third after trying to stretch a double into a triple with their game with the White Sox at the Bibb Co. Sports Complex in Macon Thursday afternoon. Tigers rally past White Sox By MATTHEW BROWN HDJ Sports Writer After four complete innings of play at Macon’s Bibb County Sports Complex, the Tigers outscored the White Sox 11-2 to take a come-from behind win 13-6 in a first round game Thursday in the Middle Georgia Baseball League’s Rosenberg Series. The Tigers join the Red Sox and the aNationals as opening-round winners in the 2006 Middle Georgia Baseball League postseason. The Eagles also beat the Cardinals on Thursday at Peach County High School. So the four winners will con verge on the Bibb County Complex on Saturday with the Red Sox meeting the Eagles at 11 a.m. and the Nationals-Tigers game fol lowing at 2:30 p.m. In each of the first four games, the higher-seeded team came out victorious. In the case of the Tigers and the White Sox, it was No. 4 against No. 5, and the game played out as the most tightly-contested match-up of the first round with the lead changing hands three times in the first six frames. Sports actually like Atlanta, a big city. I wasn’t expecting that. But as soon as you got out of the city, it was exactly like I expected, farmlands, moun tains, the roads right on the beach. It’s beautiful.” “Probably the best scenery I’ve ever seen,” said Beatty. “Pine trees everywhere. Beautiful grass everywhere. Blue sky all the time.” There were eight teams in the tournament repre senting eight states, includ ing the Hawaiian Junior Olympic team. Before there was any baseball, the play ers got to enjoy a couple of days of typical tourist activi ties. The tour included Pearl Harbor, the Dole plantation, the North Shore and a flea market at Aloha Stadium. The players took part in See DEMONS, page 8C vs' m \ Troy Varnadoe with the Tigers is out at second during a steal attempt. The Tigers were trailing 4-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning. There were two outs and one runner on base via an error. Micah Smith grounded the ball hard through the infield and all the way to the fence for an RBI triple. Smith scored the tying run on an error at first base. In the home sixth, Andrew Meredith followed a leadoff walk with a bunt single, '7 -r, I ' ran ~ 5 10' -' jj’Y" - IHHL jIRB J -. m H Trip * submitted Matt Hvizdzak (left) and Jordan Beatty, Warner Robins High School baseball team mates, enjoy some relaxing time before suiting up for Team Georgia and Jason Varnadoe’s chop single loaded the bases. Catcher Lance Portivent also had a chop single that scored two go-ahead runs. Khore Beauford, center fielder for the White Sox, turned a double play for his team catching a shallow fly ball and throwing out the Tiger runner trying to score from third base. But the Tigers managed to add a third run on a wild pitch ENI/Gary Harmon and an error to lead 7-4. After the Tigers took the lead, the only runs the White Sox scored came off the bat of manager Donald Outlaw. He hit a solo home run in the top of the sev enth. The Tigers answered with a four-run rally in the bottom half as starting pitcher Mark Irwin led off with a bunt single. David See TIGERS, page 2C 1B It’s all about priority So the World Cup has come and gone. Didn’t see a match. Not that I’m anti-soccer. It just wasn’t a priority. Infact, Wimbledon whipped by without any viewing from me. Same thing applies to the U.S. Opens for the ladies and the senior men. There is, though, an inter esting point of sports debate in regards to the World Cup. The question: Where do you find the most passionate die hard fans in the world? On the one side, there’s an argument that there is no com- parison to how those in European and Latin American countries feel about their soc cer teams. On the other side, what big ger, more attended Matthew Brown HHJ Sports Writer rtnWfI@BVWQNRPNNPS.CQI) and antic ipated event is there in the U.S.A than a college football game? Or, what caused more tears and more release of joy than the Boston Red Sox finally winning that World Series title two years ago? I did catch some of the scenes of the massive cel ebration in Italy after their team won the World Cup final against France last weekend. Such a situation has to be a nightmare for the local law enforcement. Time to pull out the riot gear. Then again, our country’s done its fair share of riotous celebrations of victory. We can overturn a car and set a bonfire in the middle of a street with the best of them. That’s what winning is all about, chaos and anarchy!!! Settle down, now. Settle down. It’s just a game (how many times has that been said). If you want to talk about noise levels, perhaps an international soccer crowd would win the unofficial championship. And it’s non stop, just like the action. Listen closely and you can hear songs and chants break ing out at any time. Yes, I have a personal account to prove this point. During the World Cup tour nament of 1998, I entered a Savannah shopping mall. At the point I walked in was a Mexican restaurant. I was See BROWN, page 2C