July 26, 2007

sports

T-ballers’ dirt sifted into silty flour

By Jimmy Chesire

The goodness, grace, and kindness of t-ball never ceases to amaze me.

This week it came from Christina Fox. She called Thursday, July 19, and wanted to know if t-ball would be over by the 18th of August. There’s some shindig in the works for the Gaunt Park ball diamonds that night and she said they didn’t want to conflict with our program.

I tell her we wrap up our season on Aug. 3. I am touched by her consideration.

T-ball’s just this tiny program, I think, running just 10 Friday nights each summer. It’s no more than a fly on a horse’s back. Blink and you’ll miss it. So Christina’s solicitousness strikes me as quite wonderful. I thank you for thinking of us.

“Oh, you’re welcome,” she says enthusiastically, her tone sincere and warm. “We don’t want to mess with t-ball,” she adds, saying they wouldn’t want to book the field if we were still playing ball.

Her two kids, Kelsey and Tyler, are a couple of former t-ball champs.

Tyler’s going to be a junior in high school and played ball for the Yellow Springs traveling team this summer, 14–16 year olds playing a fairly sophisticated game of baseball. Kelsey’s going into the eighth grade. “She’s a teenage girl now!” Christina says and we both marvel at that phenomenal fact. A teenager. The only creatures anywhere near as interesting as our toddlers, tots, and t-ballers.

When I find out Christina’s with the Parks and Recreation Department, I ask her about taking care of the diamonds. Since the village has been having financial troubles, we’ve not had the luxury of having the diamonds dragged and raked, the dirt crunched and smoothed out for us every week. Now grass and weeds spring up. By the fifth week of our 10-week season the smaller diamond looks like a salad — or a man with a bad case of male pattern balding. Patches of grass litter the diamond. And the ground itself, the dirt between those patches, soaked and then drying after all this rain, has grown as hard and as ungiving as the concrete sidewalks in front of our homes.

Christina listens. She cares. She says, “I’ll ask the guys if they can do something.” And she says she’s sure we could work something out so one of our many remarkable t-ball volunteers could use the village’s equipment, the big riding mower and that flat trailing rake-scraper-farmer’s-field-leveling thing. I am pleased, but not optimistic. I know how busy everyone is — and then that very afternoon I see Dave Conley, head of Parks and Rec, Christina’s boss, and Greg Jones on the diamond. Greg’s working a tiller! He’s digging up all the grass and weeds, turning the soil, and Dave’s riding around behind him on that big mower. He’s dragging that huge flat rake-scraper-grater thing, crunching, crushing, and grinding, turning Greg’s freshly turned turf into a fine powder.

They’re fixing our field! And on top of that, they lay down those gorgeous, frosty, sugar-white strips of lime that define the baselines from home to first and third.

This is significant. This is a big deal. We t-ballers love our white stripes of lime as much, maybe more, than we love the dirt — which now, thanks to Dave and Greg, has been beautifully broken up, raked, crunched and ground up so nicely that when they leave that dirt is fine enough to pour through your fingers. And it’s so soft, making it perfect for sitting in, perfect for lying in, perfect, in fact, for making snow (dust) angels in; which the lovely Hannah Elliot, three-and-a-half, spent five or six minutes doing, plopping herself down, flat on her back near first base, waving and pumping her arms and legs in and out, the child in hog heaven (coming home, her mother Emily said, in a yellow skirt that had been white at the beginning of the evening).

But that soft, silty, flour-like dirt is also perfect scooping up by the handful and perfect for flinging in another child’s face — what is it about handfuls of dirt and our desire to fling it in someone else’s face? I see the pleasure in it. I see the danger in it. I marvel at how universal the urge appears to be. I wonder at our conflicting, contradictory urges to create and destroy, to love and hate. To build up and tear down.

“No! No!” I say. “ Don’t throw it at others.”

“No! Don’t throw it, you’ll hurt someone,” Amanda Banaszak says. Her son, Max, is 3 now (he was just a baby a minute ago!) and he and Austin Wise, another 3-year-old, would rather wrestle and roll in the dirt than anything else.

“No, don’t! Don’t!” we say over and over again. And the children obey. Mostly. Most of the time.

But that dirt is truly magic. The whole of the diamond, now that Dave Conley and Greg Jones have done their work, is as soft as a field of marshmallows, the dirt mulched into a powder two-inches thick, a powder as fine as the flour in your grandmother’s flour jar. And we just love it.

Thanks, Christina. Thanks, Dave. Thanks, Greg.

And that’s the Perry League, Yellow Springs’ t-ball program for all the community’s children ages 2–9 regardless of race, color, or creed, a program made possible by so many caring adults both on and off the diamond, both seen and unseen, a 10-week program in its ninth week. Aug. 3 is final potluck trophy-to-every-kid-who-shows-up night. Children can still begin to play at any time, up to and including that final night of play, and there’s no requirement to play every week. Come when you like, come when you can. We’ll be out there at Gaunt Park from 6:30 to 8 p.m. trying to have a much fun as we can. You’re welcome to join us if you like. So why don’t you come on out? We’d love to have you, we really and truly would.

Indians win minor league title

By Tim Sherwood

The Indians managed to hold off a late season Pirates charge to finish as the 2007 Minor League champs with a 9–2 record.

The Indians sealed their top spot with a 15–11 win over a tough Dragons squad in the regular season finale on Friday, July 20. The Indians continued the strong hitting and tough defense that kept them at or near the top of the standings most of the season.

Evan Pace led the Dragons by going three for three with a single, a triple and a home run along with 5 RBIs. Jake Savage held down left field against the Indians’ hot bats while Taran Pergram scored twice, along with rookies Tony Marinelli and Danny Grote. Game balls were awarded to pitcher Andrew Chase, who scored once, Sam Bloom, who held down the catcher’s spot like he’d been there forever, and Kylie Arnett, for her never ending hustle.

Friday’s loss meant the Dragons finished at 6–6 after their 11–5 victory earlier in the week over the Yankees. That game put both teams at an even .500 and tied for third in the final standings. Pace again led the Dragons with an amazing 8 RBIs after going three for three, with a pair of home runs and a triple.

In the final week’s other game, the Pirates cemented their second place finish with an 18–5 win over the Reds on Wednesday to end the season with an 8–4 record. William Evans and Nathan Miller led the Pirates by each going four for four, scoring twice and knocking in a pair of runs. Augie Knemeyer, Devon Perry and Joey Plummer each went three for three and scored 3 runs, while Kaner Butler batted a triple, scored twice and knocked in a pair of runs. Not to be outdone, sister Kennedy matched her brother by scoring twice and getting two of her own RBIs.

The Reds, who finished the season in fifth place at 0–11, challenged early by scoring 4 runs in the top of the first. Their first four hitters, Andrew Clark, Jacob Woodburn, Weymar Osborne and Joey Flores, all hit singles and eventually scored. James Fulton helped out by going two for two and knocking in a run. Meanwhile on defense, the Reds again showed some strong promise, with caught fly balls by Osborne and Tom Amrhein.

The 6 through 9 year olds slugged it out in the season-ending all-star games on Saturday, July 21. In the first game, the Pirates/Dragons team defeated a Reds/Indians/Yankees team 14–10. Pirate Joey Plummer scored 3 runs, while teammate Augie Knemeyer scored twice after going five for five, including a pair of doubles. Pirate Nate Baggett smashed a home run and a pair of singles, scoring twice, while Molly Brown scored once and knocked in a pair of RBIs. Dragons Tony Marinelli and Kylie Arnett each scored twice. From the opposing dugout, Christian Werner of the Reds scored three times while Indian Fisher Lewis went four for four, including a triple, and scored twice. Rookie Ben Croft of the Yankees hit a pair of doubles and scored twice, as did the Red’s Andrew Clark, while Hayden Orme added the team’s other run after smashing a triple.

The 9 and 10-year olds saw a Pirates/Indians/Yankees team win out 14–8 over a Reds/Dragons team. Hayden Orme of the Indians led the winning team by scoring 3 runs off his three hits. Pirates Aaron Sherwood and Isaiah Taylor each added a pair of runs, as did Yankee Joe Thorp. Grote of the Reds led his teammates with 2 runs scored and 2 RBIs, while Ethan Dewine and Jake Savage of the Dragons also went three for three and scored twice.

An Indian/Dragon team defeated a Yankees/Reds/Pirates combination 12–3 in the final all star game of 10 and 11 year olds. The Indian-dominated squad scored 5 runs in the first inning and never looked back. Adam Green scored twice and knocked in 3 other runs, while Fielding Lewis, Liam Creighton, and Theron Orme all added a run to the winning effort, as did Liam Weigand who went two for two with an RBI. Dragons Grant Reigelsperger, Evan Pace and Jake Savage all went two for two and scored twice, while Laura Chase scored once and Taran Pergram knocked in a pair of RBIs. Carter Collins led the Yankees/Reds/Pirates by going two for two at the plate and scoring twice, while Ian Chick hit a double in the final inning.

Check the league Web site www.htosports.com/YSMINORLEAGUE for scores and final standings. Congratulations to all the players for a great season, and a special thanks to coaches Ron Lewis of the Indians; the Dragons’ Tony Pergram; Tim Whetsel of the Yankees; and the Reds’ Steve Scherr. Dave Conley and the Village crew did an immaculate job of preparing the field for the league’s weeknight games.

Sports physicals for grades 7–12

Pre-participation sports physical exams will be offered on Monday, July 30, from 6 to 8 p.m., in the Yellow Springs High School gym. All student athletes in grades 7–12 who are planning on playing on any school-sponsored sports team during the 2007–08 school year are required to pass a pre-participation physical exam prior to their participation. Each student should be accompanied by a parent and have the “Preparticipation Physical Exam Form” partially filled out. The form can be downloaded and printed from www.ohsaa.org. Students will be charged $15 for the exam, and the proceeds will be returned to the student’s team. Contact Jim Hardman at 767-2200 for more information.

Midwest football game at YSHS field

The Northwest Ohio Knights will play the Miami Valley Warriors, (currently ranked number four in the entire Midwest Class AA), on Saturday, July 28, at Yellow Springs High School. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. The 2007 Miami Valley Warriors “semi-pro” football team is on a quest for the Great Lakes Football League Championship.

Tickets are available at the gate: adults, $5; ages 7–17, $3; ages 6 and under, free. For more information, visit www.miamivalleywarriors.com.

Cross country begins practices

The Yellow Springs High School Cross Country teams, fresh off a sixth place team finish at the state meet in 2006 and this year’s individual state championship by Sam Borchers, will start practices for the 2007 season on Monday, August 6. All boys and girls in the seventh through twelfth grades are invited to join. Separate teams will be fielded for both boys and girls at the high school and middle school levels.

For more information contact Coach Vince Peters at 767-7424.