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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Wednesday, October 21, 1998
Eagles have flat night, but still win
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
PECOS, Oct. 21 -- All of the Pecos Eagles got to play on
Parents Night at the Pecos High School gym Tuesday, and
while their 15-10, 15-9 win over the Canutillo Eagles wasn't
the most artistic of victories, it did assure Pecos of at
least a tie for first place in the final District 2-4A
volleyball standings.
"I guess it's better having an ugly win than a loss," said
Eagles' coach Becky Granado, as her team won their eighth
straight match and stayed a game up on Fabens in the race
for the district title with one game to play.
"I don't know if we were just out there because we know we
can beat them, but we can't take any team for granted from
now on. We have to play," Granado said. "Our setting and
passing weren't there, and our hitting wasn't there."
Along with being the biggest 2-4A school in enrollment,
Canutillo's volleyball team was also the biggest in terms of
size. But the visiting Eagles had problems handling Pecos'
serves and their main hitters, B.J. Blanco and Alejandra
Vasquez, put several spikes over Pecos' boxers, but beyond
the sidelines.
"If they would have had better fundamentals, they would have
given us a run for the money," the Eagles' coach said of
Canutillo, which fell to 2-7 in district and 3-18 overall
with their loss.
Canutillo stayed close to Pecos through the first half on
both games and even led the second game by a 7-5 score after
an ace by Claudia Gonzalez. Pecos took the lead for good in
the opener at 4-3 when a back line save by Linsey Hathorn
fell in-between Canutillo's players for a point, but after
going out to a 12-6 lead Pecos saw the visiting Eagles cut
the lead to 12-10 off a couple of errors and spikes by
Blanco and Alejandra Pineda.
However, the Eagles were able to right themselves without
needing a time-out, as the broke serve and won off an ace by
Hathorn, a bad spike by Gonzalez and a block of Blanco by
Philonicus Fobbs.
Fobbs would block Blanco again for a point in Game 2, while
Monique Levario had a kills as Pecos jumped ahead 3-0. But
Canutillo rallied to take a 5-4 lead on a Vasquez spike, and
stayed ahead for the next several minutes. The Eagles
finally got back in front at 8-7 on an ace by Suzanne
Carrasco, then widened their margin to 13-7 off two kills by
Levario, a spike of an overset by Sherrie Mosby, a bad spike
by Vasquez and another ace by Carrasco.
"Monique is doing better (spiking), and she was the only one
talking out there tonight and trying to get everyone going,"
said Granado, who was able to get all her reserves into the
second game Tuesday.
A couple of bad hits by Hathorn cut the lead back to four,
but she then broke serve with a kill and the Eagles finished
off the match of an ace by Amy Chabarria and a spike of an
overset by Fobbs.
"For a team that was in first place, we sure didn't play
like it," the Eagles' coach said. "If we go out like that on
Saturday we'll be in trouble, but I don't expect us to come
out that flat."
San Elizario and Fabens both clinched playoff spots last
night with three game wins, Fabens over Mountain View and
San Elizario over Clint. The Eagles will close out their
regular season schedule at San Elizario on Saturday, and can
clinch the district title with a win or a loss by Fabens to
Canutillo. San Eli can still tie for second place, if they
beat Pecos while Canutillo downs Fabens, while a Pecos loss
and a Fabens win would force a playoff next Tuesday for the
District 2-4A title.
The Eagles also won their junior varsity and freshman
matches on Tuesday. The JV downed Canutillo, 15-1, 15-5,
while the ninth graders pulled out a pair of 16-14 victories.
Brosius blasts Yanks within game of title
By BEN WALKER
AP Baseball Writer
SAN DIEGO, Oct. 21 -- History is calling the New York
Yankees, and they can hear it.
On Tuesday night, the Yankees moved within one victory of
the only goal they've had this year, winning the World
Series. They can wrap it up tonight -- with a sweep, no
less.
Scott Brosius brought the Yankees to the verge of their
record 24th title. He hit two homers, including a three-run
shot off relief ace Trevor Hoffman in the eighth inning, to
beat the San Diego Padres 5-4 in Game 3.
``We feel like we're on the brink of something special,''
starting pitcher David Cone said. ``There's going to be a
lot of arguments historically about where this team fits
in.''
Andy Pettitte will try to finish off the Yankees' first
Series sweep since 1950 when he pitches against Kevin Brown.
A win would give New York an overall record of 125-50 -- at
.714, the best winning percentage since the Murderers' Row
team of the 1927 Yankees.
``There's nothing more fun than this,'' Brosius said. ``When
you grow up you want to get a chance to play in the World
Series, that's what you play for. We'd like to get 125, that
would feel really good. We're in pretty good shape.''
No team in baseball history has overcome an 0-3 deficit in
the postseason. Now the Padres hope to do it against a team
trying to cement its place as the best ever.
``I'm not going to say we're invincible, but we've
definitely got the momentum,'' Yankees star Chili Davis
said.
On a night when everything seemed to be going right for San
Diego -- great plays, clutch pitching by Sterling Hitchcock
and key hits from Tony Gwynn -- Brosius and the Yankees
ruined it.
For the second time in the series, the Yankees rallied from
a three-run deficit in the late innings. Brosius contributed
three hits, raising his Series average to .538.
``This game reaches in and grabs your guts out,'' Padres
manager Bruce Bochy said.
A change in scenery did not change San Diego's fortunes.
Beaten twice in the Bronx, the Padres again came up short
amid the palm trees, fish tacos and beachballs of Qualcomm
Stadium.
The Padres seemed to have luck on their side from the start.
Center fielder Steve Finley made a juggling catch on Chuck
Knoblauch's leadoff fly, then ran into the fence to grab
Brosius' drive in the second inning.
Held hitless for five innings by Cone, the Padres took a 3-0
lead in the sixth on a burst started by Hitchcock's unlikely
single and helped along by Gwynn's RBI single and right
fielder Paul O'Neill's throwing error.
Yet with 64,667 crazed fans roaring and the cranked-up rock
music blaring, these Yankees would not break.
Brosius led off the seventh with a home run against
Hitchcock, MVP of the NL championship and a member of the
Yankees' rotation with Cone in 1995. New York closed to 3-2
in the same inning, but shortstop Chris Gomez made an
eye-popping catch to start an inning-ending double play.
In the eighth, however, there was no one left to save the
Padres.
O'Neill drew a leadoff walk from Randy Myers -- once again,
the Yankees' patience at the plate paid off -- and then
Bochy made an early call to the bullpen.
It was Trevor Time, and Hoffman walked in as AC-DC's
``Hell's Bells'' sent the crowd into a frenzy. Hoffman had
been successful on 53 of 54 save chances during the regular
season, though a blown chance in the NLCS against Atlanta
perhaps was a bad omen.
Bernie Williams came close to putting the Yankees ahead,
hitting a fly ball that Gwynn caught on the warning track in
right. Tino Martinez followed with a walk and then Brosius,
moved up to sixth in the batting order because the Yankees
played without a DH, homered to center for a 5-3 lead.
``We wanted to be aggressive,'' said Hoffman, who struck out
Brosius in this year's All-Star game. ``I wasn't aggressive
enough to the batter before. I just tinkered around, not
putting pitches in the zone. The Yankees are patient, and
they're not going to swing if it's not over.''
Hoffman had not worked in five days, his longest idle period
of the season, and clearly was not effective with his mix of
changeups and fastballs. He gave up another hit in the
eighth before ending the inning.
``With Trevor, he's the type of pitcher that you know you
have to battle and hope you get a pitch to hit,'' Brosius
said. ``On the second pitch, he threw me a fastball that I
fouled off. Later, he came back with another one that I
stayed back on and hit it.''
Brosius' shots marked the 41st multihomer game in Series
history, coming after Greg Vaughn's performance in Game 1
for the Padres. Reggie Jackson was the last do it for the
Yankees, hitting three in the clinching Game 6 in 1977.
The Padres tried to rally in the bottom half of the eighth,
with a double by Quilvio Veras, a single by Gwynn and a
sacrifice fly by Vaughn closing the gap to a run.
Mariano Rivera held on for a save, working around a pair of
two-out singles by Carlos Hernandez and pinch-hitter Mark
Sweeney by striking out Andy Sheets with runners at the
corners for the last out.
Rivera has pitched 12 scoreless innings in nine postseason
appearances this fall, recording five saves. Hoffman wound
up with the loss, while Ramiro Mendoza won in relief.
``We're not by any means overconfident at this point.
Obviously, we're ecstatic to be up 3-0,'' Cone said. ``But
Kevin Brown probably has some other thoughts.''
Pecos Enterprise
Mac McKinnon, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net
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Copyright 1998 by Pecos Enterprise
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Pecos Enterprise