The Prince George Citizen - Monday, July 8, 1996 - 7 SCORES UP FRONT VANCE OLIVER, Sports Editor I If 1 I 1 I f " Answering Machine 562-2441 If I 1 L| I V 562-3301 Local 400 ^ Y* I I WT I E-Mail FAX 562-7453 ■ I I I l\ I ^ citizen@netbistro.com SIDELINES SUNDAY Baseball American League Detroit 9 Toronto 0 Cleveland 6 Chicago 1 Milwaukee 4 New York 1 California 9 Oakland 4 Boston 7 Baltimore 5 Kansas City 8 Minnesota 2 Texas 8 Seattle 3 National League Montreal 4 New York 3 Atlanta 9 Houston 1 Florida 7 Philadelphia 4 (10) Pittsburgh 8 St. Louis 2 Chicago 7 Cincinnati 6 (13) San Diego 10 San Francisco 3 Colorado 3 Los Angeles 0 SATURDAY CFL Winnipeg 25 B.C. 22 Sharks deny rumor SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Despite persistent rumors, the San Jose Sharks have not offered a contract to Wayne Gretzky, Sharks general manager Dean Lombardi said. Lombardi denied a report in Saturday’s San Francisco Chronicle that said the Sharks offered Gretzky a two-year, $ 14-million US GRETZKY contract. “I have no idea how this got started,” said Lombardi. Although he discussed signing Gretzky with the star player’s agent, Mike Barnett, Lombardi said it was part of a larger conversation and no firm figures were mentioned. “I mean, what team isn’t interested in Wayne Gretzky?” said Lombardi. “But it was very general. I just said, ' If he’s interested, let us know.’” But Lombardi also said a $ 14-million contract would be “hard to swallow.” Gretzky, 35, reportedly has been offered a three-year, $ 15-million contract with the St. Louis Blues. CP photo Emile Ramsammy celebrates Queen’s Plate victory aboard Victor Cooley. Ramsammy wins Queen’s Plate TORONTO (CP) — Victor Cooley keeps getting better and better. So does jockey Emile Ramsammy. They combined in impressive fashion Sunday to win the 137th Queen’s Plate on a muggy day at Woodbine race track. For Victor Cooley, a strapping son of Cool Victor, it was his third stakes win in a row, all with Ramsammy aboard. “He’s just a champion,” said Ramsammy, who could only manage 10 wins in 1991 and 1992 at Woodbine, forcing him to ride at the Ontario Jockey Club’s B track at Fort Erie. “He ran to my expectations and the trainer’s expectations.” Barbarians win The Prince George Barbarians collected two wins on the weekend in Central Interior Rugby Union action. The Barbarians thrashed Fort St. John 50-14 Sunday and beat Williams Lake 20-17 Saturday. Brad Johnson, Tony Mogus, and Brian Hamelin each recorded two tries for Prince George on Sunday, while Don Serwatkewich and Markuu Pavrutti also added tries. On Saturday, Tal Goodkey, Derek Lund, Evan Tingle and Hamelin recorded tries for the Barbarians. Courtenay outlasts Victoria in final of B.C. masters men Citizen photo by Brent Braaten Victoria Marigold Nuseries pitcher Earl Morris unloads another pitch in Sunday’s A-flnal of the B.C. Master Men’s Fastball Championships at Spruce City Stadium. Morris went the distance in in a 7-0 shutout over J.P. Edgett of Courtenay to force a second game. The representatives from Courtenay won the second contest 8-3 to capture the tournament. Bagel Street Cafe relies on hard work by TED CLARKE Citizen Staff It’s no fluke the Bagel Street Cafe women’s soccer team is playing in tonight’s Prince George Women’s Soccer Association competitive division final. When you’ve got bagel power on your side, the sky’s the limit. “We got spoiled eating so many bagels, it must be their secret recipe which took us this far,” joked goal-tender Linda Theriault, who will start in goal for Bagel Street tonight at 7:30 at PGSS field against Deloitte and Touche. Known last season as PG Croatia, Bagel Street finished second overall in league standings that year and were favored as one of the teams to beat this season. They didn’t disappoint the prognosti-cators and finished with a 9-1 record atop the competitive standings. “We finished first because we were so persistent,” Theriault added. “When I look at the list of players, everyone was a key to the team. “We don’t have one outstanding star on the team, everybody has to work hard.” The addition of under-19 graduates Nicole Vojovic at midfield and Begonia Ruiz on defence, as well as first-year sweeper Nicola Swanney, has spiced the Bagel Street attack. Theriault called midfielder Eleanor Clark the team’s most valuable player. “She really had a strong season and scored a lot of goals for us and she’s the key player for corner (kicks) as well.” Deloitte and Touche beat Bagel Krajicek: LONDON (AP) — Richard Krajicek became only the second unseeded player to win the men’s singles at Wimbledon on Sunday, his first Grand Slam title. Krajicek dealt out 14 aces, punishing overheads and sizzling passing shots to beat American MaliVai Washington 6-3,6-4,6-3. Canada also has a Wimbledon champion, as Jocelyn Robichaud of Joliette, Que., and Daniele Bracciali of Italy won the boys doubles title. Robichaud and Bracciali defeated Damien Roberts and Wesley White-house of South Africa, 6-2, 6-4. Grant Connell of Vancouver is also still in the picture in mixed doubles, as he and partner Lindsay Davenport of the United States beat Jonathon Stark and Martina Navratilova of the United States 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-2) in the quarter-finals. A bizarre Wimbledon of big upsets, Street 4-0 early in the season, while Bagel Street won the re-match 2-0 over a depleted Deloitte squad of seven players. Deloitte will be down to at most 11 players without winger Claire Paterson and defenders Louise Holmes and Sonya Jansen, who have other commitments out of town. But with the steady backline play of goaltender Karen Behiel and defenders Allison Blair and Nicole Hurteau, Bagel Street won’t have an easy time working the ball through. “We’re quite a well-balanced team and we don’t get frustrated or down if we get behind in a game,” Blair said. “We do have really strong forwards a strong defensive line.” Frontliners Liesel Dyck, Shannon Scott, Kirsty McWalter and Shannon Scott have also done their jobs creating offensive chances for Deloitte. “We have a really good bunch of young ladies who have developed well as a team,” Deloitte coach John Paterson said. “They (Bagel Street) really don’t have the skills our team has. We played them to a 2-0 defeat with just seven players. “If our ladies play together as they always do, (we’ll) win.” The recreation division final also goes tonight at 7:30 at PGSS with the Under-19 Selects against The Pas Lumber. Dunkley Lumber plays Overwaitea in the competitive consolation final at 6 p.m., while in the recreational consolation game at 6 p.m., Northern Tile faces Domino’s. unseeded freak injuries and countless rain delays could hardly have let the final Sunday pass without more wackiness — starting with the first streaker on Centre Court and continuing with showers that halted play three times. Before play began, a topless 23-year-old woman leaped from the stands, raced down the side of the court and, in front of the Royal Box, flipped up her only garment, a tiny white apron. “The Duke of Kent was laughing like mad,” said Peter Goord, a Centre Court spectator. “She then ran into the policemen’s arms. There was no way she was trying to get away.” Both players broke into laughter, as did most of the 14,000 fans. Walking back to the baseline, Washington lifted his tennis shirt to bare his own chest and received an ovation. “She lifted (her apron) up and she was smiling at me,” Washington said. “Then I got flustered and, boom, three Citizen photo Brent Braaten Rob Davis of Prince George Secondary School leaves the line in his 1970 Dodge Satellite during the Coke Classic high school drag races Saturday. Davis finished second to Blaine Flebbe of Quesnel’s Corrielien Secondary School in the high school eliminations. ‘Dat Thing’ still lives in another body frame by TED CLARKE Citizen Staff After 27 years of drag racing, the novelty hasn’t worn off for Ken Williamson. In fact, he’s having the time of his life with his latest project, a super-pro class, alcohol-burning dragster. “It’s a blast getting that wind in the face,” said the 51-year-old Prince George mechanic after he was eliminated from Saturday’s ET bracket races at North Central Motorsport Park for being a 25 hundredths of a second over-anxious at the start line. “I think that why I have a cold.” A familiar fixture at NCMP with his “Dat Thing” Datsun 260 Z race car, Williamson decided it was time for a change. With the help of friends Gregg Kauk, Aaron Mueller and Bob Beatch, the guts of the Datsun with its 377-cubic-inch Chevy engine were transplanted into a long and sleek, pavement-eating rail. Williamson fast-tracked the dragster project and got it race-ready in two weeks. He won the Kitimat Hill Climb drag event two weeks ago with a 6.14-second, eighth-mile pass. On Saturday, Williamson knew he left the start line too early, which meant an automatic win for Bob On-drick in the left lane. But the thought of babying the dragster down the track to save the engine didn’t occur to Williamson. “I saw the red light and whenever I see that I run the car right through because I want to see if the car is doing exactly what it can,” Williamson explained. “I don’t back off. I want to learn something every pass.” Williamson topped Sunday’s pro class eliminations with a 9.704-second run at 136.74 miles an hour. king of Wimbledon sets later I was gone. Maybe if she had run back, I would have had a little better luck.” The match lasted one hour 33 minutes of playing time, but took four hours to complete because of all the rain. It was the first Wimbledon final between two unseeded players, and Krajicek, 24, became the only unseeded champion beside Boris Becker in 1985. “I think next year I might get a seed,” Krajicek said with a wry smile. Krajicek had only gotten as far as the semifinals in two previous Grand Slam events — the Australian Open in 1992 and French Open in 1993. His victory ensures that he will move back into the top 10. He had been ranked as high as No. 8 in 1993. Krajicek earned $608,375 US. Washington got $304,187 US. On Saturay, Steffi Graf beat Arantxa Sanchez Vicario 6-2, 7-5 for her seventh Wimbledon championship, 20th Grand Slam title and 100th career singles crown. Graf moved to within two victories of Martina Navratilova’s record of nine Wimbledon singles titles. She also took sole possession of second place on the list of Grand Slam singles winners, four behind Margaret Court Smith. “It feels pretty awesome right now,” Graf said. “It didn’t hit me until I got to the lockerroom. “It’s something I never imagined I could do or was capable of doing. “It’s just incredible to me how the last few years have been going, how I’ve always been able to rise to the occasion.” Graf indicated this was the most unexpected of her Wimbledon victories. She suffered a knee injury a week before the tournament. by TED CLARKE Citizen Staff There once was a time when thoughts of a career as a major league baseball player danced in Reg Underwood’s head. That was when he was a teenager growing up in Victoria, a city known as Western Canada’s hotbed of fastball talent. It was only a matter of time before Underwood gave up his baseball hopes to live out his dreams on fastball diamonds. “Toronto and Montreal were just coming into existence when I quit baseball,” Underwood explained. “Now they go and scout out junior fastball players and if you can run and throw, they’ll pick you up and make you a baseball hitter. “That part wasn’t there for me then “I always thought softball was a school game and I never knew there was major competitive ball out there.” Underwood’s Marigold Nurseries team from Victoria lost 8-3 Sunday to J.R. Edgett of Courtenay in the second game of the B.C. master men’s fastball tournament final series Sunday at Spruce City Stadium. Pitcher Andy Konipacki belted a three-run home run in the fifth inning of Sunday’s deciding game to break a 2-2 tie. Konipacki also went the distance for J.R Edgett on the mound. In his 11-year Senior A career in Victoria, Underwood played for six Canadian Senior-A championship teams and was selected the all-star centrefielder during five of those years. Although Underwood is still recovering from a broken ankle he suffered last year, he went 13-for-24 at the plate for a .520 average as the top batter in the tournament through seven games. Underwood, 45, has been with Marigold Nurseries since the B.C. master championships started in 1991. Blessed with a star-studded line-up of Victoria senior A graduates, Marigold has won four of the six previous B.C. masters titles. “It’s still good ball and you’re still facing the same guys you faced growing up,” Underwood said. “Everybody that loves the game is still here. “We play in a Senior B league in Victoria which keeps our sticks sharp.” Two of the national-title winning teams Underwood played for were inducted to the Canadian Softball Hall of Fame, first in 1976 and then in 1983, the year Canada won the Pan-American Games. He also won world titles in 1976, as a senior, and 1994, with the national masters team. ■ Marigold pitcher Earl Morris was named the top pitcher in the tournament. The 44-year-old Morris pitched both games of the final series. In 36-and-a-third innings pitched, Morris registered 65 strikeouts and had an earned run average of 1.95. ■ Marigold lost 4-1 to J.R. Edgett in the preliminary round, but forced a second final game with a 7-0 shutout in the first game of the final series. ■ Kal-Tire of Prince George finished sixth out of eight teams with a 1-2 record. “It’s still good ball and you’re still facing the same guys you faced growing up,” Reg Underwood said. “Everybody that loves the game is still here.”