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Sports
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By CHARLOT M. DENMON
Staff Correspondent
Back Mountain Division I Ameri-
can girls’ softball team defeated the
Back Mountain Nationals, 13-10, last
week to win the District 16 Little
League Girls’ Softball title.
The win advanced the Americans
to sectional competition, hosting the
chamgicnship team from District 15
tain American girls are the local
area’s last hope for a state title
since the boys’ teams and the other
girls’ teams have already been
eliminated.
WYSOCKI GETS WIN
The Back Mountain American
girls went against the Nationals last
Tuesday at the Back Mountain soft-
ball field with Denise Wysocki pick-
ing up the win.
The victory was not as easily won
as the score indicates because the
Nationals never gave up. The Amer-
ican team was in front, 9-8, going
into the sixth inning, but Stephanie
Kriner led off with a single and
went to second on a National error.
Wendy Cave took first on a walk,
then Wysocki hit a short fly which
Krupa, allowing Kriner and Cave to
score. Melanie Marino grounded to
first and Wysocki scored on the
play. (
Jodi Ward hit a single to the
infield and K. Moyer walked. Alli-
son Labbate walked to load the
bases and after Patrice Shovlin
struck out, Theresa Mathers walked
to force in Ward with the 13th run
for the Americans. Jennifer Coon
collected the third out on a fielder’s
choice.
NATIONALS SCORE TWO
In the bottom of the sixth, the
Nationals scored two runs with two
out. Relief hurler Noel Brooks went
to first on an error and Mandy
Jones took base on a walk. Megan
Sheehan rapped out an RBI single
then Bridget Hozemps hit a single to
score Jones. On a bad throw, Shee-
han was waved home but was
thrown out at the plate for teh third
out.
Starting hurler for the Nationals
was Jennifer Gable who was
relieved by Brooks in the fourth
inning. Brooks walked Kriner, Cave
and Wysocki and was relieved by
Leeann Rogers, who also had trou-
ble controlling the ball.
‘ AMERICAN BOYS WIN
In the boys “division of the Back
Mountain Little ‘League, the Back
Mountain American team copped
the B Division title by edging out
Ashley-Newton, 3-2, last Friday.
Mark Medura led the local team
to its win with his game-winning
single and hs performance on the
pitching mound. After the. first two
innings, the game became a pitch-
ing duel between Medura ans
Ashley-Newwon’s John Mihalchick.
Ashley-Newton scored a run in the
top of the first inning to go in front,
1-0, but the local boys came right
back in the bottom of the first to
score two runs when Brian Miller
walked, then took two bases on two
passed balls. With one out, Silas
Fernandez walked to put runners on
first and third. The Ashley team
tried to pick off Fernandez but the
throw went over the first baseman’s
head, allowing Miller to: score and
Fernandez to go to third. Medura
came up and drove out a double to
score Fernandez and give the Back
Mountain a 2-1 lead.
SCORE TIED
Ashley-Newton tied the score in
the top of the second inning. Neither
team was able to score until the
seventh inning when Medura’s
single drove in the winning run for
the Back Mountain American team.
Medura went all the way, giving
up only five hits, two runs, fanning
nine and walking five. Mihalchick
pitched six innings, giving up five
hits, three runs, striking out eight
and walking nine.
SENIOR GIRLS LOSE
In the senior girls division, Back
Mountain girls defeated Bob Hor-
lacher, 10-2 on July 14 to advance to
last Wednesday’s game with Moun-
taintop where they were defeated, 5-
2.
Tammy Danna of Mountaintop
and Kim Schultz for the Back Moun-
tain, two of the area’s top Little
other, but it wasn’t Schultz’s night
as she walked 12 batters, giving up
only two hits and striking out four.
Danna was in top form, giving up
only our hits, walking only two and
striking out three. The Mountaintop
girls copped the District 16 title
which Back Mountain teams had
held for the past three years.
Schultz, Laura Poynton, Jill
Urbanis and Lori Piatt led the Back
Mountain girls at the plate.
LOCALS SCORE SEVEN
In Monday night’s game with Bob
Horlacher, the Back Mountain girls
came through with seven runs in the
second inning to take an easy 10-2
win. They took an early 2-0 lead in
the top of the first inning when
Urbanis walked and stole second.
She went to third on a sacrifice fly
by Lori Cave and score on a single
by Tracy Hunter. Hunter stole
second, then third and scored when
the throw to tag her out went into
leftfield.
Kerri Kuzman put Horlacher .on
the board when she scored in the
bottom of the first inning.
The Back Mountain exploded in
the second inning for seven runs on
two walks, three hits and five
errors. Hunter gave the Back Moun-
tain its 10th run in the sixth inning
when she scored on a wild pitch.
Lori Cave was the winning
pitcher, giving up eight hits, fanning
two and walking six. Nicole Zarnoch
was the losing pitcher, giving up
seven hits, fanning one and walking
six.
NATIONAL BOYS LOSE
Back Mountain National boys
were eliminated from contention for
the title when they were downed, 3-
2, by the Heights team. The Back
Mountain team scored two of their
runs in the top of the third and led,
2-0, until the bottom of the fourth
when the Heights scored two runs to
tie the game at 2-2. In the fifth
inning, Heights loaded the bases
and went in front, 3-2, when Jay
Pius drove in Ryan Price with a
two-out single.
Eddie George was the winning
pitcher, giving up only six hits and
striking out 13.
AMERICANS ADVANCE
The Back Mountain American
trouncing Horlacher, 12-1. Mark
medura did the pitching, giving up
only three hits and striking out
eight. He also went two-for-four at
the plate, one of his hits a three-run
Miller went three-for-four for the
game, including a two-run homer
and Hed Palka went two-for-two at
the plate, one of his hits a double.
LAKE BOYS DEFEATED
Wyoming/West Wyoming defeated
Harveys Lake, 17-2, to know the
Lake Boys out of contention in the B
Division of the All-Star Tournament.
The winning pitcher was Mike
Rushinchak, who gave up only three
hits and two runs, going all the way.
Spencer was the losing pitcher.
After defeating Horlacher, 12-1,
the Back Mountain American boys
played Northwest Tuesday night
and picked up a 6-1 win behind
pitching by Brian Miller, who gave
up only three hits.
Frank Natitus stole home to spark
a two-out, three run sixth inning by
the local team to seal the win.
Natitus had walked with two out
and went to third on a single by Jeff
Masley. Matt Daily and Pat Morris
also hit RBI singles in the third
inning.
Masley hit an RBI triple in the
second inning to put the Americans
in front, 1-0. The Americans took a
3-0 lead in the fourth inning on a
two-run single by SCott Bearley.
Miller fanned 10 and walked three
while picking up the win.
PLAYOFF SUMMARY
A summary of the Back Mountain
teams as they were eliminated in
the District 16 Little League tourna-
ment shows: Boys teams, Back
Mountain Nationa, 6, Ashley 0, July
8; Back Mountain National 6, West
Pittston 4, July 10; Heights 3, Back
Mountain National 2, July 12;
Edwardsville-Larksville 16, Harveys
Lake 5, July 8; St. Therese 8, Bob
Horlacher 2, July 8; Back Mountain
American 1, North End 4, July 8.
The losing teams dropped into
Division B, playing games as shown
above.
Results of the girls’ softball
games are indicated above.
Motocross family
Dallas Post/John Hoinski
Jeff, 15.
By JOHN HOINSKI
Statf Writer
One of the hottest, new crazes to hit the country
has been the sport of motocross racing. Americans
have flipped over it — literally.
A sport that sometimes resembles dodgems on
dirt, motocross has caught the eye - and legs, and
arms and heads - of riders across the land.
And, here in the Back Mountain, the Yagloski
family of RD 4, Appletree Road, Harding, is caught
right in the middle of it.
Since 1973, Tony Yagloski has been putting his
body through the rigors, and now he is joined by his
sons, Jeff, 15, and Tony Jr., 17. And they practice
right at home. On a course outside their house, the
three ride their Yamahas daily anywhere from one
to three hours. In addition, Tony Sr.’s brother,
John, and his sister’s son, Jason Prokopchak, are
also involved. :
“I ‘do it mostly for recreation and to stay in
shape,” said the 43-year-old Yagloski. ‘You can’t
worry about the injuries. They are part of any
sport.”
And he has had his share. Fresh off a nasty
bruise to his upper thigh, Yagloski has slammed
into a tree with his head, been thrown from his bike
a number of times and had a bone in his heel
cracked a year ago that still bothers him.
“We have been lucky not to have any serious
accidents,” Tony Sr. said. ‘But we all had our
share of injuries.”
Although they do wear protective equipment such
as hip pads, boots, a closed-face helmet and chest
pads, injuries still come with the sport.
Tony Jr. has had his knee smashed up, although
not seriously, when another rider cut in front of
_ him in mid-air, while Jeff, in his encounters, was
once sprawled out on the ground when another
biker came crashing down on his hands.
“I try not to think about it (injuries),” said Jeff,
who will be enrolling at West Side Vo-Tech next
year. “But you do see accidents. There was one guy
who got seven ribs broken. One of them punctured
his lung.”
Adds Tony Sr., “There was another one who had
his stomach ripped open by the peddle of another
biker. His insides just fell right out.”
Their mother, Sandy, doesn’t go to the races
because she thinks they are too dangerous. ‘‘But,”
says her husband, ‘‘She’s happy when we come
home and we’re all okay.”
The clan has participated in races near Berwick,
Carbondale, Sleepy Hollow by Fredericksburg, and
in Englishtown, New Jersey. And, they have done
well. In fact, Tony Jr., Jeff and Jason all took first
place trophies over the weekend in competition in
Evansville near Berwick.
Tony Jr., who hopes to ride professionally some
day, has accumulated 11 trophies in the two years
he has been riding, while Tony Sr. has also
collected his share. But the best of the family is
Jeff, who would like to become a professional, too,
some day.
His room already resembles a huge trophy case,
and in just five years of racing, he has racked up 35
trophies, most of which represent first-place fin-
ishes.
He is presently regarded as one of the top riders
in his class in Pennsylvania and recently defeated
the World Mini champ — twice.
‘‘He would be even better if he could race all
year round,” Tony Sr. said. ‘‘Some of the riders he
competes against are from different parts of the
country where it’s always warm and they can
practice all the time. That makes a big difference.
You would be surprised how much your perform-
ance is affected if you lay off for even two weeks.”
Despite the disadvantages, and the fact that he is
only 4’11”’, 100 pounds, Jeff makes up in skill, what
he lacks in weight.
“It’s the same as driving a car. The lighter it is,
the harder it is to control,” said his father.
The course itself, which is laid out with bumps
and hills of various sizes and distances, usually
measures around a mile, although some courses
may differ. Winners can be determined by either
time or by laps.
“Sometimes you can hit speeds of up to 65 or 70
miles per hour,” said Tony Sr. ‘But you have to
know how to ride. There might be three hills in a
row. Some guys can clear them. Some guys can’t.
But the beginning of the race is the most danger-
ous. That’s when all the riders go into the first L-
curve.”
And that’s usually when the crowd gets involved.
That way everyone gets to flip out.
Once, when I was in college, I got
the chance to do a story on the
university’s prize football recruit.
Up until that time, I did stories on
towel shortages at the swimming
pool or the jock itch epidemic that
was ravaging the debate team.
1 thought I had finally hit the big
time when the sports editor, a
beautiful girl with the maternal
instincts of a drill sergeant and a
thing for wrestlers, told me to
interview the'recruit and get the
inside scoop.
This was a big story. For the first
time in memory, our school had
League hurlers, went against each
PSU baseball team
a,
beaten out Pitt and Penn State for a
iy
player. I was supposed to find out
how and then write a back-patting
story chronicling the brilliant rise of
our team. Simple enough.
I set up the
interview and
then locked
myself in the
research room
for hours, living
on nothing but
beer and Eskimo fi
Pies. hy
The more I Ma =
read, the more RICK
interested I got. ROGERS
The kid was 6’6’’ and 265 pounds of
brute force who had an uncanny
ability of disemboweling
quarterbacks and sending
runningbacks off the field in various
states of altered consciousness.
The day of the interview came
and I met the recruit and a member
of the athletic department in a
small room of the student union.
I should have been tipped off
something wasn’t right when I saw
that the guy from the athletic
department accompanying my
interview, but I was too excited to
think much about it. I figured he
was there to answer any technical
questions I might have.
To break the ice, and to put both
of us at ease, I asked the recruit
how he liked Sunny Side, three
blocks of bars famous, or infamous
depending how you look at it, for
upholding the school’s impeccable
party image. Without blinking, he
said he preferred his eggs
scrambled and, in any event, he
wasn’t hungry, thank you.
1 tried to laugh it off, but the
wondered what was amusing. The
AD guy shifted in his chair
nervously and explained what I
meant.
It was then I realized why the
other guy was there. He was the
translator.
The rest of the short interview
was the same comic tragedy, with
the AD guy doing most of the
answering. I had a pretty good idea
of why and how we got this recruit.
Back at the newspaper, I filed my
story. The original idea was void an
I wrote about what had happened
and what I thought about what had
happened.
post rogers add one
The next day, the editor gave me
two choices: either rewrite the story
or else. I took the second option.
The story never saw print.
I bring this story up because,
starting August 1, athletic ability is
supposed to become secondary to
academic ability for incoming
freshmen at major colleges and
universities.
The new NCAA academic
standards, known as Proposition 48,
will finally force colleges to do
something they should have done
long ago - recruit kids that can do
the college work.
By 1988, freshmen athletes will be
required to have combined
minimum standards of 700 on the
SAT and a 2.0 grade point average.
Proposition 48 is already
receiving criticism from college
coaches. The rap is that it is unfair
to “inn city kids,’’ which is a nice
way of saying black kids. But, if
every other student has to have the
right numbers to get on campus,
(See ROGERS, page 10)
Kiwanis
plans
Derby
The Back Mountain Kiwanis Club
would like to announce its Fifth
Annual Demolition Derby to be held
Sunday, Septmeber 21, at the
Lehman Horse Shown Grounds,
Route 118, Lehman , with a rain
date of Sunday, September 28.
Applications will be accepted until
Septmeber 6, 1986 and will
processed on a first-come, first-
served basis until the field is full.
Applications may be obtained by
writing the Back Mountain Kiwanis
Club, PO Box 2, Dallas, PA 18612 or
by calling 477-2064 or 696-4394.
Last year, over 120 cars were
entered in the derby, competing for
cash prizes and trophies with J.J.
Simon besting the field of contes-
tants receiving a $300 first prize and
a winner’s trophy. More than 3,000
spectators viewed eight regular
heats, a four-cylinder heat, powder
puff heat featuring women drivers
only, a consolation heat and the
grand finale.
Advance tickets will be on sale at
local outlets to be announced or
from any Back Mountain Kiwanis
member. Proceeds from this event
will be used for community and
charitable projects sponsored
entirely or in part by the Back
Mountain Kiwanis Club such as
youth organizations, Special Olym-
pics, programs for the elderly and
the Kiwanis Pediatric Heart Fund
Project at the Geisinger Medical
Center in Danville.
This year’s Major Emphasis Pro-
gram theme as set ‘orth by Kiwanis
International is ‘Walk with a Child”
and, according to Back Mountain
Kiwanis Club President Stu Oakley
and Immediate Past President Jim
Larson, who are this year’s Demoli-
tion Derby Chairmen, proceeds.
derived from the event will be used
to support the Back Mountain
Kiwanis Club so they may further
advance these causes.
Participants and spectators alike
will undoubtedly receive an unfor-
gettable day of family entertain-
ment in return.
Dallas HS
sets physicals
Jerry Stinson, athletic director at
Dallas High School, announces that
physical fitness for athletic teams
will be conducted on the following
days:
Thursday, July 24, 8 a.m., foot-.
ball, team room; 8 a.m., cross
country, athletic office; 8:30 a.m.,
golf, athletic office.
Friday, July 25, 8 a.m., field
hockey, nurse’s office; 9 a.m., girls’
volleyball, nurse’s office; 9:30 a.m.,
cheerleaders, nurse’s office.
Thursday, July 31, 8 a.m., soccer,
team room; 9 a.m., male candi-
dates’ makeups, nurse’s office; 9:30
a.m., female candidates’ makeups;
nurse’s office. ;
Lake-Lehman
sets physicals
Sports physicals for Lake-Lehman
High School athletes will be con-
ducted on the following dates:
Tuesday, July 29, football;
Wednesday, July 30, boys; soccer,
cross country, golf; Tuesday,
August 5, girls’ hockey, cheerlead-
ers; Wednesday, August 6, girls’
volleyball and make-ups.
All physicals will be conducted in
the high school lobby between the
hours of 2 and 5 p.m.
Students must pick up physical
examination cards and have them
completed and signed by their par-
ents prior to undergoing the exams.
Cards may be picked up at the
senior high school office.
Soccer starts
Lake-Lehman High School stu-
dents, grades nine through 12, who
wish to play varsity soccer should
attend the first practice scheduled
for August 11 at 4 p.m. at the junior
high soccer field.
League forms
Anyone interested in bowling in a
fun-filled mixed league at Bonomo’s
in Dallas should contact Ruth at 675-
3865.
League play begins September 2
at 6:30 p.m.
Have a
news tip?
Call
675-5211
J v