Longview News-Journal, Sunday, May 23, 2021 3C COLLEGE BASEBALL GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (AP) The games are played at Sam Suplizio Field, a dandy of a base- ball diamond with a magnificent view from behind home plate of the Grand Mesa the largest flattop mountain. The Division I Junior College Baseball World Series is on after being canceled in 2020 be- cause of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 10-team, double-elimination tournament opens May 29 and runs through June 4, or June 5 if necessary. Opening day features a quadru- ple-header, beginning at 9 a.m.
lo- cal time, with the final game set for 7:30 p.m. For those not in the junior col- lege loop, walking onto the field named for a 1950s New York Yan- top prospect is a dream re- alized for any player aspiring to compete for a championship no matter the level of competition. a bit of hike to get to Grand Junction. About four hours west of Denver and 4 hours south- east of Salt Lake City, a place where roads marked as 25 and make perfect sense. But been the host of the JUCO World Series the condensed version since 1959.
Recently, the con- tract between the NJCAA and the city was extended through 2045. was a difficult year for ev- eryone because of COVID, and it will be a little different this longtime JUCO World Se- ries tournament chairman Jamie Hamilton said. bottom line is our family reunion is It will be different. The sta- dium seats about 7,000 but can hold close to 10,000. Following the COVID-19 guidelines set by the Grand Junction Health Depart- ment, masks are optional, social distancing is required and atten- dance is limited to 3,000.
Most of the field will be deter- mined by the end of the weekend, and for the first time the NJCAA will seed teams rather than using a regional rotation system. District playoffs were played in places such as Ozark, Alabama; Salina, Kansas; Wilburton, Okla- homa; and Florence, South Car- olina. The district names range from the Appalachian to the Plains. Through Friday, teams earning trips to Grand Junction include San Jacinto College (Texas), Florence-Darlington (S.C.), Mi- ami-Dade (Florida), Shelton State (Alabama) and Walters State (Tennessee). Some consider San Jac the Yan- kees of junior college.
The school has been in the tournament so often it has its own cheering and booing sections. It also has also produced dozens of major leaguers, including Roger Clem- ens and Andy Pettitte. The Gators (48-13, No. 4 in the NJCAA base- ball poll) will be making their re- cord-extending 24th appearance in the series, with five national championships but none since 1990. Coach Tom Arrington, in his 21st season, has a team in the tournament for the 11th timewith no titles but six losses in the final game.
no doubt the buzz is back to get to Grand Junction and play for a said Arrington, who recently picked up career win No. 900 and is a member of the NJCAA Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame. been such a difficult road with COVID and the issues going on with our country. the Grand Junction com- munity has created such a great atmosphere for our kids to and you realize it until you get to such a special venue like this Christopher Parker, president and CEO of the National Junior College Athletic Association, is among those happy to have the tournament in motion again. is all about us doing ev- erything we can to keep everyone safe and still have a great atmo- he said.
Most players are awed by the size of the field and the number of fans, many of them youngsters hoping for autographs. The di- mensions are a major league-like 365 feet in left field, 400 in center and 330 in right. days at our home games, more scouts than specta- Arrington said. see so many fans in a stadium, our play- ers know for real. It builds ex- citement.
These kids worked hard to get here and want to play Oddly, the tournament is not televised. The only way to watch is through live streaming at the NJCAA website for a fee. For now. had multiple conver- sations with national broadcast companies about getting the na- tional championship game on Parker said. would simply say having good conversa- Hamilton, who has guided this tournament for more than 35 years, was unsettled when the 2020 Memorial Day weekend be- gan with no baseball.
the first morning, I usually wake up at 5 and on the field by 6 but after eating breakfast and then reading I said, am I supposed to do he said. got to the point where my wife said, you want to play golf or The stage is set for the show to go on. bells and whistles that had for years probably be Hamilton said, going to show what western Colorado people do and give them a chance to play for the championship they last JUCO Notes: There are about 180 junior colleges in Division I of the NJCAA, and dozens of top major league players got their careers rolling by playing in the JUCOWorld Series. Among them: Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett (Triton College, River Grove, Illi- nois); Brandon Belt (San Jacinto); Bryce Harper (Southern Nevada); pitchers Eric Gagne (Seminole JC, Oklahoma); Cliff Lee (Merid- ian JC, Mississippi); and John Lackey (Grayson County College, Denison, Texas). Sam Suplizio was a rising star in the Yankees organization in the late 1950s be- fore fracturing his throwing arm while sliding into second in a 1956 minor league game.
He eventual- ly settled in Grand Junction and was instrumental in bringing an MLB team to Colorado in 1993. He served for decades as tournament chairman of the JUCO World Se- ries. He died in 2006 at 74. JUCO World Series back in its panoramic Colorado home AP File Photo This undated image shows a fisheye view of Sam Suplizio Field in Grand Junction, Colo. The Junior College World Series is on again after being canceled in 2020 because of the pandemic.
APP Photo Brooks Koepka works on the 16th hole during the third round at the PGA Championship on the Ocean Course on Saturday in Kiawah Island, S.C. At least they have a chance. Mickelson broke away quickly with four birdies in seven holes, and he even managed to avoid losing his focus. One dis- traction came from the fourth fairway, when Mickelson saw a drone in the air left of the green and said to a CBS spotter, you radio to the TV guys to get the drone out of the flight of my He saved par from a back bunker. He went out in 32 Mickelson played the front nine on Friday in 31 and was five shots clear until he showed signs of sputtering.
He badly missed a 7-foot birdie at- tempt on No. 11. He pulled his tee shot into a bunker on No. 12 and had to play back to the fairway, lead- ing to his first bogey of the round. And then he drove into the water on the 13th with his 2-wood, had to hit his third shot from the tee be- cause of where he thought it crossed the hazard line, and missed a 12-footer for bogey.
Oosthuizen also found the water with a big fade, dropped further up the fairway and made bogey. was on the Mickelson said on why he hit again from the tee. just feel good about It was tight the rest of the way. Mickelson is going after his first ma- jor since the 2013 British Open, and the final hour made it clear that this might not be easy. But it will be loud.
The gallery is the largest at a major since the pandem- ic the PGA of America has said there would be 10,000 people, a number that felt far greater and Mickelson was the object of their raucous shouting. Kevin Streelman bo- geyed the 18th for a 70 and was alone in fourth at 4-under 212, followed by Branden Grace and Christiaan Bezuidenhout of South Africa, each with a 72. Jordan Spieth matched the low round of the day with a 68, still seven shots behind and most likely too far back to contend with a dozen players ahead of him. Spieth was headed back to his rental home to flip on the TV, a rarity for him. But Phil.
the- ater. watch golf but I promise you going to turn it on to watch him Spieth said. pretty incredible. I have no way to relate to it, right? But I also think necessarily that special because he win a World Golf Champi- onships in the last couple years? got four good rounds on any golf course in him, and no one would bet against Mickelson has had three good ones at Ki- awah Island. One more for history.
PGA From Page 1C ET SOFTBALL BY JOSH RICHERT Texarkana Gazette WHITEHOUSE Fourth-ranked Hughes Springs held the early lead, but top-ranked Em- ory Rains scored 10 unan- swered runs to sweep the Region II-3A semifinal se- ries. The Lady Wildcats blanked the Lady Mus- tangs for six straight in- nings Saturday at Lady Cat Field and went on to win, 10-2, after taking the open- er, 9-1 on Thursday. The Lady Wildcats (35- 1) advance to the Region II-3A finals next week to play No. 7 Grandview (37- 6). Hughes season ended at 26-6.
The Mustangs jumped on Rains pitcher Chanlee Oakes early, although she settled in and finished with a 3-hitter. Oakes struck out seven, walk a batter, and threw 94 pitches over seven innings. Hughes Emma McKinney lined a single to left to start the game, and a throwing error on Shea infield hit allowed McKinney to race home. Nelson scored on Grace groundout. Hughes Springs commit- ted a pair of errors in the third inning, and Oakes singled home a run to cut the deficit to 2-1.
Rains sent 11 batters to the plate in the fourth and took a commanding 8-2 lead. After a one-out walk, a throwing error set up Lynzee two-run double to left field. Leo Terry singled to center, and Avery Songer tripled to left-center field to bring in two more runs. Oakes grounded a sin- gle to center, and a walk loaded the bases, prompt- ing a pitching change. Two wild pitches sent two runs across, and a passed ball allowed the final run of the rally to cross the plate.
Oakes tripled home two more runs in the fifth in- ning and singles by Hague and Terry. After the first, Oakes pitched four hit-less in- nings before Nelson dou- bled inside the bag at third with one down in the sixth. Nelson was stranded at third to end the inning. Oakes was 3 for 4 with a triple and three RBI, Hague was 2 for 3 with a double, Songer tripled and singles, and Terry also had two hits for Rains. Nelson had two hits for the Mus- tangs.
Top-ranked Rains rallies past Lady Mustangs NBA MILWAUKEE (AP) Khris Mid- dleton broke a tie with a jumper with 0.5 seconds left in overtime and had 27 points to help the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Miami Heat 109-107 Saturday in Game 1 of the first-round playoff se- ries. Middleton was closely guarded by DuncanRobinson on the 19-footer. Goran Dragic had tied it with a corner 3-pointer with 20.6 sec- onds left in OT. shot, Jrue Holiday blocked a 3-point attempt from Jimmy Butler as the buzzer sounded. Game 2 is Monday night in Milwau- kee.
Miami beat Milwaukee 4-1 in the second round last year and went on to reach theNBAFinals. Butler forced overtime by making a buzzer-beating driving layup past Giannis Antetokounmpo, whose free- throw woes prevented the Bucks from putting the game away earlier. Antetokounmpo had 26 points, 18 re- bounds and five assists, but was just 6 of 13 on free-throw attempts. Over the last 1:06 of regulation, Antetokoun- mpo was 2 of 5 from the line and had a 10-second violation that prevented him from getting another free-throw attempt. Holiday had 20 points and 11 re- bounds for the Bucks, who won de- spite shooting 5 of 31 from 3-point range.
never made below seven 3-pointers in a gameduring the regular season. Dragic scored 25 points, Robinson had24andButler added17 for theHeat. Butler also had 10 rebounds and eight assists. The Bucks took a 98-97 with 34.3 sec- onds left in regulation when Antetok- ounmpo made the second of two free throws after getting fouled on a shot attempt. Antetokounmpo knocked the ball loose from Butler to force a jump ball, got the ball when Brook Lopez won the tip and got fouled again with nine seconds left.
This the first butmissed the second. TrevorAri- za got the rebound and Miami called a timeout with eight seconds remaining. Dragic inbounded the ball to Butler, who took his time before driving to the basket and making a layup that rolled in as the buzzer sounded. Bigger Crowds This game featured the largest atten- dance for aMilwaukee home game this season. The Milwaukee Health Depart- revised pandemic-imposed guidelines enabled theBucks tofill of Fiserv seats this season, re- sulting in crowds of about 9,000.
The Bucks had closed the regular season playing home games at capacity, or roughly 3,300 fans. Crowds will get even bigger when this series moves to Miami for Game 3 on Thursday. The Heat announced Saturday they could have as many as 17,000 fans for their home playoff games Tip-Ins Heat: This marks the third time the Heat have faced the Bucks in the post- season. The Heat swept the Bucks in the first round in 2013 before knocking off Milwaukee in the second round last year. Bucks: Holiday scored an unusual basket late in the second quarter.
It appeared as though Holiday was at- tempting a lob to Antetokounmpo, but the ball insteadwent through the hoop. Middleton lifts Bucks past Heat in OT in Game 1 Jumper with 0.5 seconds left in overtime caps 27-point night in 109-107 victory AP Photo Milwaukee Khris Middleton makes a basket over Miami Duncan Robinson in the final seconds of overtime of Game 1 of their first-round playoff series on Satur- day in Milwaukee..
