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Friday, May 16

High school softball

[MAY 16, 2003] 

At Mahomet

Olympia                    203 202 0 - 9-7-0

Maginet-Seymour     000 000 0 - 0-0-5

Jessie Shay (W, 22-2) and Amber Lessen; Miranda Jones (L, 5-6), Jennifer Eardley (3) and Jenny Menacher.

Hitting star - Olympia - Lindsay Watkins (2 hits, 4 runs), Lessen (3 RBIs).

Pitching star - Olympia - Shay (7 innings, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 4 strikeouts).

Records - Olympia 29-2 overall, 10-0 in Corn Belt Conference; Mahomet-Seymour 10-18, 3-7.

At Hartsburg

Tri-Valley     020 220 2 - 8-14-6

Hartem         003 200 4 - 9-9-1

Christie Stockle (L) and Amanda Lewis. Nikki Chapman (W, 9-7) and Alyssa Moehring.

Hitting stars - Hartem - Jenna Bergman (2 hits), Danielle Bergman (2 hits), Nicole Buse (2 hits).

Records - Hartsburg-Emden 13-10, Tri-Valley 19-6.

Augustine, Brown and Williams to
attend national basketball team trials

[MAY 16, 2003]  CHAMPAIGN -- USA Basketball officially announced on May 15 that 52 of the top men's basketball players (47 collegians and five high schoolers) have accepted invitations to participate in trials for the 2003 men's national team. The trials will be May 30-June 1 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

At the conclusion of the trials, the USA Collegiate Committee will select finalists for two USA Basketball teams -- for the Junior World Championship and the Pan American Games.

Twenty-four of the players will be eligible for either team, while the other 28 players will be eligible only for the Pan Am Games team. A player must be 19 years old or younger to be eligible for the junior squad.

The Fighting Illini basketball program will be well represented at the trials, with three players in attendance: sophomores James Augustine of Mokena, Dee Brown of Maywood and Deron Williams of The Colony, Texas. All three Illini players are eligible to be selected to either team. Brown and Williams already have USA Basketball experience. They played on the 2002 junior qualifying team that won a bronze medal last summer in Venezuela.

The trials will be used to select finalists for the junior team, and the official 12-member team will be finalized during the June 24-July 6 training camp in Dallas, Texas. The team will then compete July 10-20 in the 2003 FIBA Men's Junior World Championship Tournament in Penang and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

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Oregon coach Ernie Kent will serve as this year's USA Junior World Championship head coach, assisted by Georgia coach Dennis Felton and Kentucky Wesleyan coach Ray Harper.

The trials will also be used to select finalists for the Pan American Games team. The Pan Am Games take place every four years in the year prior to the Olympics, and the events this year will be Aug. 1-17 in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, with the men's basketball competition scheduled for Aug. 2-6.

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo will direct the USA Pan American Games team, assisted by Washington coach Lorenzo Romar and Missouri coach Quin Snyder.

For a complete news release and more information on the team trials, please visit www.usabasketball.com.

[Kent Brown, assistant athletics director
and sports information director,
University of Illinois]

Articles from the past week

[MAY 12, 2003]  The first Cards-Cubs series ended in a push. The Redbirds set the tone by winning the first game 6-3. However, the Cubbies came back in dramatic fashion to take the second game 3-2 on a walk-off homer by Alex Gonzalez. Then on Sunday, with St. Louis leading 11-9 in a pitching duel and defensive struggle, the rains came and washed the Cards' victory away. But that's NOT the bad news.

While Chicago was flailing with the Brewers and the Cards were collapsing in Cincinnati, the Houston Astros as well as the Reds moved right back into the race. So, instead of Chicago and St. Louis pulling away from the pack, they've let the pack right back into the race, which is something that this amateur reporter thinks that both teams will regret.

The Cubs now start a brutal two-week road trip. They will need to go about .500 if they have serious title intentions.

We believe that A-Gon's long tater was his third of the year in like fashion. What's up with this guy in the clutch situations? And why not save some of these heroics for the Reds and especially the Astros?

To former Cub Rafael Palmeiro, who became just the 19th player in baseball history to reach the No. 500 home run plateau! He may reach the 3,000 career hits mark too. So, why all the negativity and the hate towards Raffy? All these sports shows say he doesn't deserve the Hall of Fame. In my book, if someone reaches baseball's magic numbers -- and 500 homers and 3,000 hits are surely some of those numbers with mystic -- they deserve to be in the Hall!

Feeling like St. Louis didn't have enough injuries, Eli Marrero went down with a severely sprained ankle in the rain-postponed game on Sunday. Before that incident J.D. Drew was pulled from the contest with a stiff back. He will see the chiropractor today and expects to be ready for Tuesday night's home tilt with the Reds.

If we're reading the calendar correctly, the Cards play 20 of their next 26 in the friendly confines of Busch Stadium. Winning 15 or more of those could go a long way in giving the Birds a chance to fight it out among the leaders all summer. However, if the injuries continue to mount and they continue to find no answers from the pen, they may be able to scratch their playoff invitations by the All-Star break.

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Lakers win one for Phil

The Los Angeles Lakers won one for their coach and the Sacramento Kings won one for themselves  as A.I. put his 76ers on his back and all three teams evened their playoff marks to 2-2. In the last remaining series, the Nets have the Celtics on life support as Boston trails New Jersey 3-0. It will be interesting to see who, if anyone, can win some road games and maybe steal a game or a series.

While his soon-to-be-graduated Railers ink college deals, Lincoln Railer coach Neil Alexander has already turned the page to next season. In an early morning interview, the LDN has learned that the Railer summer schedule is already set. The highlight of the vacation months will be the annual trip south for the HUGE tournament that Lincoln always fares well in. Through the years this tourney has been in Tennessee or Kentucky, but this year the event moves to Evansville, Ind.

Coach "Al" also reports that it is his feeling that the CS8 will be very competitive next season. He says that many have already ruled the Railers out with the loss of nine seniors. Not so fast, my friend, at least for the Lincoln coach. He thinks the Railers will be gritty and fight their way to success. This is one reporter who's not going to argue with 12-13 years of success! Good luck, Railers!

[Jeff Mayfield]

• Last week: How 'bout those Cardinals

• Archived columns

Announcements

Basketball camp dates announced

[MAY 14, 2003]  NORMAL -- First-year Illinois State head basketball coach Porter Moser has announced his camp dates for the summer of 2003.

Moser and his Redbird staff will host three camps this summer, with a pair of day camps and one team camp.

The first day camp runs June 16-19 and is for boys entering grades 1-12. The second day camp is open to boys entering grades 1-8 and is scheduled for July 15-18. The day camps are designed for commuters only and focus on the basic fundamentals of dribbling, passing, shooting, rebounding, defense and game play.

The cost for either day camp is $170. Each camper receives a basketball and a T-shirt.

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The team camp, which caters to high school and junior high teams with boys entering grades 6-12, will be June 20-22. The camp format is round-robin and tournament team play.

The cost for the team camp is $170 for commuters and $205 for resident campers. Each will receive a camp T-shirt.

For more information about the basketball camps, call the Redbird men's basketball office at (309) 438-8681 or click here for an application form.

[Click here to download the Adobe Acrobat reader for the PDF file.]

[Todd Kober, director of media relations,
Illinois State University]

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