C M Y K B4

B4 ■ Friday, May 28, 2010 ■ THE LONDON FREE PRESS

sports
n high school baseball: Central pitcher fires second playoff shutout in three days

Grasby’s ‘rubber’ arm mows down Titans

STEVE GREEN
The London Free Press
For his other baseball team, the
Eager Beaver Tecumseh midgets,
Paul Grasby plays at first base,
third base and does some catch-
ing. By his own admission, he’s
“not much of a pitcher.”
The Central Golden Ghosts are
thankful he saves it all for them.
For the second playoff game
in three days, Grasby blanked
his opponents through his max-
imum 80 pitches. Thursday, he
struck out 11, scattering four
hits through 5 2/3 innings as the
Golden Ghosts beat the Regina
Mundi Titans 7-0 in a TVRAA
quarterfinal at LDBA Park.
“Rubber,” he said, grinning,
when asked what his arm was
really made of. “I’d already
thrown 80 pitches the last game
(a 5-0 win over Parkside), so I
knew I had to throw some strikes
today and be effective. I wasn’t
expecting this, I just wanted to do
the best I could.”
That he did, mixing a very good
fastball with some good offspeed
stuff to keep the Titans off bal-
ance. He also contributed at the
plate with a pair of hits and an
RBI, and his snare of a grounder
in the top of the first inning led
to a rundown at the plate that
helped dampen a Regina Mundi
threat.
Grasby said his teammates
are playing with a bit of a chip
on their collective shoulder after
being left out of the OFSAA quali-
fying playoffs despite a better rec-
ord than Aquinas, which got in as
one of last year’s finalists.
“We wanted a chance to go to
OFSAA and we’re just trying to
show people we’ve got a legitim-
ate team that wants to get things
done. We feel like we can com-
pete with any team out there.”
What makes the Ghosts’ playoff
run more impressive is that this is
their first year in the league.
“There was some suggestion
last year that we get a team going,
and we came close,” said head
coach Bruce Estabrooks. “We’re
the new kids on the block and the
guys really relish that role. No one
knows what to expect from us.
“But coming in, we didn’t
know what to expect, either.
We’ve learned a few things and
it’s been a great ride.”
As a former London Majors
pitching star, Regina Mundi head
coach Jon Owen can appreciate
a good pitching outing. And he
marvelled at Grasby’s effort.
“For him to come out and do
that all over again was amaz-
ing,” Owen said. “Some of our
more inexperienced hitters were
coming back shaking their heads
because they couldn’t get around
on his fastball.”
While Central did score seven
runs, the Ghosts managed only
seven hits against three Regina
Mundi pitchers. What did the
Titans in were brief periods of
inconsistent pitching magni-
fied by often untimely and costly
errors, five in all.
“That’s been the story of our
season,” Owen said. “The pitch-
ing for the most part was pretty
consistent. But we got ourselves
into a hole, we couldn’t score
runs and we weren’t getting run-
ners on base . . .
“But we only won one game
last year and this year we won
three, so that’s progress.”

n track and field Ontario West Regional track and field comparison chart n london city

While WOSSAA Potential

BOYS GIRLS
Midget
WOSSAA SWOSSAA CWOSSA OFSAA GOLD WOSSAA SWOSSAA CWOSSA GOLD
100 11.88 11.78 11.68 11.26 100 12.64 12.92 12.69 12.13

lacks quantity, there

200 24.28 23.81 23.92 22.45 200 27.01 26.59 26.42 24.90
400 54.92 53.83 54.33 50.71 400 1:01.19 1:00.20 59.91 57.81
800 2:04.96 2:05.98 2:05.86 1:59.35 800 2:26.23 2:24.17 2:17.79 2:17.42

for magic
1,500 4:22.70 4:14.67 4:22.72 4:03.46 1,500 4:57.29 5:08.46 4:39.66 4:48.38
3,000 9:40.41 8:57.61 9:34.69 9:06.91 3,000 10:47.55 11:28.82 11:12.12 10:25.56

its quality shines

STEVE GREEN
The London Free Press
Not that they’ll probably
need the help, but athletes from
SWOSSAA should enjoy home-
10
field advantage when the Ontario
West Regional high school
20 track and field championships
open Friday at the University of
Windsor.
30
The association that encom-
passes Lambton, Kent and Essex
40 counties as well as Windsor boasts
44 top seeds in the 99 events for
50 able-bodied athletes, based on
performances at the three associ-
ation meets last week. WOSSAA,
60
which is comprised of TVRAA
70
The outstanding
80 Mother Teresa
duo of Gregory MacNeill
90
and Alysha Newman will
100 dominate the senior boys’
110-metre hurdles and
junior girls’ pole vault,
respectively.
and Huron-Perth, has the top
seed in 31 events while CWOSSA,
which stretches from Tobermory
to Long Point, leads the way in 23,
with one tie between WOSSAA
and CWOSSA.
SWOSSAA’s edge is heavily
on the boys’ side, with 32 of the
50 top seeds. WOSSAA has only
eight (none in junior), while
CWOSSA has 10. WOSSAA leads
on the girls’ side with 23½, fol-
lowed by CWOSSA with 13½ and
SWOSSAA with 12.
In top seeds by age group,
SWOSSAA leads in three of the
four boys’ divisions (eight in
midget, a whopping 13 in junior
and 10 in senior), WOSSAA is the
best in midget girls (eight) and
junior girls (9½), while CWOSSA
leads only in senior girls (seven
n fc london
to WOSSAA’s six). SWOSSAA
and CWOSSA split both open
divisions.
But while WOSSAA may not
have quantity in terms of top
seeds, it certainly has quality as
six athletes’ results from the asso-
ciation meet last week equalled
or surpassed last year’s OFSAA-
winning time, height or distance.
The outstanding Mother Ter-
esa duo of Gregory MacNeill
and Alysha Newman will dom-
inate the senior boys’ 110-metre
hurdles and junior girls’ pole
vault, respectively, as both set
Canadian interscholastic marks
(13.21 seconds and 3.89 metres)
at the WOSSAA meet.
As well, Oakridge’s Nicole
Setterington bettered last year’s
OFSAA gold in the midget girls’
long jump with her 5.33-metre
leap at WOSSAA, while Nicole
Horneman of Medway did the
same in midget girls’ shot put
(11.14 metres).
Two Woodstock CI high jump-
ers are on course for OFSAA gold
as well. Branden Wilhelm did
2.12 metres at WOSSAA to sur-
pass his OFSAA-winning jump of
2.08 in 2009, while Alyssa Bickle’s
1.60 in junior girls has her tied
for the top seed going into this
weekend’s meet. Jake Williams of
Northern has tied last year’s jun-
ior boys’ OFSAA-winning jump
of 1.95 metres with his SWOSSAA
win last week.
Another athlete with local
ties should be making his mark.
Jordan Young, a former St. Joe’s
student now attending Wind-
sor Massey, threw 55.34 metres
in senior boys’ discus at the
SWOSSAA meet, putting him on
OFSAA gold pace.
The top four in each event
advance to the OFSAA cham-
pionships June 3-5 at TD Water-
house Stadium as the provincial
meet returns to London for the
first time since 1966.
steve.green@sunmedia.ca
100 hurdles 14.19 14.97 13.96 13.69 80 hurdles 12.07 12.49 12.70 11.92
300 hurdles 43.92 42.20 42.35 40.70 300 hurdles 47.57 48.07 50.20 44.37
4x100 relay 47.57 47.30 47.88 44.51 4x100 relay 51.73 51.54 50.64 50.15
From Page B1
High jump 1.68 1.76 1.75 1.83 High jump 1.59 1.48 1.55 1.60
“And when you’re building
Long jump 5.82 5.76 5.85 6.37 Long jump 5.33 4.74 4.87 5.25
something, it’s hard to go out and
Triple jump 12.15 12.53 12.99 13.56 Triple jump 10.79 10.53 10.55 11.00 say you’re going to win a cham-
Pole vault 3.32 2.65 2.90 3.56 Pole vault (a) (a) (a) (a) pionship right off. But you make
Shot put 13.77 13.49 13.29 15.39 Shot put 11.14 9.39 9.18 11.07 the playoffs first and anything
can happen, so that’s our goal.”
Discus 43.50 40.64 42.94 48.37 Discus 26.30 27.87 26.63 35.66
Goals were hard to come by
Javelin 48.04 52.59 37.81 51.96 Javelin 30.83 34.47 27.44 40.42
this past Sunday in City’s season-
Junior
opening 3-0 road loss to the Italia
WOSSAA SWOSSAA CWOSSA OFSAA GOLD WOSSAA SWOSSAA CWOSSA GOLD Shooters. Zimmermann, who
100 11.33 11.40 11.24 10.77 100 12.40 12.86 12.71 11.94 just arrived Thursday, didn’t play
the whole match and Griffiths is
200 23.40 22.11 22.70 21.72 200 26.02 25.96 26.47 24.99
still whipping himself back into
400 53.32 49.09 50.76 50.17 400 58.86 1:01.95 59.71 56.37
full-game shape.
800 2:04.33 1:57.36 2:00.31 1:55.67 800 2:23.54 2:24.14 2:18.64 2:16.67 Loague scored 15 goals in the
1,500 4:25.00 4:08.63 4:12.87 3:55.38 1,500 4:57.81 5:01.38 4:53.38 4:40.09 league two years ago. Will he add
some firepower to the lineup at
3,000 9:35.69 9:30.13 9:37.75 8:39.06 3,000 10:35.18 11:27.61 11:02.39 10:17.85
some point?
100 hurdles 15.69 14.19 14.23 13.90 80 hurdles 11.80 12.74 12.43 11.44
“I’ll have my uniform on under
300 hurdles 42.53 39.22 40.19 39.71 300 hurdles 44.88 47.34 49.47 43.28 my jacket,” Loague said.
4x100 relay 46.36 44.56 46.01 44.20 4x100 relay 51.93 52.40 53.19 49.68 “With it being a tribute year
to Harry, I couldn’t see myself
High jump 1.77 1.95 1.80 1.95 High jump 1.60 1.53 1.60 1.60
not coming back and playing.
Long jump 6.21 6.30 6.05 6.42 Long jump 5.26 5.04 4.84 5.69 He did a lot for me. But I want to
Triple jump 12.63 12.76 12.95 13.54 Triple jump 10.46 10.37 11.17 11.77 see what other guys can do, espe-
Pole vault 3.35 3.20 4.12 3.70 Pole vault 3.89 2.50 2.30 3.26 cially early in the season. I can
Shot put 16.39 16.86 13.51 17.95 Shot put 10.46 10.24 9.89 11.70 see maybe playing 20 minutes
or so in a game if we need a goal
Discus 49.17 50.19 43.59 70.79 Discus 29.97 31.11 27.56 36.76 badly at some point.”
Javelin 51.65 58.86 47.55 69.28 Javelin 30.98 34.14 43.33 38.60 Gauss and Loague made a
Senior huge talent search this past fall
WOSSAA SWOSSAA CWOSSA OFSAA GOLD WOSSAA SWOSSAA CWOSSA GOLD and winter.
100 10.92 11.04 10.91 10.54 100 12.53 12.88 12.57 11.94
“I sold the league,”  Loague
said.
200 21.75 21.74 22.82 20.99 200 26.60 24.85 25.90 24.28 “Guys wanted to come to play
400 50.06 49.71 51.08 47.77 400 58.58 55.89 59.36 56.01 against the best talent in Canada.
800 1:57.12 1:55.53 1:57.46 1:53.21 800 2:18.41 2:15.25 2:19.13 2:08.26 That’s why I had come back, to
test myself at this level. With that
1,500 4:01.93 3:59.17 4:08.17 3:45.57 1,500 4:51.76 4:41.42 4:53.64 4:28.36
and the sanctions from FIFA, it’s
3,000 8:52.73 8:35.54 8:57.55 8:19.21 3,000 11:05.02 10:38.95 10:44.02 9:58.30
moving forward. You’re going
110 hurdles 13.21 15.35 14.42 13.36 100 hurdles 14.39 15.79 14.35 13.81
to get exposure in this league.
400 hurdles 56.01 57.46 57.35 54.76 400 hurdles 1:05.92 1:03.13 1:04.31 1:02.09 People are watching and it’s a
4x100 relay 44.13 43.65 43.93 42.50 4x100 relay 50.29 51.41 50.46 48.51 good opportunity.
“In this league, you have teams
High jump 2.12 1.86 1.90 2.08 High jump 1.62 1.57 1.70 1.70
with guys who’ve played three,
Long jump 7.04 6.58 6.36 7.33 Long jump 5.37 5.12 5.10 5.69
four, five years together,” Loague
Triple jump 13.76 14.08 13.98 15.16 Triple jump 10.82 10.85 11.43 12.76 said.
Pole vault 3.55 4.51 4.40 4.45 Pole vault 3.45 2.80 3.07 3.56 “We don’t have that yet. I saw
in our first game some things we
Shot put 14.38 16.61 14.85 18.50 Shot put 11.74 11.19 11.18 12.36
have to work on. We’ll go from
Discus 38.75 55.43 48.43 54.35 Discus 36.46 37.47 36.12 41.72
there, but I wish we were just
Javelin 52.58 53.57 52.66 63.34 Javelin 39.12 38.94 36.00 42.25 starting to play exhibition games
Open now.
“But we have a lot of potential
WOSSAA SWOSSAA CWOSSA OFSAA GOLD WOSSAA SWOSSAA CWOSSA GOLD
there. You can see that.” For now,
4x400 relay 3:30.99 3:20.19 3:34.02 3:20.94 4x400 relay 4:03.13 4:08.21 4:02.63 3:55.14
the only constants are Friday
steeplechase 6:12.60 6:01.54 5:57.88 5:49.00 steeplechase 5:28.68 5:15.63 5:21.00 4:55.92
night home games at 8:40 p.m.
(a) — compete with junior girls NOTE: Able-bodied events only; not all associations have competitors in each disabled event. at Cove Road Field. That never
changes.
“The field at the German-
Canadian club, we’ve had a good

With the gang all here, chemistry comes into play

From Page B1
Now, they’re all-for-one in
London. And clearly, there’s
some early chemistry at play.
“We’re working together well
as a team so far,” Holmes said.
“There aren’t any bad players
in the PDL. That’s the thing you
notice right away. You just get
yourself open and someone will
find you with a pass.”
That’s Holmes’ forte.
Counting exhibitions, he has
scored four of FC’s past five goals.
This was a team looking for a
go-to guy or two after Kevin Zim-
mermann joined London City of
the Canadian Soccer League.
n harness racing
There aren’t any bad players in the PDL. That’s the
thing you notice right away. You just get yourself
open and someone will find you with a pass.
Luke Holmes
“I’m not a big guy (only 5-foot-
7) so instead of winning balls in
the air and such, I try to do other
things,” Holmes said. “You try
to be clever out there, a bit cute.
Anything 18 yards or so out, that’s
where I want to get myself into a
good position to score.
“But it’s everyone. We have
four strikers who can all get the
job done. It’s a good team effort.
one from the U.S. as roommates,”
he said, “and when we’ve dis-
cussed June 12 (when England
and the U.S. play in the World
Great coaches. Great atmos-
phere. We’re looking forward to
seeing what we can do with this
group.”
So far, so good on the together-
ness front.
Except, Bibby acknowledged,
when it comes to that big soccer
tournament next month in South
Africa.
“There’s three English lads and
Cup), he (the American) doesn’t
have a lot of fun.”
ryan.pyette@sunmedia.ca
HOME SCHEDULE
Friday, May 28: vs. Toronto Lynx,
7:30 p.m. at TD Waterhouse
Stadium
Friday, June 18: vs. Chicago Fire,
7:30 p.m. at Marconi Club
Sat., June 26: vs. Indiana Invaders,
7:30 p.m. at Cove Road Field
Thurs., July 1: vs. Michigan Bucks,
7 p.m. at TD Waterhouse Stadium
Friday, July 9: vs. Dayton Dutch
Lions, 7:30 p.m. at TD Waterhouse
Stadium
Sat., July 17: vs. Cincinnati Kings,
7:30 p.m. at Portuguese Club
Tues., July 20: vs. Kalamazoo
Outrage, 7:30 p.m. at TD
Waterhouse Stadium
Friday, July 23: vs. Cleveland
Internationals, 7:30 p.m. at TD
Waterhouse Stadium
relationship there for 40 years,
and I don’t think I’ve ever seen it
in such good shape as it is right
now,” Gauss said. “We’re on Rog-
ers (Television) again this year.
Our name is out there more than
it’s ever been. We have great
sponsorship.” And above all else,
that old element of surprise.
The history of this club is if
anything can happen, it will.
And maybe this time, this year,
it will end up being something
magical.
ryan.pyette@sunmedia.ca
twitter.com/ryanpyette
CITY HOME SCHEDULE
Kickoff at 8:40 p.m. at Cove Road
Field)
Friday, May 28: vs TFC Academy
Friday, June 4: vs. Brantford
Galaxy
Friday, June 11: vs. Serbian White
Eagles

Dave Miller will handle favoured Won The West in the Pace
From Page B1 job to win, although it wasn’t by
“I think in a big race like this, much.
some of the guys can try to over- “But that’s why you might see
drive a bit,” said McNair, who will a longshot do well in this one. I
start from the three-hole with don’t know what’ll happen this
time, but I think it should be
Stonebridge Terror. “I remem-
ber last year a couple of real good, fast racing.”
live horses got locked in. I was Megens isn’t in the Pace this
year. Stormaway suffered an
behind Mark (MacDonald with
Clowns Smile) and the horse just injury at Georgian Downs last
stopped. Jody (Jamieson) got July and had to be euthanized.
boxed in, too, and Dan did a good “That’s the reality of
this,” Henry said. “You deal with
it all the time.”
Dave Miller qualified two
horses during the elims and will
handle favoured Won The West.
“Dave has the best horse going
in,” Henry said.
But lately in the Pace, that
hasn’t meant that much.
It always helps, as Wednes-
day’s Western Fair Wall of Fame
inductees Rose Battin, Terry Kerr
and Don McElroy can attest, to
have a good driver.
McElroy won the Pace three
times in his career: with Armbro
La Bamba (1995), Hogans Heroes
(1996) and Intrepid Seelster
(2001). Kerr won it in 2002 with
Park Place and Battin won with
Cams Fortune in 1997.
ryan.pyette@sunmedia.ca
twitter.com/ryanpyette
2010 MOLSON PACE
Purse: $312,000
When: Friday night at Western Fair
Raceway. Racing starts at 7:05
p.m.; Pace race post time set for
10:04 p.m.
Friday, July 2: vs. North York Astros
Friday, July 16: vs. Italia Shooters
Friday, July 23: vs. Portugal FC
Friday, Aug. 6: vs. St. Catharines
Wolves
Friday, Aug. 20: vs. Toronto Croatia
Friday, Sept. 3: vs. Brampton Lions
Friday, Sept. 10: vs. FC Hamilton
Croatia
Friday Sept. 17: vs. Montreal
Impact Academy
Friday, Sept. 25: vs. Milltown FC