The Galveston Daily News from Galveston, Texas • Page 13

Bl Applause, B6 TV listings, B7 Comics, B8 Our Faith, B9-12 DAILY NEWS Saturday March 13,1999 FEEDBACK: Call Sports Editor Matt Young at (409) 683-5242 or (800) 561-3611, Ext. 5242 Umpires challenge on strike zone, Cuba NEW YORK Baseball umpires, once again angry at owners, filed grievances Friday to block the new interpretation of the strike zone and to prevent the American League from sending them to Cuba for Baltimore's historic exhibition game. The grievance with the strike zone deals with a memorandum issued Feb. 19 by Sandy Alderson, the new executive vice president of baseball operations. Responding to complaints that umpires have lowered and widened the strike zone, Alderson told them to raise the top of the strike zone to two inches above the top of the uniform pants.

That's still below the definition called for in the official playing rules midpoint between the top of the shoulders and the top of the uniform pants. "In a misguided edict attempting to raise the strike zone, the commissioner's office in fact substantially lowered the zone and has done so in direct violation of the Major League Agreement, which requires a two-thirds vote of the rules committee," said a statement issued by the office of umpires union head Richie Phillips. The Associated Press Today's sports on TV: Auto racing Noon NASCAR: Yellow Freight 300, ESPN. Noon NASCAR: Rnal practice for Cracker Barrel 500, ESPN2 (taped event). Basketball 9 11 a.m.

NCAA tournament, CBS. 1 p.m. NCAA tournament, CBS. 3:30 p.m. NCAA tournament, CBS.

ffi 4 p.m. High school: Texas boys state tournament, FoxSW. 6 p.m. NCAA tournament, CBS. 8 p.m.

High school: Texas boys state tournament, FoxSW. 8:30 p.m. NCAA women's tournament, ESPN2. 11 p.m. NCAA women's tournament.

ESPN2. 12:30 p.m. Sunday High school: Texas boys state tournament. FoxSW (taped event). Golf 8 a.m.

European Tour: Turespana Masters Open Andalucia, TGC. 2 p.m. PGA: The Honda Classic, NBC. 0 5 p.m. Senior PGA: Toshiba Classic, ESPN.

Horse racing 4:30 p.m. Thoroughbred: Florida Derby, ABC. 4:30 p.m. Thoroughbred: San Felipe Stakes, ESPN2. Soccer 5 2:30 p.m.

Mexico vs. U.S. Men's National Team, ABC. Swimming 6 p.m. Big 12 men's championships, FoxSW.

Tennis 6 2 p.m. Nuveen Tour, FoxSW. 3 p.m. Evert Cup, ESPN. 11 p.m.

Newsweek Champions Cup. ESPN2 (taped event). Game time: TODAY Whitecaps baseball 0 San Jacinto College-North at Galveston, 1 p.m. (doubleheader) Whitecaps softball Moraine Valley at Galveston, noon (doubleheader) Baseball 9 Clear Creek at Deer Park tournament, TBA Clear Creek JV, Texas City JV, Ball High JV, Ball High sophomore Purple, Ball High sophomore Gold at Galveston tournament, TBA Ball High at Brazoswood tournament, TBA f) Hitchcock at Hitchcock tournament, TBA Texas City vs. Nederland, 8 p.m.

at Texas City tournament, TBA Texas City sophomores at Dickinson tournament, TBA Softball Texas City at Alvin tournament, TBA Texas City JV Orange and Black at Dickinson tournament, TBA Ball High at Alvin tournament, TBA High school coaches are asked to call The Dally News to update Game Time Information. The sports department can be reached by calling (409) 683-5242 or (800) 561-3611, Ext. 5242. Schedules can be malted to P.O. Box 628, Galveston, TX 77553.

Pro hockey league considers La Marque franchise The Galveston Hornets won the Texas Amateur Athletic Federation Division II boys 12-and-under state title last year. The Hornets also won the regional title. The Texas City Bears won the state consolation title. We make every effort to ensure the accuracy of the Information we report, and It Is our policy to correct errors promptly. Readers may bring mistakes to our attention by telephone at (409) 744-3611 or (800) 561-3611 or by fax at (409) 740-3421.

LA MARQUE The Western Professional Hockey League is a minor league with a handful of teams in Texas cities. By JOEY D. RICHARDS The Daily News Are the football-crazy fans in La Marque ready for ice hockey? The Western Professional Hockey League thinks so. League officials are looking at the possibility of fielding a team in La Marque for the 2000-2001 season, if a facility can be built. "We are interested and committed to being in La Marque," said Alan Weiss, director of franchise development for the WPHL.

Weiss, speaking by phone from the league's office in Phoenix, said the league still was studying whether a team would be profitable in the area, but he-believes the only holdup would be finding a place to play. He said the league was working with the city of La Marque and potential ownership groups to help finance an arena. "We're looking at the potential of building an arena," Weiss said. "We feel the area is a solid area. We think the draw would be there.

It's really just crossing the t's and dotting all the i's." The multi-purpose arena would not be anything like Houston's Compaq Center, which seats for basketball and ice hockey. Instead, Weiss said, it would seat roughly 7,000 for ice hockey and 10,000 for other events, such as concerts. Weiss said the WPHL wouldn't help with any of the costs of building the arena, but it is involved in all talks and planning for a potential arena. The league is doing the same thing in the Rio Grande Valley with the city of Hidalgo. Steve Cherwonak, director of media relations for the WPHL, said Hidalgo was the first city the WPHL had actively worked with in an attempt to build an arena.

La Marque would be the second. If successful, Cherwonak said, Hidalgo and La Marque would both enter the league in the 2000 season. See 83 Friday's results EAST REGIONAL Tennessee 62, Delaware 52 SW Mo. St. 43, Wisconsin 32 9 Duke 99, Florida 58 Tulsa 62, C.

of Charles. 53 Cincinnati 72, G. Mason 48 61, Kent 54 Miami 75, Lafayette 54 Purdue 72, Texas 70 MIDWEST REGIONAL UNCC 81, R. Island 70, OT Oklahoma 61, Arizona 60 Mich. St.

76, Mt St Mary's 53 Mississippi 72, Villanova 70 Utah 80, Arkansas State 58 Miami, Oh. 59, Washington 58 Kansas 95, Evansville 74 Kentucky 82, New Mex. 60 Second round Today's games SOUTH REGIONAL Auburn vs. Oklahoma State Ohio State vs. Detroit St.

John's vs. Indiana Maryland vs. Creighton WEST REGIONAL vs. New Mexico Arkansas vs. Iowa Stanford vs.

Weber State vs. Rorida Sunday's games EAST REGIONAL Duke vs. Tulsa Mo. SL Cincinnati vs. Temple Miami vs.

Purdue MIDWEST REGIONAL Oklahoma vs. N.C. Charlotte Michigan St. vs. Mississippi Utah vs.

Miami, Ohio Kentucky vs. Kansas Note: TV coverage begins at 11 a.m. All games on KHOU Oklahoma No. 64 no more Sooners go from last team picked to disputed win The Associated Press MILWAUKEE Four times this decade Lute Olson and his Arizona Wildcats have strutted into the NCAA tournament as one of the.tpp five seeds. And four times they've been sent packing in the first round by a far lowlier team.

The latest one might be the toughest to swallow, though. Oklahoma's 61-60 upset of the fourth-seeded Wildcats at the Midwest Regional on Friday came on a tip-in from Ryan Humphrey with 21 seconds left that may or may not have been offensive goaltending. "He did touch the ball, but that's just something that happens," Arizona's Jason Terry said. "It was definitely goaltending, but it wasn't called, so I guess not." Adding to the pain was the fact that the Sooners were the last team selected to the tournament. After Eric Martin missed a 3- pointer for Oklahoma (21-10), Eduardo Najera followed with a layup attempt.

While Najera says his shot was good, Humphrey admits he got a hand on it, and it was Humphrey who got credit for the basket in the official play-byplay. "It was coming out and I might have had a fingertip on it," Humphrey said. "As long as we won, that's the only thing that matters." That's not going to be much consolation to Arizona (22-7). The Wildcats had enough time to win the game, but lerry missed a fallaway 10-footer with about three seconds See B4 A Oklahoma's Eric Martin and coach Kelvin Sampson celebrate in the closing minutes of a 61-60 upset win over Arizona in a first-round game of the NCAA Midwest Regional on Friday at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. (AP) A Oklahoma's Ryan Humphrey tips in the controversial game-winning shot in the final seconds of play against Arizona.

(AP) Santa Fe nulls out to jig win Santa Fe and La Marque opened the District 2S4A softbali season with an extra-inning barn burner. By JOEY D.RICHARDS The Daily News SANTA FE Come crunch time, the Santa Fe Indians sparkled in the field and at the plate. Sami Sullivan drove in Allison Rouse with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Santa Fe Indians edged the La Marque Cougars in the District 23- 4A softball opener for both teams. The Indians rallied to tie the game at 3-3 on Marlayna Polinard's two-out RBI single in the third inning, which chased home Brandy Polinard. The game remained tied after the regulation seven innings.

Santa Fe made three errors in the game, but La Marque failed to capitalize on any of them. In the final two extra innings, the Indians came up with some outstanding defensive plays to thwart La Marque. In the eighth inning, La Marque's Rasheedah Hameed tripled with one out. Sarah Holt then lifted a fly ball to shallow left field, and Hameed tagged up and tried to score on the play. Santa Fe leftfielder Darbi Blankenship, however, fired a bullet to catcher Brandy Polinard to gun down Hameed at the plate.

In the ninth, La Marque's Martha Rac doubled with two outs. Santa Fe second baseman Katie Harwick, moving to her right, then robbed Nikki Gonsoulin of a potential RBI single to throw out Gonsoulin at first to end the top of the inning. Santa Fe scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning to lead 2-0. P.D. Gregory and Brandy Polinard both singled and scored on Morgan's single up the middle.

La Marque scored three runs in the second to go ahead 3-2. Rac and Davina Williams opened the inning with singles. Jessica Uriquiaga had a one-out RBI single, and Holt followed with a two-run double. Gregory, Santa Fe's starting pitcher, went the distance for the victory. She scattered eight hits, struck out five and walked two.

Rac pitched all nine innings for La Marque and took the loss. She gave up 11 hits, struck out eight and walked none. jfaarity ends at home against San On Wednesday, the Galveston College baseball team kept up with one of the best junior college programs in the nation before giving the game away in the ninth. By JOEY D. RICHARDS The Daily News GALVESTON For eight innings Wednesday night, the Galveston College Whitecaps went toe to toe with one of the best junior college baseball programs in the nation.

Then, in the ninth, Galveston gave the game away. Three walks helped San Jacinto rally for four runs in the ninth en route to a 7-6 victory over the Whitecaps in a Region XTV South Zone game at Tbrs-Whitecaps Field. "The kids thought they had it in hand," Whitecaps head coach Charlie Corbell said. "San Jacinto took it from us, but we helped their cause Update Record: 14-6 overall, 10-3 conference. Next game: 1 p.m.

today (DH) vs. San Jacinto (20-2, 12-1) at Tornado-Whitecaps Reid. Radio: KGBC-AM, 1540. with walks. That was my big disappointment.

We walked three with a three-run lead." The loss spoiled a nice performance by Whitecaps pitcher Rob Moreno, who made his first start of the season. Moreno, the team's top closer, didn't even know he would start until 45 minutes before game time. Whitecaps ace Mike Fleniken was scheduled to start but couldn't throw because of soreness in his arm. Moreno gave up two earned runs on nine hits in eight innings of work and walked two and struck out 11. However, relievers Phillip Tribe, Gary Schulz and Tim Bradley couldn't get the job done in the ninth.

Two walks by Tribe and a walk by Schulz proved to be the killers. Take away those walks, and Corbell believes the Whitecaps win the game. "I would bet that they're not going to get six hits to drive in six runs before we get three outs," he said. Corbell hopes Fleniken (4-1), who has been dominating in winning four consecutive games, will be able to start the second game of today's doubleheader. lerry Spencer will pitch the first game.

If the Whitecaps get into trouble today, then Jason Thornhill, Justin Crowder and 'IVibe will have to step up and get the job done. Corbell said he might even have to use Ball High grad Nick Lankford, who has not pitched this season. Those guys are going to have to pitch and pitch well if we're going to See B5.