The San Bernardino County Sun from San Bernardino, California • Page 29

C-3 Tuesday. Auo 7. 1084 Th Sun 1 DlyBnpies 84 1 US. baseball team gets by amateur champs 5-2 ed by the US, pitching staff in the tourna tv Dan Hawkins with Flavio Alfaro. who had singled, on board.

The 5 foot 0 McDowell, often compared to Joe Morgan, drilled a 32 fastball deep Into the right field pavilion for his third home run of the tournament to give the US. a 20 lead. The Koreans got one back In the fourth after Iav reached base safely on a throwing error by third baseman Cory Snyder. He ended up at second and scored on a single by Kim Yong Kuk when he ran through his coach's sign to hold at third. South Korea tied the game.

2 2, when Lo SoonChul. who carried a .183 tourney batting average to the plate, hit a solo home run with two outs In the fifth Into the left-field stands. It is the only earned run allow day, for the gold medal In the Olympic demonstration tournament. 'That gold ours." said winning U.S. pitcher Don August.

"It'll take an army to take It away from us." Alas. Japan Is only allowed 20 players the same number Korea, the defending World Amateur Champions, brought Monday before a sellout croud of 54.521. bring ing the seven-day total to The South Koreans actually outhlt the Americans. IM. But on a day when their power almost deserted them, the Americans showed some pew versatilty particularly in outfielder Oddibe McDowell.

The Scott Bankhead and Oh Myo-ng Lok were locked In a scoreless pitching duel when McDowell came up in the third By STEVE DILBECK Sun Spofl WfHtf LOS ANGELES Head coach Rod Do-deaux like to call his S. Olympic baseball team the "Young Yanks." It's got such a ring to It and all. Sort of catchy. Yet despite their relative youth, there has been much pressure on the kids. Observers have called them the best U.S.

amateur team err. Twelve of the first 17 players drafted by the major leagues last June are on this team. And now after its S2 win over South Korea at Dodger Stadium Monday, the VS. squad finds Itself with an opportunity to make such a claim. Tonight at 7 JO the VS.

will meet Japan, a 21 inner in 10 Innings over Taiwan Mon ment Inningsi. "Hey. our pitchers are bulldogs -r no puppy dogs," said S. pitching coat John Swlmos. "Our hitting wasn't what we would have liked." Dedeaux said.

"But we executed well to make up for our lack of power," But thenMcDowell again led the way when he walked to open the sixth and stole second. Chris Gwvnn single up the middle scored McDowell to break the deadlock. Oh walked Will Clark and struck out struggling Mark McGwire, but the runners were going on the pitch and pulled off a double steal. Snyder made it pay by doubling In both runs to give the S. Its 5-2 lead.

U.S. poloists struggle to beat Holland, 8-7 1 4 "He has a slow delivery, and he sets his shots up beautifully." Nitkowskl said, lied get Craig to commit to one side or the other and then place the ball perfectly. That's what experience does for you." Wilson, however, got the better of Buunk when It counted most, deflecting his final shot, a 15 footer from the right wing, with 42 seconds to play. Nineteen seconds later, he thwarted the Netherlands' last scoring chance, smothering a straightaway 20-footer by Stan Van Bdkum. "Our five-man defense was probably what won It for us." Nitzkowski said.

"We did not store well from the perimeter, and they shut down our counterattack (similar to a fast break in basketball). But we did play good defense. In the five man situations we forced them to take the shots from where we wanted them to take them." The Americans got three goals from hole man Terry Schroeder, two from Andrew McDonald and one each from Jody Campbell, Gary Figueroa and John Siman. But they got none from anyone in the last 9:49. "We got a little conservative," Jon Svendsen said.

"When you're up by two goals going into the fourth quarter, you're trying not to do anything to turn the ball over and give the other team a chance for an easy goal off the counterattack." The U.S. continues championship-round play today with a game against Australia. The Americans face their toughest obstacles to the gold medal. West Germany and Yugoslavia, on Thursday and Friday, By MIKE DAMS Sun Siwm W'iIW MALIBU The S. waler hIo team got a scare Monday from a team that wasn't supposed to be all that ary.

The unbeaten Americans, favored to win the gold medal, opened championship-round play with a surprisingly difficult 8-7 victory over the Netherlands at Runnels Pool on the Peppcrdine University campus. The victory moved the U.S. Into a tie with Yugoslavia atop the championship-round standings, each 1th four point-. Against a Dutch team they had beaten 115 In a preOlympic tournament at Budapest, Hungary, earlier this year, the Americans built an 8-5 lead in the third period, then went scoreless for the final 9:49. To earn the win.

they had to survive a fourth-quarter power play in which the Dutch had a six-on four man advantage (two U.S. players were out serving major fouls), and needed two clutch saves by goalie Craig Wilson in the final minute. "The U.S. team played us much better in Budapest," Dutch coach Denes Pocsik said. "Here there is much pressure; everyone expects them to win the gold medal.

That is probably why they played the way they did today." "We were tense." U.S. coach Monte Nitzkowski admitted. Toughest of the Dutchmen was team captain Tony Buunk. a four-time Olympian who scored five of their goals. Crossing up Wilson repeatedly, the 31-year-old veteran missed just two shots.

"It was very easy," he said. "The goalkeeper gave me one corner of the net every time." T. AP wlrpht U.S. synchronized swimmers Tracie Ruiz, left, and Candy Costie perform Monday. New sport's in sync with Games Synchronized Synchronized swimming Synchronized swimming, which became an organized competitive sport in the 1950s, will premiere In the 1984 summer Olympics with a duet event.

Finally, ABC gives us nil of the Games Don't look now, but ADC Is acting like the All Olympics Broadcasting Company the very behavior that has built its reputation as the premier sports network. It helped, to say the least, that some countries other than the United States made their marks. It also helps now that gymnastics and swimming are ovor. But after the International Olympic Committee protested Friday and a reported memo on Journalistic guidelines was shot to an-nouncers, ABC's coverage changed markedly. We actually got to hear the Chinese national anthem.

We actually saw Yugoslavia play team handball and Australia play field hockey. (Both beat U.S. teams.) And we saw a rare non U.S. matchup, in women's volleyball, China vs. Japan.

(China won.) At long last, ABC has welcomed the world. Or at least left the door open. If homerism detracted from ABC's coverage of the Olympics, the Soviet-bloc boycott has not. The network has taken pains to point out bow missing athletes affect the competition. The Soviet athletes surely are hurt by the boycott, and the Games themselves may suffer, but strangely enough we're seeing something entirely new: China's re-emergence on the world sports scene.

In fact, we may be seeing the future face of the Games. One coach has been quoted as saying that a Chinese-American rivalry (friendly, we hope) may come to dominate the Olympics because "that's where the biggest gene pools are." Too bad the Big Red Machine isn't around for this tuneup. One thing that's not going well is studio interviews. Though ABC won rights to the Games in competition, it looks like they don't know what to do with the emba-rassment of riches in access to athletes. The best question posed so far was Donna de Varona's to the Swiss marathoner, Gabriele An-dersen-Scheiss, who finished the marathon with heat prostration: Did she think officials had a moral obligation to stop a stumbling, disoriented runner from finishing? Andersen-Scheiss' reply was indirect understandable.

Otherwise, the interviews Mary Lou and Mr. and Mrs. Ret-ton, or Edwin and Maryella Moses have been cozy family chats. The best stuff on the thrill of victory has come out of the general press conferences. STARS AND STOOGES: Unheralded announcer Al Trautwig has been doing yeoman's work on the minor sports like judo and team handball.

Trautwig navigates the rules of the sport and the unfamiliar names ith ease. Sure, it's part of the job, but hy does Jack Whitaker (who'll be doing diving this week), keep plowing over his colleagues to tout upcoming events? ABC's self-promotion already is a little extreme Al Michaels has to be the best journalist among ABC announcers. He's quick and fair in calling the races. ABC may not seek TV rebate Associated Press NEW YORK Midway through the Summer Olympics, ABC's ratings are very close to levels projected before the Soviet-led boycott, and a network executive said Monday that ABC may waive the issue of a rebate on its $225 million rights payment to the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee. Before the Soviets announced their withdrawal from the Los Angeles Games last May, ABC based their advertising rates on an estimated average prime-time rating of 25.

As of last Thursday, the last day the A.C. Nielsen Co. reported national figures, ABC was averaging a 24 rating at night. A rating measures the percentage of the nation's 83.8 million TV homes watching a particular broadcast. "If the ratings continue to go the way they are, the whole thing (the fee reduction) may be moot," Tom Mackin, director of program information for the netw ork, said Monday.

"The ratings are excellent. It keeps building," said Mackin. Swiss runner takes 'easy' run day after dramatic marathon All competitors are female. Competitors are judged on their performance in six compulsory figures and a 4-mmute routine performed to music. Dolphin bent knee they left her out there.

Obviously, In the compulsory figures, judges look to see that each Dart of the exercise is clearly defined and in uniform motion and that the performance is slow, hiah and controlled. Two of the approximately 100 compulsory figures that may be selected are Catalina degree of difficulty 1 .9 and Catalina 3 Dolphin bent knee degree of difficulty 1.5. In the routines, judges look for correct execution of strokes and figures, the variety and difficulty of the routines, the interpretation of music and the synchronization of the swimmers with the muse and each other. By RACHEL SHUSTER Gannett News Service LOS ANGELES One day after staggering across the finish line of the women's marathon in a state of "severe dehydration," Switzerland's Gabrielle Andersen-Schiess said she would go out "for an easy run of 15 or 20 minutes and maybe a little swimming" after her Monday press conference. Swiss doctors pronounced her fully recovered.

Andersen said she was not in trouble until leaving the tunnel and entering the Coliseum for the final lap. "I remember in between (blacking out) the crowd trying to get me going," she said. "I was trying to relax more and gain control over my movements. But by that time, apparently, from the heat or whatever, I couldn't do that." She said could not judge whether doctors should have pulled her out, and her husband Dick also reacted ith mixed emotions. "My reaction was obviously biased," he said.

"Emotionally, I would have been glad to have seen her taken off the track. But knowing her, and how much she wanted to accomplish, I'm happy she's in good health. However, team doctor Bernard Segesser said he would have pulled her from the marathon if he had been allowed to. Team doctors were not permitted to do so during the race. "From the TV view I had, I was afraid about her," Segesser said.

"She was not able to control completely her movements." If it were not the Olympics. Andersen, 39, said she would have stopped. She has experienced such problems in marathons before, and thought she prepared enough for this one by taking "a lot of water. Apparently, it was not enough." As it is. pictures of her tortured ending to the marathon have embarrassed her so much, she almost wishes she was stopped.

"I saw one or two pictures in the paper, and I don't think I look very nice," she said. "It's hard for (me) to look at the pictures I've seen one real shot of a replay, and maybe later I will look at more. Right now it's still so close. In a couple of days I'll get over it, and then I'll look at it all." swimmer Ruiz wows crowd By DAVID LEON MOORE Gannett News Service LOS ANGELES This is a sport that has never been held in the Olympic Games before, but almost as soon as U.S. synchronized swimmers Tracie Ruiz and Candy Costie submerged themselves in the Olympic pool Monday, the capacity crowd was theirs.

They played it to the hilt, displaying to everyone one of their most important attributes charisma. One of their admirers in the stands was swimmer George Di-Carlo, who won the gold medal in the 400 meters last week but who came back to the pool as a spectator. "I wanted to see this for sure," he said. "How can you help but not like these girls?" Ruiz and Costie scored 98.40 points to take first place heading into Wednesday's compulso-ries and Thursday's duet final. Later in the week, Ruiz, a 21-year-old from Bothell, ill compete in the solo division, in which she is the reigning world champion and favored to win the gold.

Seemingly just as important to her, she's favored to reach out and grab the audience again. That, too, is her specialty. She's from the Mary Lou Retton School of Heartwarming. It's ironic, therefore, that Ruiz used to shut herself in her bedroom trying to win elementary school contests to see who could read the most books. Probably no one at the pool Monday could imagine she once was the kind of kid who runs into the kitchen hen company comes.

"I was really super, super studious in elementary school. I read so many books. I would go to the library and check them all out. I would challenge myself and see how many books I could read." Ruiz had "a couple of friends" in elementary school, but about the only thing that really brought her out was competition. She wanted to read more books than anyone.

She wanted to be the tetherball champion. Competitive, she was. Outgoing, she asn't. Bernier claims Canada's 1st diving gold; U.S. takes 2-3 caught dead not trying to establish eye contact with someone in the audience during her routine.

Her unusual beauty comes from her Hawaiian father and Norwegian mother "a nice combination, I think," she said and her surname from her Hispanic stepfather, a Chrysler mechanic in Seattle. She's the all-American girl in many respects. Despite her rigorous training schedule, she managed to find time in her senior year at Bot-hell High School to be a cheerleader. She had a boyfriend on the football team. And her steady boyfriend since December is Mike Conforto, a former Penn State football player who owns health clubs in Seattle.

"He's been very patient," she said. "As an athlete, he understands about dedication." For Ruiz, it's taken dedication and a lot more. Like learning that an audience was something to play to, not fear. She not only learned it, she perfected it, and made possible her golden dream. "It seems like everything is working out so well and I keep asking myself why is everything working out so well," she said.

"There's got to be a catch along the way somew here." There as. She overcame it. "I was always real competitive, but I was never put on the spot to perform in front of people," Ruiz said. It wasn't until she took up synchronized swimming, when she was 10 years old, that she began to emerge from her "painfully shy" stage. After gradually overcoming her stage fright, she found herself emoting in front of a crowd in a manner she never dreamed possible.

She's still not terribly outgoing out of the pool. She's "the strong, silent type, always under control," says Paula Oyer, executive director of U.S. Synchronized Sw imming. But in the pool, she's the maestro, in total control, orchestrating everything around her. This stage presence didn't just show up overnight.

"I used to just go through the motions in my routines," she said. "I would just do them and get out. I would never look up at the audience. "It took me so long to develop the confidence to be able to go out there and perform like you're No. 1 in the world.

That's been real hard for me to portray myself as that. I think I was afraid that everybody would think that I'm thinking I'm hot stuff." Now, Ruiz wouldn't be (tape player). But after my last dive I had an idea because I heard that Kelly needed a 70 (to win)." Bernier said she was "happy and proud to be the first Canadian to win a gold. It just feels great." The only previous medal Canada ever won in Olympic diving was a bronze medal in springboard by Irene MacDonald in 1956. Ironically, the gold medalist that year was Patty McCormick, Kelly's mother, who won four diving golds in the 1952 and 1956 Games.

Associated Press LOS ANGELES Sylvie Bernier won Canada's first gold medal in Olympic diving history Monday, holding the lead for the last eight rounds of the 10-dive finals to edge Kelly McCormick of Columbus, Ohio, by 3.24 points in women's springboard diving. Bernier was awarded 530.70 points to 527.46 for McCormick, who won the silver medal. Chris Seufert of Ann Arbor, posted the highest score in two days of competition on her last dive to hold on to third place with 517.62 points and in the bronze. "I never looked at the scoreboard," Bernier, 20, said. "I was listening to my Walkman More Olympics: C-5 and C-6.