Arizona Daily Star from Tucson, Arizona • Page 44

it Uht Affeana Bails Star Tucson, Wednesday, May 29, 1991 FIRST EDITION Scorecard 4D French Open 6D Classified ads 8D li. roving he is capable as reliever Capel Road to UA's Softball title Toros bring home their winning ways REPRINTED FROM YESTERDAY'S FINAL EDITION By Ron Somers The Arizona Dally Star For a while Monday night the Tucson Toros looked like the team that went 5-8 on Its last homestand rather than the team that just came off a 10-3 road trip. They trailed the Calgary Cannons by two runs until the clutch hitting and bullpen kicked in. Andujar Cedeno hit a two-run home run to tie the game in the sixth, Kenny Lofton delivered an RBI infield single in the eighth, Mike Capel (3-2) pitched three innings for the win, and Dean Wilkins pitched a perfect ninth for his sixth save in the Toros' 4-3 victory. The game drew the largest crowd, not only of the season, but of the last three years 8,280, according to Toros general manager Mike Feder.

The Toros had fallen behind 3-0 as starter Randy Hennis struggled with his control In the early Innings. Tucson scored its first run record and a 2.48 ERA, second best In the Pacific Coast League, and one save. But as with Wood's comments, Capel keeps things In perspective. "Things are going pretty well, but there's no telling what will happen the next day," he said. Such Is the life of a relief pitcher.

Today's save could be tomorrow's blown save. "Normally, I'm a slow starter. But I've been pitching on a regular basis, which helps a lot." Capel has appeared in 19 games, second on the Toros only to fellow reliever Dean Wilklns, who has pitched in 25. Capel, 29, signed with Houston as a free agent in January 1991. It was one of those situations where Capel wasn't sure he could help the Houston organization, and the Astros weren't sure he could help them.

"Houston had a lot of pitchers in camp, and I wasn't sure I could make the Triple-A club," he said. Wood said every winter there are scores of free agent pitchers available, and you never know when one of them might be the See CAPEL, Page4D 4 i I Blazers buck 3 Uh a ti ll if. 4: I ft 1 I ByRonSomers The Arizona Dally Star Mike Capel's boss watched him work Monday night. Houston Astros general manager Bill Wood saw Capel, a Tucson Toros reliever, pitch three innings, strike out four and earn the win In a 4-3 victory over the Calgary Cannons. What did the boss think? "He impressed me," Wood said before the Tucson Toros played host to the Calgary Cannons last night at Hi Corbett Field In the second game of a four-game series.

"He had good velocity on his fastball and good location on his slider." Wood's praise did not end there. "He's highly recognized by his teammates because of his gamesmanship. I'm anxious to see him the rest of the week." When told of Wood's comments, Capel smiled but did not exactly start packing for Houston. "I try not to even think about it," he said. "I don't make the decisions on player moves." Capel's statistics are Impressive a 3-2 -A- James Worthy of the Lakers uses his left 7 1 -f ir fe i -N vv 1.

I In the fifth on Gary Cooper's fielder's; choice. Then in the sixth, after Mike Simms' struck out, Javier Ortiz singled off Rick Balabon. Reliever Dave Richards came in, and his first pitch to Cedeno was a forkball. Cedeno hit it over the wall in leftf field to tie the score. He knew it was gonej and threw his arms into the air Immediately.

Earlier, he extended his hitting streak to a team-high 15 games with a triple. He went. 2-for-4 to raise his average to .353. "I've been trying to swing at good pitches," Cedeno said. That wasn't the case in his next at-bat, but it didn't matter.

With one out in the eighth' Ortiz singled, Cedeno struck out, Scott Ser vais was walked intentionally, and Mark McLemore drew an unintentional walk t6 load the bases for Lofton. He singled off the glove of shortstop Mike See TOROS, Page 4Q, Columnist says good riddance to Bad Boylsm. Page 6D. sprained his left ankle in the first quarter. He tried to return to the game but finally sat down for good with 9:34 to play.

Worthy said his ankle is tender, but won't keep him out of Game 6. However, team doctor Stephen Lombardo said the severity of the injury won't be clear until today. Kersey led five Blazers in double figures with 20 points and nine rebounds. Clyde Drexler added 19 points and Terry Porter 17, including 12 in the second half. Williams and reserve Cliff Robinson scored 1 3 apiece.

Magic Johnson scored 29 points and hit four three-pointers, but he was 3-for-14 from the field after making his first five shots. Vlade Divac added 14 points. Worthy, defended by Williams most of the time he was on the court, finished with 12 points, as did Sam Perkins. "It's not one person. Everybody got a bad grade," Johnson said of his team's performance.

With the Blazers using different matchups and with Worthy hobbling, the Lakers struggled on offense. The Blazers made it more difficult by setting a club playoff record for offensive rebounds. "We have to do a better job on the boards and figure out more ways to manufacture more points," Lakers coach Mike Dunleavy said. The Blazers, who trailed by as many as eight points in the first half, took control for good by "outscoring the Lakers 28-18 in an intense third quarter that featured five ties and three lead changes. By Bob Baum The Associated Press PORTLAND, Ore.

Buck Williams knew his season would not end last night. "I had my bags packed already," he said of the Portland Trail Blazers' 95-84 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 5 of their Western Conference final. "I knew we were going back to the Forum." Williams said he was as ready to play as he'd ever been after his team's embarrassing blowouts over the weekend. "I was just so disappointed in myself and disappointed in our team," he said. "We're a much better team than we've exhibited.

We had to get back to playing Trail Blazer basketball." Williams responded by pulling down 16 rebounds to lead a dominating Portland performance on the boards. The Lakers lead the best-of-seven series 3-2. "Buck was unbelievable," Portland coach Rick Adelman said. "He was everywhere." "Buck is an inspiration to this team," Jerome Kersey said. "You know he's always going to be around the ball.

I just hope he saved some energy for Thursday in Los Angeles." The Blazers had a 52-33 rebound advantage 26-9 on the offensive boards and Los Angeles committed 17 turnovers. Los Angeles can wrap up its eighth Western Conference title in 10 years and advance to the NBA Finals against Chicago with a victory tomorrow (6 p.m., Channel 4) at the Forum. But the Lakers may have to do it without James Worthy, who took many turns You never forget the first one, right? Isn't that what all the coaches and players say when they win a national The first one is the best. The memory Greg. Hansen never fades.

You ask Mike Candrea that question, and all you get are questions. Which national title, baseball or softball? And what year, 1976 or 1984? Or was it '85? And so you narrow It down so there can be no confusion. The first time Candrea coached Central Arizona College to the national junior college softball championship, 1984, how'd it go? Were you favored? Did you come out of the woodwork to surprise everyone? Where was It played? Do you make annual pilgrimages, go back to worship the spot of title No. "Well," Candrea was saying yesterday, the goose bumps from Arizona's 1991 NCAA softball championship still in need of a rubdown, "I remember we had to fly to Chicago to get there and then drive a ways. Let's see where was that place? Somewhere in Michigan So it must've been, uh oh, I remember.

Sure, it was in Rockford, 111." It's not that being a national champion is getting old to Candrea. Maybe you'd get the same feedback if you asked John Wooden where UCLA won its first NCAA title. Not unlike Wooden, Candrea has a ready answer for the next question: What do you do for an encore? "Win it again," he says without delay. 'The challenge is to do it again. You shouldn't get in this business if you aren't driven by the will to win the big one." He does not say this wishfully.

He says it with a why-of-course-we'll-win-it-again tone. Few coaches have won the Big One or been in the neighborhood as much as Candrea has. His first title came as an assistant baseball coach at Central Arizona in 1976, then as the head softball coach there in '84 and '85. (The Vaqueros were second in '82, and the UA has twice been third in the College World Series under Candrea.) The level of competition seems to make no difference: Candrea had a .731 winning percentage at CAC; at Arizona he's .729. Reconstruction projects have proved to be no problem.

For example, when Candrea replaced Paula Noel at the UA in 1986, he took charge of an operation that had gone 17-16 and 20-24 in its two most recent seasons. Hired late, just as school started on Aug. 21, 1985, Candrea didn't have time to do much about recruiting or scheduling. His first UA team played just four home games and had just 13 players on the roster. Yet he went 27-13, a gain of 10 victories.

By Candrea's third season, Arizona was 54-18, third in the nation, and it was clear that the Wildcat softball program wouldn't be settling for any intermediate goals. Candrea doesn't have to go far to find a new world to conquer. About a block from his office at McKale Center is a makeshift field that serves as the home of Wildcat softball. No lights. Room for maybe 500 spectactors if everyone squeezes close.

No parking. Arizona needs a stadium, and it needs one now to showcase what may be the best program in all of Cedric Dempsey's kingdom. "For the caliber of program we've got, yes, our facility needs to be improved," Dempsey says. "If we had lighting and promoted it right, it could turn into a profit center." As it is, the UA softball team operates on a budget of about $250,000, up more See HANSEN, Page 5D Scoreboard American League Red Sox 6, Yankees 2 Orioles 5, Indians 2 Athletics 8, Blue Jays 4 White Sox 6, Angels 5 Brewers 15, Tigers 2 Twins 3, Rangers Royals 6, Mariners 5 Roundup, Page 3D National League Phillies 12, Expos Mets 9, Cubs 8 Pirates 9. Cardinals 8 Braves 8, Padres 6 Giants 6, Reds 2 Dodgers 8, Astros 2 Roundup, Page 3D NBA playoffs Trail Blazers 95.

Lakers 84 i )) 1- The Associated Press hand to shoot over Jerome Kersey of the Blazers 6 Wildcats open today in NCAA track championships Staff report Six UA track performers begin competition in the NCAA championships today at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. The Wildcat 400-meter men's relay team, which finished second in the nation a year ago, will run In the preliminary heats at 8 p.m. However, Mark Olivier is injured (pulled leg muscle) and will not compete; Olivier was one of the four Wildcat runners who ran a school record 39.62 last year. Sophomore David Lockhart replaces Olivier and will run with 1990 regulars Michael Bates, Percy Knox and James Bullock. The 400-meter relay finals are Friday; the meet concludes Saturday night aries today at 5:45 p.m.

Bates runs the 100-meter heats tomorrow. Finals are Friday for the 100; Saturday for the 200. Bates was seventh in the NCAA 100 meters and sixth at 200 meters last year. Bullock is entered in the 100 meters preliminaries. Junior distance runner Marc Davis runs the trials tomorrow.

Finals are Saturday afternoon. Davis won the national championship in 1989; he red-shirted last year with an injury. Junior hammer thrower Claudio Garcia has qualifying tomorrow. Senior decathlete Rene Schmidheiny begins competition Friday. Arizona coach Dave Murray has nine team members at the meet The UA finished 17th in men's standings a year ago; the Wildcat women's team did not place.

This week's schedule: Senior Bridget Smyth, the Pac-10 champion at 1,500 and 3,000 meters, will run a preliminary for the 3,000 tonight Her 1,500 prelim is tomorrow. She is among the favorites to win the championship in each race. Freshman high jumper Tanya Hughes has qualifying competition today and finals Friday. Hughes won the 1991 NCAA Indoor championship and is among the favorites this week. Bates, a sophomore, runs the 200 meters prelimin Andretti denies helping son during Indy 500 By Steve Herman The Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS Mario Andretti denies intentionally stalling his car to force a yellow caution flag and give his son Michael a final chance to catch Indianapolis 500 winner Rick Mears.

"All I did was warn Michael. I didnt create anything." Mario Andretti said yesterday after reports quoted him as telling his pit crew he could create a yellow flag if his son needed one. "I didn't do anything that was in my control. All I did was warn the team that it was going to happen." The controversy developed late in Sunday's Indy 500 when Mears took the lead from the younger Andretti on the 188th lap. Mears began to pull away before Mario stopped on the track near the entrance to to give his teammate-son a better chance to catch the leader.

The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer reported that a staff member and several members of the press monitoring a scanner heard Andretti say to his crew: "Does Michael need a yellow? I can create one." Photographers working for The Associated Press reported that Andretti asked his crew several times a lap before he stopped if they needed a yellow and was told to hold his position. On the next lap, they said, he asked again and was told yes. He then slowed on the third turn and stopped at the head of the pits, where a tractor towed him out of the way so racing could resume. The tow rope came loose, however, when the car wouldn't budge, and Charles Robin son, AP photo editor in Indiana who was monitoring a U.S. Auto Club channel on the scanner, said he heard a USAC official instruct Andretti "to take his foot off the brake." Mario Andretti gave his version of the incident "Here's exactly what happened," he said yesterday from his office in Nazareth, Pa.

"I blew the engine just coming out of Turn 1. When that happens, of course, you knock it out of gear. On the backstretch, I wanted to double-check whether it was the eagine because there was no smoke, so I picked up another gear, and I saw it was the engine. So that slowed me down quite a bit. "When I'm between (Turns) 3 and 4, coasting, I called the team and said, 'Warn SeeANDRrm, PageSD I Several members of the press monitoring a scanner heard Andretti say to his crew: "Does Michael need a yellow? I can create one." the pits, forcing a yellow caution.

Under the yellow, Mears kept the lead, but Michael was able to close the gap. When the track was cleared and the green flag displayed three laps later, Mears stayed in front and beat the younger Andretti by 3.1 seconds. Several spectators and news photographers who were monitoring scanner radios claimed to have heard Mario ask his crew whether they needed a yellow, supposedly a.