Hartford Courant from Hartford, Connecticut • Page 137

5th ed. SECTION MONDAY AUGUST 8, 1994 Gymnastics-shows spirit of Games Wild time as Red Sox 0 Owen 1 i Canfield miss sweep MM Error helps Indians in 12th walked Kenny Lofton to load the bases, Omar Vizquel hit a triple to right-center to make it 14-10. The next two plays were groundouts to Vaughn, but Ruben Amaro followed with a single to center to score Vizquel. Both Vaughn and Fletcher said Vaughn was unintentionally bumped by Pena on his way to first. Pena ran by Vaughn just as he started to throw.

"The whole play didn't catch us by surprise, but when Mo looked back to third, he didn't see that Tony was right there," Fletcher said. "I think what happened was Tony ran into Mo and that caused the ball to go off." Vaughn agreed that Pena had bumped him, but did not offer that as an excuse. "Pena hit me when he ran by, but it didn't matter. All I think about is the end of the game and we didn't win," Vaughn said. "It seems like we were out there all day." They were.

The doubleheader began at noon and did not finish until nearly 9 p.m. The time of the second game was 5 minutes, 5 seconds. Pena, who left the Red Sox and signed with the Indians as a free agent before the season, said his team never gave up even when Please see Contact, Page C3 By KEVIN F.HAYES Courant Staff Writer BOSTON Joe Hesketh pitched one of his finest games this season, allowing three hits in eight innings to help the Red Sox to a 4-1 victory over the Cleveland Indians in the first game of a doubleheader Sunday. But after the second game, wtfo among the I.mlijj.. fi 34,523 at Fen- f'' lfi way Park will IffiTKTft-i i The Indians won 15-10 in 12 innings, aided mm by a bizarre defensive mistake by Red Sox first baseman Mo Vaughn.

Wayne Kirby singled to center to lead off the 12th against reliever Todd Frohwirth (0-2, 10.22 ERA). Paul Sorrento walked and, with none out, Tony Pena bunted down the first base line. Vaughn fielded the ball cleanly, and nonchalantly tossed it toward first base. But what should have been an easy out turned into disaster. The ball sailed way over the head of second baseman Scott Fletcher, who was covering, and rolled down the line, allowing Kirby to score.

Pena stopped at second, Sorrento at third. After Frohwirth intentionally am l-00s I i I -'Si -Ax 'fir ill (Mi J1L 13 ill Hrbek still capable of beating Yankees Reuters U.S. GOES INSIDE TO WIN Shawn Kemp scores over Rolando Championship of Basketball. Strong inside play lifted Dream Team II to U.S. women win in FARMINGTON Lindsay Van Stone of Waterbury is a gymnast, and a fine one, but she came to Farmington High School Sunday afternoon not to compete, but to play the music for those who would.

And to watch her friend Amy Roberts perform as part of the West team in the Nutmeg Games. Lindsay, 13, will be a freshman at Sacred Heart High School in Water-bury. Amy is 17 and, most people who know gymnastics agree, is the state's premier female gymnast. She will attend the University of New Hampshire on a gymnastics scholarship in the fall. Lindsay's father, Ray, seated in the top row of the gymnasium bleachers, nudged the man next to him and said, "Watch her mount the balance beam," when Roberts' turn came.

Roberts flipped onto the beam from a springboard and did a terrific routine. Near the end, Ray delivered another nudge and said, "She'll do a complete backward somersault in the air in a second." She did it, flawlessly, and he smiled. Lindsay and Amy train at the same Woodbury club, known as Kinetic Kids and operated by Hal Rettstadt. "Amy's a good kid," Ray said. the younger girls a lot and they look up to her.

Lindsay will go anywhere to watch Amy." Rettstadt and Debbie Roberts, Amy's mother, are the volunteers who conducted the gymnastics competition in the weeklong Nutmeg Games, which ended Sunday. The audience this day consisted mostly of mothers and fathers, cheering their children and their teammates. Because teams from the South and East were few in numbers, those teams were combined and competed as one against the North and West teams. The North's Erin Bridge of Ellington was one of the smallest and youngest. Her mother, Mary Ellen, grew silent when Erin began her routine on the bars.

Her husband, John, was not with her. He works at Aetna and is boys basketball coach at Somers High School. He played basketball for Robie Shults at Trinity in the 1970s. "He was here watching Erin the other day and he was a wreck," Mary Ellen said. "Because, he said, in basketball if someone makes an error, a teammate can rectify it.

But here, it's such an individual thing." Though only 9, Erin has been training at the Tri-Town Club for four years, 2Vi-hour sessions three nights a week. "She has equipment at home, too," said her mother, a nurse at Windham Hospital. "She just loves it so much. Gymnastics has done a lot for her. She has great endurance and it has helped make her self-confident and outgoing.

It's given her discipline, too. I never, have to tell her to do her homework or anything like that." Carol Rogers of Fairfield, mother of the SouthEast's Amber Rogers, said basically the same thing. She: watched Amber do a speedy, almost flawless optional routine in the' floor exercise and said, "You can't Please see Canfield, Page C7 the third-best crowd of the season. With good weather and a Yankees affiliate in town, at least that many were expected Sunday. "It was somewhat disappointing, because I expected a good crowd with the Yankees and with all the hullabaloo," Buzas said.

New Britain Mayor Linda A. Blogoslawski tonight plans to present Buzas with letters from fans urging him to keep the Eastern League team in New Britain. It is New Britain Day at Beehive, so Buzas and city officials will be on the field before the Britsox game at 7: 1 5 against the Bowie Baysox. "I think the crowd Saturday is not necessarily a reflection of what the push for the city of New Britain is," Britsox general manager Gerry Berthiaume said. "But it still is a disappointing crowd for a weekend.

"I know they talked about the push being Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, so we'll see." 1 Berthiaume said the city and business leaders may present Buzas with information about how much interest there is in season tickets and skyboxes at a new stadium. Please see Still, Page C2 By JACK O'CONNELL Courant Staff Writer MINNEAPOLIS Ever since he announced his retirement, first baseman Kent Hrbek has done nothing to indicate he should quit after the season. Hrbek should have second thoughts, the mTS wair Via hit 1 against the Yan- TV II kees in this four-game series. His two-run single off Steve Howe in the eighth helped beat the Yankees 7-6 Sunday, but even that satisfaction won't change Hrbek's mind. "I know I can still play and still hit, but it's what I do after I get a hit that matters," said Hrbek, 34, who has been plagued by severe knee injuries in recent years.

"I'm sick and tired of hurting all the time. I'm not going to play forever. I'm not Dave Winfield. That's been the toughest part of it, being in the same locker room with a guy who has played 20 some odd years." Winfield, 43, is in his 22nd major league season and has no intention of retiring. "I think I can still help a team win," he said.

Turns out Hrbek can, too. He drove in five runs in the two victories that gave Minnesota a series split after being outscored 21-5 in Ferreira of Brazil at the World a 105-82 win. Story, Page C6. a crowd coach Tony DiCicco said. DiCicco credited Akers-Stahl with getting the U.S.

attack going. Akers-Stahl, a forward suffering from chronic mononucleosis, entered the match in the 36th minute and immediately formed a partnership with Hamm, an international player since age 15 and a two-time Hermann Trophy winner as women's college player of the year. Together they were able to beat the Norwegian offside trap. With a minute left in the first half, Hamm's run and cross produced the initial goal. Carin Gabarra's shot was headed off the goal line, but rebounded off a Norwegian defender into the goal.

Only 35 seconds into the second Please see Akers-Stahl, Page C6 est crowd for a women's soccer game in the United States. The previous record was 6,120 on June 15, 1993, when the United States defeated Italy 5-0 in Mansfield, Ohio. "Norway always causes us problems because they force us to pack the defense together to stop them early in the game, but once we got to playing our game, knocking it around the way we can, we got on top," said U.S. captain Carla Over-beck, who accepted the cup and a check for $25,000 as the team's reward for defeating Germany, China and Norway in the past eight days. China (2-1) finished second and Germany (1-2) third.

Norway was 0-3. "I knew that if we kept passing the ball we could open them up," By JERRY TRECKER Courant Staff Writer WORCESTER It took nearly 45 minutes to sort out the problems posed by an fTTffffrTT'jPff'tl aggressive glT 1H Norwegian iJa team and a narrow field. But once the top U.S. players were turned loose, there was never any doubt they would win the inaugural Chi-quita Cup women's soccer tournament. Mia Hamm scored twice, Michelle Akers-Stahl once, and Kris-tine Lilly of Wilton played a key role in three of four goals as the United States completed a sweep of the four-team tournament with a 4-1 victory before 6,511 at the Holy Cross football stadium the larg the first two games.

Hrbek and teammates Kirby Puckett and Shane Mack made life miserable for Yankees pitchers. Puckett had seven hits in 15 at-bats, with two doubles, one triple, one home run and seven RBI. His 57th career triple scored two runs in the first inning Sunday against Scott Kamieniecki. Mack, who had three hits, a walk and an RBI Sunday, was 7-for-13 with five RBI in the series. Hrbek was 6-for-l 1 with one double, two home runs and seven RBI in a series that began Thursday, the day he announced he would retire at the end of the season.

That could be as early as Friday, which the players association has set as its strike date. Hrbek joined the Twins in August 1981, after the 50-day strike that year. "I couldn't have had a better career," Hrbek said. "I grew up here and played for the hometown team. I played for two World Series championship teams and hit a grand slam in a World Series 1987.

I'm happy to be going out with a career that has been successful for myself and for my team." If the strike does shut down the Please see Twins, Page C3 Reeves had planned to name a starter no later than Aug. 22, after the exhibition game against the Jets. However, Reeves had hoped one would emerge as a clear-cut winner, so he could give that quarterback more time to prepare for the season opener Sept. 4 against the Eagles at Giants Stadium. What's Brown doing right? "He is doing things on anticipation now," Reeves said.

"He is going where he needs to go with the football, and he is just making fewer mistakes." In the first exhibition game against Miami, Brown completed 8 or 12 passes for 107 yards, including a 54-yard touchdown. The Giants scored two touchdowns in five possessions and led 14-9 when Brown departed in the third quarter. Graham completed 6 of 12 with an interception for 103 yards. The Giants lost, 20-19. Graham got his chance with the first unit against Cleveland, completing 12 of 23 for 122 yards.

The Please see Graham, Page C6 Numbers are all wrong for Britsox at Beehive Almost by default, Brown is emerging V. hMM By PAUL DOYLE Courant Staff Writer NEW BRITAIN This was going to be the weekend of huge crowds and good baseball. There were neither at Beehive Field Sunday. MPfi The Britsox jSrT" T3 lost 10-4 in their n.rrr.-,. im final game against the Albany-Colo-nie Yankees.

Albany, which completed a three-game sweep, is moving to Norwich next season. As poor as the Britsox were on the field they were outscored 27-5 in the series the attendance Sunday was perhaps most disappointing. There were 2,439 at Beehive, almost 1,000 fewer than expected. The business community and the "Save Our Sox" committee were hoping to use this homestand to send a message to Britsox owner Joe Buzas, who is considering an offer to move the team to Springfield. The goal was to sell 20,000 tickets for the six-game homestand, which ends Wednesday.

But the game Friday, which was expected to draw close to 4,000, was postponed because of rain. The doubleheader Saturday drew 3,635, ByDOMAMORE Courant Staff Writer EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. The day Phil Simms was released, Giants coach Dan Reeves said he wanted to see how his young quarterbacks, Dave Brown and Kent Graham, would react with "the prize" available. Three weeks and two exhibition games after training camp opened, Reeves may have seen enough. "I don't think there is any question Dave is ahead," Reeves said Sunday after reviewing film of the 24-15 loss to the Browns at Giants Stadium Saturday night.

The Giants left for Berlin, where they will play the Chargers Saturday. This is Brown's week to work, start and play with the first unit. "The prize" is clearly in his grasp. "If Brown had a good game against the Chargers," Reeves said, "he would definitely, probably, wrap it up. He is definitely ahead, and we have to make a decision and go the way we think we're going to get better." Reuters FROM RUSSIA, WITH POMP A Russian military band entertains at closing ceremonies of the Goodwill Games, Page C2.

i Auto racing C2 In the mm Onthaair C2 Side UnM C2 Baball C3-C4 Racing. Jai alal CS Amateur baaaball NFL C6 Scoreboard C6 Bowen, Marlins shut out Mets Ryan Bowen pitches TVt innings as the Florida Marlins defeat the Mets 2-0 in New York. Page C3 Couples wins DuickOpen Fred Couples, recovering from a back injury, beats Corey Pavin by two strokes in the Buick Open. Page C2.