Chillicothe Gazette from Chillicothe, Ohio • 6

Sports Michael S. Johnson, Michael S. Johnson, Wednesday, April 6, 2005 Chillicothe Gazette 6A Sports Editor, 772-9361 or gazsportsnncogannett.com Baylor blasts Spartans Phil I f.Jr I Michigan State's Kristin Haynie tries for the steal against Baylor's Sophia Young in the first half of the NCAA Women's national onship game Tues; day in Indi-; anapolis. AP YV Bears take title by 22 By CHUCK SCHOFFNER AP Sports Writer INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -Baylor now has a basketball team it can celebrate. And oh, what a celebration it was.

The Lady Bears hugged, flopped on the floor in giddy delight and embraced their coach as a rainbow of neon-colored confetti rained down on the RCA dome. And it was a fast one. Five years after Mulkey-Robertson took over a team that went 7-20 and was last in the Big 12, the Lady Bears were pulling on championship hats after a run through the tournament that included three victories over No. 1 seeds: North Carolina, LSU and finally the Spartans. Both teams were playing in the finals for the first time.

The margin was the second-largest in a championship game, falling one point short of the record set in 1987 when Tennessee beat Louisiana Tech 6744. When the hom sounded Tues All they had wanted was to be a shining light for a university stained by scandaL One dazzling national championship ought to do. Sophia Young's 26 points, Emily Niemann's precise 3-point shooting and the brilliant, energetic play of the backcourt carried Baylor to an 84-62 victory over Michigan State on Tuesday night for the school's first NCAA title by a women's team. "What a team I get to coach!" coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson said. "It wasnt the coaching, it's these guys taking me for a tremendous ride." day night, the players jumped in unison amid the streamers and screamed "We won! We won!" as fans chanted "Mul-key! Mul-key!" a tribute to a coach who had taken the program to heights never before imagined.

"She doesnt accept anything but the best from her players," Baylor's Steffanie Blackmon said. "She's just hard on you, but it pays off, cuz hey, we're here and we won the big thing right now." They did it with unforgiving defense that disrupted almost See BAYLOR, Next Page Gray pgrayiswicoganne tt.com Wilson laid back and ready for the season With his laid-back, every-man style, his All-Star ring, his Jeff Foxworthy vibe and his stories of being in the big leagues, new Paints manager Glenn Wilson made his debut to the public at the team's booster club meeting Hiesday. Sitting at a Shermans beat up Paint Valley Malone's home run gives Huntsmen first victory table in the back Frontier room of me League Dock at notebook Water, Wilson laughed "mmmmmm i i 4 1 if I m- if Mike DiemerFor the Gazette Westfall's Maleah Thornton competes in the high jump at Tuesday's Unioto Invitational. Thornton set a meet record in the high jump with her leap of 5-feet, 2 inches. with the boosters and talked of adjusting to life as a Frontier League manager.

It was more get-to-know-you than anything else, and early impressions seemed good from both sides. "This is the first time I've worked with a booster club," Wilson told the group. "I've had teams that played against teams that had them where they'd feed the players after the game and everything but I've never been part of one that had it" Wilson played for five different teams in his 10-year major league career, and has two years of experience as a manager, most recently last year with the Coastal Bend Avaitors of the Central League. His second win with the Paints will mark the 100th of his managing career. "That's something I'm probably more proud of than anything I ever did as a player," he said at the meeting.

Wilson's next official public appearance that ttmg Woodfork sets meet, school standards for Shermans track day man won medalist honors at the Unioto Invitational Tuesday. Speakman, a senior, set a new meet record in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.9, and she grabbed first inthe 200 dash with a 26.4 clocking. Unioto's 800-meter relay team set a new meet record with its 1:50.3 showing, and the 1600 team set a metit record with its 4:21 finished first in the 1600-meter run (4:40.4) and the 800-meter run (2:03.4) The Shermans won the 3200 relay (Jarret Kelley, Joe Jinks, Chaz Smith, Galen Dills) with a 8:36.9 and the 1600 relay (Michael Perri, Marcus Edwards, Eric Kimsey, Caleb Gaus) with a 3:38.0 clocking. Gaus won the long jump with a leap of 20-feet, tied fofec- ond in the high jumpuwith teammate Perri with a jump of 5-10. Neil Hertenstein was third in the 1600 run with a 4:48, and second in the 3200 run with a 10:36.3.

Girls Unioto's Dennale Speak- time. -Utn) The Gazette Staff Unioto's Chris Woodfork had a memorable day Tuesday. Woodfork, who transferred from ChilMcothe High School following the levy failure in February, made1 made a mark for himself with the" Shermans, setting two meet records and a school record at the Unioto Invitational. Woodfork broke the school and meet records in the 200 dash with a time of 22.5, breaking the former standard set by Chillicothe's Matt Fusco last season (22.7). Woodfork set a meet record in the 100 dash with a 11.0 clocking, again breaking Fusco's time of 11.2 which was also set last season.

Oh, and Woodfork also won the 400 dash (52.2) and took home meet medalist 1 honors for the who wound up finishing second behind Logan in the team standings. Logan won with 170 points, followed by the Shermans with 15112. Teays Valley was third with 116. Westfall's Ryan Pickens As a team, Unioto finished The Gazette Staff Jeremy Brown took control of the mound for Unioto. Unioto banged out 13 hits as the Shermans routed Paint Valley 12-0 to complete a rained-out game from Friday.

Andy Russell originally began the game last Friday before the rains came with Unioto holding a 4-0 lead after the first inning. Brown went three innings and allowed just two hits to pick up the win. He struck out four and walked two. The Shermans tacked on one in the second, three in the third, one in the fourth and three more in the seventh. Russell was 2-for-2 with a double, while Corey White was 3-for-3 with a triple and two RBIs for Unioto.

Corey Cottrill went 2-for4, Jason Depugh was 3-for-5 and Carl Brown was 1-for-l with a double. Jamies Hughes took the loss for Paint Valley, which slipped to 0-3 overall and in the Scioto Valley Conference. He was also 2-for-3 at the Josh Maynard added a 2-for-3 performance for Paint Valley. Unioto will travel to Southeastern today, while Paint Valley will play Adena. Huntington 4, Western 3 Huntington's Josh Malone saved the day for the Huntsmen.

Malone's two-run homer in the top of the seventh provided the difference as Huntington won its first game of the season Tuesday. Huntington gave up three runs in the first three innings after scoring two in the first. David Collins started and was relieved in the fifth by Zach Knox, who closed the door on the Western. Cory Vickers came on in the seventh and earned his first save. "We're not swinging the bats very well as a team," Huntington coach Jeff Zick-afoose said.

"We need to hold the other team down to stay in the game, and our pitchers did a nice job and kept us in the ballgame. They gave us a chance." Justin Kellough was 2-for-3 with a double for Huntington. Huntington return to SVC action today when it entertains Zane Trace. Adena 14, Hillsboro 4 The Warriors upped their Baseball roundup winning streak to four games with a 10-run, mercy-rule shortened non-conference win over Hillsboro Tuesday. Adena's David Loel hit pair of home runs and drove in five while leadoff hitter Colton Coy a junior in his first year of baseball had three hits, including his first varsity home run, a grand slam in a nine-run fourth inning.

"I was satisfied tonight," Adena coach Ed Yates said. "We hit the ball better. We're learning a little more every day, and that's something we need to continue." Coy finished with three hits, three runs and five RBIs. Loel finished with the same statistics, except' for going deep twice. "His first home run, I didn't think it had the height to get out," Yates said.

"It cleared the fence by about a foot, but it never got more than 15 feet off the ground. It was shot got out of there Quick." Dylan Givens (1-0) got the win for Adena in relief of sophomore Zach Lowe, who made his first varsity start. Givens entered the game in the second inning with the bases loaded, and pitched out of the jam without allowing a run. He gave us just two hits the rest of the way, walked three (all in the fifth) and struck out three. Now 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the SVC, Adena will travel to Paint Valley today.

Lucasville Valley 15, Piketon 5 Zach Mays was 2-for-3 with a double and Zach Bloom-field was 2-for-2 as the Red-streaks dropped their fourth game of the season. Piketon scored twice in the first inning to take a 2-0 lead, but Lucasville Valley took control in the second with two runs, followed by one in the third and eight in the fourth. Piketon added another run in the fourth and two in the fifth before Valley scored three times in the bottom of the frame to end the game on the 10-run mercy rule. "We're still not making the routine plays to get out of innings," Piketon coach Steve Chester said. "Our pitchers are walking too many batters." third with 129 points, while Westfall was fourth with 8114 points.

Westfall's MaLeah Thornton set a new meet record in the long jump with a leap of 16 feet, 5 1.2 inches. She also set a meet record in the high jump with a 5-2'A. Butcher twirls another nono for HHS The Gazette Staff Huntington super-senior Daphene Butcher authored her second no-hitter in as many weeks as her team rolled to a 15-1, five-inning win over Western Tuesday. Western's lone run came courtesy of an error, a walk and a wild pitch. a 'o Butcher performance Monday, Cox came back in Tuesday's make-up game with Adena, which was rained out from Friday, and whiffed nine more batters.

She walked two and allowed just three hits. Tieana Steel went 2-for-3 with a double and triple for the Pioneers, who improved to 4-0 overall and 3-0 in the SVC. Courtney Bloomfield was 2-for-3. Tara Knauff, who suffered the loss in the pitching singled for Adena, as did Katie Roush. Adena slips to 0-3 overall and 0-3 in the SVC.

Zane Trace will travel to Huntington today, while Adena will face Paint Valley. Piketon 7, Southeastern 2 After falling behind 5-0 before things really got started, Southeastern couldn't come back against Piketon Tuesday. "This was from the game last Friday that got rained out," Panthers coach John Evans said. "They were up 2-0 and had two girls on base when the game was suspended, and both of those girls scored today, so we basically dug a 5-0 hole before we even got going." Piketon scored its seven runs on just three hits. Now 2-3 overall, Piketon will host Westfall today.

Southeastern (1-2) is scheduled to host Unioto. Unioto 30, Paint Valley 3 Lindsey Dix went 6-for-6 with six RBIs as Unioto topped Paint Valley 30-3 Tuesday night Krystal Short and Leah Jadwin each added three hits for the Shermans, and Sara Sullivan drove in four runs to help the cause of starting pitcher Amanda Preston (4-1). Unioto is scheduled to travel to Southeastern today. Softball roundup one to get her fifth win of the year. She added two hits and a double at the plate, and Amber Kerns doubled twice.

"One other thing is that we were missing some girls today, and some younger kids stepped up and played real well," Beeler said. "(Amanda) Doyle is our catcher, and she's a great athlete too, so she threw shot and discus for the track team today. Kaitlyn Reynolds (a sophomore) stepped up and did a great job catching Daphene in, really, her first day of catching a full game." Huntington (5-0 overall, 3-0 Scioto Valley Conference) will host Zane Trace today. Zane Trace 11, Adena 1 Allison Cox continued to rack up the strikeouts Tuesday. Fresh off an 18-strikeout "It was a non-conference game, so we didn't want Daphene to throw very much," Huntington coach Sam Beeler said.

"We hate to not let her throw a little every day, and today she went out and kept her pitch-count down, which is why we let her finish it." Beeler said Butcher threw barely more than 40 pitches as she fanned 12 and walked is; he in the Paints orace 1 every day now and "walks tlie streets of Chillicothe" all the time, as he said-will be at the preseason Party With the Paints, April 15, at Horizon Technology, north of town on Ohio 104. Coaching search continues Wilson said Tuesday he's still looking for someone to fill the role as the Paints' pitching coach. "Right now, it's just me and Marty Dunn," he said. "I really want to find a dedicated pitching coach. I can look at a pitcher and know what I didn't like to face, but I'm not very good at the mechanics of pitching." Wilson said he has a couple of people in mind, but, with opening day just 50 days away, the search is at the point where Wilson said he might have to look to the collegiate level or for someone locally to fill the job.

Player notes As it stands now, Mark Hamilton is gone, there is nothing the Paints can do about it and, like it or not, they arent going to get- anything in return. After being released by the Brewers after last season, Hamilton's rights defaulted back to the Paints. But, thanks to paperwork problems and the fact that the left-handed do-every-thing player who led the Paints in ERA and batting average last year wanted to play closer to home robbed the team of a game-breaking player and the ability to get compensation for the fact that he will be playing elsewhere next season. learned from it," Wilson said. "Michael Kesten (LHP whom the Paints sold to the Astros last year), was released recently and I immediately traded him." The Paints got two rookies for Kesten, who went 7-8 with a 3.01 ERA in 26 games with Chillicothe.

'Burns bite again The April 1 edition of The Morning Journal, in Lorain, Ohio, reported that the Frontier League is in discussion with the city to See GRAY, Next Page Locals selected to play in state all-star game Vvr 111 3 1 'i Miller Dlehl Speakman By MICHAEL S. JOHNSON Gazette Sports Editor It's baseball season. The high school hoops season is complete with eight new prep champs, the North Carolina Tar Heels won the men's national collegiate basketball championship, while Baylor State won the women's trophy. The only basketball left is the NBA, right? Wrong. There's still at least one more high school hoops game left on the schedule, and it's happening Sunday at Capital University in Columbus, the site of this year's annual Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Association North-South All-Star Game.

And it features some local Diehl will hit the floor one final time as a prepster. She'll be joined by Casstown Miami East's Danielle Denlinger, Milford Center Fairbanks' Lindsey Rooney, Marion Pleasant's Rachel Bennett, Zanesville West Muskingum's Jessica McKenzie, Xenia Christian's Magan Frazee, Cincinna'ti Hills Christian Academy's Whitney Dubbs, Marion Catholic's Lauren Flowers and Worthington Christian's Lauren Rivers. The team will be coached by St. Clairsville's Michael Blatnik and Jackson Center's Greg Gooding. (Johnson can be reached at 772-9361 or via e-mail at msjohnsonncoiannett.com) Speakman will be playing alongside Springfield South's Shawna Lollis, Brookhaven's Stephanie Foster, Pickering-ton North's Jenna Schone and Cydnei Stoudt, Tri-Valley's Tricia Smith, Gallia Academy's Kari James, Chami-nadfrJulienne's Aisha Jefferson, Harrison's Britney Brooks, and Thornville-Sheridan's Jessica Slack, with whom Speakman shared Division II co-player of the year honors in the Southeast District and played against in the postseason.

Thornville-Sheridan's Doug Fisher and Cincinnati McAuley's Mark Kling will serve as coaches for the South. In the Division III and IV game, which will start at noon, Zane Trace's Karen with South Charleston South-eastern's Matt Poole, Columbus Africentric's Donald Suel, Lancaster Fisher Catholic's Bill Kelley, Shady-side's Steve Luckhardt, Racine Southern's Craig Randolph, Cincinnati Reading's Justin Brinkman, Hannibal River's Ryne Romick, Arch-bold's Dan Borcherdt, and Clinton-Massie's Kerry Wilkinson. Coaches for the South will be Sidney Fairlawn's Paul Hershberger and Worthing-ton Christian's Kevin Weakley. Game time for this game will be 3:30 p.m. On the girls' side, Unioto's Dennale Speakman will hit the floor one last time as a high schooler in the Division I and II game, which is set for 1:45 Sunday.

talent, too. On the boys side, the Division I and II South squad will have Circleville Logan Elm's Tyler Evans teaming up with Springfield South's Nate Miller, Brookhaven's Jamelle Cornley, Pickerington North's Aaron Laflin, Dresden Tri-Valley's Kasey Waa-land; Marietta's Ben Howlett, Cincinnati St. Xavier's Johnny Wolf, Dayton Chaminade-Julienne's Derrick Brown, Hamilton's Jason Miller and Mount Vernon's Nick Coon. Amazingly, the Southeast District's Player of the Year, Dante Jackson, was left off the team. Coaches will be Hamilton's Larry Allen and Columbus Watterson's Vince Lombardo.

Game time for the North-South Division I and II game is set for 5 p.m. In Division III and IV, Pike-ton's Kyle Miller will help lead the South squad along.