The Tampa Tribune from Tampa, Florida • 119

The Tampa Tribune, Wednesday, June 6, 1990 Reprimand expected soon for Patriots coach 1 V' Girls basketball ft fan Id RUNNING Bill Ward By LANCE VAN AUKEN Tribune Sports Writer LARGO Pinellas Park High School girls basketball coach Ed Jackson can expect a long-awaited letter of reprimand within the next two weeks, a spokeswoman for Scott Rose, the superintendent of Pinellas County's public schools, said Monday. Jackson was accused three months ago of recruiting by several other Pinellas County girls basketball coaches, a charge that was investigated by Bob Hosack, director of centralized athletics for Pinellas County. Hosack and the executive committee of the Pinellas County Athletic Conference voted in mid-March to recommend a letter of reprimand be sent by Rose to Jackson. "Dr. Rose has not written the letter yet," Rose's secretary, Delores Apuzzo said.

"He had a few loose ends he wanted to the people now know the real story behind it" Jackson's Patriots finished with a 33-2 record this year, losing only once to a Florida team. That loss came in the state Gass 4A semifinal against Lake City Columbia, 70-60. Meiser's knee improving. Jackson said his star guard, Angela Meiser, is improving steadily and should begin running within two months. Meiser, who averaged nearly 25 points a game last season during the playoffs, injured her right knee in the Class 4A-Section II victory over Lakeland and did not play in the semifinal loss to Columbia.

She later underwent surgery on the knee. "She's coming back faster than the doctors thought she would," Jackson said. "But she's that kind of person. She's a great person and a great athlete." clear up first and has not had a chance to get to it He said he will be writing it within a week or two." A copy of Hosack's recommendation also was sent to Fred Rozelle, commissioner of the Florida High School Activities Association, but Rozelle already has said he did not plan to reprimand Jackson. "Dr.

Rose is probably giving a lot of thought to whether he should even waste his time in writing a letter of reprimand," Jackson said. "It was just something we're looking at as a growing experience. We're not even going to fool with it any more. It was just some people who listened to other people's concerns, and there wasn't even anything to be concerned about All the allegations have been thrown out." Jackson said the recruiting charges and Rose Jackson Rain didn't dampen debut of road race the lack, so far, of any finding of guilt have only served to bring more publicity to his program. "It's kind of opened people's eyes to what some people do to have a quality program," Jackson said.

"It opens their eyes to the time and dedication it takes to have a successful girls basketball program. I think -I0 A A 4 DeLoach to hit the waiting big time vyV -'V -v 1 i It I 5 I By BILL WARD Tribune Sports Writer ST. PETERSBURG If Bobby DeLoach had it to do again, he probably would have taken that baseball scholarship offered to him by Mississippi State University. But that was nearly five years ago, when DeLoach was a high school senior in FSL east St Louis. Today, 'mmmm he is 23 and simply trying to improve his game playing Class-A ball for the St.

Petersburg Cardinals. "It was tough coming right out of high school and jumping into pro ball," said DeLoach, who joined the Cardinals this year after playing for the Cards' Class-A team in Savannah, last season. "You spend a lot of your time just trying to learn the system and the organization of St. Louis and probably not enough time concentrating on playing the game." Unlike many prep baseball stars who head directly for the professional ranks, DeLoach earned his spot in the Cards' organization through a tryout camp offered in St. Louis not through the draft.

The scouts liked what they saw and De-Loach started his pro career for the Cards as a 17-year-old rookie in Johnson City, Tenn. "It's pretty hard being that young and leaving home for some place you've never been," said the 6-foot, 185-pound De-Loach, who plays left field for St. Petersburg. "I got pretty homesick at first." DeLoach spent the next two seasons moving up and down from Johnson City to Savannah, but a nagging pain in his right arm eventually forced him to undergo surgery. He spent all of 1988 recovering from the operation and rehabilitating the arm.

He returned to Savannah last year and showed how healthy he was by hitting 10 home runs in the second half of the season. DeLoach's ability to hit the ball out of the park is his strength. Already this season, he has smacked a Florida State League-leading seven homers. Two of them have come at Al Lang Stadium in St. Petersburg, one of the FSL's larger parks.

"Hitting the ball long has never been a problem for me," De-Loach said. "But I need to work on other things at the plate to get better." Indeed, DeLoach may be a home run hitter and the top RBI man for the Cards with 30, but his .231 average shows he isn't as productive as he could be. And like many players who chalk up 4 4 it was tough coming right out of high school and jumping into pro ball. You spend a lot of your time just trying to learn the system and the organization of St. Louis and probably not enough time concentrating on playing the game.

9 Bobby DeLoach a lot of homers, DeLoach also has a tendency to notch a few strikeouts too in his case, about 40 so far this season. "That's a few strikeouts, but when you get a guy who can hit the ball as hard as he can, that's going to happen," said first-year St. Petersburg Cardinals manager Joe Pettini. "He's the closest thing we have to a Major League home run hitter. "When that ball comes off his bat, it goes." That means DeLoach has the ability to put runs on the board.

And considering Pettini has recently waved goodbye to some of his best hitters and pitchers because of Class Double-A call-ups, a few occasional strikeouts isn't too painful for him to watch. Heading into a game Tuesday, the Cards were 26-29, 17 y2 games out of first place. Times like this, players like DeLoach start experimenting with their swing. "We've mainly worked on his patience at the plate," Pettini said. "And I can't say enough about how hard he's worked on it.

He probably hasn't said three words all season, but once you tell him something once, he learns it and you don't have to tell him again the next week." It's these sort of lessons that DeLoach thought he could have learned better playing college baseball. He says it probably would have been easier to fine-tune his game there because pitchers on that level don't have the same skill as those in the FSL, a league known for strong pitching. "Here, every night you know you're going to see someone good pitching," DeLoach said. Still, all college regrets aside, DeLoach believes he has come a long way since his high school days. "If I had come out of college and played pro ball, I'd probably be a better hitter overall and a little more mature," he said.

"But I've learned a lot this way too. This is only my second full season back since the injury and I think things will come around for me. I just need to be patient." TAMPA The storm that swept over Tampa Bay late Friday afternoon might have been a welcomed sight to home owners with thirsty lawns, but it sent a scare through Tony Salomone. 1- "I just kept thinking, 'Oh, no, here comes disaster," said Salomone, who was putting on his first road race, the Mike Salomone Memorial Run, that evening at Hunter's Green in north Tampa. "I kept picturing 10 runners showing up in the rain and me standing there with all these wet T-shirts, awards and soggy food." It did rain before the race.

In fact, Salomone and his race officials and volunteers from the American Cancer Society were un- able to set up registration tables until near-ly 7 p.m. for the 5-kilometer and 1-mile event, which was scheduled to get started at 8 p.m. But that was just about the time when -the rain ended and "everybody and their brother" decided to show up at Hunter's Green, Salamone said. 1 He had spent more than a year planning and preparing for this first-year race and expected about 500 runners. But he got more a lot more than he or anyone could have predicted.

Salomone estimated more than 1,400 runners took part in one of the two runs. Greg Harger won the men's race in 16:08 and Joanne Apodaca was the women's winner in 18:46. David Coleitt won the men's masters division in 17:22, Mary Ellen Da-vies was the top female masters runner in 22:02 and Russell Querry won the wheelchair division. "I was shocked," Salomone said. "From about 7 that night until about 11, it was all one big blur to me." Salomone and race director Bobbie Davis used their first 500 race numbers on pre-registered numbers alone.

Then they used up another 500 and were scrambling for more minutes before the race. There were only 500 T-shirts printed and most late comers had to be promised a shirt in the mail later this month, when more can be made. Post-race refreshments also went quickly and Salomone had to rustle up some more to keep everyone happy. It wasn't the smoothest of operations, but when only 300 race applications had been turned in two days before the race, how could anyone predict such a deluge of runners? "Even by Friday afternoon, we were only up to 550," said Salomone, who held the race to honor his father, who died of cancer two years ago. "And when that storm rolled in, I thought we'd be lucky if every-: one would show up that had pre-registered.

"I still can't believe we had this kind of turnout." Those numbers might sound good for Cancer Society, which was the race's beneficiary, but the high costs for T-shirts will cut into the final sum raised. Salo- mone's race offered a Henley-style T-shirt (a collarless, three-button T-shirt), and including the printing cost for the shirt's logo, each cost $8.85. Late registration was $10 -and the mailing of those shirts to out-of- town entrants (local runners are asked to pick up the shirts at the Cancer Society lat-: er this month) will slice away at the profit even more. That's why Salomone is hoping that someone might want to come through for the Cancer Society and pick up the costs of that second batch of shirts. Otherwise, it's coming out of the funds raised Friday.

Despite this and the last-minute Salomone seemed pleased with the overall showing of his race. He wants to hold it again next year and plans to be ready for just about any eventuality. "I know we made some mistakes, but I'm definitely going to hold it again next year and do a better job," Salomone said. "I think we've got a good race here in a great location and all in all, things went pretty well considering the flood of unexpected people." USF signs three. USF head track and cross country coach Bob Braman knows his Bulls can't rest on the laurels they earned this season, which include their first appearance at the NCAA national cross country championships.

So In order to keep moving forward, Braman has announced the signings of two top British runners Chris Payne and Paul Burnett and Minnesota state high school cross country champion Sarah Erickson. Braman also recently signed Ed Fltz-: gerald of Largo, who was third at last year's Class 4A state cross country finals, and Jeff Cooper of Rockledge, a state champ in the 2A cross country meet and a winner of the state two-mile run in track. Both Payne and Burnett come to USF with impressive prep credentials. Payne was a 4:07 mller and runner-up at the Eng- lish Schools National Cross Country Cham-. pionships (similar to the Kinney Nationals held annually in the U.S.) In 1986.

i i i Tribune photograph by ALLYN DIVITO St. Petersburg Cardinals left fielder Bobby with seven home runs, but his coaches DeLoach leads the Florida State League want him to be more patient at the plate. Dunedin pitcher Boucher called up to Triple-A Syracuse In The Area assists as a senior, and had two goals and five assists as a junior. Alvarez, 5-10 and 150, scored three goals and was credited with 14 assists as a senior. As a junior, Alvarez had seven goals and 11 assists as the Tigers went 22-2-2 and reached the Class 3A state title match.

He started at Jesuit for three years. Saint Leo is coached by Fran Reldy, who will be entering his third season. "We look for Alvarez to play up front and outside midfielder," Reidy said. "He is an excellent student and will do well for Saint Leo, on and off the field. "Chris Is a sure, steady performer who will play in both the midfleld and defense.

He has the size, attitude and technique needed to excel a this level of play." Soccer camp scheduled at CCC CLEARWATER Jim Harte's 10th annual Marauder SoCCCer Camp for boys and girls will be held this summer at Clearwater Central Catholic High School, with sessions for all skill levels from ages 6-18. The select camps for players ages 10-14 at the club, all-star or select team level will be held June 11-15 and July 16-20 from 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. each day. Cost is $100. The Marauder SoCCCer Camp staff will consist of members of the CCC varsity team, which captured its second consecutive state title this winter.

For information, call 525-84S. A Tribune Staff Report DUNEDIN Left-handed Dunedin pitcher Denis Boucher was called up Monday by the Toronto Blue Jays to their Triple-A affiliate in Syracuse, N.Y., soon after his designation as the organization's Pitcher of the Month for his performance in May with the Dunedin Blue Jays. Dunedin General Manager Gary Rigley said Monday no replacement for Boucher has been named to the Dunedin roster. Boucher was expected to join the Chiefs on Tuesday. Boucher, 22, a native of Montreal, was 7-0 with Dunedin of the Florida State League.

He had two complete-game shutouts, and a 0.75 earned run average in 60 innings. Boucher allowed 45 hits and shot 143. Morgan won the Kemper Open on Sunday. The U.S. Open will be played June 14-17 at the Medinah Country Club near Chicago.

Patriots soccer player signs with Saint Leo ST. LEO Christopher Lynch, a midfielder-defender from Pinellas Park, is one of two Bay area high school athletes to sign national letters of intent to play soccer next season at Saint Leo College. Lynch and Steven Alvarez, a forward-midfielder from Tampa Jesuit, have decided to play for the Monarchs, who set a school record for most victories last year with a 9-8-1 record. Lynch, 6-foot-2 and 155 pounds, was a two-year starter at Pinellas Park. He han one goal and seven I eight walks and struck out 62 batters for Dunedin, which leads the Western Division of the FSL.

Boucher also was honored by the DunedinToronto Blue Jays Booster Club as its Player of the Month for May. Gulfport's Buttner qualifies for U.S. Open GULFPORT PGA Tour member Bill Buttner of Gulfport qualified for next week's U.S. Open Monday, shooting a 5-under-par 68-71139 at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, Md. Also qualifying at Woodmont were co-medalists Tom Byrum and Corey Pavin, who shot 137 for 36 holes, and Gil Morgan, who i.