Edmonton Journal from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada • 30

D2 The Edmonton Journal, Thursday, Juty 1, 1999 TRAPPERS 13 GOLDEN SPIKES 2 Tim Unroe: His second two-homer outing within four games boosted the new left-fielder's five-game totals with the Trappers to eight hits in 21 at-bats 2 Shad Williams: The Edmonton starter, who joined the team last Sunday, allowed only two hits and one run during a six-inning outing to pick up his first victory. 3 Chris Prttchett His first of two hits went only about 40 feet but the surprise bunt helped kick-start a four-run first inning for the Trappers. Pritchett also ended up scoring three runs. i I I Veteran reliever Steve Mirrtz, brought up from Double-A Erie Sunday after fashioning a 1-1 record with a 2.23 ERA and nine saves in 26 games, has taken over as the Trappers' closer until Scott Brow can regain his previous form. Brow, who tied the Edmonton record for saves in a season and leads the PCL with 14 saves, struggled in June, going 0-3 with a 1727 ERA and two saves.

Brow, who also has eight blown saves, allowed 10 hits and nine runs in two innings during his past three appearances. The Trappers, whose attendance numbers are down about 30,000 from last season, had their third sellout of the summer 9,200 Wednesday. Part of the attraction was the post-game fireworks. Trappers hitting coach Leon Durham was spotted wearing the huge shoes of mascot Homer before the game. Durham has been forced to pitch batting practice in shower sandals the past few days since his equipment bag was lost on the last roadtrip.

low freshman receiver Rob Moore went on to play in the NFL with the New York Jets and Arizona Cardinals. "Baseball is definitely a tougher game to play than football and basketball which were my best two sports because you just let your athletic ability flow in those sports," Pennyfeather said. "In baseball if tough to let your athletic ability flow except on defence, maybe, or running bases. Hitting is mostly mental" He said baseball is a better game to play than football because you're hitting a fastball instead of being hit by somebody for 60 minutes. "But you also miss it because when you get frustrated and angry in football you're allowed to hit somebody and get your frustrations out In baseball you're frustrated and it's tough to be able to let your emotions flow." Pennyfeather, always a good defensive player, was good enough to make it up to the big leagues for 40 games with the Pirates during the 1992, 1993 and 1994 seasons.

"I was on the verge of going up when the 1994 strike came and I was looking forward to '95 and then I had the knee injury and missed the whole year," he said. "That hurt my career a little bit" Pennyfeather came back to play with the Vancouver Canadians in 1996 and the Albuquerque Dukes in 1997. "After the "97 season, I fired my agent in the middle of winter ball and didn't get a new agent until the end of January By then, it was too late to find a job for "98, so I ended up going to Mexico I got released from Mexico because I wasn't having fun. "Actually, I was going to shut it down," he said. "Then my old Triple-A manager, Doc Edwards, was managing for that new league and gave me a call It was close to home I'm from Jersey so I figured Td stay home and play This year, I thought for sure I'd have a job in spring training.

Everybody was interested but nobody pulled the trigger; so I ended up going back to Atlantic City" He was hitting .306 with two home runs and 20 RBIs in 41 games when he got the call from the Anaheim Angels. "About five or six days before the Angels called, Seattle had called and wanted me to go to Double he said. "I turned that down and was waiting for a better offer and the Angels came. Gutsy It worked out! Norm Cowlet Jolunai. Baseball Writes Edmonton Will Pennyfeather was a high school star in basketball, football and baseball Basketball was probably his best sport then; now it is "pretty much my means of staying in shape." Football landed him a scholarship to Syracuse University and is probably his true love.

"When football season starts, Sun-, days are in front of the TV," he said. "Of all the sports, that's probably the only sport I really sit and watch the whole game during the off-season." But baseball is the game Pennyfeather has played professionally for the past 12 seasons. The 31-year-old outfielder, who recently joined the Edmonton Trappers from Atlantic City in the independent Atlantic League, was signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates while he was playing in a summer baseball league following his sophomore football season at Syracuse "I went to a personal tryout in Pittsburgh and they offered me a substantial amount of money to sign," he said. "Ijumpedonit" Pennyfeather still wonders what might have been if he had stayed with football. He had lost his redshirt season as a freshman when a coach sent him in to replace an injured receiver.

"It was a mistake," he said. "They could have put this junior in but they called my name As soon as I went In, my red-shirt year was over Then I had only four years instead of five. That kind of hurt my career football-wise a little bit" When he did not receive as much playing time as he had hoped for during his sophomore season, the baseball offer looked more appealing. 1 was tough because I gave up my last two years, during which I would have got a whole lot of playing time and I would have been able to see what was going on with the NFL," he explained. 'At the time, I didn't know I could have made the decision to play both baseball professionally and stayed in school I found that out after I when Deion Sanders did it that same year.

It was kind of a bittersweet situation because I wished I could have stayed and played football" Pennyfeather's roommate and fel Omaha (48-30): The Golden Spikes had a 10-1 lifetime record against the Trappers, including a series sweep at Omaha last week, coming into the game. Edmonton (35-41): Each Trapper batter had at least one hit. RHP Mike Fyhrie (8-4, 3.49 ERA) vs. Omaha RHP Dan Reichert (7-2, 3.87 ERA) at 2:05 p.m. at Telus Field.

Omaha 000 010 100 2 5 2 Edmonton 401 012 05x 13 14 0 Edward Parsons, The Journal Right-fielder Will Pennyfeather had some time in the bigs with Pittsburgh Renney hopes proposals It's Carnival Day lift approach to hockey wi Tom Renney has a few dreams for at tne cant! Courtesy of XENTEL DM PXF uanaaiannocKeyLiiKe: i A 60-game schedule split almost By that, he meant better-quality players. It has not been uncommon for NHL general managers to hide some of their errors by sending under-achievers or slow developers to the national program. "We can contribute to the development of top prospects" as well as fringe evenly between Canada small com- I Immunities and hockey nations in the rest I John Short Sports Comment of the world, I More co-operation with the NHL, I And further commitment by the Canadian Hockey Association to Gates Open 1:05 PM Game Time 2:05 PM Today TinKFTS AVAII ARI ATTHF RAI I PARK AlA.AARn 1 AwnnrvrnuiACTni Kipnnn miu iiuixLimnuiui iuiuuuu players, Renme insisted. "Because of our training blocks and travel opportunities in Canada and out of the country we have an opportunity to work on improvement of skills at any time of the year. It's more difficult for professional teams to do the same" because of scheduling.

Renney concluded: Not only is Canadian hockey hurt by the over-emphasis on games, but at a certain point foreign nations suffer, too. "We have too many players from outside this country playing major junior hockey over here," he said. "As a result, the imported players stay in North America. If they don't make it to the NHL, many of them wind up in minor-pro leagues. "Because they don't go home, their national teams wind up in bad shape." The most blatant example, Renney said, is Russia.

"Their programs have been decimated. The picture is not bright" Fortunately, he is applying the same standards to his view of Canadian hockey It's time for others involved in the game at all levels to do the same thing. Sportstalk With John Short returns on Monday from 10 p.m. to midnight on 1260 CFRN-AM Radio. improving coaching and instruction for young players.

These are a few of Renney's dreams, "but only a few," he said Wednesday Renney refused to be specific; it is safe to bet that some of these items have been included in a preliminary design for thfcfuture of the national hockey team. The initial outline was prepared by Renney the CHA vice--president in charge of hockey, and Mike Johnston, who resigned as head coach and general manager a few weeks ago to become an assistant to coach Marc Crawford of the Vancouver Canucks. "It wouldn't be appropriate to discuss the contents (of the proposal) until the directors have seen them," he said. "It (the plan) has financial ramifications, of course. It may be pie in the sky, but we hope for a situation that sees the national team as self-supporting." Self-sufficiency requires a lot of input from other sources.

"There is no perfect (national team) scenario any more," said Renney, a former national coach fired in late 1997 as the Canucks head coach, "but it is essential for our team to travel extensively within this nation." He envisioned at least one tour every winter pitting Team Canada against the national team of Sweden or Finland, the Czech Republic or Russia. "In addition, we would represent Canada in significant international competitions (Spengler Cup, for example)," Renney continued, specifying that victory in major tournaments can mean a healthy windfall up to $75,000 US, in addition to sponsorship money and travel compensation. The income from an international championship or two in any season could do much to help pay Team Canada's bills, leaving Canadian hockey's governing body to fulfil its main mandate of improving the game at the grass-roots. CHA president Bob Nicholson says that our teams lose ground internationally as more Europeans are drafted ahead of Canadians by the NHL every year because the training is different in Canada than in European nations. "Some of our teenaged players are in 100 games a year," Nicholson said.

"A typical number for Finnish or Swedish players? Probably closer to 15 or 20. A lot more time remains for working on skills." It would not be difficult for me NHL to strengthen Team Canada, financially and artistically "The draft age could be increased (from 18 to 20) and some players under contract to professional teams could be assigned to us as part of their development" fi I presents Tha Edmonton Gold vs Crimson Tida 7. CFF July 3 at Ellarsli Rugby Park (1)1 Untl tlhtrali Id.) Kkk-effz 3 pm TxklK $3.00 Children undw 10 fre CaU 988-3243 for info Journal O. 4 GENERAL ADmlSSIOil Tickets CJa soft drinks, 4 jular retail price $07.00 I gCCT). 4 32oz.

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