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j til r r t i f st the tribune rts leisure got a score call our hotline at 6402100 heres how its done son steve taylor jr 4 watches intently as his father steve gives him a lesson on kicking a soccer ball at the rec centre fields on saturday photo by sjoerd witteveen cabletech midget girls gain berth in provincial event marissa stapley correspondent the stoufrville cabletech midget girls softball team batted their way to a gold medal finish at the oak ridges provincial quali fiers this past weekend and will be heading to kingston from aug 2224 for the midget girls provincial championship there were 53 teams competing for the 12 provincial champi onship positions with tourna ments taking place in london napanee markham and oak ridges the top three teams from each qualifier were to advance to the provincial championship the stoufrville girls opened the tournament on a strong note by defeating fort erie 135 in a five- inning mercy game amanda connolly was the win ning pitcher while angie burke starred offensively hitting a grand slam homer and driving in five runs mandy van veen also shone on the offensive hitting a homerun and driving in four runs the cabletech girls racked up another victory in their second game edging milton 32 amanda crowder pitched a solid game giving up a mere six hits and striking out six players connolly and timms starred offensively in this game with timms hitting the winning triple and breaking the tie in the bottom of the sixth inning the cabletech girls offence sur faced in their third game as they overcame a tworun deficit to pre vail 76 over palmerston a threerun double by danielle timms in the top of the seventh inning enabled the cabletech team to overcome a 64 deficit connolly was the winning pitcher shannon timms and tammy craigie were solid on the offen sive while melissa gilroy each belted homers in the fourth game stouffville blanked oak ridges 80 in anoth er mercy game ending after six innings connolly pitched a stellar game allowing only two hits while craigie was three for four at the plate with three rbis jen shepherd was three for three with two rbis and melissa gilroy hit a solo round tripper the cabletech girls got off to a slow start in the gold medal round as they suffered their first loss a 53 verdict to oakridges in the double elimination event however in the rematch stouf fville came back to edge oakridges 109 connolly was the winning pitcher the timms sisters both starred offensively with shannon hitting a threerun homer and danielle a threerun double shepherd and angie burke also hit well danielle timms was named most valuable player of the tour nament for her solid display of defensive skills the cabletech girls will travel to markham this weekend to compete in their midget girls league playoffs rough days on links for stonehouse marissa stapley correspondent ted stonehouse returned to his roots this week managing to get in a few rounds of golf at the same time the 26yearold stoufrville native played in the cpga championships at the mandarin golf club in markham from aug 7 to 8 stonehouse had a tough weekend and was unable to make the cut for the finals but expressed gratitude for the opportunity to play in a prestigious tourna ment so close to the town where he grew up this gave him the chance to visit old friends and spend time with family members whom he lost touch with after moving to nova scotia with his wife patty it was a really neat experience for me to play this stop of the tour enthused stonehouse its a great tournament and an honor to be a part of it ted expressed no regret about missing out on the final cut i had a tough few days and thats probably from lack of playing i was hitting well but i putted poor ly he explained it was my first tour event and my first opportuni ty besides university golf toplay with such a quali ty group of players this one was a real highlight in terms of tournaments stonehouse has played golf professionally for four please see page 1 ib these newsworthy nads are for real sports notes bruce stapley peter truman who years ago worked as a news anchor for global used to wrap up his show each night with an offbeat item at the conclusion of his piece he would end with the statement thats not news but this too is real ity so what better time than the dog days of summer to shine a somewhat dimmed tribune sports spotlight on a group of would be sportsmen who have run clean out of real athletic options i refer to the nads a ragtag col lection of slowpitch retreads and one time jacksofall athletic pur suits who have long been reduced to swatting after illaimed lobs from their own teammates in the local mens fun softball league in a world of endless change the nads nucleus has been playing together for almost two decades starting out as the brew jays a spoof on torontos thenbrand new major league ball club theyre yet to win the league play off title making them more then overdue in a league that only in recent years expanded to include 12 teams the team is headed up by jim pops brazier who still takes to the game like an eager youngster despite having reached the big six- oh a few seasons back it must be understood that head ed up in this context means the guy who gets to carry the equipment to and from games each week with athletic supports worn on both knees rather than where they belong jim has in recent years been joined on the team by a second gen eration brazier his son dan the team has an average age that would make last years rickety old toronto maple leafs look like a col lection of preschoolers by compari son two youngsters on team there are just two players under 40 both of whom see double duty as designated runners for jim as well as the lame ducks of the week the two kids the agile ralph montone and the galloping steve van wyck never fail to elicit envious oohs and ahs when they streak the bases or run a mile and a half to haul in a fly ball but a few of the older guys are also still equipped with arms that work like rocket launchers this serves to keep the older chaps from nodding off which can sometimes happen to aging men during the inevitable slow spells in a ball game shortstop frank wildman a level one slowpitch player until his knees went south a year or so back terror izes first basemen when he unloads his gun trying to nip a streaking run ner phil lavell in the nads outfield is so bent on unleashing his howitzer every time the ball is hit to him whether he has a play or not that second baseman doug pattimore has been known to seek sanctuary behind other teammates or even the screen when he sees phil set to throw so casual is the atmosphere during games that nads players have been known to carry on minor domestic quarrels with spouses sitting in the stands during an at bat but by and large wives and girl friends attending games have learned to be quietly supportive carrying on conversations with friends or their kids or just enjoying a beautiful summer night while pre tending to take in every pitch younger family members are always welcome on the nads bench especially on those nights when bill shena fails to show up and the atmosphere is a little more serene in his absence john arthurs preteen daughter jen usually assumes scorekeeper duties which is a good thing because most of the players cant add any better than they can hit wins outnumber losses once again this season the nads have been cruising along in the reg ular season winning far more than they lose this is done on purpose by the rest of the league who know that come the season ending playoff tournament sept 20 the team will once again go straight into the dumper for this hack sports journalist the nads represent a rare opportunity to actually get out there and participate on the field as opposed to my nor mal daily routine of sitting in my home office chronicling the exploits of the real athletes in town and while ive yet to see my pic ture appear in the paper making an outstanding play in short centre field i know ill always take delight in living the running shoe company slogan and just doing it every summer monday night with the infamous nads