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34 economist suntribune sports thursday sept 12 2002 sports digest toronto teams help soccer club mark 25th with new centre the official opening of the casey van maris soccer centre and celebration of the 25th anniversary of the whitchurch- stouffville soccer club will take place sept 21 from 1 to 5 pm among the festivities are an appear ance bt the toronto inferno womens soccer team the toronto lynx junior team york region all star teams enter tainment by the toronto lynx dancers and mascot a barbecue pig roast and beer tent the casey van maris soccer centre is at the ballantrae community centre on aurora road for further information call 905 8889242 softball loop serves up breakfast at tournament the stouffville monday night mens softball league will hold its annual year- end tournament this saturday at memorial park action in the 12team event is sched uled to begin at 8 am and conclude with the championship game at 330 pm during the tournament the clever conductor restaurant formerly fullertons place will serve breakfast at 9 am and later lunch and beverages as well the league is looking for play ers for next season league spokesper son kerry keller notes that each year theres a turnover of players were not just a league of young guys he said we have guys who are in their 60s who play those wishing further information can contact keller at 905 6407157 stouffville team makes hometown hockey final the stouffville major novice a clippers advanced to the final of the stouffville early bird hockey tournament before settling for secondplace honours with a 53 loss to orillia in the title tilt sunday at the stouffville arena chris jupp scored a goal and an assist while brad harley and craig hasler added singles joseph deveny collected two assists and matthew dunlop one mitchell king scored twice to propel stouffville to a 51 win over the lasalle sabres in the tourney opener jupp and hasler contributed a goal and assist each while james lovett added one goal adam kostandoff drew two assists and brandon hughes one backed by a twogoal effort from deveny and singles from harley and hasler the clippers then doubled caledon 42 lovett jupp and hasler drew assists facing the markham waxers in their third outing the clippers received goals from alex popper and king to earn a 22 tie lovett was credited with one assist the clippers then faced orillia in their final roundrobin outing and lost 5- 3 jupp king and kostandoff did the scoring while hayden gibson and king had assists based on points collected in the roundrobin stouffville and orillia advanced to the final clipper goal- tenders cprmertlrnewell and brandon frahoey had outstanding tournaments collision course staff photosteve somerville randys appliances baserunner clarissa gilbert collides with alison sanelli of the stouffville lioness at home plate during squirt girls action in the wwtchurdistourfville softball association tournament saturday in stouffville memorial park randys won the game and went to win its age group title spirit opens season tonight with salute to emergency workers not all of the people in uniform at the stouffville spirits home opener tonight will be hockey players the spirit hosts the collingwood blues in one of four games that kick off the provincial junior a hockey league this evening game time is 730 at the stouffville arena local emergency service workers will be honoured in a pregame ceremony marking the anniversary of the sept 11 terrorist attacks representatives from the whitchurchstouffville fire department york regional police and york region ems will take part spirit players will also present the proceeds 1114 from their terry fox car wash saturday at houston ford spirit players will take part in the 10k run on sunday in stouffville the spirit returns 10 players from last years team including jd smithson the first fiveyear player in team history there are a record six stouffville products on this years spirit roster secondyear forward jordan mabley is joined by rookies mike sullivan kevin haywardi caletanaka lee maxwell and michael lombardo whitchurchstouffville residents ken burrows and brian perrin return as gen eral manager and head coach respec tively the spirit plays at home every thursday excluding halloween and on five saturdays this season all home games start at 730 pm the spirit opens the road portion of its schedule friday night in huntsville spirited notes the spirit requires volunteers for gamenight activities call 905 6422123 or email spirithock- eyhotmailcom for more information fastball mvp likes family atmosphere by jim thomas correspondent chris burkholder is one of the most soughtafter fastball players these days for those who play with him or against him recognize his skills both as a third base man and a batter with the stouffville mennos during the past season he record ed a 361 batting average and a slug ging percentage of 676 in 108 at bats burkholder recorded 39 hits six of these home runs he also drove in 37 runs with an additional four triples and eight doubles he walked 14 times in the mennos march to the oshawa city and district fastball league title burkholder was voted the championships most valuable player modest concerning his own achievements burkholder said with the title on the line everyone did his part he described pitcher byron baranieski as incredible throwing 41 innings and winning six of the clubs last seven games with a earned run average of 117 a native of whitchurch- stouffville burkholder grew up at preston lake before moving with wife trish back to stouffville where they live with with sons joshua 6 lukas 4 and samuel 2 burkholder received his early education at whitchurch highlands public school and later stouffville district secondary school where he played fast ball under coaching and staff teacher bill mcknight he was also a member of the schools golf and bad minton teams burkholder looks back on sdss physical education instructor dave connell with great affection he was the best teacher i ever had he had high expec tations of his students he made everyone want to excel burkholder began his fast ball career as a pitcher at vandorf later with dad howie burkholder holding the coaching reins and with scott evans on the mound he moved over to shortstop and then to third base its at this position he feels most comfortable burkholders teams have gone to the ontario and chris burkholder father is stouffville mans hero canadian finals several times both stouffville ban tam and junior clubs won ontario titles at the canadian level they grabbed a silver and a bronze by an odd coincidence it was former teammate evans who won it all for lloydminster sask evans was picked up by the champs while burkholder was st catharines choice the series was hosted by victoria bc burkholder has also starred with the greenbank gamblers the uxbridge bandits and baltimore selects greenbank won a senior championship and uxbridge won a provincial with uxbridge burkholder was also voted the finals most valuable player with burkholder in the lineup baltimore advanced to the world championships losing 30 to new zealand the tournament was held at peterborough to do that well was an accomplishment of which we were all very proud he claims burkholder says hes pleased to be part of a mennos team whose roots and traditions are deeply embedded in the community were a family he says a churchbased team with a long history it was his father who along with a cousin art burkholder of markham started the mennos more than 25 years ago initially they played out of a park at victoria square my fathers my hero burkholder says everyones role model burkholder says mount albert pitcher todd martin is the best hes ever faced one of the best in the world he describes martins location as nearperfect with an incredible changeup if he does make a mis take you still have to catch up with the ball to make con tact he notes burkholders confident the mennos will be back next season with his dad and art burkholder at the helm we have a terrific fan base he says the best in the league on his own future burkholder says he may also play senior ball with pickering but the mennos will be my first priority