LOCAL

LOCAL

Police U-40 team wins

YOUNGSTOWN — A Youngstown Police Dept. under-40 team topped a Youngstown Police over-40 team 13-10 in a slow pitch softball game Friday at Volney Rogers field.

Steve Woodberry pitched a complete game to pick up the win. Michael Cox hit a three-run home run and two doubles. Rich Geraci hit a two-run home run and Marc Gillette a home run. Chad Zubal had three hits.

Mike Walsh hit a three-run home run to pace the losers. Johnny Patton had four hits and Girard Slattery three.

The series is now tied, 2-2.

Mount Union coaches

ALLIANCE — Mount Union College made two recent appointments in the coaching ranks for the 2007-2008 year.

Erin Foster, a native of Shelby, O, has been named assistant volleyball coach and Cole Pittis has been named an assistant men’s varsity basketball coach.

A 2004 graduate of Cleveland State, Foster spent the past five years at Chagrin Falls High. Foster is currently a member of the No. 2-ranked USAV women’s open volleyball team and is actively involved playing the Ohio beach volleyball circuit.

Pittis is a 2006 graduate of Muskingum College, where he played four years at center and earned 2006 first-team All-0hio Athletic Conference honors. He’ll work for head coach Lee Hood.

Alecia DeFrank winner

NEW PHILADELPHIA — Alecia DeFrank of Girard won a 125-pound bout by decison Friday night during an amateur boxing show entitled, “East Coast Rumble.”

DeFrank (2-1) beat Paris Woods of Portsmouth, O. as part of a 12-bout card promoted by Roy Caldwell.

DeFrank won a trophy for her win over Woods (1-2). The 23-year-old DeFrank’s next fight will be in Cleveland on Sept. 8.

Correction

VIENNA — Poland High’s girls golf team finished in 14th place in last week’s sixth annual Lady Eagle Invitational at Candywood Golf Course.

The Bulldogs were accidently omitted from the results in Saturday’s edition. They posted a 382 total.

NATION

‘Flying Tomato’ White
stays perfect in Dew

PORTLAND, Ore. — Olympic snowboarding champion Shaun White remained perfect this year in AST Dew Tour competition Saturday, winning the Skateboard Vert event in the Vans Invitational for his third victory of the season.

The 20-year-old White — a.k.a. the Flying Tomato — fell during the end of his first run and was fifth at the end of the first round, but rebounded in the second run to finish at 91.25. Canada’s Pierre-Luc Gagnon was second at 89.00, followed by Brazil’s Bob Burnquist at 87.75.

“I was just watching everyone else and, after my first run, I just focused and landed it,” said White, from Carlsbad, Calif. “I didn’t want to pull another X Games and wait to the last minute.”

White, who won X Games gold earlier this month, has competed the last two seasons on the AST Dew Tour, but this is the first time he has won three consecutive events. He is the only AST Dew Tour competitor to go undefeated so far this season.

“It was hard for me with all the snowboarding stuff last year, but I made a promise to myself that I would really focus on my skateboarding and go for it (Dew Cup) this year,” White said.

The four-day competition is the third of five stops of the AST Dew Tour that features skateboarding, BMX and freestyle motocross. Sunday’s action features Freestyle Motocross finals. White will continue his quest for the Dew Cup in Salt Lake City in September and the finale in Orlando, Fla., in October.

Measles detected
in Little Leaguer

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Little League World Series officials have asked coaches, players and others with regular access to team dormitories to prove they have had measles shots after a player from Japan was diagnosed with the contagious illness.

No one else has been diagnosed with measles, though Little League officials said they were asking for medical records, or requiring teams to get shots to comply with federal and state health guidelines.

“We’re taking all the precautions necessary to make sure there are no further cases,” David Houseknecht, Little League chief financial officer, said after guidelines were issued Saturday.

Anyone born after 1956 with access to the players’ housing complex must provide state health officials with an immunization record, or a doctor’s note that their patient has had measles.

Gymnast Bross
runaway winner

SAN JOSE, Calif. — As the line of gymnasts paraded across the podium, the “clank, clank” of medals banging together rang throughout the arena.

Yep, Rebecca Bross was in the house.

Bross turned the junior women’s competition at the U.S. gymnastics championships into her own little jewelry party Saturday, winning the all-around title as well as gold medals on the floor, vault and uneven bars. Her only blemish was a fall on the balance beam — and even then she was still good enough to win the silver medal.

“It was pretty exciting,” she said. “I was really happy.”

Bross scored 119.40 points in the all-around, putting her almost two points ahead of runner-up Samantha Shapiro. To put that in perspective, the New York Yankees’ 6-1 victory over Detroit on Friday night was closer.

Shapiro finished with 117.50 points, and Jordyn Wieber was third with 116.20.

Bross’ victory was hardly a surprise. She’s a favorite of national team coordinator Martha Karolyi and she won the silver medal at the Pan American Games last month, edging Ivana Hong. Hong was in second place heading into the finals Saturday — of the senior division.

If Bross was a year older, she’d surely be in the mix for the world championship team. But she just turned 14, making her ineligible for both worlds and next year’s Beijing Olympics.

Volleyball pair
crush opponents

QUINCY, Mass. — Matt Fuerbringer and Casey Jennings were moving along nicely through the brackets at the inaugural AVP Boston Open beach volleyball tournament.

That was when they were playing mere Earthlings.

“Phil (Dalhausser) is like a Martian from another planet,” Jennings said Saturday after losing to the 6-foot-9 Dalhausser and Todd Rogers in the finals 21-16, 21-12. “He was just like a train, and we had a BB gun. You don’t win that battle.”

The women’s finals are today.

Staff/wire reports