Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 10, 1990 TAG: 9005100299
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
McDonald uttered those words in relief as Antonette Veloso's final shot sailed out to give McDonald a 6-3, 6-3 victory and the right to advance to the Region III tournament Monday at Magna Vista.
The match ended the battle of the sexes that for two years had pitted McDonald against Veloso, a junior who played for the William Byrd boys' team because the Terriers don't have a girls' squad.
The Salem senior, the Group AA runner-up last year, has won five of the seven times he and Veloso have played.
"I think he's most relieved they never have to play again like this," said Dave Petersen, Salem's coach.
"I'll never have to go through this again," McDonald said. "It's been pressure for two years."
The pressure on McDonald showed early as Veloso broke his serve to take a 3-1 lead in the first set. McDonald caught himself, took five straight games and broke Veloso's serve four straight times stretching into the second set.
Down 2-0 in the second set, Veloso had a chance to get back into the match by taking a love-40 lead on McDonald's second serve. But McDonald won five straight points to go up 3-0.
Leading 4-1, McDonald shouted to himself, "Don't let up." Then he broke Veloso's serve and went to a potential deciding game on his serve.
McDonald aced Veloso on his first shot. Then the Byrd junior won the rest of the points to break McDonald's service and held hers to keep the match going. However, McDonald stormed to an easy victory in the ninth game.
In other tennis:
The top-seeded singles player and doubles team won championships in the Piedmont District girls' tournament at Jaycee Park in Collinsville. Paige Witt of Fieldale-Collinsville defeated No. 2 Leigh Counts of Martinsville 6-2, 6-3. Witt teamed with Jennifer Tilley to stop Tracy Dillon and Stephanie Anderson of Martinsville 6-0, 6-2.
Martinsville, which won the team title Tuesday, and the individual winners will advance to the Region III tournament Monday and Tuesday at the Salem Civic Center.
At Independence, Mary Lee Sutherland of host Grayson County defeated Kelly Miller of Floyd County 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 to win the Mountain Empire District girls' singles title. The doubles final was postponed until today because of rain.
\ BASEBALL: Liberty's Keith Coles had his best game of the year, pitching a three-hitter, striking out 11 and hitting two home runs in a 5-1 victory over visiting Appomattox. Coles had a two-run homer in the first and a solo homer in the fifth.
The victory left the Minutemen (12-5) a half-game out of third with one game left in the Seminole District race. Kerry Hogan drove in the other two runs for Liberty.
At Lexington, Glenvar (9-6, 10-7) remained in the running for one of the top four spots in the Pioneer District by beating the Scarlet Hurricane 4-1 behind the four-hit pitching of Sean Grinnell and Chris Graham. Brian Shotwell took the loss for Lexington (4-11, 5-11).
At Hot Springs, John Loan pitched a complete game and joined Kes Phillips and Chris Williams with two hits apiece to pace Bath County (16-1) to an 18-3 victory over Buffalo Gap (14-4).
Danny Pollard (3-0) pitched a one-hitter and Grayson County scored six runs in the first inning on its way to a 13-0 rout of Floyd County in the Mountain Empire District.
With the victory, the Blue Devils (7-1, 12-3) forced a playoff with Narrows for the top seed in the district tournament and a spot in the Region C tournament.
Daniel Ball pitched a no-hitter as John Battle won at Marion 6-0.
Randolph Macon's Rob Baker struck out 17 and allowed four hits in a 7-1 victory at North Cross.
\ BOYS' SOCCER: Craig Bagby scored three goals and Arne Egging added two as Martinsville mauled Laurel Park 7-0 in the semifinal round of the Piedmont District tournament.
The Bulldogs advance to meet Bassett, a 4-2 winner over Magna Vista, in the championship game at 7 p.m. Friday.
\ SOFTBALL: At Buena Vista, Parry McCluer ended its regular season with a 33-2 drubbing of Covington. The Fighting Blues (11-1) got a grand slam from Dawn Coleman, Tammy Grant went 4-for-5 with three runs batted in and Jenny Williams, who struck out 10, was 3-for-4 with three RBI.
by CNB