
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, May 11, 1990                   TAG: 9005110224
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From staff reports
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

MOUNTAIN EMPIRE TITLE UP FOR GRABS

On what should have been the last day of the Mountain Empire District baseball regular season, less is known now about the standings than at almost any time other than Day One.

Two months of regular season have been played to eliminate exactly two teams - Auburn and winless Bland - from contention for the four-team tournament. That leaves six teams still alive.

As it stands now, Narrows and Grayson County, once-beaten each, play 2 p.m. Saturday at George Wythe High for the top seed and the corresponding automatic berth in the Group A Region C playoffs. The loser will be the tournament's second seed.

Narrows beat Grayson County 3-2 earlier this week.

That leaves four other teams to sort out today which will be the other two teams in the tournament. Shawsville, Floyd County, Galax and Fort Chiswell all have 4-3 records in the district. Shawsville plays at Floyd County and Galax entertains Fort Chiswell at Fries.

The losers are through for the year.

The MED sends two teams to regionals.

\ TENNIS: Mary Lee Kelly Sutherland and Natalie Cooke of Grayson County defeated Kelly Miller and Kim Reece of Floyd County 6-2, 6-1 to win the doubles championship of the Mountain Empire District girls' tournament at Independence.

Sutherland and Cooke earned their berth in the regional tournament by defeating Fort Chiswell's Heather Blair and Deanna Whisman 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 in Wednesday's semifinal round. Miller and Reece advanced with a 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 victory over Auburn's Leigh Ann Teel and Sharon Francis.

At Virginia Tech's indoor court, brothers Mark and Matt Fleeman won the doubles title of the Mountain Empire District boys' tournament.

Matt Fleeman took the singles title with a 6-4, 6-2 triumph.

The Region IV girls' team singles and doubles semifinals were suspended because of high winds at the Dedmon Center in Radford. The tournament will resume today at 3 p.m.

\ TRACK AND FIELD: The Roanoke Valley District boys' and girls' meets scheduled Thursday at Salem were postponed by rain. The meets will be run today starting at 10 a.m.

\ BASEBALL: At Hillsville, Matt Montgomery's two-out, bases-loaded single in the seventh inning lifted Carroll County to a 14-13 win over Blacksburg in a New River District game.

by CNB