ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, July 17, 1996 TAG: 9607170020
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
COLUMN: Community sports
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: CHAD WILLIS STAFF WRITER
Defeating the same team three times in a season is one of the most difficult challenges in sports.
Christiansburg Astros coach A.J. Collins was happy to settle for his 15-16-year-old Dixie Youth Pre-Major baseball team to win two of three games from Blacksburg to capture the District 6 tournament.
The Astros advanced to the Dixie Youth state tournament July 11 with a 9-6 victory over Blacksburg in the final game of the double-elimination tournament. Christiansburg came back from 4-0 and 6-5 deficits before taking the lead for good in the bottom of the sixth inning on center fielder Lance Reynolds' single.
Christiansburg won three of four games in last week's tournament, downing Giles 17-16 in the opening round and Blacksburg 8-5 in the winner's bracket finals. Blacksburg evened the series with Christiansburg with a 14-6 victory, forcing the third and decisive game between the rivals.
The Astros' first opponent in Friday's opening round of the 1996 state tournament will be Madison Heights. Game time is 2:30 p.m. at Liberty Lake Park in Bedford. The seven-team field will compete in a double-elimination tournament for the right to advance to the Dixie Youth World Series, Aug. 3-9 in Salem.
"The team is playing pretty well, especially our hitting and our defense," Collins said. "Our Achilles heel could turn out to be our pitching because we are going to have to win five games in five days to win the state tournament."
The Astros hit a collective .374 (46-123) in the District 6 tournament, led by second baseman Adam Collins' team-high seven hits and .636 average. Collins was a second baseman on Christiansburg High School's varsity squad this past season. The Astros had three pitchers record wins in the tournament - Matt Helbing (a member of the North Cross varsity team), Tommy Maynor and Hank Newhouse.
Other team members include Jonathan Bartlett, Jason Edmundson, Jason Hale, Lucas Jones, Paul McIntyre, Brian Musselman, Travis Ratliff, Nick Yopp and assistant coaches Duane McIntyre and Danny Yopp.
SOCCER SUCCESS: The New River Rovers under-10 boy's soccer team recently completed a winning season, compiling a 13-8-1 record under coach Yvan Beliveau and manager Becky Lawson. The Rovers placed first in the Roanoke Crestar Festival Soccer Tournament and second in the Johnson City (Tenn.) 10th Annual Soccer Invitational Tournament.
Rovers team members include Carson Davis, Tyler Corvin, Ryan Naff, Eli Sevcik-Timberg, Neal Mutispaugh, Justin Lawson, Jake Carver, Ryan Johnson, Austin Rose, Lewis Cox, Zach Pace, Zach Gustafson, Jameson Braine and Will Mathews.
If you have an idea for a story or note about recreational sports, call Chad Willis at 381-1672 in Montgomery County or Radford or 1-800-346-1234, extension 672 elsewhere or fax to 381-1656.
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: The Christiansburg Astros (Ages 15 & 16) hit the fieldby CNBat a Dixie Youth League district tournament game last week.