THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 18, 1994 TAG: 9409160275
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 27 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Julie Goodrich
LENGTH: Long : 110 lines
The Chesapeake Firecrackers, a girls 16-under slow-pitch softball team, wrapped up their summer season with a win in the East Coast Championships in Little Creek. The Firecrackers went undefeated in the tournament with a 5-0 record against the four-team field.
In the early rounds, the Firecrackers were unstoppable, outscoring their opponents, 47-11. The finals, however, proved to be a bit more of a challenge.
Facing the Tidewater Stars, who the Firecrackers had defeated, 14-6, earlier in the tournament, coach Christi Childress' team found itself down by six going into its final at-bat. The Firecrackers scratched out hit after hit, scoring six runs in the top of the seventh to tie the score at 13 and send the game into extra innings.
In the top of the eighth, Lauren Fowler connected for a solo home run to give the Firecrackers a 14-13 lead. Sabrina Tapley sat the Stars down in order in the bottom of the inning to seal the win.
The Firecrackers entered 10 tournaments over the summer, winning four. The team also placed second in the Commonwealth Games in Roanoke, and finished with a 25-9 record for the season.
According to Childress, the Firecrackers will switch from being a tournament-only team to playing in the Virginia Beach fall softball league in order to accommodate her players' school activities.
GIMME A ``V'': Deep Creek Middle and the National Cheerleaders Association recently hosted a cheerleading camp, with squads from Crestwood, Great Bridge, Indian River and Western Branch middle schools attending.
``This is a great gathering of diverse individuals with a common interest,'' said Indian River coach Cathy Hockman. ``Having a camp together is a wonderful way of losing competitiveness between schools and creating lasting friendships.''
The Dallas, Texas, based NCA provided instructors, past and present high school and college cheerleaders, from across the country. Students learned cheers, chants, stunting, jumping techniques, and ways to improve crowd involvement.
Chesapeake Middle School Cheerleading has recently ushered in several changes with the middle school cheering concept. The number of squad members has been increased to 24, and the squads will be split in half to cheer the fall season (football and volleyball) and the winter season (basketball and wrestling).
The middle school cheering squads have also formed a citywide constitution of rules and regulations, as well as universal standards for cheerleading tryouts.
SOCCER TOURNEY: The Chesapeake Blast under-13 soccer team traveled north recently to compete in the Fairfax Police Youth Club's Labor Day Soccer Tournament.
A 1-1-1 record in the early rounds earned the Blast a trip to the semifinals, where the team took a 5-2 decision against the Annandale Fireballs to move into the finals, where P.W.S. I Magic awaited.
The Magic had defeated the Blast 5-2 earlier in the tournament. A second look at the Magic didn't help, as the Blast was shut out 3-0 in the championship final.
Joe McClelland led all Chesapeake scorers with five goals. He scored once on a penalty kick and had a pair of two-goal games. Patrick Bryan scored three goals, R.C. Milne and James Jackson had two apiece, and Bryan Woodland and Daniel Johnson each connected once.
Other teams in the Chesapeake Select Soccer Club opened their seasons a week ago. The Blast's under-11s, 12s, and 13s all got off to a 2-0 start, and the under-10 Cyclones took a 2-0 win over Richmond. Teams in the under-14s and 15s were still looking for their first win.
PISTOL RESULTS: Chesapeake's Ed Parker scored 1,741 points out of a possible 1,800 to place first among 12 competitors in an indoor pistol match at the Norfolk County Rifle Range.
Doug Harris of Chesapeake earned 1st Expert honors with a score of 1,624.
Virginia Beach's Rob Miller took 2nd Expert (1,615), Bill Belli of Portsmouth earned 1st Marksman with a 1,497 score, and Norfolk's Rick Klein rounded out the top five with a 1,488 score and 2nd Marksman honors.
Officers were recently elected for the NCRR's fall indoor pistol league: Fred Vanderslice, president; Bob Spainhour, secretary/treasurer; and Butch Achterhof, statistician.
The league will begin Sept. 20 with two weeks of practice and training for new shooters before formal competition begins Oct. 4.
Each shooter in the league will fire once a week, on either Tuesday or Wednesday from 4:40-8 p.m., to complete a nine week round-robin competition. Each team is assigned a classification based upon the skill level of its four highest rated members, and competes within its classification as well as overall.
The 60 shot course, consisting of two ``national match'' 30-shot courses, utilizes automatics such as the Ruger Mark II and Colt 1911 .45 calibre. The league is NRA registered and firing counts towards NRA classification for competition.
Ten teams have been entered, and several still have openings for members. Anyone interested in shooting should call Vanderslice at 467-6662, or show up at the NCRR (4321 S. Military Highway in the Bowers Hill section of Chesapeake) on Tuesday evenings.
TENNIS BENEFIT: The 1994 Jefferson National Bank/Chesapeake General Hospital Tennis Classic has been set for Oct. 6-9 at the Greenbrier and Oscar Smith High School tennis courts.
The entry fee is $20 per person, per event, with all proceeds going to the cancer services at Chesapeake General. Registration deadline is Sept. 30.
Players can sign up for women's or men's singles, women's or men's doubles, or mixed doubles. There is a two event limit. Trophies will be awarded to the first and second place winners in each class.
The event is a single elimination tournament. A best of three sets format will be used, with a 12 point tiebreaker in effect at 6-6 in each set.
Pairings and seeding will be announced at a reception the evening prior to the tournament. Players are invited to attend.
For more information, contact the Office of Fund Development at Chesapeake General Hospital at 482-6241. by CNB