THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 23, 1996 TAG: 9605230514
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: FROM STAFF REPORTS
LENGTH: 55 lines
With one bad wing, Cox's Nathan Shanks quickly learned he didn't have a prayer in the Eastern Region boys singles final.
The power of teammate Ryan Davidson and Shanks' bruised right shoulder forced a premature end to the championship match Wednesday, as Shanks retired after a set of watching the stylish lefty toy with the offerings from Shanks' weakened arsenal.
``It feels good to win the title, but I didn't really have much motivation today because I knew Nathan was hurt,'' Davidson, the sophomore transfer from Bishop England Academy in South Carolina.
But Shanks' injury wasn't bad enough to prevent him from teaming with Davidson to win the doubles title. The Falcon duo's final-round, 6-4, 6-1 victory over Tallwood's Ramel and Ryan Bautista gave Cox the first sweep of the three regional titles (team, singles, doubles) since 1989 (Cox again).
All finalists will advance to the Group AAA state tournament beginning May 31 at Virginia Beach's Owl Creek Municipal Tennis Center and will open against Northwest Region opponents.
Shanks, who hurt his shoulder during a tournament last weekend and made it worse when he was slammed into a wall while ``horsing around'' with friends, was forced to serve underhanded throughout the regionals and expressed surprise that his powder-puff deliveries didn't cost him in Tuesday's opening rounds against Lafayette's Jay Nelson and Great Bridge's David Bristow.
``Nobody attacked my serve,'' Shanks said. ``Personally, I was shocked.''
But the talented Davidson, who beat Shanks in straight sets to win the Beach District tournament and is 11-0 against region opponents, has the ability to crush returns off both sides even when Shanks has his ``A'' serve. The odds of him not teeing off on the kind of stuff Shanks opened points with Wednesday were about as slim as the prospect of Barry Bonds bunting a hanging curveball.
- PAUL WHITE
In Bay Rivers baseball:
Southampton 3, Poquoson 2: Down 2-1 in the bottom of the 13th inning, winning pitcher Brad Davis doubled down the leftfield line to score David Griffith and Mark Berry and lift the Raiders in the completion of a suspended semifinal.
Southampton will host York in today's 4:30 p.m. tournament final.
Grayson Craun, a Nansemond River baseball player, will attend Virginia Military Institute on an athletic scholarship.
Craun, 6-1 with an ERA just over 1.00 for the Warriors during the regular season, chose VMI after receiving scholarship offers from Old Dominion and Virginia Commonwealth. He batted .308 and tied for the team lead in RBIs (20).
Trey Cooper, the all-time leading soccer scorer at Norfolk Collegiate, has accepted a grant package from Hampden-Sydney.
Cooper set single-season (64 points) and career (121 points) scoring records at Collegiate. by CNB