DATE: Wednesday, August 6, 1997             TAG: 9708060648

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LEE TOLLIVER, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   34 lines

'96 CHAMPS GONE AS CHURCH, COED TIDEWATER SOFTBALL FINALISTS SET

Finalists in the church and coed divisions of the 16th annual Tidewater Softball Championships were determined Tuesday at Princess Anne Park.

Tonight's quarterfinals and semifinals begin at 7 p.m. and will narrow the fields in the men's and women's divisions. Championships in the four brackets - as well as in the Tidewater Seniors League - will be held Friday.

Unfortunately, those title games will not feature two of the defending champions - as the Mt. Pleasant Mennonites men's church team and Ref's Sports Club coed team were both eliminated in the first round.

Advancing to the church finals were Beach winner GO/YE and Chesapeake champion Bethel Baptist.

GO/YE defeated First Baptist 19-7 and Alliance Christian 17-5 to get into the final. Bethel got a 24-0 victory over The Believers and a 21-2 over London Bridge Baptist to advance. Bethel was led by Martie Frank, who went 5 for 6 with four homers and 9 RBI.

Making it to the coed title game were Beach champion Cummings/Easton and Chesapeake champion TNT. Cummings/Easton advanced with a 21-5 decision over Norfolk's J&G Trucking and a 19-4 victory over Chesapeake's Boone's Quality TV. Steve Gilbert was 7 for 7 with 2 home runs to lead the effort. Tim Smith went 4 for 4 in the quarterfinal victory, and Reggie LeBray was 3 for 3. In the semifinal, Smith went 3 for 4 and Kelly Bradley was 3 for 3.

TNT defeated Portsmouth runner-up Zero's 17-5 and Beach runner-up SCA/Fat Roger's/Sneaky Pete's 13-10 to move on. In the quarterfinal victory, TNT got six home runs, including two each by Rich Finnigan and Chris Tomlinson. TNT then smacked four homers in the semifinals. Bob Kolovich hit two of them and added a triple as part of a 4 for 4 effort.

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