UPDATE DECEMBER 26

 

MISSING BATBUSTER REPORTS

As customary, SPY attends the Friday night clinics which precede the annual pre-Thanksgiving Batbuster tournament.  This year, our notes on the clinic somehow got clipped off the bottom of a SPY report – an omission the more regrettable because the information we have is that about twice as many college coaches watched the practice games at Alicia Park as watched the clinics on four fields at Barber Park .  Moreover, it seems that a number of players we saw at the clinic were on teams which played at the HS locations on Sat-Sun, and thus were probably not seen by many coaches.

 

We encourage college coaches to see these 2004 graduates at coming tournaments.  Any number of these players could do well in D-1, especially among the smaller schools.  Note that there are several real scholars in this group: GPAs 3.5, SAT 1200 and higher.

 

The same scouting handicap which applies to all tournaments applies to these clinics: with simultaneous action on four fields, your observations are limited.  That caveat given, we want to reprise our original notes from November.  We saw players in pitching, hitting and fielding drills but concentrated on watching them in the pickup games.

 

Players Who Impressed SPY at the Clinic

Candace Zuniga, 3rd, MI, OF, CA Renegades Gold ( Anderson )

Christin Zonger, P, CA Grapettes

Michelle Parsley, P,OF,1st, Sudden Impact Gold

Christina Guillen, IF,OF, Teamsmith

Nicole Castagnola, SS,2nd, So Cal Waves

Kasey Igarta, SS,2nd, Chico Starz

Jessica Adolph, P,3rd, Fillys

Ashley Rehbock, C,SS,3rd, (Mike D’Amato, coach)

Nicole Berry, P,1st, So Cal Waves (impressed us at 1st; did not see her pitch)

Melissa Porche, P,UT, So Cal Waves (saw her on the mound)

Ann Kinsey, MI, Jets Gold

Sara Helene Stas, MI, San Jose Strikkers

Tyler Schafer, C, WA Lady Hawks

Amanda Guerrero, 2nd, SS, Absolute Blast WA

Cherie Woodward, IF, Chico Starz

Jamie DaSilva, 3rd,1st, Lady Sharks Gold

Lindsay Ohm, IF, Rainier WA Jets

Andi Zolton, OF,2nd,SS, WA Absolute Blast

Ashley Bowman, IF,P, Idaho Golden Gloves

Janice Bienert, CF, CA Hot Styx

Janette Schelebo, C,OF,IF, Bakersfield Babes

Allison Leak, P,1st, Fresno Force

Lauren Saby, P,1st,2nd, Pacific Coast Predators

Meghan Spehar, P,MI,OF, Jets Gold

Jessi Tangen, SS, 2nd, Rainier WA Jets

Melissa Robledo, C, 3rd, Nemesis

 

 

 

 

 

IN MEMORIAM

Time, Newsweek, People and other media have all published tributes to famous people who died in 2003 – and none better than the brief film presented by HBO.  Luminaries such as Kate Hepburn, Gregory Peck, Buddy Ebsen, Gregory Hines from the worlds of cinema and stage, and Bobby Bonds, Warren Spahn, Otto Graham from the world of sports professionals.  SPY has previously noted the passing of Gina Vecchione’s mother, coach Ron Derogatis, and young players like Terra Ross and Brittany Tuck.

 

SPY would now like to eulogize Alexandra Burakow, whom most of you did not know or even know of her.  Alexandra, known as Sasha to her friends, an honors scholar who was in her freshman year at Duke after being a semifinalist in the national Intel Science Talent Search competition.  Sasha was recognized for her research on amoebas and their brain function, and wanted to study degenerative brain disorders, whom she hoped to treat as a physician.  Sasha, who lived in St. Petersburg , Russia , for a time, also won medals in Russian-language speaking and writing competition.  She volunteered at local hospitals and at Duke in the neonatal intensive care unit.

 

Sasha did not play softball but she was a super-star athlete, an All-American in lacrosse and captain of the lacrosse and field hockey teams at Thomas Jefferson HS in Virginia , the top-rated academic HS in the state.  Sasha won the outstanding achievement award from the Women’s Sports Foundation.

 

For all these exploits, Sasha is well remembered as a heroine for her bravery last December 30.  Sasha was passed by two speeding cars on a local highway; one car crashed into a third car.  Sasha stopped and pulled two severely injured 9-year olds from the burning vehicle, and comforted the mother, pinned in the wreck, until help arrived.  Most people who witness accidents cannot remember the details, but Sasha had presence of mind to describe the hit-and-run driver and car – and her testimony led to a conviction.

 

Quite a girl – scholar, athlete and heroine.

 

On December 17, Sasha died of a brain aneurynsm while driving home from Duke.  She was 19.  In death, this gifted child continued to contribute: she was an organ donor.

 

SPY MAGAZINE’S FIXER-UPPERS

I finished Volume 6 of SPY Magazine on schedule December 15 – lots of good stuff.  But, Macromedia informed me that my original license had expired; I purchased a new license but when the CD arrived, my #1 Aptiva couldn’t get past that expiration notice.  So, I uploaded the software and all the contents of Volume 6 onto an HP I had inherited from my daughter after she got an Imac for graduation.  Voila, the HP was loaded with viruses and wouldn’t publish – I couldn’t even open the files, including the Norton’s system my daughter had installed.  Since the original files were on the Aptiva, my son suggested I wait until December 29 when Macromedia reopens and transfer the license.  Helpful nephew, who designs programs as a VP at Merrill Lynch, suggested Norton’s System Works.  My daughter’s fiancé, who actually works as a computer tech, said he did not need System Works because he would put all three computers on a network and simply transfer the files that way.  Alas, 25 files were detected and fixed by the Norton’s Anti Virus program on the Aptiva, but, five files contained the Worm – and they ate all of the content on the Aptiva – Volume 6 and its predecessors.  So, my #1 and #2 computers are out of action; fortunately, the Alert Zone firewall saved the laptop.  New readers should be aware that I love reporting for SPY, but I hate computers!

 

GOLD SECTOR TOURNAMENTS

The ASA web site does not yet contain the schedule of Gold sector tournaments for 2004.  The presumption is that most if not all will be held at times which approximate the 2003 schedule.  However, we already know of a date conflict.  The Sector tournament which includes Region 14 will be held at the same time as the Independence Day tournament in Boulder , CO , which is always attended by a strong contingent of Gold teams.  While SPY is told the problem occurred because the two CO tournaments shifted their dates so as to include the July 4th holiday, from whence they draw their names, it seems that somehow the people who do the planning for Sector tournaments should have known of this date change – which could be readily ascertained by calling any number of Gold coaches.

 

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

There are several good reasons for subscribing to Sports Illustrated, and none better than the feature 2003 in Review in the December 29 edition.  (No, it doesn’t contain any Paris Hilton jokes or pictures; you can’t top Newsweek’s opine that Jessica Simpson makes Paris Hilton sound like a Rhodes scholar; Simpson has all the mental agility of a crowbar)  In case you had forgotten, SI reminds us of: the Clemson center who barfed on the football, which the Tiger quarterback promptly fumbled; the Florida Gator media guide featuring a crocodile; the decision by Campbell , CA swim teams to end their long time tradition of coed shave-downs in the locker room (what? You didn’t know?); a doctor in Kentucky sued for branding UK on a woman’s uterus; a 7-year old driving a Lexus home from a soccer game; the Pekingnese which defeated 20,000 other dogs at Crufts, the world’s largest dog show, allegedly had a face lift.  And, you get Rick Reilly’s opus on all the things he would like to do if he had only a year to live.

 

WE WERE “PICKED”

Not being a Burt Reynolds fan, and uncomfortable with some of the more degenerative aspects of Deliverance, I nevertheless enjoyed the Dueling Banjos scene featuring a slit-eyed albino mountain boy named Lonnie and actor Ronny Cox.  Awesome; rivaled the best of Flatt and Scruggs.

 

This morning, I learned from the Post that the scene is as fake as Reynolds’ hairpiece.

The producer/director found a young man in rural Georgia who had the “look” they wanted to portray.  But, Billy Redden did not play the banjo 31 years ago – and does not now.  So, an actor/musician hidden behind the swing stuck his arm into the shirt worn by Billy, and did the finger work.  The actual music was played by two Hollywood musicians, Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandel. 

 

Billy, who works as a short-order cook in a store-front café he co-owns in Clayton called the Cookie Jar, was paid $500 for that scene, and mostly forgotten.  But, director Tim Burton remembered that banjo scene and searched rural Georgia for Billy, and cast him in his new movie,Big Fish   This time, Billy was paid $300 a day for a week’s work.  He still can’t play a banjo but in Big Fish, Billy picks a few notes from Dueling Banjos.

 

LEA MISHLAN

Lea Mishlan was reported being drafted as a catcher from the univ of florida
in your pro draft section.....she is a shortstop from USF (south florida )

End

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