News sports 2008-07-11 Andanh.com

One call away Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:23:32 -0500
For Matt Wilhite, the dream of pitching for a Major League Baseball team is still alive. Now in his third season with the Salt Lake Bees, the Triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the former Franklin-Simpson and Western Kentucky standout is just one call away from a chance to compete at the highest level. Still, as the waiting game continues, Wilhite admits it has led to some frustrating moments - especially this year. Wilhite got off to a rocky start with Salt Lake, posting an 8.25 ERA in April. But he has shaved that to 5.88 for the season through Wednesday with a 4-0 record in middle relief. “It’s been one of the most challenging seasons I’ve had in a way, and it’s kind of been a learning experience, too,” Wilhite said this week. “This is the first time since I’ve been playing baseball that I started out struggling the way I did this year. Pretty much the whole month of April I struggled. If you take that month out of it and look at the rest of what I’ve done, everything has been pretty good.” Wilhite came into the preseason hoping to make the Angels. His prospects looked good with a second straight invite to the parent club for spring training. In 2007, Wilhite was one of the last players sent back to the minor leagues, but this year he was sent down in the middle of March and watched former teammates like Darren O’Day stick with the Angels. “It was frustrating to see them keep him up and send me down to minor league camp, knowing what I had done the year before,” he said. “That’s the way things are. It’s a business sometimes, but it is hard not to let things like that frustrate you. You have to move on and learn from it.” Wilhite admits that disappointment might have contributed to this season’s rocky start. “I think that had a little bit to do with why I started off struggling in the month of April,” Wilhite said. “The year before I stayed the whole time and had a chance to make the team. I had a real good year and then coming back in, I started out all right, but I struggled a little bit.” Wilhite said his biggest problem was with his control. The usually pinpoint right-hander walked six batters in 12 innings in April. But Wilhite said he turned it around after a personal evaluation. “I’m a perfectionist and I demand a lot of myself,” he said. “Even if I do things good, I still probably won’t be happy with it because I want to be better. I think that mindset has helped me get to where I am, but what I’ve been through this year has opened my eyes. I’m still like that, but I’m taking things easier and having more fun. You learn a lot about yourself as a person.” Wilhite added that he was determined to be more aggressive on the mound. “I don’t care how many hits or runs I give up, I’m not going to walk a guy,” Wilhite said. “I think that has helped a lot.” Wilhite has seen a dramatic turnaround - allowing only one walk since May - but he admits there are still moments of slight frustration, mostly in adjusting to his role as a middle reliever. “That’s been the rough part of it,” Wilhite said. “I’ve been a guy that’s thrown and then had, at the most, two days off before I threw again. We’ve kept seven guys in the (bullpen) all year, so in between outings I’ve three days off - sometimes four. You have to stay on the side and keep sharp yourself, so that has been a little bit different.” And if Wilhite starts to get down on himself, he said he draws strength from his late brother Michael, who died in a boating accident in July 2005. “I still carry my brother with me a lot,” Wilhite said. “He was pretty much my best friend.” For now, Wilhite said he will continue to do what he can to help Salt Lake win. And he’ll continue waiting for a call from the Angels. Wilhite hopes he gets the nod from the Angels, but concedes it may be a long shot at this point. “I have a lot of respect for the people in the organization,” Wilhite said. “The way I look at it, I still have one more year left on my Angels contract. I have the rest of this year and next year and then I can become a free agent. That’s what it takes sometimes. “The Angels organization is one of the best minor league organizations in all of baseball. They are ranked top three every year and if you look at it, there are guys they have to let go - then the next year they are in the big leagues. That says a lot for them and says a lot for what we have to compete with.” Which is why Wilhite remains to determined to play as long as possible. “I’m not giving this thing up until somebody tells me I’m done,” he said. “I just turned 27 on July third. I want to think that is still young. It’s difficult, because a lot of people don’t see this side of it. It’s not that easy. “I think as you get older you start to realize this game won’t be here for the rest of your life and you might as well take it for what it’s worth while you have it and keep pushing and pushing and see where it leads you to.”

Local soccer to lose leaders Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:23:36 -0500
A trio of familiar names will soon depart the local soccer scene, as SKY Soccer Club executive director Steve Henson and coaching spouses Sean and Amy Helliwell all are moving out of state. Amy Helliwell, the girls’ varsity coach at Greenwood High School, will be the last to leave the area. She plans to complete the fall 2008 soccer season at Greenwood before joining her husband, Sean - an assistant coach for the now-defunct Western Kentucky men’s soccer program - in Terre Haute, Ind., where he this week was named head men’s coach at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. Meanwhile, SKY Soccer’s Henson - a former WKU Hilltopper and former boys’ varsity coach at Bowling Green High School - has accepted a job as assistant women’s coach at Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Fla. Henson leaves Bowling Green-based SKY Soccer on July 31, and David Embry - the girls’ varsity coach at Warren East High School - will take over as SKY’s executive director. Sean Helliwell said Wednesday that Rose-Hulman, an NCAA Division III school, offered him an opportunity to serve as a collegiate head coach for the first time. After WKU disbanded its men’s program in February, Sean Helliwell knew that waiting too long meant he’d risk falling out of the coaching loop. “It just seemed like a good fit ... ,” said Helliwell, who was a longtime boys’ coach at Greenwood before joining WKU three years ago. “It was really important to get a job as soon as I could once I knew that the Western program was not going to be around any more.” Amy Helliwell, who guided the Lady Gators to five straight appearances in the KHSAA Final Four from 2001-05, said she thinks this season’s Greenwood squad - which lost only three players from last season’s 17-6-1 team - has the potential to make another deep run. “It does change my perspective a little bit,” Amy Helliwell said about preparing for her final campaign. “I obviously want to enjoy the season, but it raises the bar a little bit more. We’ve been to the Final Four five years in a row, and I’m not thinking that far ahead, but that’s like the ultimate goal in my mind. “Obviously we want to do well in district and region first. ... We’re still looking for a goalkeeper, but other than that, we’re pretty solid all around the field.” Amy Helliwell said the abrupt end to WKU’s soccer program forced the couple to alter their plans. “We just bought a new house in January,” Amy Helliwell said. “We just knew that everything was set with Western. We bought a house closer to Western because it would be easier for Sean.” Sean Helliwell begins at Rose-Hulman on July 28, with the team’s first exhibition match scheduled for mid-August. He’s finishing up this week with the Hilltoppers’ boys’ team camp before departing WKU. Amy Helliwell plans to remain in Bowling Green at least through the academic winter break. She said she doesn’t yet have a new job in Indiana. Henson said in February that the loss of the WKU program would be a blow to SKY Soccer, because the Hilltoppers often served as coaches and referees for the youth leagues. In fact, both Sean and Amy Helliwell worked regularly with the SKY organization as well. But Henson said Wednesday that the shake-up at WKU had no influence on his decision to leave for Florida, where he will also serve as a coach for the Tampa-based Real Salt Lake Florida youth club. “It’s just one of those things - in everyone’s professional career you have your eyes open and your ear to the floor,” Henson said. “The (national) soccer coaching community is kind of small,” so word of openings spreads quickly. Henson said SKY Soccer will be in good hands under Embry, who has been working as SKY Soccer’s assistant director. “He’ll jump in here with both feet,” Henson said. “He has a world of knowledge. It might actually be an improvement when it’s all said and done.”

South 11s eye state tourney Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:23:42 -0500
OWENSBORO — Though the game took more than four hours to complete, the wait was certainly worth it for the Warren County South 11-year-old all-star team. Everett Taylor’s RBI double scored Cameron Shyrock - who singled earlier - in the first inning Tuesday, and that would prove to be all the team needed, as South got by Franklin-Simpson 1-0 to win the 11-year-old District 1 Little League Tournament at Highlands in Owensboro. South advances to the state tournament, at Valley Sports in Louisville beginning July 18. South manager Jim King said Wednesday that the team seems ready to make a run at a state crown. “They’re real excited, they got eliminated in the semis (of the District 1 tournament) last year against Owensboro Southern, we were up six runs and they came back and beat us in the bottom of the sixth,” he said. “And of course they remembered that pretty well, and they were pretty jacked up and excited. “They want to go represent the South and the district as best they can.” Nasty weather Tuesday night posed a challenge for South, King said, but the players responded. “It was like a three-hour delay, and with the lightning and stuff, they stayed in the car for most of it,” King said. “They were probably only outside for about only an hour before it restarted. But as soon as they found out we were going to play, they were ready to roll.” Starter Wes King kept Franklin-Simpson off the scoreboard throughout the first four innings, but when heavy rain came during the fifth, play was halted for nearly three hours. Once the teams were cleared to retake the field, South reliever Sam Dralle shut the door for the final two innings and clinched the title. King said the pitching staff was a strong point for this group all tournament long, as Tuesday’s combined shutout was South’s second of the week. “Our pitching’s been real good and we have several good pitchers,” he said. “Wes gave up three hits in four innings and then Dralle came in there and didn’t give up a hit to close it out.” With South leading after four innings when the first rainstorm came, the game was official - meaning that even if the teams hadn’t returned to the field, WCS would have been awarded the win. King said the coaching staff decided not to tell the players that. “None of them ever realized, I don’t think, that even if it rained again we were going to win because we were up 1-0 and it was an official game, and of course we never told them,” King said. “But they just figured they had to finish a game and went out there and did a good job. “They’re just a great group of kids.”

Kentucky could ban steroids in racing this summer Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:23:45 -0500
LEXINGTON — Kentucky’s racing officials are preparing to vote soon on whether to ban steroids for racehorses. Gov. Steve Beshear disbanded the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority last week and replaced it with the renamed Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. Some of Beshear’s hand-picked board members said after an organizational meeting Wednesday that the governor made the changes in part because he wants the steroid issue put on a faster track. “I know he’s very against steroids and he wants us to be a leader as far as the treatment of horses,” said Tracy Farmer, the commission’s new vice chairman. “This is our No. 1 industry in the state. We want to make the right decisions, and not next year. This thing has been studied to death.” Executive director Lisa Underwood said she expects the commission will vote on a steroid ban by the end of the summer. It holds its regular July meeting on Monday, then will next meet in August. Although at least 10 states have approved a model steroid ban being touted across the industry, the host state of the Kentucky Derby remains a high-profile holdout. Movement against steroids gained steam after the Triple Crown races this year. Big Brown cruised to victory in the Derby and Preakness with a legal steroid in his bloodstream, then didn’t get a dose before the Belmont Stakes and was eased by jockey Kent Desormeaux, finishing last. There remains debate as to how much steroids can improve a horse’s performance, considering that often in racing, huge bulk can hamper a competitor. Originally horses took steroids for medical reasons, but lately some studies have shown the drugs spike an animal’s appetite and speed up muscle repair after rigorous workouts. A Kentucky drug research council, led by former authority vice chairwoman Connie Whitfield, created a subcommittee that could recommend a steroid ban as early as next week. However, Whitfield, wife of Republican congressman Ed Whitfield, was among the board members not retained by the Democratic governor. She didn’t immediately return a call from The Associated Press Wednesday. Robert Beck, who remains as the commission’s chairman, said there are fewer barriers now to enacting a ban, but he didn’t specify which ones were there previously. “I think we’re going to be able to streamline some of the processes and get some things done quicker than maybe we were before the reorganization,” Beck said. The swearing-in of new board members came just one day after the arrival of the commission’s new medical director, Mary Scollay. Scollay had previously served as a veterinarian at two Florida racetracks and has been working on compiling a national database to track thoroughbred fatalities. Scollay says she’ll need to take a little time to examine the potential steroid tests Kentucky is considering giving to horses, but she says she supports moving swiftly on the issue. “It’s absolutely a priority, and I don’t think there’s anybody who would dispute that,” Scollay said. “We need to do it, and we need to move forward. Philosophically we’re all very close to being on the same page.”

Central, G’wood set to start girls soccer tryouts Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:23:49 -0500
Tryouts for the Warren Central Lady Dragon soccer team will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Warren Central High School soccer field. All girls who will attend Warren Central or Moss Middle School in the fall are invited to try out. — For more information, call coach Sam Flener at 202-1213. Greenwood hosting Lady Gator tryouts Tryouts for the Greenwood Lady Gators soccer team will be from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Tuesday and Wednesday at the soccer field at Drakes Creek Middle School. Prospective players should bring a soccer ball, their own water and a sports physical on a KHSAA form, which is available online at khsaa.org.

LOCAL SPORTS BRIEFS
BCHS football practice begins todayBCHS boys golf meeting set for FridayBCHS girls golf practice starts July 15 GHS soccer meeting is set for July 14BCHS girls cross country practice starts July 15Anderson wins M-D Tour GMS football practice starts July BCMS football practice begins July 14YMCA Adult Soccer League Stockton hoops camp is July 14-16Softball league plays twice a week

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