PAGE 14, WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 1987 SPORTS Junior team may fold Whitby junior baseball players and management will meet this week to consider calling it quits. "There's a good possibility the team will be folding," says manager Dean Keating, citing a combination of reasons for folding, but particularly lack of interest by players. The Whitby juniors, who won the provincial 'B' championship last year and went to 'A' level this year, recently had to forfeit both games of a doubleheader in Kingston when only eight players showed up. "I guess we could see it coming," says Keating. "They didn't show up for practices earlier in the year. "It's been disappointing for me, with their attitudes. There's no point in continuing unless we can find 10 players who will play the rest of the year." The Whitby squad, with several talented players, was playing .500 ball so far this season and was placed about midway in the 12- feam Eastern Oritario league. Keating says more practice time probably would have prevented many of the fielding errors that cost the team some games. Whitby, with only 10 players, recently defeated Orillia, one of the top teams, 7-4. Last week, a battle with Newmarket ended in the fifth inning when the lights didn't go on Durham wins club trophy at regional champ ionships The starter and training level riding teams of the Durham Pony Club outrode 15 cther Ontario teams to capture the regional championship club trophy at the Central Ontario Regional C-Rally at Mohawk Raceway in Milton recently. The rally is an annual event where riders compete individually and as a team in three separate phases. Each rider must perform a dressage test, which is a series of movements done in different speeds in an enclosed ring. Next horses and riders are sent out on a rigorous cross-country jumping course, and on the next day, a stadium jumping course is then at- tempted. Riders who are not eliminated, and have acquired the fewest penalty points are eligible for the championship. More than 90 riders attended the two-day event this year. The four members of the starter level team, Tiffany de Wit, Kelly Kime, Heather Robinson and Melanie Smith, placed first in their division. de Wit managed a first- place finish in the cross-country phase, and Smith placed third in dressage. A cleau stadium round and a second-place finish in cross- country earned Robinson reserve championship in the starter division as an individual. The training level team con- sisting of Karen Burt, Tosha Falkenham, Mark Sellitto and Melisa Evans outdid their second- place finish last year by winning the championship in their division. Evans received an overall fifth place ribbon following a faultless stadium round and a first-place finish in the cross-country phase. Falkenham improved the team's standing with a fifth-place finish in dressage. at Iroquois Park. Newmarket was leading the game 4-3. Keating says he later learned that the lights eventually did go on. "There's so many things going wrong," he says. Keating adds that his own schedule is busy so that he is unable to attend all the junior games. Coach Steve Tutton handles the team in his absence. Keating says there had been "appýehension" before about the team when it first started in Whitby since it was junior age. He says he recognizes that work commitments often interfere with player atten- dance, as do "trips to the cottage." "But there's no reason we should forfeit a. game. Players can tell you beforehand. "If we knew a player wasn't coming, we could get midget age players and at least make a game of it." Keating says the team still has a nucleus of reliable players. But he adds that this year's squad doesn't have the desire of last year's team which went all the way. Last year, he says, he knew of player absences before the games. Not this season. "If this is the attitude, then we're going to quit. This is unnecessary. And I've got too many things to do, too. "But I would like to see them play the season out." Seniors hot Whitby's senior baseball squad has moved closer to the top of the Gilmer division standings. Now playing their best ball of the 3eason, Whitby picked up two more victories over the weekend to raise its won-loss record to 12-7. On Saturday, Mike Welling, solid all season on the mound, over- powered Ajax to give Whitby an 8-2 win. Welling went all the way until the final batter when an argument over a call led to his ejection. John Turner, who also has been consistent all season, got the final out. Tim Shearer smacked a double for Whitby which racked up a num- ber of hits against Ajax. George Yates also had a double and drove in two runs. "We're starting to turn it around a lot better now," says Yates of the Whitby attack. Only recently Whit- by had a 7-6 record and stood fourth in the quality Gilmer division, behind Oshawa, Port Hope and Peterborough. Ajax was in second place in the Christopher division. On Sunday, Whitby won a 7-2 decision over Markham, front run- ners in the Christopher division. "It was a good win," says Yates, noting that players battled dehydration throughout the game in the hot, hunid weather. Turner went all the way for Whit- by and laid down a bunt that produced a run on a squeeze play to begin Whitby scoring. Team manager Howie Moore is the third strong starter for ,Whitby which usually relies on strong pit- ching, rather than hitting, for suc- cess. Whitby has reached the con- solation final in tournaments in Tillsonburg and Campbellville this year. Financial difficulties forced the team to postponé their own tournament recently. "We just got into a situation," says Yates, explaining that their new sponsor, Melanie Pringles, has only just begun business this year in Whitby. Stacey wins 8th Stacey Trucking accumulated their eighth win this season last Sunday by clobbering the Oshawa Legion Brewers 15-5 in Old Timers Service Club Slo-Pitch League ac- tion. Mémbers of the Denyer tamily batted in nine runs - Randy with four, Gord with three, and Barry with two. Mike Reuter had three hits, while pitcher Gary Stewart hadtwo. Stacey split a doubleheader with Beaches on July 5, winning the first game 13-8. Brian Joyce, Barry Denyer, and Gary Stewart each had three hits. Bob Wiswell had a three-run homer and sacrifice fly to drive in four runs for Stacey. FAZIO'S ITALIAN CUISINE under-12 soccer team from Whitby hosted the Dallas Gunners during the annual Robbie International Soccer Tournament held in Toronto July 1-5. Above, Kevin Cunningham, 12, and Glen Crisp, 12, enjoy pizza given to both teams, courtesy of Nick Fazio. Free Press photo