THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 27, 1995 TAG: 9507270514
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: COLORADO SPRINGS LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
Chris Elmore led his East baseball team in hitting at the Olympic Festival. Trouble was, Elmore came to pitch.
``It was a pretty nice vacation, actually, considering I didn't get to throw,'' said Elmore, a lefthander from Virginia Beach's Green Run High School, after the East's 10-5 victory for the bronze medal. ``At least I got to pinch-hit twice and play some outfield, which I haven't done in five years.''
Elmore turned up with a sore shoulder after throwing an inning in the East team's final scrimmage a week ago. He had been slated to start the East's opening game but begged off when the pain wouldn't go away.
``It's a feeling I've never felt before,'' Elmore said. ``It wasn't common soreness.''
Just throwing, he felt fine, Elmore said. That told trainers it was probably a muscle strain and not a rotator cuff problem. It was when he pitched that the shoulder hurt, though Elmore said he was ready to try it Wednesday. East coach Bill Olson didn't take him up on the offer.
``He said there's a spot I have to earn for college and he wasn't going to risk that,'' said Elmore, who is due at the University of North Carolina on Aug. 19.
Instead, Elmore grounded out as a pinch-hitter. But in his previous game, Elmore lined a double to right-center. So he'll take a .500 batting average and a bronze medal home with him today, not to mention the experience of a week spent with some of the country's best young amateur players on the mountainous campus of the Air Force Academy.
Eighteen of them will play on for a month as the junior national team, a squad Elmore never had a chance to make once his shoulder balked.
``If I go out and throw with my best stuff, I'm on that team,'' said Elmore, who had an 18-0 record as a junior and senior. ``I know I'm one of the best pitchers out here from what I've seen. I'm disappointed not to make the national team. I think I could've jelled with those guys real well.''
PETITION WON'T MATTER: Athletes in the residence villages are signing a petition to save an edition of the Olympic Festival. Nice gesture, but it won't matter, Olympic committee spokesman Mike Moran told reporters. ``The decision is confirmed and there will be no Festival in '97,'' he said.
Leslie Milne, part of the athletes advisory council and a former Olympian in field hockey who originated the petition, said the Festival experience is too valuable to lose.
``It definitely doesn't win us medals, but it prevents us from losing medals because we're so nervous or distracted,'' she said.
Though he threw cold water on it, Moran said the petition drive ``was a good reaction. It shows that they are serious about this competition, but we have to study the format of the Festival so it works for everybody.''
NOTABLE: Suffolk's Mike Thornberry helped his chances to remain on the team handball national team by scoring five goals for the South in the gold medal game. The South beat the West in a 26-24 thriller. Former University of Virginia basketball player Chris Havlicek played for the East team that won the bronze. ... Virginia Beach's Kim Miller scored her second goal of the Festival for the South in a 2-2 tie with the West. Miller has two of the three goals scored by her team, the Under-18 national team, which is a surprising 0-2-1 and will play for the bronze. ... William and Mary baseball recruit Randy Leek, from Levittown, N.Y., was 2 for 14 for the East team. ... 400-meter world record holder Butch Reynolds will not run in the track and field competition that begins Friday, and apparently never intended to. Reynolds' entry in the field was blamed on a miscommunication between Reynolds and Festival officials. ... Meanwhile, '92 Olympic triple jump gold medalist Mike Conley has entered. ... UCLA's star freshman last season, Toby Bailey, took himself off the West basketball team because of summer school. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
An injured shoulder kept Chris Elmore off the mound, but he went 1
for 2 at the plate for the East team.
by CNB