DATE: Sunday, April 6, 1997                 TAG: 9704040214

SECTION: CAROLINA COAST          PAGE: 19   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: SPORTS EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK 

SOURCE: Jeff Zeigler 

                                            LENGTH:   59 lines

PERQUIMANS COUNTY'S PITCHING STAFF JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER

Some more bits and pieces and observations:

Last week I wrote about the Perquimans County High School baseball team's pitching staff. I talked about how Clint Eley, Jason Clark and Paul Hunter would be the heart of that staff. This past week, another pitcher added his name to the list of outstanding Pirates hurlers. - Carson Stallings. In his first-ever varsity start, Stallings threw a four-inning no-hitter against Weldon. The Pirates beat the Chargers 20-0 as Stallings struck out eight batters. Now the Albemarle Conference has even more to worry about.

From looking at the weak Tobacco Belt Conference this year, Camden's move to the TBC next year should be beneficial to both the boys' and girls' programs. The Bruins have been competitive, if not dominant, in the Albemarle Conference this year. The TBC, minus Roanoke and North Edgecombe, will be very weak - especially in football. Gates County's addition to the conference may hurt a little. But Camden has beat Gates in everything this year in boys' and girls' sports.

Speaking of conference realignment, various people around the Albemarle Conference have said that maybe it is a good idea to break up the conference. The boys' competition in the conference was good among two or three schools, while the other four schools wallowed. In football, Northampton West and Camden were the top programs. In basketball, West, Williamston and Camden were the best. The other teams just knocked each other off.

The new 1A-2A-3A Northeastern Conference will be interesting for baseball. Four of the area's key programs - Manteo, Currituck County, Perquimans County and Williamston - all will be in the same league. And some years, you can add Plymouth to that group.

Thank goodness college basketball is finally over.

It was obvious why Tennessee won the women's NCAA Tournament. Defense. If you watched the game, did you notice how many times Old Dominion got down to the last five seconds on the shot clock? It was more than the Lady Monarchs would have liked. It's tough to compete against a team that likes to play transition ball when you're forced into taking a rushed shot.

Interleague play in major league baseball begins June 12 when Texas travels to San Francisco, a truly ``meaningful'' game. There will be some rivalry games. The two New York teams will play. The two Chicago teams will face off. And Cincinnati will play Cleveland to claim the state of Ohio. Will interleague play take away from the World Series? Will anyone pay attention at all?

Only time will tell.

If major league baseball wants true interleague play, when it expands to 30 teams next year it should dump the National and American leagues and just split into three divisions with 10 teams each.

Major league baseball is still searching for a commissioner. Is it any surprise that baseball has taken a nosedive since Fay Vincent was canned? Do the owners really want a strong commissioner who can restore what is in the best interest of the game? I doubt it.

This column's trivia question: In what year did Gaylord Perry first win 20 or more games? MEMO: The answer to last column's trivia question was Rusty Staub.

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