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Sports 1B Wednesday March 10, 2010 Wednesday Baseball — Mercy at Pierce, 3:30 p.m. Softball — Corning at Hamilton, 3:30 p.m. Softball — Mercy at Pierce, 3:30 p.m. Tennis — Sutter at Corning, 3:30 p.m. NBA — Raptors at Kings, 7 p.m., CSNCA NCAA — Big East Tournament, ESPN Red Bluff opens with win Daily News photo by Rich Greene Krista Rodriguez slides into home plate to tie Tuesday's game during the fourth inning. By RICH GREENE DN Sports Editor Emily McEnaney hit a solo home run, Megal McColpin pitched four scoreless innings of relief and the Lady Spartans came from behind, Tuesday, to win their season opener 3-2 over West Valley. Red Bluff had fallen behind 2-0 by the middle of the third inning, but then scratched out a run each in their half of the third and the fourth inning. McEnaney then came up with one out in the fifth inning and blasted a ball that hit the top of the fence and bounced over for the eventual game- winner. "Anytime you have Emily McE- naney your one swing away from a run at anytime," coach J Howell said. McColpin struck out four Lady Eagles in her four innings of relief work to pick up the win, but it wasn't easy. West Valley put a runner in scoring position in both the fifth and sixth inning before McColpin pitched out of the james. In the top of the seventh inning with two outs, an Amber Buchanan blooper fell into no man's land between the Spartan second baseman Haley Harris and outfielders Aubrie Lair and Dan- isha Slay. That gave the Eagles runners on the corner with their slugger Cassidy Horner coming to the plate. Horner was 3-for-3 in the game when Howell elected to intentionally walk her to fill the bases. West Valley's next hitter Morgan Hope then hit a blazing bouncer to McEnaney at shortstop, but she han- dled it easily and tagged out Buchanan for the final out. While the season's only one-game in, Howell said he did learn something, Tuesday, about his 2010 Spartans "It showed a lot of character on their part," he said. The Spartans manufactured runs in the third and fourth to tie the game. Slay started the third by getting hit by a pitch then taking second base on a wild pitch. After Slay advanced, Jerilynn Pur- cell changed her approach at the plate and went from attempting a bunt to swinging away and came away a single up the right side of the infield. McEnaney then drew one of her two walks in the game to load the bases and McColpin advanced everyone with an RBI sacrifice fly to left field. Despite having the bases loaded with no outs, Red Bluff only came away with one run in the third, but they got the game tied back up in the second half. Krista Rodriguez worked a walk, then took second on a passed ball. Lair grounded out, but still man- aged to move Rodriguez over to third where Bryce Etzler was able to drive her home with a sacrifice fly. Although West Valley out-hit Red Bluff eight to three, the Spartans made the most of their opportunities. West Valley had picked up runs in the first and third innings, but Rodriguez, who started for the Spar- tans, did well to limit the damage. West Valley ended both innings with two runners on, but by grounding into double plays. Red Bluff travels to tournaments at Pleasant Valley and Lassen before returning home March 23 to host Foothill in their league opener. Corning Manta Rays swim The last sign-up day for the Corning swim team will be April 26 at the Maywood Middle School library. The sign-up will be from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Anyone who signs up after April 26 will also have to pay an additional $25 late fee. The swim team is equal opportunity and open to swimmers as young as four, based on their experience, through the ages of 18. New swimmers will receive a t-shirt and a swim cap when they sign up. Red Bluff Olympic Wrestling Red Bluff Olympic Wrestling Club is having sign- ups and practice on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6:00 - 7:30 in the high school wrestling room. For more information call David Rottenberg at 200-5713. Ali visits Giants SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Hall of Famers Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Orlando Cepeda are regular visitors around the San Francisco Giants. But when Muhammad Ali showed up in the clubhouse Tuesday to tout his Athletes for Hope charity campaign, players, coaches, clubbies and even the general manager and owner stood in line for photos with the 68-year-old former heavyweight champion. ''I thought he was going to react and give me a right hand in the chin,'' catcher Bengie Molina joked. ''I was afraid.'' Right-hander Matt Cain put his pitching fist up to Ali's left fist. Mays greeted Ali in an adjacent conference room before leaving the ballpark following the closed-door meet- ing. ''I know Ali,'' Mays said afterward, refusing to speak fur- ther about their friendship. Ali, who lives in Scottsdale, suffers from Parkinson's dis- ease. He rarely talks in public and speaks in a barely audible whisper. ''It's great,'' pitcher Dan Runzler said of meeting the man known as ''The Greatest.'' Athletes for Hope has more than 1,000 members in 50 sports committed to community service and other charitable activities. Along with Ali, the organization boasts Andre Agassi, Mia Hamm and Lance Armstrong among its found- ing members. The focus is on donating time, not money. ''Virtually every member of this team signed up,'' said Ivan Blumberg, Athletes for Hope chief executive officer. Ali visited the San Diego Padres on Monday and will head to Reds camp Wednesday. Meeting Ali will be among the highlights of the spring for many of the Giants. ''It's exciting. He is one of the greatest,'' said left-hander Jonathan Sanchez, who threw an improbable no-hitter last July 10. ''To have someone like him here makes you be bet- ter every day. This is different (than the Hall of Famers). This makes you feel like you want to get up every day and battle.'' Manager Bruce Bochy, GM Brian Sabean, longtime equipment manager Mike Murphy and even managing part- ner Bill Neukom took their turns in the chair next to Ali for pictures. ''There's only one Muhammad Ali,'' Bochy said after his team's 6-2 win over the Chicago White Sox. ''Special day. That guy's a hero, an icon. To have his presence in our club- house, I know the guys really enjoyed it. This guy is a cham- pion not just inside the ring but outside it. He has influenced so many people in the world.'' Edwards on probation for 3 races CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Sticking with its ''boys, have at it'' attitude, NASCAR placed Carl Edwards on probation for three races Tuesday for deliberately wrecking Brad Keselowski's car last week- end in Atlanta. Edwards will be moni- tored by NASCAR through the April 10 race at Phoenix but may drive in the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series. NASCAR president Mike Helton said Edwards acted unacceptably Sunday but did not cross the line in what the sanctioning body will allow this season. NASCAR promised in Jan- uary to give the drivers more leeway in policing them- selves and settling scores in an effort to energize the sport. ''We made it very clear to (Edwards) that these actions were not acceptable and did go beyond what we said back in January about putting the driving back in the hands of the drivers,'' Helton said. ''We believe (Edwards) understands our position at this point.'' There had been a strong call from fans and analysts for NASCAR to suspend Edwards, who returned to the track down 153 laps from an earlier accident with Keselowski and intent on wrecking his car. He tried for at least one lap before succeeding with three laps to go, nudging Keselowski's car and sending it airborne. The car banged hood-first off a retaining wall before flipping back onto its wheels. No one was hurt. Keselowski supported NASCAR's decision. ''They are not in an envi- able position when it comes to these matters, but they do an outstanding job,'' he said in a statement, adding it was unfortunate the accident overshadowed Penske Rac- ing teammate Kurt Busch's victory. Edwards acknowledged his action was intentional but said he was surprised by Keselowski's car taking flight. Because NASCAR approved greater driver lee- way before the season, a severe punishment for Edwards most likely would have quashed the ''have at it'' attitude after the first test. The decision to lighten up after years of penalizing drivers for minor infractions — Dale Earnhardt Jr. was once punished for cursing on TV; Jeff Gordon was placed on probation for shoving Matt Kenseth — was in large part due to increased fan excitement created by some 2009 feuds. Denny Hamlin had a monthslong dispute with Keselowski, an aggressive young driver who has made no apologies for banging fenders with established vet- erans. Tony Stewart and Juan Pablo Montoya played retaliatory bumper-cars in the season finale at Home- stead. Helton said the day after the finale that NASCAR had perhaps gone too far in ster- ilizing the competition and acknowledged that more emotion and personality could benefit the sport. The ''have at it'' era was announced less than two months later, and Helton was not backing down Tues- day. ''The clear message, I think, we sent in January was that we were willing to put more responsibility in the hands of the driver,'' he said. ''But there is a line you can cross and we'll step in to maintain law and order when we think that line's crossed.'' Just what is that line? ''I think we see it when we see it,'' he replied. Clint Bowyer, participat- ing in a Goodyear tire test at Darlington, disagreed with NASCAR's assessment. ''I think there's a too far in everything and that was too far. Bottom line. Simple as that,'' Bowyer said. ''That was a pretty scary incident that could've been a lot worse.'' The fairly lenient punish- ment — many view proba- tion as a slap on the wrist — drew swift and mixed reac- tion from drivers who jumped to their Twitter accounts during Helton's 20-minute announcement. ''Huh!'' wrote Kevin Harvick, who was suspend- ed one race in 2002 for insubordination — he parked his truck at the door of the NASCAR hauler when he was summoned to discuss rough driving at Martinsville. ''I'm thinking about ask- ing for a refund for all of my penalties!!!!'' But Scott Speed and Michael Waltrip applauded NASCAR's decision. ''You can't ask the driver to take their gloves off one week and then tell em to put 'em back on the next,'' Wal- trip wrote. Helton said NASCAR saw two distinct parts to the accident: Edwards' action; Keselowski's car going air- borne. The more serious of the two, in NASCAR's opinion, is figuring out why Keselowski's car acted as it did. ''That's something that is very important to us, and we want to study very closely to figure out things that we can do to help pre- vent this very quickly in the future,'' Helton said. ''This is a very important element of all of this, that I would ask all of us to be reminded of the fact of the car getting airborne was a very serious issue.'' Carl Edwards Lady Spartans earn huge road tie at Chico DN Staff Report Don't let the scoreline fool you, the Lady Spartans soccer team's 0-0 tie in Chico was a victory. "It was a real good morale boost for the Red Bluff girls," coach Geoff Barrow said of the holding their rival scoreless on the road. Over the past three seasons Chico has produced a 32-2-4 record in Eastern Athletic League play. Last year the Panthers beat the Spartans three times. On Tuesday however Barrow said the Lady Spartans did a good job of frustrating the Chico players and Jak- lyn Wheeler made 17 saves in net to hold the Panthers off the scoreboard. The junior varsity team is also having early season success, placing second at the preseason Redding Clas- sic tournament over the weekend. Bulldogs receive honors DN Staff Report Los Molinos soccer players Adrian Hernandez, Gaumel Murillo, Oracio Vargas and Freddy Castellon received All Tri-Cities League recognition for their play during the season at a banquet held Tuesday. Murillo scored eight goals this season. Vargas scored seven goals. Castellon scored five goals and had 11 assists and Hernandez scored a pair of goals to go along with 100 steals. Also at the soccer banquet coach Claudio Martinez announced he was stepping down from the position. Martinez is also coach of the Red Bluff Spartans boys soccer team. He will coach Red Bluff in 2010. A pair of Lady Bulldog basketball players also received recognition recently. Carolyna Salazar was invited to play in the Lions All Star Basketball Game and Kirsten Wagenfuhr will take part in the Double Pump All Star Basketball Game.