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Wednesday Baseball — Chester at Mercy, 3:30 p.m. Baseball — Corning at Red Bluff, 1 p.m. Softball — Chester at Mercy, 3:30 p.m. Softball — Shasta at Corning, 4 p.m. Tennis — Corning at Willows, 3:30 p.m. NBA— Hornets at Warriors, 7:30 p.m. Sports 1B Mercy splits doubleheader By RICHGREENE DNSports Editor Sometimes the best plays don’t show up in the box score. Michael Uhalde made one of those plays Tuesday, to help his Mercy Warriors salvage a split in their doubleheader with the visiting Hay- fork Timberjacks. With the score tied 5-5 in the top of the sev- enth inning of Game 2 and runners on first and second, Uhalde rushed from his shortstop posi- tion into shallow left field to back up third base on an attempted steal. Sure enough the ball got past the third base- man, but Uhalde was there to prevent at least the go-ahead and possibly a second from crossing the plate. Cameron Vietti who was on the mound for the Warriors then struck out the hitter before any damage could be done and Mercy pushed across the game-winning run in a 6-5 victory during their half of the inning. It was a nice rebound for the Warriors who had let a 5-0 lead slip away in the second game, after throwing 16 walks in a 12-5 5-inning loss in the first game. Pat Farmer started Game 2 for Mercy with a bang – both on the mound with a strikeout of the first hitter he faced and then at the plate with a homer to Monroe Street in Mercy’s first at bat. Farmer also closed out the game strong. He scored the winning run in the bottom of the sev- enth after Mercy had loaded the bases with no outs and his brother Scott Farmer ripped ball over the center fielder’s head to drive him in. Vietti struck out four batters in two innings of work to relieve Farmer and pick up the win in Game 2. The senior had started Game 1 for Mercy and began on fire, striking out five of the first six bat- ters he faced, but then control problems got the better of him and spread to the rest of the team as well. Hayfork scored their 12 runs on just one hit as the Mercy pitching staff walked 16, plunked two more batters and committed three errors. Vietti did his best to make up for his walks at the plate, going 3-for-3 in Game 1. Scott Farmer went 2-for-2 with a walk and a pair of RBIs. The top half of Mercy’s batting order was productive all day with the Uhalde and Vietti sandwiched between the Farmer brothers. Wednesday March 17, 2010 Tehama Tracker Spartans baseball Four Spartans combined to pitch a 5-inning no-hitter in a 10-0 win at West Valley, Tuesday. Cliff Dais, Joel Duggins, Kyle Rodriguez and Storm Lewis pitched for Red Bluff, who got 2-run homers from Cody Gappa and Austin Brownfield. E.J. Stanton also had a pair of hits. Cardinals baseball Tyler Price scattered six hits and a walk and allowed just one run over seven innings and the Corning Cardinals beat Gridley 2-1, Tuesday. Corning improved to 4-0- 1 on the eight strikeout per- formance by Price. Corning took the lead on a pair of runs scored by Marc Mason and Caleb Johnson in the fourth inning. The runs were driven in by Johnson and Austin Arbo- gast. Spartans tennis For the first time in recent Daily News photo by Rich Greene After Pat Farmer’s homer to lead off the sec- ond game, Mercy pushed across two more runs in the bottom of the first inning on a triple by Scott Farmer. Mercy scored two more runs in the second inning on a standup RBI triple by Uhalde and an RBI double from Vietti. Hayfork struck back for two in the top half of the third, but it was the fifth inning when Mercy started to unravel. An error on a bunt and then a lack of concen- tration allowed the Timberjacks to push within a run and before the inning was over Hayfork’s Ben Jackson doubled in the tying run. Vietti came in to pitch the sixth and struck out the side. Mercy’s Pat Farmer pitches in Game 2 of Tuesday’s doubleheader with Hayfork. Both teams had the top of their orders due up in the seventh inning. Hayfork appeared to be on the verge of scor- ing when Jesse Ferguson led of with a single and then the next batter Ricardo Hernandez reached base on a bunt, where Mercy’s first baseman was pulled off the bag. Hayfork’s next batter, Scott Harrison also tried to lay down a bunt, but Vietti made a fine play and flicked the ball onto third base for a force out. He then got Hayfork’s cleanup hitter Ryan Gonzalez to pop up to the shortstop and then Uhalde made his fine hustle play to help keep the Timberjacks off the board. memory, Red Bluff handed Chico a defeat, Tuesday and it took a bit of drama to get it done. With the match tied at 4- 4-4 it came down to No. 3 doubles and Aaron Vasey and Austin Chase pulled it out 10-8 to give the Spartans the meet. It wasn’t the only excit- ing match of the evening. Red Bluff won four of the six singles matches and two of them were three-setters. Cody Yarbrough won his No. 1 singles match 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 and Paul Hendricks used See TRACK, page 2B Lance Mackey wins 4th Iditarod Woods will return PALM HARBOR, Fla. (AP) — For Tiger Woods, this figures to be a Masters like no other. Woods said Tuesday he will end more than four months of seclusion and play at Augusta National in three weeks, shielded by the most secure environment in golf as he com- petes for the first time since a sex scandal shattered his image. ‘‘The Masters is where I won my first major and I view this tournament with great respect,’’ Woods said in a state- ment. ‘‘After a long and necessary time away from the game, I feel like I’m ready to start my season at Augusta.’’ The Masters begins April 8. No other major championship attracts such a large tele- vision audience, and that’s under normal circumstances. Already the most popular figure in golf with his 82 See WOODS, page 2B Vanek reels in victory MCT photo Lance Mackey celebrates his fourth consecutive Iditarod Sled Dog Race victory, Tuesday, in Nome, Ala. with his dogs Rev and Maple. NOME, Alaska (AP) — Lance Mackey won the 1,100-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Tuesday to become the first musher in the event’s 38-year histo- ry to win four consecutive races. Fans bundled up against subzero temperatures cheered the 39-year-old throat cancer survivor as his team coasted up the main street of this old Gold Rush town. For winning, Mackey gets a new Dodge truck and $50,400. He finished the race in eight days, 23 hours and 59 minutes — the sec- ond-fastest finish in race his- tory. ‘‘These are my heroes right here,’’ Mackey said seconds after crossing the finish line as he was giving his 11 dogs a pat on their heads and a kiss. He then planted a kiss on his new red truck and later posed with two of his lead dogs, Maple and Rev, who wore garlands made of yellow roses. ‘‘Good job Lance!’’ a fan shouted, to more cheers. Mackey said his relation- ship with his team is more rewarding than winning another truck. ‘‘They might not be the fastest team in this race but I think they have the biggest hearts,’’ he said. The Iditarod kicked off March 6 with a ceremonial start in Anchorage. That was followed by the competitive start the following day in Willow when 71 teams took to the Iditarod trail and headed to Nome. This year’s purse was significantly less than last year when Mackey took home a truck and $69,000. The total purse is $590,000 — down from a high of $925,000 in 2008. Iditarod officials said the struggling economy caused some sponsors to pull their sup- port for the race. Much of the race again this year was a duel between Mackey — whose father Dick and brother Rick are past winners — and another mushing royal, four-time champion Jeff King of Denali Park. King has said this will be his last Iditarod. King had been leading much of the race but was overtaken by Mackey on Saturday in the village of Kaltag, about 350 miles from the finish. King chose to rest his team and Mackey, renown for his ability to run his dogs long distances with little rest, opted to keep going. King cut his rest in Unalakleet to pursue Mack- ey, who widened the lead after that. ‘‘It’s been no secret, for years, I’ve been willing to gamble. Not at the expense of my team, I hope,’’ Mack- ey said, when asked about this year’s winning strategy. Mackey said the decisive move was a ‘‘monster run’’ that actually began before Kaltag and extended to Unalakleet on Alaska’s west coast. After a 42-mile run from Nulato, King stopped in Kaltag but Mackey pushed on another 90 miles to the next checkpoint, giv- ing him a lead that he never relinquished. ‘‘It worked. I capitalized on that hour, hour-and-a- half lead,’’ he said. Ten-year-old Abby Ardoin of Friendswood, Texas, was among hundreds of local and faraway fans at the finish line. She’s been See MACKEY, page 2B Courtesy photo Richard Vanek won the Red Bluff Bass Anglers February tournament thanks to the 6.74-pound bucket-mouth spotted bass he caught at Shasta Lake. Bill Waters caught the second biggest fish — 3.5 pounds.