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--> --> Commentary: Grizzlies' goal today should be staying healthy By Joe Zavala The first thing you need to know about today's game against North Medford is, it means nothing. The second thing you need to know is, it means zilch. Yes, the Ashland High baseball team will host North Medford today in a Southern Oregon Conference tie-breaker game, otherwise known as a seeding game, otherwise known as a who-the-heck-cares game. No, the Grizzlies post-season fate is not hanging in the balance. If they win, the 10th-ranked Grizzlies will claim the No. 1 seed and play either the PAC-9 Conference No. 4 seed or the Midwestern Conference No. 4 seed Monday at home. If they lose, they'll face (gasp!) the Midwestern No. 3 team - same time, same place. Perhaps more significant, if the Grizzlies go as the No. 1 seed they would probably only get one more home game the rest of the playoffs (if they advanced), and that would be in the quarterfinals, while the SOC No. 2 seed also gets one more home game, but in the second round. That said, the goals of today's game, in order of most important to least important, should be: 1. Stay healthy 2. Stay healthy 3. Stay healthy An injury today to a key member of the team - and there are many of those on this team - would be devastating, both psychologically and physically. The Grizzlies' defense has a special chemistry. Busting that up six days before the second playoff game in team history is not a recipe for playoff success. Still, expect to see the starters for both teams mixing it up. Important or not, it's still Ashland versus North Medford, and both teams will be looking to sharpen up for the playoffs. Sharpening up may in fact be the real benefit of this game for the Grizzlies, win or lose. Had the Grizzlies finished all alone in first, they would have had eight days between games. A lot of rust can build up in eight days. Here, Ashland can tangle with one of the best teams in the state six days before its playoff opener. · · · The Ashland baseball team scored 25 runs in a doubleheader, SOC-championship-clinching sweep of Eagle Point on Saturday, but weren't even the most entertaining show in town. That distinction belonged to the AHS boys tennis team, which gave fans a little bit of everything in Day 2 of the two-day SOC district tournament. First, Grizz junior Ari Zaslow came oh-so-close to shocking No. 1 seeded Tyler Wilson of North Medford - Zaslow led 3-0 in the third set before falling 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 - then, the championship doubles match between Ashland's Kevin Spears-Evan Schleining combo and Roseburg's Stewart Wetmore-Jared Schricker duo descended into a game of musical line judges. Schleining called for a line judge in the second set. Roseburg, after finding out the line judge was apparently from Ashland, requested someone else. Later, Schleining asked that line judge to call foot faults. The line judge deferred to Ashland coach and tourney director Dick Streng, who finally determined foot faults could be called if a player on the team returning serve requested a specific call. Whew. Finally, Zaslow, following Spears and Schleining's lead, asked for a line judge during his third-place match against Klamath Union's Reid Arthur, then, apparently realizing he didn't have enough energy left to make a match of it, decided to use the last two games to work on his jog-and-slap mechanics. The best line of the day came courtesy of North Medford's Clint Russell, who, along with teammate Drew Philips, lost to Spears and Schleining in the semifinals. Following a close call in the finals that didn't go Ashland's way, Schleining yelled to no one in particular, "We need a line judge over here," to which Russell, playing in the third-place match two courts over, fired back, "I'll be your line judge." Everyone laughed but Schleining, who couldn't help but smile. Joe Zavala is the Tidings' sports editor Ashland's Ari Zaslow punches a backhand volley during his semifinal loss Saturday at Hunter Park. Ashland Daily Tidings/AMY ALONZO Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing