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PREP ROUNDUP Panthers register 4-2 victory in Whisler's South Medford debut The Pete Whisler era at South Medford High got off to a successful start Tuesday as the Panthers defeated Henley, 4-2, in non-conference baseball at Miles Field. Whisler, who guided Mazama to the 1996 Class 4A state baseball title, took the Panther job last summer after Mazama dropped down to the Class 3A ranks. South Medford (1-0) received four shutout innings from junior pitchers Tony Conklin and Josh Tompkins. The South pair each struck out two. Tompkins, who followed starter Conklin on the mound, picked up the victory with two hitless innings. "I've never seen them in a game situation before," said Whisler. "I'm quite impressed with the amount of strikes they threw." The Panthers bunched four of their six hits together to score three runs in the third. Matt Trickey opened the rally with a double and went to third on David Thrapp's one-out single. Brett Haag followed with a RBI single, Jimmy Maddox doubled and Graham Foster provided a RBI single. Maddox led the Panthers with two hits. "Offensively we're still a little sluggish," said Whisler. "Our guys put the ball in play. You've got to do that to make things happen." Henley .....................000 011 0 -- 2 2 1 South Medford .........003 001 x -- 4 6 2 Hamilton, Axel (4), Tacchini (6) and Metcalf; Conklin, Tompkins (3), Trickey (5), Haag (7) and Shine. W -- Tompkins. L -- Hamilton. 2B -- SM: Maddox, Trickey. ASHLAND 14, YREKA 5 -- At Yreka, Blaine Newfield cracked two doubles in the decisive third inning as Ashland sent 12 batters to the plate en route to scoring seven runs. Newfield finished the day 4-for-6 at the plate with two RBIs. Darrin Sherrel had three hits. Ashland .................017 400 2 -- 14 16 2 Yreka ........................200 021 0 -- 5 6 0 Cook, McGuire (5) and George, Newfield (7) and Smith; Dooley, Green (3) and Wade, Sonfilippo (7) and Perry. W -- Cook. L -- Dooley. 2B -- A: Newfield 2, Walsh, Witson; Y: Pilmfo. CASCADE CHRISTIAN 9, ILLINOIS VALLEY 6 -- At White City, Don Jenkins keyed a Cascade Christian rally with a two-run triple in the fourth inning as the Challengers erased a 6-0 deficit in their season opener. Bryan Edwards came on in relief of Tim Alvarez to earn the victory for Cascade Christian (1-0), striking out five in five innings of no-hit ball. Illinois Valley ....................060 000 0 -- 6 5 3 Cascade Christian .............000 513 x -- 9 6 3 Thomas, Larson (4), Williams (6) and Paul; Alvarez, Edwards (3) and Roberts. W -- Edwards (1-0). L -- Larson (0-1). 3B -- CC: Jenkins. 2B -- IV: Paul. Softball ASHLAND 10, YREKA 0, 6 innings -- At Ashland, senior Katie Ripberger and junior Amy Williams had big days at the plate as the Grizzlies opened the season in style. Katie Ripberger went 3-for-4, scored a run and drove in a run. Williams was 2-for-3, scored three times, had three RBIs and stole three bases. Ashland scored five runs on four hits and two walks in the second inning. Williams delivered the key hit, a three-run double to right-center field. Junior right-handed pitcher Kristen Strait struck out six, walked one and hit a batter to pick up the win. Yreka ....................000 000 -- 0 3 1 Ashland .............151 102 -- 10 12 1 Knight and Hall; Strait, Williams (5) and Clason. W -- Strait (1-0). L -- Knight. 2B -- Y: Kimball; A: Strait, Cooley, Williams. ILLINOIS VALLEY 10, SOUTH UMPQUA 2 -- At Tri City, Illinois Valley scored six runs in the top of the second inning on three hits, three walks and a hit batter in its season opener. Vanessa Box highlighted the outburst with a two-run single up the middle. Julie Shump went 2-for-2, scored twice and drove in a run for the Cougars. Justine Johnson limited South Umpqua to four hits to pick up the victory. Stephanie Price collected two hits and scored for the Lancers. Illinois Valley ...........061 300 0 -- 10 10 0 South Umpqua ............001 010 0 -- 2 4 2 Johnson and McDowell; Shivers, Klumph (5) and Rondeau. W -- Johnson. L -- Shivers. 2B -- SU: Price. 3B -- SU: Rondeau. Track & Field SHAKESPEAREAN INVITATIONAL -- At Ashland, four state-caliber efforts were recorded in a nonscoring, eight-team track and field meet. North Medford's Jenna Jankowski cleared 10 feet, 4 inches in the pole vault -- only two inches shy of her top effort last season. Ashland senior Nick Bakke, the state javelin runner-up last spring with a 205-1 best, opened the season with a fine 195-11. Defending Class 3A state shot put and discus champion Kelli Holloway of Lakeview posted marks of 41-7 in the shot put and 122-10 in the discus. The shot put effort was nearly six inches farther than her state championship effort. Her discus mark was less than 5 feet off her winning performance at state. Susan Chaap of Yreka soared 5-8 in the high jump. Teams competing were Ashland, North Medford, St. Mary's, Phoenix, Lakeview, Rogue River, Illinois Valley and Yreka. Boys Golf NORTH MEDFORD WINS OPENER -- At Eagle Point, the Black Tornado walked away with its first tournament victory of the season in a matchup of four Southern Oregon Conference teams at Eagle Point Golf Course. The tournament does not count in determining conference champion, but that didn't slow down North Medford. The Tornado posted a 491 score, topping Roseburg (495), Grants Pass (508) and Eagle Point (578). Six of eight scores were counted toward the team score. The leading scorer was Roseburg's Jeremy Thorburn, who carded a 1-under 71. Kyle Freeman paced North Medford with a 5-over par 77. NORTH MEDFORD (491) -- Kyle Freeman, 38-39--77; Justin Wise, 38-42--80; Paul Srisarakorn, 41-40--81; Adam Huycke, 43-43--86; Matt Dunbar, 42-43--85; Kelly Brown, 42-44--86; Colin Hunter, 51-42--93; Andy Tow, 53-50--103. ROSEBURG (495) -- Jeremy Thorburn, 36-35--71; Chris Shockey, 41-40--81; Eric House, 42-42--84; Chuck Black, 43-43--86; Brian Pyle 45-41--86; Kody Kellum, 45-42--87; Mike Neal, 48-52--100; Asa Yraguen, 50-50--100. GRANTS PASS (508) -- Joey Rossknecht, 40-38--78; Travis Briseno, 41-42--83; Geoff Davis, 43-41--84; Eric Hill, 41-44--85; Robbie Lesher, 43-46--89; Jay Slack 48-41--89; Andy Dobner, 49-45--94; Ryan Bigelow, 49-51--100. EAGLE POINT (578) -- Ryan Frazier, 42-40--82; Chris Lilya, 46-43--89; Morgan Edenstrom, 50-46--96; Chris Hurley, 49-52--101; Zach Heath, 58-46--104; Matt Fumasi, 47-59--106; Nick Rouhier, 58-52--110; John Worst, 56-54--110. Today's Sports Index Mail Tribune Copyright� The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, OR U.S.A.