Wednesday, October 25, 2000 - Rorth Snore Mews - 37

FINDLAY PROVES THE CLAN CAN

North Vancouver's Fiona Findlay helped to lift the SFU
women's volleyball squad to a 15-9 overall season record
this weekend. On Friday, in a 3-1 win over Warner Pacific
College, Findlay had 15 kills, 10 digs and a pair of service
aces. On Saturday .she posted seven kills and four service
aces as the Clan stopped Cascade College 15-12.

BULLY FOR WOOLLEY

North Shore Indians lacrosse team manager Harry Woolley was
awarded the Hugh Gifford merit award on Saturday during the
8.C. Lacrosse Association's annual meeting in Whistler. The
award is presented each year to a manager who has instilled
leadership and sportsmanship in his or her players and has
made a contribution toward improving the image of lacrosse.

Dempsier’s religion
is on the diamond

"There are 108 beads in a Catholic
rosary. And there are 108 stitches in a
baseball. When I learned that, I gave
Jesus a chance.

— Annie Savoy
Bull Durkam

Jan-Christian Sorensen

“Sports Reporter
__ Borensen@nsnews com

* BASEBALL, has long been a
“‘near-religious affair for Ryan
* Dempster.

Since he was a ryke growing up in
Gibsons he’s lived by the holy tinity of
“the tiple’ crown: strikeouts, wins and
earned run average.

_- t His house of worship is Pro Player

_ Stadium i in Dade County, Florida.
<“ His sacred hymn contains the phrase
- “buy me some peanuts and cracker-

* jacks."* |. .:

OK, so it’ fringe reli ion.

= But it’s still a way of li

0S In juse three’ years ‘or the Major

- League: franchise Florida Marlins, the

former North. Shore Twin has .estab-

’ lished himself as one of the most consis-
‘tent and dangerous starting pitchers in

the game today...

“And while the tighthander has made

a meteoric rise from little league to the

big leagues, his truisms still remain the

. same. .
“He lives for the click of the cleats on
“the concrete dugout floor; the gritty
inch of the rosin bag; that deep, calcu-
ated - inhale before the “windup. and

© delivery. .

“2h -The strike call.
~ “Jr's funny, when we.go out during the season
with all the guys we can’t go eat dinner without talk-
ing about baseball,” said Dempster. “It’s just the way
it'is.. Youre alvays trying to lear and get better,
becatise- until you’ go hit 1. 000 or go 35- O there’s
: always room for improvement.”
:, Dempster, who has been back in town visiting
faraily and friends while the Mets and Yankees duke it
out in ‘the: Fall Classic, will wavel to Japan this
Saturday for a nvo-week exhibition tour alongside
such names as Delgado, Alomar, Bonds and Sheffield.
‘Sunday morning Dempster. was at Ambleside,
tossing, some long throws. with former Twin Simon
Pond — himself drafted by the Montreal Expos in

1994. and cutrendy toiling with an A-division
Cleveland Indians farm team in Kingston, North
Carolina...

“ Dempster was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the
third round of the °95 draft and was traded to the
Marlins -nvo-years later in the deal that sent John
Burkert to the Lone Star State. .

2° This season he put up some impressive numbers:

tenth in. the National League in ERA with 3.66;
hth in innings pitched with 226; fourth in strike-
us, with 209 —a Marlins t team record.

~ | MACKENZIE FUJISAWA
BREWER STEVENSON

BARRISTERS AND SOLICIPORS
1800 - 400 Burrard Street.
Vancouver, BC VGC 3A6

689-3281

NEWS photo Jon-(Christian Sorensen

RYAN Dernpster, 23, played three seasons
with the North Shore Twins en route to the
Texas Rangers and Florida Martins.

The Fish finished in: third place in
their eastern division with a 79-82 team
record, 154 games behind division win-
ner Adanta and 14% games behind the
Wild Card claimant and World Series-
bound New York Mets.

Despite the losing season, Dempster
is confident that the Marlins-— who

~ claimed a World Series title in 1997 — can regroup to

reach the postseason within the not-too-distant
future and once again be a contender.

He gets frustrated when fans and detractors don’t
have enough patience to permit the young team to
take their lumps and build up some experience.

“It's like they just expect that ’'m going to win
20 games and they don’t realize that Tom Glavine
was 7-17 in his first year. It’s just a matter of expe-
rience. There’s too much t2)iit on chat team.
We've got a great bunch of guys. As long as that
team’s the way it is E want to play for them.”

For his part, Dempster went 14-10 on the year
with a pair of complete games and’a shutout. Oh,
yeah — and a selection to the National League All:
Star team to boot,

His shutout was a one-hit masterpiece in May in

which he locked up the Mets’ offense until the sixth

._DEMPSTER went 14-10 for the
Marlins in 2000 with a 3.66 ERA
and 209 strikeouts in 226 innings.

inning, when Mike Piazza broke up the
no-no with 2 double.

“Ie was reaily close,” said Dempster,
pushing his thumb and index finger
together. “Missed it by that much.”
And he scoffs at the notion that pitchers
are so removed from the game that they
claim not to notice when ia the midst of
a no-hit gem.

“Any pitcher that says ‘Oh, | didn’t
know I had a no-hitter going’ is totaily
lying. Bottom line,” he said.
“You always know when you’ve got
something going but whether you actu-
ally think you have a chance at it is a

whole different story.”
In June Dempster doled out only four
hits over nine frames to the Phillies to
_ cap an 8-] complete game win with his
dad Wally in the stands for Father’s Day.
“It’s tough, him living way up here, and
I'm 4,000 miles away and he can’t always
get there,” said Dempster, “but it’s cool
anytime you can have family there and
watching.”
And he said his
highlight of the
2000. campaign,
surprisingly
enough, wasn’t
being named to rhe
All-Star Game. -
“Pitching 226
innings was the
biggest highlight of
my Season, more so
than going to the

All-Star’ game or. .

~ anything like that,”
‘he. said. “That’s

icing .on the. cake,,

but to be known as
a consistent starter
every time I go out

and pitch | was Kind

of nice.”

' He’s got a: fall
menu of four pitch-
es that can send a

batter = trudging
tack to the bench
one-two-three: a
two-seam, sinking
fastball;
four-seam comple-

ment, an n effective change- up; and a deadly slider that

ties opposing batters i knots. .

That slider was recently rated by Baseball America
as the third nastiest in the NL behind only Cy Young
winner Randy Johnson and Kevin Brown.

Pretty select company.

However, Dempster said it hasn't fazed kh
much, sharing the diamond with future hall of amos

“At first it was a litde bit weird,” he admitted. “It
was all those guys I was watching play on TV when I
was 15. Now when | go out and hang out with them,
they're just my peers.”

Still, it must be hard not to let the scope get to
you when you're pitching against Roger Clemens in
the house that Ruth built. :

Dempster dropped a 6-2 decision to the Rocket

" phote submitted

See Dempster page 40

STARK &1

_Langara Faicons

p Team

a_ rising

SOCCER

BRITISH COLUMBIA COLLEGES’

ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION
Women

East Division finat standings
Team WAT EF fis

ap College Blues 16
Malaspina Mariners 5. 3. 2 14 7
Douglas Col. Royals 4-4-2 17.14
1-8-1 11-4

West Division final standings
Team “_W-L-T_ GF Sts
Cariboo S. Demons 7-1-2" 25° 23
TWuU Spartans - 6-3-1. 25 19
Fras: Val. Cascades. 3-4-3 °24 12
Okanagan Lakers -1-8-1 5. 4

CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE . .
Semi-finals Friday, Oct. 27 @
Surnaby Sports Compiex

2 p.m. —— Capilano vs. Malaspina;
Cariboo vs. TWU.
(Finals slated for Sat, Oct. 28 at”
Burnaby Sports Complex an and BCIT)

Men.
£ast Division final standings -
Team. WT GE Pts-
Langara Falcons -—-9-1-0 , 33° 27
Cap College Biues .5-2-3--14 18 -

‘Malaspina Mariners *4-4-2.-.18 a4

Doug.. Col. Royals

- West Division: final standings =.’
WAL-T'GE Bis: -
mons. 2-2 2 ¢

ariboo :
4-3-3 :.21 As Q

TWU Spartans :
Okanagan Lakers
Fras. Val. _ Cascades

CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE” -
~: Semi-finals Friday, Oct. 27 @
Burnaby Sports Complex.”

2p.m.— ‘Langara vs. TWU?
Capilano vs. Carihoo. ‘
(Finals statect for Sat, Oct. 28 at -
. Burnaby Sports Gomplex and BCIT}

N.S. SECONDARY StHOOLs: a
ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION

Senior bois

Team W-L. GE Pts

Carson Graham "3-024 13

Argyle Gold +1
Windsor :

Howe Sound ©
Seycove ©

~ Sutherland |
. West Van

STA
Sentinel ns
Argyte Green ~

_ Collingwood

“Kl R STE

MACHISE,

Authors of

“DOMESTIC CONTRACTS”

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8602-1166 Alberni Si, Vancouver .*::

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