K of C event goes on, only not as planned

The Knights of Columbus National Softball Tournament hasn't been called off because of weather in its 24 years, but local organizers of the 25th annual event had to scramble to make sure it wouldn't happen this year.

Games were played Saturday and Sunday in spite of heavy rain Friday and early Saturday that left original sites at Shawnee Park Sports Complex and Southeast Missouri State University too wet to use. So, with several hundred softball players, family members and fans in Cape Girardeau to see a championship tournament, fields were made Saturday morning at new sites, including a field behind St. Vincent Church, the lawn at Osage Community Centre and grassy areas at Shawnee Park.

"Everybody still had a good time," said Harold Green of the Knights of Columbus St. Vincent Council No. 1111, which hosted the event. "We had to make some adjustments, but everybody still had to use the same fields, and they had the same disadvantage or advantage as the other teams.

"We played this tournament one year in Louisiana in pouring rain. We've played games all night in the past just to get them in. We planned to play this year, too."

Green said crews with the Parks and Recreation Department were able to have fields at Shawnee Park ready in time for Sunday's final games.

Oceanside, N.Y., defeated Westfield, N.J., to win Sunday's open division title. The Cape Girardeau council team won twice Saturday and was eliminated with losses to St. Charles and Jefferson City on Sunday.

In the masters class, Granite City, Ill., defeated Milton, Wis., for the championship.

World Series ends with plenty of memories

Although Kenny Emerson's first shot at the Little League World Series championship ended with a loss to Japan in the final, his parents said the trip was a memorable one.

Kenneth Emerson, whose son Kenny coaches the Boynton Beach (Fla.)All-Star team after moving from Advance in 1980, said he and his wife, Monnie, spent much of August on the road with the team in its regional games inFlorida and in the World Series in Pennsylvania. They returned home to Advance, Mo., last week.

"It was the experience of a lifetime,"Kenneth Emerson said Wednesday. "We had a great time."

The two were a hit among the Florida media that followed the team to Pennsylvania. They also were shown frequently on ESPN broadcasts because of their ties to the team -- Kenny's son, Cody, was among the team's top players.

Cody, 12, was a media sensation all his own, in part because of how he wore his cap tipped to one side, a la Dontrelle Willis of the Florida Marlins. He also was the winning pitcher two days earlier when Boynton Beach won the U.S. title over Saugus, Mass.

"I don't care that we lost,"he said. "We had a blast."

They were sentinments echoed by his father.

"This was a great experience,"Kenny told thePalm BeachPost, which sent four reporters and two photographers to cover the team's World Series trip. "It's one that I'm sure 40 years from now, when Isee a baseball game, my mind will wander back to Williamsport 2003."

More than 41,000 filled Lamade Stadium for the championship.

Around town

Former KFVS sports anchor Randy Ray and radio broadcaster Dave Green will host a new sports talk show that debuts today. The show is scheduled to air each week from 6 to 7 p.m. on KLSC-FM 92.9 and will include local analysis, interviews, calls from listeners -- even a studio audience. The show will air from B.A. Sports in Dexter.

Entries are being taken for the Cape Girardeau area's only half-marathon. The City of Roses Half Marathon is a 13.1-mile event scheduled for Sept. 28. This year's event is an American Cancer Society benefit and a memorial to Mary Lynn Whitener. Info: 334-4053 or 334-0402.