THE LATEST LINE: JULY MEANS IT'S TIME FOR A VACATION

Don't be jealous, but as you read this, I'm vacationing in sunny Southern California, probably on the beach drinking a cool beverage or two at this very moment.

Not that what I do can really be considered work -- covering games and writing articles about interesting people and topics is about as enjoyable as any occupation I can imagine -- but it's always nice to get away for a while.

I didn't, however, want to miss a column, so here are a few tidbits to tide you over until I return soon.

* Some local athletes will take part in Friday's Missouri Basketball Coaches Association (MBCA) Hall of Fame Games at the Hammons Center in Springfield.

The games, directed by the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame and the MBCA, feature Missouri's top senior boys and girls basketball players. The girls game will tip off at 6 p.m., with the boys game to follow.

On the 22-player boys roster are Charleston's Rashad Oliver, East Carter County's Benji Stahl and Richland's Tony Herrion.

Included on the 22-player girls roster are Jackson's Michele Millham and Scott City's Sara Emerson.

Jackson's Ron Cook was the MBCA Girls Class 4A Coach of the Year this past season.

* The opening rounds of the National Baseball Congress State Tournament will be held this coming weekend at Capaha Field in Cape Girardeau, with play set for Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

After seeing St. Louis O.B. Clark win the championship the past two seasons, the host Kohlfeld Capahas appear to be ready to regain the state title they last won three years ago.

The Capahas have already beaten O.B. Clark four times this season, although the St. Louis squad certainly won't give up their championship without a major fight.

* Charleston High product Matt Whiteside recorded his first victory of the season a few weeks ago -- and it also happened to be his first major league win in nearly two years.

Pitching for the Texas Rangers, Whiteside hurled 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief on June 14 as the Rangers beat the Padres 8-6.

Whiteside's last previous win in the big leagues had come on Sept. 13, 1995.

* Laura Lukens, a 1997 Cape Central High graduate, took part in the recent AAU Junior Nationals track meet that were held in Edwardsville, Ill., and also featured Southeast Missouri State University freshmen Tammy Wenkel and Shauna Birge.

Lukens, the 1997 Class 4A state champion in the shot put and discus, failed to place in the discus at the Junior Nationals.

* Former SEMO cross country coach Fred Binggeli has been hired as assistant executive director of the Missouri State High School Activities Association.

Binggeli, who led SEMO to the 1984 NCAA Division II national cross country championship, had most recently been the track and cross country coach at the University of Virginia.

* Congratulations to KZIM's Brad Palmer for being named Missouri's play-by-play broadcaster of the year for his station's division for the third year in a row.

~Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian