A heart for sportsA heart for sports➤ YC’s Torey White was born with a congenital heart defect

➤ YC’s Torey White was born with a congenital heart defect

BY DERRIK MILLER SUN STAFF WRITER

At 5-foot-6 and 130 pounds,Torey White is usually thesmallest guy on the baseballfield. But opposing teams end

up finding out what his teammatesalready know: He’s also probably thetoughest.

Yuma Catholic’s gritty, hard-nosedsenior shortstop is a key cog in the

Shamrocks’ run at asecond-consecutive2A statechampionship. Butgrowing up, it lookedas though he wouldonly be able to watchhis friendsaccomplish suchfeats.

White was bornwith aortic stenosis, acongenital heartdefect in which theaortic valve is toonarrow, hinderingthe supply of blood toother arteries. At onepoint during his

infancy, he was one hour away fromleg amputation.

At five-weeks-old, White became theyoungest person in the United States toundergo a special type of surgerywhere a catheter is inserted into theaortic valve of the heart to widen it. Hewas not allowed to play sports for thefirst 10 years of his life.

“It was hard. I always watchedsports growing up, but I just couldn’tgo out and play competitively,” Whitesaid. “I would always play with mycousins, just doing what I couldwithout overexerting myself. Now, justbeing able to play is great.”

White endured a second open-heartsurgery when he was 12-years-old toreplace two valves in his heart. Hemade a miraculous recovery, and whendoctors cleared him with norestrictions, he eventually beganmaking up for lost time. In addition tobaseball, White also played basketballand football for Yuma Catholic.

Today’s gameShamrocks vs.

NorthwestChristian orMany Farms,

9 a.m.,MaryvaleBaseball

Park, Phoenix

PHOTO BY BENJAMIN HAGER/THE SUNYUMA CATHOLIC SENIOR Torey White had a heart defectthat required two surgeries, and he was told he wouldnever be able to play sports. White helped the YumaCatholic baseball team win a state championship lastseason, and has them poised for another run this year.

SEE WHITE/ C2

Saturday:5A regional track

results

ON SITE

Prep track and field: 5A

regional meet at Kofa, 4 p.m.

ON TV

Golf: LPGA: Semgroup

Championship, noon, Ch. 36

(ESPN2)

Auto racing: NASCAR: Busch

Series qualifying, 1 p.m.,

Ch. 39 (Speed), race 5 p.m.,

Ch. 36; Nextel Cup Series

qualifying for Jim Stewart 400,

3 p.m., Ch. 39

Baseball: MLB: Dodgers at

Braves, 4:30 p.m., Ch. 22

(KCAL) and 38 (TBS); Mets at

D-Backs, 6:30 p.m., Ch. 20

(FSAZ)

Basketball: NBA playoffs:

Raptors at Nets, Game 6,

5 p.m., Ch. 2 (ESPN)

With the NJCAA already

legislating clothing attire

guidelines for all of its

national post-season

tournaments, the powers that

be in Region I tackled the

issue this week at a summit in

Yuma.

No decision was made but

if the AWC men’s basketball

team returns to the big dance

in 2008 it might need to make

a pit stop at the Gap before

pulling into Hutchinson, Kan.

It’s nice to see local

colleges taking a proactive

approach to the issue in a

time when radio shock jocks

are losing their jobs for

remarks about the appearance

of athletic teams.

Long ago co-eds attended

class in collared shirts, ties

and dresses. This measure

reset the clock but it should

give people like Don Imus less

ammunition.

BEST BETS➤

➤

MARK SAXON

THE SUN

SCOREBOARD➤BASEBALL

American League

Kansas City 5, L.A. Angels 2

N.Y. Yankees 4, Texas 3

N.Y. Yankees 5, Texas 2

Boston 8, Seattle 7

Cleveland 6, Toronto 5

Tampa Bay 6, Minnesota 4

National League

Houston 7, Cincinnati 5

Pittsburgh 4, Milwaukee 2

N.Y. Mets 9, Arizona 4

Philadelphia at S.F.-Late

BASKETBALL

NBA PLAYOFFS

Utah 94, Houston 82

Golden State 111, Dallas 86

HOCKEY

NHL PLAYOFFS

Anaheim 2, Vancouver 1

LEADING OFF

➤ AGREE OR DISAGREE?VOICE YOUR OWN OPINIONON OUR SPORTS BLOGS ATWWW.YUMASUN.COM

Derby dreamturned intonightmare50 years ago

➤ 133rdKentucky Derby

is Saturday ASSOCIATED PRESS

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — TheKentucky Derby begins with 20horses stampeding three-eighthsof a mile befores q u e e z i n gthrough thefirst turn. Nom a t t e r h o wcrazy Saturday’s race starts,there’s little chance the finishwill be as wild as it was 50 yearsago.

‘‘I don’t think there was everthat good a race,’’ 94-year-oldtrainer John Nerud recalledThursday. ‘‘I’ve never seen thatin my lifetime.’’

The 1957 Kentucky Derby isremembered as horse racing’sversion of baseball’s ‘‘ShotHeard ’Round the World,’’ thedramatics triggered by the lateBill Shoemaker, considered thesport’s greatest jockey. He wasaboard Gallant Man and gainingon rival Bill Hartack and IronLiege as the two horses dueleddown the stretch.

Upstairs in a clubhouse box,Nerud slapped owner RalphLowe on the back and said, ‘‘Godown to the winner’s circle andget your roses and take themback to Texas.’’

Then, something incrediblehappened.

As the horses passed the six-teenth pole, Shoemaker inexpli-cably stood up in the irons onGallant Man, misjudging the fin-ish line. It happened so quickly,hardly anyone noticed at first. Ina flash, Shoemaker bouncedback into the saddle and beganriding hard again.

But Gallant Man couldn’toverhaul Hartack and IronLiege, who won by a nose.

‘‘I never figured out why hepulled up. He was one of thegreatest riders ever,’’ Nerud saidfrom his home in Long Island,N.Y. ‘‘I didn’t know what hap-pened at the time until it wasover.’’

Come Saturday, he’ll bewatching the 133rd Derby andcheering on Street Sense,trained by 65-year-old CarlNafzger.

‘‘Carl is one of my protégés,’’

SEE DERBY/ C2

➤ FOR MOREON THE

DERBY/ C4

Thursday’s resultMets 9,

D-Backs 4

ASSOCIATED PRESSNEW YORK METS FIRST BASEMAN CARLOS DELGADO gets ready to tag ArizonaDiamondbacks’ Chris Young as he slides toward first base in the first inningThursday at Chase Field in Phoenix.

Mets dominate D-Backs, again ASSOCIATED PRESS

PHOENIX — Damion Easleyand David Wright each hit three-run homers in the ninth inning,

and the NewYork Mets beatArizona 9-4 onT h u r s d a ynight for their11th straightv i c t o r y i nChase Field.

W i t h t h eMets trailing4-3, Easley, a

former Diamondback, hit a 2-0pitch from closer Jose Valverde(0-2) into the left-center-fieldbleachers. It was Valverde’s sec-ond blown save in 12 opportuni-ties and his first since April 3 inColorado.

The rally began when former

Diamondback Shawn Greenreached on Tony Clark’s one-outfielding error. Valverde walkedPaul LoDuca and then gave upEasley’s third homer of theseason.

Wright added a three-runhomer off Dustin Nippert.

Aaron Heilman (2-2) earnedthe victory with a scorelesseighth inning.

Orlando Hudson had givenArizona a 4-3 lead with a homerun off Tom Glavine in the sixth.

Glavine made his 642ndcareer start. Arizona’s MicahOwings made his fourth.

Owings allowed three runs onfive hits in six innings. Hewalked four and struck out five.

Arizona’s last victory overthe Mets in Phoenix came onMay 11, 2004. In sweeping twofour-game series in 2005 and

2006, New York outscored Ari-zona by a combined 76-16.

When Stephen Drew singledhome Eric Byrnes in the secondinning, it gave the Diamond-backs their first lead over theMets in 81 innings at ChaseField, going back to May 13, 2004.

Byrnes led off the second bylining what appeared to be a sin-gle to left-center field. But leftfielder Moises Alou took a badangle and played the ball into atriple.

In the fourth, Alou doubledhome a run and scored on a sin-gle to give the Mets a 2-1 lead.

Arizona’s Chris Snyder hit atwo-run homer to left field to putthe Diamondbacks ahead 3-2 inthe fifth.

An inning later, Carlos Belt-ran homered into the right-fieldpavilion to tie it at 3-3.

SPORTSINSIDE

FRIDAYMAY 4, 2007

C➤ GREAT OUTDOORS: Jean Wilson says people need to take care

of outdoors or it may cost you later/ C12

➤ CLASSIFIEDS/ C5-11

Game 1Spurs atSuns,

12:30 p.m.,Sunday,

Ch. 5 (ABC)

Road gets a lot tougher

ASSOCIATED PRESS

PHOENIX — That smooth first-roundplayoff triumph is history. After dis-patching the Los Angeles Lakers in fivegames, the road gets a lot rougher for thePhoenix Suns.

Next up is a Western Conferencesemifinal matchup with the San AntonioSpurs — big, experienced and one of thegame’s best defensive teams.

Game 1 is Sunday in Phoenix, and it’sa big test for Suns team that thrives onspeed and scoring.

It will take more than that to beat theSpurs, according to Steve Nash.

‘‘For us I think this series is going tocome down to how solid we are at gettingback on defense, doing the dirty workand fighting for every possession,’’ Nashsaid. ‘‘The offense will take care of itself,

➤ Spurs took two ofthree from Suns in

regular season

SEE SUNS/ C2

NBA PLAYOFFS

THE GOLDEN STATEWARRIORS’ BARONDAVIS celebrates afterthe Warriors’ 111-86win over the DallasMavericks to clinch theirNBA Western Conferencefirst-round basketballplayoff series Thursdayin Oakland, Calif.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

➤ FOR MORE/ C2

The obstacles he had to over-come early in life largely remainunknown to his current team-mates.

“He’s never made it an issue,so I’ve never made it an issue,but it should be,” Yuma Catholiccoach Tom Kandler said. “It’sprobably had more of an effecton me than anyone else. To seewhat this kid’s gone throughsays a lot about why his makeupis the way it is and why he’s sotough.”

White is enjoying his bestseason yet. The Shamrocks’leadoff hitter dramaticallyimproved his batting averagefrom .256 a year ago, to .422 thisseason. He also has a .558 on-base percentage while swiping25 bases in 28 attempts.

Kandler said that White hasas much baseball intelligence asanyone he’s ever coached, andhe added that he is almost likean extension of him on the field.

“The first time he was play-ing shortstop was when he was asophomore and he was out therepositioning seniors. That’s whathe’s meant to us,” Kandler said.“There are times when I justcan’t communicate with theplayers - they don’t understandthe lingo I’m using - and to haveanother person come up and tellthem something, especially theirpeer, that means a lot.

“We’re not losing a lot (ofplayers) next year, but we arelosing a lot. He’s going to betough to replace.”

White is the only senior on a

young, inexperienced YumaCatholic ballclub that begins itsrun through state with a targeton its back. Though he has beenthe catalyst on a talented, explo-sive offensive lineup, his maincontribution to the team is per-haps intangible.

“This year is a lot moreimportant because I have tomake sure the guys stay in thegame and focused,” White said.“We have to want to win everygame because everyone wants tobeat us this year, and there’s noway I want to go out with a loss.I have to be a leader on and off

the field, vocally and by the wayI play.”

And the way White hasplayed the game during his timeat Yuma Catholic has left a last-ing impression on his team-mates and coaches.

“He’s very dedicated and heplays hard,” said Erick Martin-ez, YC’s junior center fielder andWhite’s good friend. “Every sin-gle game he just goes out thereand just plays with all hisheart.”________________________________Derrik Miller can be reached atdmiller@yumasun.com or 782-6520.

WHITE FROM PAGE C1

Nerud said. ‘‘Every one of themis my friend, but Carl, I kind ofput him on the right track. Igave him some horses that couldrun about 25 years ago.’’

Nafzger won the 1990 Derbywith Unbridled and creditsNerud for much of his success.Besides sending him good hors-es, Nafzger said Nerud gave himthe confidence to stick to hisown training theories and

helped even more by keepingdemanding owners off his back.

‘‘He taught me so much,’’Nafzger said. ‘‘You can neverfail, you can only learn. That’sthe way I live.’’

Street Sense is the early 4-1second choice in a full field of3-year-olds entered for Satur-day’s race. Curlin, the 7-2 favor-ite, is unbeaten in three starts,but with a 50 percent chance ofthunderstorms forecast, thingscould get interesting. StreetSense finished third in his onlyrace on a sloppy track; Curlinhas never raced in mud.

DERBY FROM PAGE C1

NBA ROUNDUP

ASSOCIATED PRESSHOUSTON ROCKETS FORWARD TRACY MCGRADY walks off the court after the Rockets’ 94-82 loss to the Utah Jazz in Game6 of their NBA Western Conference quarterfinal Thursday in Salt Lake City. The series is tied at three games apiece.

Jazz forces Game 7 with Rockets ASSOCIATED PRESS

SALT LAKE CITY — AndreiKirilenko had his best game ofthe postseason with 14 pointsand five blocks to lead the UtahJazz to a 94-82 victory Thursdaynight over the Houston Rockets,forcing a deciding game in theirfirst-round series.

Mehmet Okur added 19points, including four 3-pointers,as the Jazz finally started hittingfrom beyond the arc.

Tracy McGrady finished with26 points and 10 rebounds forHouston. Yao Ming scored 25points, but he also had eightturnovers — two more than hisrebound total — as Okur androokie Paul Millsap constantlypressured the 7-foot-6 center.

The home team has wonevery game in the series, which

bodes well for the Rockets, whohaven’t played well in Utah thisseason or postseason. Game 7 isSaturday night.

Carlos Boozer added 22 pointsfor Utah, and he and Okur bothpulled down nine rebounds.Deron Williams had 15 pointsand eight assists.

Warriors 111, Mavericks 86OAKLAND, Calif. — BaronDavis and Stephen Jackson shotthe ragtag Warriors right intothe second round, capping per-haps the NBA’s biggest playoffupset with yet one more memo-rable performance on theirhome floor.

Davis willed the Warriors onone good leg, shaking off astrained hamstring to score 20points, Jackson made a fran-chise playoff-record seven 3-pointers, and Golden State

became the first No. 8 seed tocapture a best-of-seven playoffseries with a victory over theNBA-best Dallas Mavericks inGame 6.

Coach Don Nelson’s emo-tional bunch of castoffs beat hisold team by holding likelyleague MVP Dirk Nowitzki toeight points and two field goals,after he saved the Mavs with 30points in their six-point Game 5win Tuesday. The Warriors,making their first playoffappearance in 13 years, willopen the second round Mondaynight at either Houston or Utah.

Jackson — who avoided a sus-pension for Game 6 after twoejections in the series — hit four3-pointers during a decisive 24-3third-quarter run and finishedwith a playoff career-high 33points.

REACH US➤SPORTS EDITORScott Jungman

539-6880sjungman@yumasun.com

SPORTS WRITERDerrik Miller782-6520

dmiller@yumasun.comSPORTS WRITER

Mark Saxon539-6882

msaxon@yumasun.comSPORTS WRITERBrian Williams

539-6883bwilliams@yumasun.com

GENERAL SPORTS1-800-343-6520

sports@yumasun.comMAIL

P.O. Box 271Yuma, AZ 85366

FAX928-782-7369

SPORTSC2 THE SUN, FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2007

COLLEGE

INDIANAPOLIS — Collegebasketball players might want tostart polishing up their long-rangeshooting.

The men’s basketball rulescommittee approved a measureThursday that would move the3-point line back one foot in2008-09 — from 19 feet, 9 inchesto 20 feet, 9 inches. If approved bythe playing rules oversightcommittee on May 25, it would markthe first major alteration to the3-point shot since its inception in1986-87.

The move comes after more thana decade of debate about whether tomove the line. The extended line hasbeen used on an experimental basisin some early season tournamentsand NCAA statistics have not showna dramatic change in shootingpercentages from the longer line.But the rules change had neverpreviously passed the rulescommittee for regular-season andpostseason games.

➤

NCAA looking atmoving 3-point line

BASEBALL➤

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — TheCalifornia Highway Patrol willrecommend prosecutors chargebaseball Hall of Famer OrlandoCepeda with drug possession, aspokesman said Thursday.

The department will forward itsreport of Cepeda’s arrest to theSolano County District Attorney’soffice today, CHP Sgt. WulfCorrington said.

The former San Francisco Giantsstar was stopped Tuesday after hewas clocked driving 83 mph in a 65mph zone on Interstate 80 inCordelia, about 40 miles northeastof San Francisco. The 69-year-oldCepeda was arrested after the officerdiscovered marijuana and a whitepowder substance in his 2001Lexus.

CHP recommendscharges for Cepeda

BASKETBALL➤

AUBURN, Calif. — SacramentoKings forward Ron Artest pleaded nocontest Thursday to a misdemeanordomestic violence charge stemmingfrom a March 5 dispute with his wife,the latest in a string of off-courtproblems.

Placer County Superior CourtJudge Francis Kearney sentencedArtest to 100 hours of communityservice and a 10-day work projectthrough the county sheriff’sdepartment. Artest also was fined$600 and ordered to get extensivecounseling.

Artest sentenced towork program

TENNIS➤

WARSAW, Poland — QualifierJulia Vakulenko beat second-seededKim Clijsters 7-6 (3), 6-3 to advanceto the quarterfinals of the clay courtJ&S Cup on Thursday.

Vakulenko, a Ukrainian ranked61st in the world, hit seven aces toavenge a second-round loss toClijsters in last year’s J&S Cup, whichClijsters eventually won.

Vakulenko beatsClijsters at J&S Cup

Mayweather, De La Hoya was decades in making ASSOCIATED PRESS

LAS VEGAS — The preco-cious teenage boxer from Michi-gan was watching the BarcelonaOlympics on TV and couldn’ttake his eyes off another hand-some teenage fighter who hadjust won a gold medal and wasbasking in a nation’s adoration.

That’s when Floyd May-weather Jr. claims he saw hisdestiny.

Even before he won his firstGolden Gloves championshipunder the tempestuous tutelageof his father and uncle, May-weather knew he had to fight

Oscar De La Hoya someday to beconsidered the best boxer of hisgeneration.

‘‘That’s the only way I can bewho I want to be,’’ Mayweathersaid. ‘‘It’s the only challenge leftfor me. After that, what else isthere? What can I do that’sworthy?’’

He finally will meet De LaHoya on Saturday night in theailing sport’s biggest fight inyears.

Since watching those games15 years ago, Mayweatherbecame a charismatic championwith more skill and speed thanany of his first 37 opponents. Healso became a larger-than-life

character similar to the greatfighters he admired. The kindwho could lose $170,000 in abrown paper bag at a Las Vegasshopping mall while buyingChristmas presents for his fourchildren — and could reward thefinder with $10,000.

But he never lost his determi-nation to beat De La Hoya, thegolden boy who effortlesslyseemed to receive everythingMayweather worked so hard toget.

Where the public saw a modelcitizen straddling the sport’sline between showmanship andsavagery, Mayweather saw aphony with four losses. To add a

dimension of Greek tragedy, DeLa Hoya even stole Mayweath-er’s father for a time. Floyd Sr.trained De La Hoya from 2001through 2006.

‘‘I think he resents every-thing that’s happened to me —not only my boxing career,’’ DeLa Hoya said. ‘‘I learned a lotabout Floyd Jr. through hisfather. Over the years, he wouldtalk to me about him. ’Oh, he’sso jealous of you. Everythingyou do, he wants to be like you.’’’

Mayweather said he begancalling out De La Hoya — justfour years his senior, but expo-nentially more famous andbeloved — shortly after he

became a professional fighter.His unblemished record grewalong with his wealth and confi-dence, and he even demanded afight with the 154-pound cham-pion three years ago when De LaHoya was widely thought to beon the decline after losing toBernard Hopkins.

‘‘They said, ‘This kid is inover his head,’’’ Mayweatherrecalled. ‘‘’He doesn’t know whathe’s talking about.’ A lot of timeswhen I’m talking trash, peoplethink I’m talking just to hearmyself talk. ... That’s not whathappens. I wanted this tohappen.’’

LOCAL GLANCE

Warriors, Sidewinderslose in baseball playoffs FROM STAFF REPORTS

Five runs in the first, three inthe third and two in the fourthfor San Pasqual’s baseball teamjust set the stage for Tomb-stone’s 8-7 comeback win. Elimi-nating San Pasqual in the firstround of the 2A state playoffs.

“It was a heartbreaker today,literally a heartbreaker,” coachFaron Owl said. “For fivei n n i n g s w e p l a y e d g r e a tbaseball.”

The first four Warriors werewalked followed by RBI singlesby Josh Amadore, J.D. Montanaand Ruben Esparanza in a five-run first inning.

But Tombstone played them-selves into the state tournamentby winning its last three gamesin come-from-behind victories.

“I knew going into this gamethis team was going to battle usno matter what,” Owl said.

After three scoreless innings,Tombstone scored one in the

fourth then three in the fifth andsixth and finally scoring one runin the bottom of the seventh forthe 8-7 win.5A STATE BASEBALL Deer Valley edges San Luis

Deer Valley eliminated SanLuis from the 5A Div. II statetournament 4-2. The Sidewind-ers scored first in the third, butDeer Valley tied it in the sameinning then scored three morein the sixth.

“In the sixth was when theydid their damage,” coach CesarCastillo said. “The ended upscoring a home run, that was themomentum changer.”

Castillo said Raul Vazquezdid well pitching in the first fiveinnings, keeping San Luis closeuntil the sixth when they finallygot to him.

The Sidewinders scored onemore inning in the seventhinning with the tying run onthird, but failed to score him.

NHL ROUNDUP

Ducks to Western Conference finals ASSOCIATED PRESS

ANAHEIM, Calif. — ScottNiedermayer scored 4:30 into thesecond overtime Thursday nightto lift the Anaheim Ducks intothe Western Conference finalswith a 2-1 victory over the Van-couver Canucks.

Niedermayer’s quick wristshot from the left point cameafter his brother Rob leveledVancouver’s Jannik Hansenalong the left boards. The pucksquirted to Scott Niedermayerand he beat goalie RobertoLuongo low to the glove side on

the Ducks’ 63rd shot of the game.Luongo had kept the Canucks

in it as they tried to stay alive inGame 5, and he finished with 56saves.

Jean-Sebastien Giguere had26 saves for Anaheim.

The Ducks, who lost to Edm-onton in the conference finalslast year, may have to wait foralmost a week to find out theirnext opponent. Detroit and SanJose are tied 2-2 in the otherWestern Conference semifinal. Ifthat series goes the distance, theseventh game would be playedMay 9.

but we have to match them withour energy and defense andtoughness.’’

After Phoenix wrapped up itsseries against the Lakers with a119-110 victory on Wednesdaynight, coach Mike D’Antoni gavethe Suns Thursday off. They willbe back at practice on Friday.

The Spurs won two of threeagainst Suns during the regularseason. Both wins came in SanAntonio — 111-106 in overtimeon Nov. 11 and 92-85 on April 5.Phoenix’s victory came at home103-87 on Feb. 1.

In that win, the Suns got 25points from Leandro Barbosaand 23 rebounds from AmareStoudemire. Both figure to bekey players in this series.

‘‘They are a tough team,’’ saidBarbosa, whose speed and out-side shooting make him a toughm a t c h u p f o r a n y o n e .‘‘Everybody knows they have alot of experience and a lot ofgood players, but we have goodplayers too. What we want to dois just play the way we like toplay.’’

The Spurs excel at guardingthe Suns’ perimeter players, andthat makes Stoudemire evenmore important than he nor-mally is. Two seasons ago, when

the Spurs beat the Suns in fivegames in the Western Confer-ence finals, Stoudemire aver-aged 37 points per game.

What followed was a lost sea-son for the Phoenix big man. Heplayed in only three regular-season games in 2005-06 and satout all of last year’s playoffswhile recovering from two kneesurgeries.

Stoudemire has returned as,in his words, ‘‘a more polishedbasketball player,’’ and acounter to the inside prowess ofthe Spurs’ Tim Duncan.

‘‘I am definitely looking for-ward to it,’’ said Stoudemire,who averaged team highs of 24.2points and 13.6 rebounds in theLakers’ series.

SUNS FROM PAGE C1