Finally a field for Strawberry Crest to call home

While waiting for Strawberry Crest's campus to open later this month, the Stallions' football program has been working without a home.

Their first booster club meeting was held in one of three portable trailers next to the school. The past 11 weeks, the Chargers have made the Athletic Club of Plant City their home for conditioning and workouts.

"It's been a challenge," Crest coach Todd Donohoe said. "It's kind of like being in a barn," Donohoe said. "But whatever it takes we're gonna do it."

Donohoe received some good news recently -- that they'll be able to use their practice field, which is located behind the visiting team bleachers of their stadium, on Thursday. Tryouts will begin Aug. 10 at 9 a.m. on that field.

And on Tuesday, there will be a prospective players' parents meeting at The Home Place (3740 McIntosh Rd. in Plant City) at 6:30 p.m. For more information, call (813) 478-0827.

-- EDUARDO A. ENCINA

Plant's Mychal Givens remains unsigned, plans to know future with Orioles soon

Former Plant standout baseball player Mychal Givens, the second-round selection of the Baltimore Orioles in June’s MLB Draft, remains unsigned with just more than two weeks remaining until they lose his rights.

Givens said Friday afternoon that his adviser, former Florida State star Kenny Felder, won’t start negotiating with the Orioles until Aug. 1 (Saturday). They have until Aug. 17 to come to terms or else Givens will go to Oklahoma State. He would be eligible to be drafted again in three years and Baltimore would receive a compensation pick next year.

“We’ll be hearing more next week I think,” Givens said. “I’m not disappointed. How it goes is how it goes. I’m in a win-win situation. If I sign, I’m happy, and if not, I’ll go to Oklahoma State and work to get back to getting drafted again.”

The Orioles selected Givens to with the 54th overall pick. Even though he was one of the state’s most dominant pitchers, Baltimore said it plans to start Givens out as a shortstop, which was Givens' preference.

Givens said he hasn’t done much baseball work recently.

Jesse Salters named Blake athletic director

Jesse Salters, whose name should possess a familiar ring to even the most casual local basketball follower, confirmed Friday afternoon he has been named new athletic director at Blake High.

Salters, who has spent the last two years as an assistant principal in Blake's student affairs office, was on a family outing Friday and unable to talk at length. He replaces Steve Williams, who left to become boys basketball coach at Steinbrenner.

A 1990 Chamberlain graduate, Salters led the Chiefs to the Class 4A state title game as a 6-foot-6 senior forward and finished his career with 2,222 career points -- then the second-highest career total in Hillsborough County history.

He signed with Florida State, but transferred to USF after one year and started every game in his three seasons with the Bulls (1993-95). The team's leading rebounder all three seasons, he still ranks in the top 10 of many Bulls career statistical categories.

Salters graduated from USF in 1994 with a degree in speech communications, and was named USF's Most Outstanding Senior in a class of more than 4,000.

JOEY KNIGHT

Baseball: Former Hernando ace Bronson Arroyo tells Boston Herald he used PEDs

Former Hernando ace Bronson Arroyo said it's possible he was among the 104 major leaguers to test positive for performance enhancing drugs in 2003.

The Cinncinati Reds' ace came clean in a phone interview with the Boston Herald. Arroyo said he was using androstenedione and amphetamines in 2003 when he was with the Boston Red Sox, one year before mandatory testing began.

The news comes the day after former Red Sox teammates Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz were fingered in a growing list of names that was never meant to be revealed.

“Before 2004, none of us paid any attention to anything we took,” Arroyo told the Boston Herald. “Now they don’t want us to take anything unless it’s approved. But back then, who knows what was in stuff? The FDA wasn’t regulating stuff, not unless it was killing people or people were dying from it.”

Arroyo said he began taking andro in 1998, and loved the effect.

“Andro made me feel great, I felt like a monster," Arroyo said. "I felt like I could jump and hit my head on the basketball rim."

Arroyo arguably had his best season was with the Reds in 2006 when he pitched 240.2 innings with 184 strikeouts for a 14-11 record as an All-Star selection. In 10 seasons, he has a career ERA of 4.39 and is just 51 strikeouts away from reaching 1,000.

-- IZZY GOULD
izzygould@gmail.com

Former Clearwater Central Catholic star Ryan Weber signs wth Braves

After seven weeks of negotiations, Ryan Weber has signed with the Atlanta Braves.

Weber, a former star at Clearwater Central Catholic, was the highest pick of a county player, past or present, in the first two days of the Major League Baseball amateur draft in June, going in the 22nd round to the Braves.

After the draft, Weber said the Braves had considered taking him between the sixth or 10th round for "slot money".

Slot money is the amount recommended by MLB for draft picks based on where they were selected. Weber said his agent advised him not to take the slot money.

Despite being drafted in lower round, Weber never ruled out signing. He said in June the Braves want to see him pitch this summer before making a decision.

West Florida Shockers ranked No. 1 nationally by USSSA Baseball

The West Florida Shockers, a 16 and under wood bat baseball team featuring high school players from Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, recently earned a No. 1 national ranking by USSSA (United States Specialty Sports Association) Baseball.

The Shockers are 31-2 this summer and have won three tournaments: the Perfect Game Memorial Day Classic, the USSSA Mizuno Wood Bat Challenge and the IBC state tournament.

Last weekend, the Shockers finished fifth out of 64 teams at the 16U Perfect Game Baseball Championship Series in Ft. Myers. The Shockers won all five of their pool games at the invite-only tournament and came into the knockout stages as the No. 1 seed but were upset by Palm Beach PAL 1-0 in the semifinals. The Shockers had defeated Palm Beach PAL 9-3 in group play.

The Shockers finished 5-1 for the tournament. Osceola standout Taylor Layner, the Times Pinellas County Pitcher of the Year for 2009, threw nine total innings and struck out 18 batters. Osceola teammate Josh Townsend recorded the fastest time (6.47 seconds) in a 60-yard dash competition and was 8-for-17 during the tournament. 

Also, Seminole's Joey Krehbiel was 7-for-19 at the plate and Jefferson's Corbin Olmstead finished second in the home run derby with nine home runs.

-- BRYAN BURNS

Countryside quarterback Grey Crow transfers to Ocala Trinity Catholic

Countryside lost its quarterback of the future when incoming sophomore Grey Crow decided to transfer to Ocala Trinity Catholic.

Crow is the younger brother of former Countryside standout L.D. Crow, who signed with Stanford before transferring to Central Florida last year.

Grey was on junior varsity last season and would have had a hard time getting playing time if he was brought up on varsity considering Jimbo Chmelik is back as the starter and Ryan Dailey returns as the backup.

"Grey wants to take football to the next level and this move gives him an opportunity to get more exposure," said Larry Crow, Grey's father. 

Larry Crow said the family is moving to Ocala and that Grey will have the chance to compete for the starting job at Trinity Catholic. 

-- BOB PUTNAM, Times Staff Writer

Football: Gulf's Leon Orr gets two more offers; still committed to UF

Gulf tight end Leon Orr (No. 44 in photo) now has scholarship offers from Boston College and USF.

But Orr reaffirmed his oral commitment to Florida, and insists it's solid. He also has offers from Florida State, Miami, FAU and FIU.

Orr, who has attended two Friday Night Lights camps on the Gainesville campus, said he first fell in love with the school on his first visit.

"When I learned about the academics I thought, 'It can't get any better than this,'" Orr said Friday morning. "I get to play in the SEC and I get all this. I can't get any better than (Florida)."

Orr (6-foot-4, 300 pounds) is ranked No. 89 on Rivals.com Top 100 college prospects in the nation. Listed as a defensive tackle, Orr said he has rarely played the position though he expects to get more time there this fall.

Orr said Florida plans to use him as a defensive tackle.

"I'll be in the trenches," Orr said. "I can't wait."

-- IZZY GOULD
izzygould@gmail.com

Sharks lose a defensive back, gain a logo

During an afternoon photo shoot for the Times' preseason prep football section Thursday at Riverview, Sharks coach Bruce Gifford proudly revealed the team's new helmet logo pictured here.

Thing is, senior cornerback/receiver Corey Fisher won't be wearing it. Gifford confirmed Thursday that Fisher has transferred to Plant, becoming the second Shark in as many seasons to bolt for South Tampa. Tight end Orson Charles, now at the University of Georgia, was the other.

Fisher had 17 tackles, three receptions and a team-high two interceptions in 2008.

JOEY KNIGHT

Blake-Middleton rivalry football game to remain at Raymond James Stadium

The annual rivalry football game between Blake and Middleton will remain at Raymond James Stadium this season, Hillsborough County athletic director Lanness Robinson said Thursday.

The decision on the game's site is made annually, and last season's disappointing crowd put the game's future at Raymond James in doubt, but Robinson said he believes interest in the game will rebound this year.

This year's game will be played during the regular season's third week on Thursday, Sept. 17.

The game, which features the Tampa’s two historically black schools, has always been a heralded community event ripe in tradition -- from the tailgating to the football to the band halftime shows.

Last year both teams had difficult seasons -- Blake was 1-9, and Middleton was 2-8. But among the plotlines for this year's matchup, Blake's new coach is Harry Hubbard, who built Middleton's program from scratch when the school reopened in 2002. Hubbard was not retained after last year and replaced by Jason Stokes, a former Wall Street floor trader who left Bloomingdale after leading the Bulls to the playoffs for the first time in school history in his first year as a head coach.

The game averaged nearly 10,000 fans its first three seasons at Raymond James, but last year's sparse crowd of 4,400 fans lost $8,800, the Times reported last year.

The game drew a record 13,135 fans in its first season at Raymond James in 2005, about 7,500 in ’06 and 10,000 in '07. Before 2005, the game was played to sellout crowds at Chamberlain’s John Adcock Stadium.

Tickets for the game will still be $8 each and will go on sale once school starts in late August.

-- EDUARDO A. ENCINA