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by Lloyd Combs
Sports Reporter
This
one has to go under the category that it really
is a small world.
A talented young athlete with southwest
Virginia ties
is a key player on a European team playing in an
international tournament in the American northwest.
Natascha Ann Fleming is a key member of a
German team
headed for the 2006 Little League Junior Softball
World Series, August 13-19 at Everest Park in
Kirkland, Washington.
Fleming’s father Allen has been on active
duty in the
Army or worked for the Department of Defense since
leaving Buchanan County in 1987. He is currently
stationed at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, where he
currently serves as the Ramstein Youth Sports and
Fitness Director.
His daughter, Natascha, has lived in Columbus,
Georgia
(Ft Benning) and Charleston, South Carolina
(Charleston Air Force Base). She and her family have
resided in Germany since 2003.
Natascha is a softball standout the captain of
the
team representing both Germany and the EMEA region
(Europe, Middle East and Africa) via the Ramstein
American Little League in the World Series in
Kirkland.
Fleming is one of twelve girls who represented
Germany
in the 2006 EMEA Little League Regional Softball
Tournament in Kutno. Poland, where her squad avenged
last year’s championship game loss to a team from
Russia.
In the preliminary games in regional play,
Germany
defeated teams from the Netherlands and Poland and
lost once to the Russian squad.
Germany got by Poland in the semifinals and
defeated
Russia, 5-1, in the finals as Fleming made the final
out of the game at first base. Fleming played each and
every inning of five seven-inning games without
committing a single error.
Fleming’s junior softball squad is one of two
Ramstein
Air Base teams headed for World Series play. The
Majors Girls Fast-pitch softball also qualified. The
two clubs are reportedly the first military girls
softball teams to ever go to the World Series.
Natascha’s family includes her dad, Allen,
mom, Petra
Fleming, sister Nicole and brother Wesley Fleming.
Her grandparents are Karen and Donald Justice
of
Oakwood and Bernie and Eileen Fleming of Grundy. Her
great-grandparents, who she wanted to say she loves
very much, are Frank "River Jack" Howard, Jr. and
Helen Howard of Big Rock.
For more of the story, see the print
edition of the Mountaineer, on sale at newsstands now.
For more information on how to subscribe to the Mountaineer,
call 276-935-2123 today.
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15th Annual YMCA Benefit Golf
Tourney Set August 11 |
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The 15th Annual
YMCA Benefit Golf Tournament has been scheduled for Friday August
11, and will be hosted by Willowbrook Country Club, near the
Breaks.
Anyone wishing to participate in a day of fun,
fellowship and golfing competition are urged to enter the event,
which will feature several outstanding prizes for this year’s
field of competitors.
The format for play will be a two-player
Captain’s Choice, flighted by average team handicaps.
Registration will be from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., followed by a
shotgun start to begin play at 10:30 a.m.
Upon completion of play, a dinner and awards
ceremony will take place with trophies being awarded to the top
three finishers in each of four flights and prizes presented to
special award winners as well.
The first entry is a flight sponsorship for
$1,000 – this entitles two players to compete, plus their
company name prominently displayed on the scoreboard. There is
expected to be four flights.
The second is a hole sponsorship for $500 –
this entitles the sponsor to a sign which will bear their company
name displayed on a randomly selected hole, plus sponsorship of
two persons (one team) in the tournament.
The third is a non-participating sponsorship
for $300 – this entitles two players (one team) to participate
in the tournament.
The final sponsorship is an individual sponsor
for $150 – this will allow one person to participate in the
tournament. Individual participants will be paired with other
individuals to form teams on a random basis. Should two individual
sponsors want to play together, please note this when entering the
tournament.
Also, any businesses or individuals who are
unable to play, may still contribute a donation or sponsorship fee
for the event.
All the proceeds from the tournament will be
used for the continuation and promotion of the YMCA Mission to
Buchanan County. Contributors will be recognized whether or not
they participate in the tournament.
Entry forms are available at the YMCA or anyone
needing further information about the event, should call the YMCA
at 935-8871. |
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