Letters

Congratulations to Heartland team

To the sports editor:

We, the parents of the Heartland Pride Select 16-and-under team, want to say congratulations to the team. We also want to let you and the surrounding area know we are proud of you. We especially want to thank the coaches -- Tony Young and Dusty Collins -- for helping the girls the entire summer. Thank you both for staying with the team and believing in the team on the final day of the ASA regional tournament in Topeka, Kan.

It's unfortunate that some people have tried to demean the team by spreading rumors. The facts are that the players are normal girls who cannot be followed around 24 hours a day and don't need to be. We realize the team can make responsible decisions, and it has proven this. This team also can play ball and showed everyone at Topeka. The girls have nothing to be sorry for. The ones who should be sorry and ashamed are the adults in charge of various organizations who did nothing to help the team concerning the national tournament.

The team consisted of girls from several area schools. Representing Kelly High School were Kelly Essner, Michelle Collins, Stephanie Hency, Whitney Beggs, Jessica Burnett and Rachel Klein. Representing Jackson High School was Jill Ruopp. Representing Oran High School was Tori St. Cin, and representing Delta High School were Sarah M. Cook and Tiffany Johnson.

Once again, we, the parents, want the team to know we are proud of you and give special thanks to Tony and Dusty.DIANE COOK

Chaffee, Mo.

Major league feat was worth mention

To the sports editor:

Here it is Aug. 1, and I'm still waiting to read about the major-league player who hit two grand slams in one game -- one from each side of the plate. Here is a first in 120-plus years of baseball. It was covered not only in the St. Louis paper the next day but also on both local and national radio stations. Your paper used to print capsule summaries of all the major league games -- now nothing.

I have spent time trying to convince myself and others that the Southeast Missourian was better than most other papers around here. Now I am beginning to wonder.RICH BEHRING

Cape Girardeau

From the editor:We chose to no longer publish boxscores and game summaries from MLB games beginning in the spring. Since that time, we've received very few requests to add them, so there are no plans for them to return. Cardinals boxscores, however, will continue to be published.