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PPIITTCCHHIINNGG OONN PPOOIINNTT:: THE GIANTS’ MADISON BUMGARNER AND THE A’S DAN STRAILY DEAL IN SPRING TRAINING STARTS >> PAGE 15

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By Terry BernalDAILY JOURNAL STAFF

Aragon’s secret weapon isn’t going tostay a secret for long.

Dons first baseman Nicole Briedis had hersecond clutch hit in as many games as thesenior delivered the game-winning hit inFriday’s 14-13 win over Mills. Aragonentered into its final at bat trailing by a run.But with one out, the Dons loaded the basesfor their secret weapon, and Briedis prompt-ly slammed a two-RBI single into left fieldto plate both the tying and winning runs totab the walk-off victory.

The lead changed four times in the epicsoftball slugfest, with Aragon leading by asmuch as five runs, and Mills leading by asmuch as three. Both starting pitchers —Mills’ Sara Cisneros and Aragon’s JessicaDoss — went the distance. Aragon commit-ted five errors throughout. But the two errorscommitted by Mills loomed even larger.

“It was a fight. It was a battle,” Aragonhead coach Christie Hjelm said. “It was agood game overall. We definitely have torefocus on some pitching and some defense.… But I think it came down to the fight andthe desire and the want. And our girls, theywant it. They want to be good.”

It was an infield error that set the stage forthe Aragon comeback in the seventh. Donsjunior Jen Horita hit a squibbed a grounderback through the middle that the Millsdefense could not handle. Jen Horita quicklystole second then had the presence of mindto advance to third after a throw across theinfield on a groundout to shortstop off thebat of cleanup hitter Soraya Valdez-Frick.

Then with two outs, the wheels startedturning in the Mills dugout — and frombeyond it.

Mills first-year head coach Packy Moss isfamiliar with the ins and outs of softball.But he is in his first year of coaching thesport and relies on fan-in-the-standsFernando Cisneros — the father of Friday’sstarting pitcher and assistant coach of hertravel-ball team, the NorCal Blast — to domuch of the pitch calling and strategizingfrom the grandstands.

“[Sara Cisneros] plays club and she’s

Dons walk off in wild one

TERRY BERNAL/DAILY JOURNALAragon’s secret weapon, Nicole Briedis, delivers the two-run single to give the Dons a walk-off win in a wild 14-13 victory.The senior is now 3 for 8 with four RBIs on the season.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SURPRISE, Ariz. — Jarrod Parker and A.J.Griffin will probably start the season on thedisabled list instead of in the OaklandAthletics’ rotation.

A’s manager Bob Melvin said Friday thatParker has right forearm tightness and sore-ness and would be examined Monday by Dr.James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala.

Melvin said Griffin has a sore elbow andwould be examined by team physician Dr.Douglas Freedberg and have an MRI Friday inScottsdale, Ariz.

“They’re both in jeopardy of not startingthe season with us,” Melvin said. “Obviously,potentially it is a couple of blows for us.”

Melvin said even if both are completelycleared after the examinations they would notimmediately return to game action and springtraining time is running short.

“We’re two weeks away from the start of theseason,” Melvin said.

Parker, who was penciled in for the March31 opener against Cleveland, had reconstruc-tive elbow surgery in 2009 performed by Dr.James Andrews and missed the 2010 season.

Parker has struggled in spring training with

a 10.61 ERAin three starts,giving up four runs on fourhits, including two homeruns, in a start Mondayagainst the Los AngelesDodgers. He had forearmproblems at the end of lastseason.

“His bullpens were reallygood leading up to(games),” Melvin said.“We felt confident he wasover the issues he had at theend of last year. But thenwhen he started pitching ingames, it would take him awhile to get loose. His firstouting wasn’t great. Theother day the first inningwas rough and then he gotgoing.

“Finally, when he wasplaying catch (Thursday) we were watchinghim and it didn’t look like he was feeling greatabout it. I called him in and we talked and headmitted to me his forearm is a little bit tight,

A’s starters Parker andGriffin have arm injuries

By Barry WilnerTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — Hidden money, deadmoney, funny money.

They all apply to NFL free agency, wherethe price tags never really are what theteams, agents or players say they are.

Sure, there are a very few deals that areexactly what they say on paper, such asstandout cornerback Darrelle Revis’ one-year, $12 million contract with NewEngland. No confusion on the length or thevalue.

Compare that to what the guy Revis isreplacing with the Patriots, Aqib Talib, gotwith Denver. The Broncos offered Talib asix-year contract for $57 million, with $26million guaranteed. An average of well over$9 million a season, right?

Uh, not quite.The only money Talib definitely will see

is the $26 million, which he’ll get even ifhe is injured and barely plays for Denver. Infour years, he will be 32 and unless he playslike, well, a vintage Revis, the Broncos

aren’t likely to have interest in the rest ofthis contract.

For nearly every agreement in freeagency, that’s how it is. Follow the guaran-teed money, be skeptical of the back end ofall deals — especially the extremelylengthy ones.

Bill Polian, who built three Super Bowlteams (Buffalo, Carolina, Indianapolis),points to Green Bay as an example of howto approach free agency. Notice that thePackers barely have taken part in it thisyear, their usual course.

“Free agency is not free, it costs twothings you never get back: time andmoney,” says Polian, now an analyst forESPN and SiriusXM. “When you have a goodteam, and the Green Bay Packers have agood team and a good personnel departmentthat drafts well ... then it behooves you tostay conservative in free agency. Sign yourown and be in a position to make very goodjudgments on a few players in free agency.

“That is what the Packers have done

Follow the moneyin NFL free agency

See SOFTBALL, Page 13

See ATHLETICS, Page 14 See NFL, Page 13

By Bernie WilsonTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SAN MARCOS — Chris Cole didn’t get intopro street skateboarding for the money. Themoney happened to find him.

Cole has cashed enough six-figure contestchecks and done well enough from shoe deals toafford a nice lifestyle for his family in a million-dollar house hidden away in a hilly, rural area ofnorthern San Diego County, where rattlesnakesoccasionally slither onto the property and coy-otes howl at night.

A transplant from subur-ban Philadelphia, Colelikes the quiet. Having an8.5-acre plot gives him agreat place where he andwife Christina can raisetheir two kids, and there’splenty of room for a$125,000 concrete skatepark, where he practicestricks on rails, stairs,ledges and benches.

He’s the defending Street LeagueSkateboarding champion and is favored to dom-inate this summer’s series.

Cole occasionally flies to China and otherplaces to film videos of his tricks. A few yearsago, he and some other skaters appeared in thevideo for “Was It Worth It?” by Children ofBodom, a melodic death metal band fromFinland.

“It’s a kick-ass living right now. If I had akick-ass plan for when I grow up, then I’d be inheaven,” Cole said with a laugh.

The 32-year-old Cole is at the top of hiscareer. Last year he claimed the $200,000, win-ner-take-all final of Street LeagueSkateboarding. Earlier in the summer, he finallybroke through with his first win since the seriesstarted in 2010, pocketing another $100,000.

Last week, DC Shoes released the Cole Lite II,his second signature skate shoe.

“That’s tops,” Cole said. “You don’t buy ahouse on board sales. You buy a house with shoesales.”

Jarrod Parker

A.J. Griffin

Skateboardingpro Chris Colerules the streets

Chris Cole

See COLE, Page 14

SPORTS 13Weekend • March 15-16, 2014THE DAILY JOURNAL

pitched with her dad, so her dad knows whatshe can do,” Moss said. “This is my firstyear with this group. So, I’m relying onsome help from the girls and what they cando. And the dad today called some of thepitches and that’s fine. I don’t have a prob-lem with that.”

But he did more than just call pitches.With the runner at third and the Dons’hottest hitter due up in the person of NicoleHorita, Fernando Cisneros instructed hisdaughter to intentionally walk the danger-ous cleanup hitter. However, Nicole Horitarepresented the winning run. And followingthe intentional pass, while Nicole Horitaswiped second base, Mills was already inthe process of walking the following batter,Doss, to load the bases.

“That was a good strategy,” Moss said.“The girl who was coming up (after walking

the bases loaded) had struck out twice andgrounded out the second. We were up by one.(So) load the bases. We did the walks. Wehad two outs and we were hoping to get thatone (final) out. But [Briedis] made nice con-tact and made a great hit.”

Briedis, in fact, was 0 for 3 on the dayheading into her final at bat. However, inAragon’s 8-7 win Tuesday over Palo Alto,Briedis went 2 for 4 with two RBI hittingout of the cleanup spot, and had a critical hitamid a three-run seventh in the Dons’ firstwalk-off win of the season.

“I believe in her,” Hjelm said. “I believein her. She believes in herself. She’s one ofthose players that lives for those pressuresituations. She’s done it twice now for usback to back. She’s the kid who’s going tofight and fight and fight and look at that as aslap in the face that they walked two battersto get to her.”

With the two-RBI walk-off knock,Briedis is now 3 for 8 with four RBIs on theyoung season.

It was a wild game all the way aroundthough. Mi\lls took an early 2-0 lead, plat-

ing two runs in the first inning on a two-outinfield hit by Lusi Stanley. And that was justthe beginnings of a big day for Mills’ No. 5hitter. The slugger went on to belt home twothree-run home runs in the game and fin-ished the day 3 for 4 with seven RBIs.

Stanley’s first homer tied it up afterAragon went up 7-2 in the second. The Donssent 12 batters to the plate in the inning. Abases-loaded RBI walk to leadoff hitterCourtney Ching started the inning’s scor-ing. Jen Horita followed with a bases-clear-ing double. Valdez-Frick then tripled herhome. Nicole Horita followed with an RBIdouble to score Valdez-Frick.

Mills scored five in the fifth to tie itthough, beginning with an RBI knock fromGaby Zucchiatti to score Janelle Lee, whileAubrie Businger came around to score on theplay after an outfield throwing error.Following a walk to Sara Cisneros, Stanleyblasted the three-run homer to center to tie it.

In the top of the fourth, Mills took a 10-7lead on Stanley’s second three-run bomb ofthe game. In the bottom of the frame,Aragon got one back on a double by Doss to

plate Nicole Horita, cutting the Mills leadto 10-8.

In the bottom of the fifth, Aragon tookthe lead back with a four-run rally. NicoleBonofiglio drew a leadoff walk. With oneout, Ching singled to drive her home andadvanced to third on an outfield error. JenHorita followed with an RBI infield single.After an infield single by Valdez-Frick,Nicole Horita belted a two-RBI double togive the Dons a 12-10 lead.

In the sixth, Mills cut the Dons’ lead to12-11 on an RBI double by Cisneros toscore Zucchiatti. And in the top of the sev-enth, Mills rallied for two with an RBItriple by Zucchiatti to plate Lee, followedby an RBI groundout by Sara Cisneros toscore Zucchiatti with the go-ahead run —only to set the stage for Aragon’s dramaticsin the bottom of the seventh.

Mills, playing in the Peninsula AthleticLeague Ocean Division, falls to 1-4. Aragon,in the PAL Bay Division, improves to 2-0.

Continued from page 11

SOFTBALL

through the years, made terrific decisions.They do all the right things. Fans want youto go out and play fantasy football now;that is the last thing you should be doing.That money if you miss is gone and youdon’t get it back.”

How much money is actually gone is fluid,of course, and the ramifications of bigspending almost always are felt down theline.

Look at the Broncos, who have commit-ted $60 million up front to three defensiveplayers: Talib, end DeMarcus Ware and safe-ty T.J. Ward. All good players — somewould cast pass-rushing master Ware as agreat player. They will upgrade a unit thatcould provide the needed balance for PeytonManning’s offense, and lift Denver to thechampionship it missed out on againstSeattle.

For Denver, there is an extra sense ofurgency because Manning turns 38 thismonth. So vice president of football opera-tions John Elway is pushing his chips tothe center of the table, going all in.

And if five-time MVP Manning retiresafter this season or next? The Broncos willfree up a huge chunk they have been spend-ing on a Hall of Fame-caliber quarterback,of course. But they also would be on thehook in a big way for those defensive con-tracts if they weren’t structured with somuch money up front.

So when Manning leaves, if Denver goesinto rebuilding mode, there’s far less chancethe back ends of those deals will be carriedout.

As the 31-year-old Ware said after leavingDallas for Denver: “They’re trying to makea statement — a statement we’re a team to bereckoned with. Their mentality is a ‘now’mentality. Not looking forward to next sea-son or the season after that, the time isnow.”

For teams like the Broncos and Patriotsand Saints, with aging but still dynamicquarterbacks, that’s true. Get it done whileManning, Tom Brady and Drew Brees remainelite players. Committing big bucks aroundthem while avoiding overwhelming long-term implications, is understandable.

It’s when non-contenders put togethersuch deals and become hamstrung by them,then try to solve their issues with morespending, that free agency becomes a pit.

The Jets, for example, will be paying

games. New York, which began a four-gamehomestand following a 2-1-1 trip, is an NHL-worst 9-17-8 at home.

Islanders coach Jack Capuano chose to lookon the positive side, despite another defeat atNassau Coliseum.

“That’s a top-notch team we played, so anylittle breakdown and it’s in the back of yournet,” he said. “I thought we had a great effort.We worked hard as a group and we were gettingchances.”

Nieto made it 1-0 with 6:33 left in the firstoff a flurry in front of Nabokov.

The 38-year-old Nabokov played 563games for the Sharks during his decade withthe franchise. He left San Jose to play inRussia after the 2009-10 season, then joinedthe Islanders during the 2011-12 campaign.

Demers made it 2-0 at 14:46 with a drivefrom the right wing for his fourth of the sea-son.

Lee cut the Islanders’ deficit in half 32 sec-onds into the second period, the rookie’ssixth goal in eight games this season.

Thornton restored San Jose’s two-goal lead

with his 10th of the season at 9:32, firing arebound past Nabokov after Brent Burns’ ini-tial shot came directly to him in the left circle.

The Islanders stayed with the fleet and pow-erful Sharks, and Nelson tipped in MattDonovan’s shot from the point to make it 3-2at 17:02 of the second for his 12th goal.

But Havlat’s goal put San Jose up 4-2 beforeNielsen completed the scoring with his 21stgoal of the season at 19:38 of the third withNabokov pulled for an extra skater.

The Islanders played without speedy forwardMichael Grabner (concussion) in their firsthome game since trading forward ThomasVanek and defenseman Andrew MacDonald lastweek.

Johan Sundstrom made his debut for theIslanders, the ninth rookie to play for themthis season.

The Sharks are 8-1-1 in their streak of 12games against Eastern opponents. This wastheir first visit to Long Island since Oct. 29,2011 .

The Islanders (25-34-9) tied the franchiserecord for goals in a period on Monday, scor-ing seven in the third in a 7-4 comeback winover the Canucks in Vancouver. But they mus-tered little against Niemi (33-13-6), whoreplaced Nabokov as the Sharks starter afterhelping Chicago win the Stanley Cup in2010.

Continued from page 11

NFLContinued from page 12

SHARKS