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SPORTS & LEISURE Hill makes Canadian debut Family and friends on hand to see hurler fall 6-1 to Jays EAMONN MAHER Staff Writer There was no lack of moral support in the audience for Shawn Hill at the Rogers Centre on Wednesday night as his Washington Nationals took on the Toronto Blue Jays. But the 25-year-old righthanded pitcher could have used some offensive support from his Nationals' teammates as they were soundly beaten 6-1 by the home side. It was the first time that Hill, who was born in Mississauga and grew up in Georgetown, started a game in Canada and he had about 80 family members and friends in attendance. "My grandparents have never gotten to see me pitch before at the big-league level," he said before the game. "They'd always hoped they'd be around for this, so they'll be here [Wednesday] to see me throw. And in that respect, I think it'll be nice that my family gets to see me throw, more than anything." After tossing four scoreless innings, things unraveled for Hill in the fifth on a two-run triple by Toronto's Reed Johnson as the ball skipped underneath Washington centrefielder Marlon Byrd's glove and rolled to the fence. Hill gave up four runs on nine hits on the night, watching his record this year fall to 1-3 with a 4.66 ERA. Nationals' hitters supplied just three hits while Hill was on the mound and manager Frank Robinson was furious afterward, calling a closed-door team meeting. It's been a whirlwind tour for Hill over the past month, after he was called up from triple-A New Orleans by the struggling Nationals, who have a 33-46 record this year and are experiencing injury problems with their pitching staff. The Bishop Reding grad, who has recovered from major elbow surgery after taking the 2005 campaign off, didn't expect to stick around with the Nationals for long, but has impressed management with four quality starts thus far. He is slated to start again Monday night in Washington against the Florida Marlins. Growing up a Jays' fan, Hill said he wasn't nervous about pitching in front of so many of his supporters and was poised and confident through his first four innings. In his previous two starts, Hill has had to face the mighty New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox in Fenway Park. The red-hot Sox touched up Hill for eight runs through six innings, including a second-inning grand slam by David Ortiz. Hill picked up his first Major League win against the Blue Jays on July 4, 2004 in Puerto Rico as a member of the Montreal Expos. (Eamonn Maher can be reached at emaher@independentfreepress.com) 'Dogs meet Buzz in OLA Jr. B playoffs The Halton Hills Bulldogs will get an opportunity to avenge last year's playoff elimination by Oakville when they take on the first-place Buzz in the opening game of their Ontario Lacrosse Association best-of-5 Eastern Conference quarter-final series. Game one of the matchup will take place Monday at Oakville's Maple Grove Arena beginning at 7 p.m. The eighth-place Bulldogs went 0-4 during the regular season against the 19-1 Buzz, with two of those losses coming by just one goal. Halton Hills will host game two of the series, although no date has yet been confirmed for the Mold-Masters SportsPlex. The 10-10 'Dogs limped into the post-season, dropping seven of their last 10 games, but report a full lineup for the first time all year. Lapointe in fine form Georgetown resident Mary Ann Lapointe made it to Thursday's matchplay quarter-finals of the Toronto Star Women's Amateur golf tournament, aiming to win the top-flight provincial event for the second time. The North Halton Golf & Country Club member defeated Susan Wickware of Toronto in the first round of match play Thursday morning at the Whitevale Golf Club near Pickering and played her quarter-final match late Thursday afternoon. No details were availMARY ANN able at press time. LAPOINTE Lapointe, 47, finished in a tie for fourth place after the opening 36 holes of stroke play in the tourney, which was held at the Meadowbrook Golf & Country Club. The 2001 Toronto Star champ recorded rounds of 72 and 75. She was runner-up in 2003 and 2004. She will also be one of the favourites at next week's Ontario Women's Amateur Championships in St. Catharines. Washington Nationals pitcher Shawn Hill (centre) of Georgetown confers with catcher Brian Schneider and pitching coach Randy St. Claire in the fifth inning of the Nats' 6-1 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays Wednesday at the Rogers Centre. Photo by Eamonn Maher JV Wildcats stretch winning streak to five games Simon Treviranus threw four touchdown passes and scored another himself to lead the Halton Hills Wildcats junior varsity football team to a 48-24 road win over the Mississauga Warriors on Saturday. Treviranus threw two touchdown passes to Victor Pek, with Andrew Kemper and Kyle Sutherland catching the others. Treviranus also hit Kemper on a two-point coversion. John Leckie ran for the other two touchdowns for Halton Hills, which improved to 5-0 to remain atop the Ontario Minor Football League standings. Rob Cutting kicked four converts. Defensively, Kevin Goncalves and Dave Green had interceptions for the Wildcats, which led 27-6 at halftime. Halton Hills resumes league action next weekend with a road game against the Toronto Junior Argonauts before OMFL teams head into their bye week July 9. Meanwhile, the peewee Wildcats faced the Halton Invictas on Sunday in Oakville and suffered a 22-13 loss. The Invictas took an early 14-0 lead before the Wildcats rallied to make it 1413 on two Brandon Stoker touchdowns. But that's as close as they would get as the Invictas added a late touchdown to put the game out of reach. Dylan Hannan had his second 100-yard rushing effort of the season, registering 109 yards on just six carries. Included was a 50-yard run in the third quarter that set up Stoker's second touchdown. The loss dropped the Wildcats' record to 2-3 for the season. Their playoff charge continues Sunday as they battle the Toronto Jr. Argos at Eugene Melnyk Field at St. Mike's College.