Lincoln

Shane Kenney argued with his parents on Sunday, and the next afternoon, he was playing shortstop again for the Public League baseball champions. Kenney, Washington's starting shortstop for the regular season, suffered a slight tear in his spleen in a freak play during a scrimmage two days before the playoffs started. While sliding headfirst into first base, he knocked the bag away and slid over the post that held it in place. Doctors told Kenney that he was finished with baseball for at least four months, so he sat out the quarterfinals and semifinals.

Most coaches would not be happy with two ties in one week. And even though you could tell that Lincoln soccer coach Rich Patton would have liked two victories, he easily settled for the dual deadlocks. The Railsplitters (6-5-2 overall, 2-1-2 Public League) and Central tied at 3 on Oct. 22. Two days later, Lincoln and Washington played to a scoreless deadlock. "I guess we had a couple of breaks, and I feel good about that," Patton said. Lincoln got the tie against Central despite trailing by 2 goals with six minutes left.

Frankford High, by virtue of its 13-1 Public League quarterfinal playoff victory over visiting Lincoln Monday, advanced to this afternoon's semifinal round against Girls High at Max Myers Playground. Only one team, unbeaten Washington, has been able to defeat Girls High this season. Based on records, the Gold Division's third-place Frankford squad (7-5 league, 8-6 overall) would appear overmatched against Girls High (10-2, 11-2), the Gold Division's second-place team. The Pioneers have capable pitching in Lisa Hohlfeld, but her soft tosses into the strike zone pale in comparison to the heat served up by Girls High fireballer Heather Sudul.

Even though the Public League soccer season is just a game old, Lincoln already has stamped itself as one of the teams to beat. The Railsplitters are blessed with one of the league's two top scorers in Carlos Sousa and Tommy Jordan, and are backed by the goaltending of Brian Graham. Amid Lincoln's galaxy of stars, though, there are two who shine a little brighter than the others. Freshman Billy Griffin and junior John Nice are reserves for the Railsplitters. The fact that they are deaf does not inhibit their soccer skills.

THAT GROWLY, BARKY delivery, those foot-draggy Southwestern vowels, the world-weary sighs. The voice on the phone could belong only to Tommy Lee Jones, calling to talk about "Lincoln" as he drove across south Texas toward Houston. In Steven Spielberg's Civil War panorama, Jones nearly eclipses the nominal hero. He plays Thaddeus Stevens, the thorny Republican congressional leader who was Lincoln's temperamental opposite and tactical antagonist as both sought to free the oppressed.

Success has come so easily for the Lincoln girls' basketball team this season that coach Louise Jordan almost expects a black cat to cross the Railsplitters' path. Even after her squad had demolished a pair of would-be contenders for the Public League's Gold Division last week, Jordan was examining every mirror in the house for the slightest crack. "I'm a worrier; that's just the way I am," Jordan said after Friday's 70-42 home-court romp past Olney. "I hate to say it, but I'm always looking for things that could go wrong," Jordan said.

Although Lincoln won the Public League wrestling championship last season without a coach, the school has declined the opportunity to try it again. After leading the Railsplitters to the title match at Olney last season, coach George Hagopian, citing his health and a dispute with school officials, left the team before the match. He later announced his retirement from coaching. The new Lincoln coach, Matt McGee, was head coach at Martin Luther King last season and an assistant to Hagopian at Lincoln before that.

If Abraham Lincoln's basketball team had picked an all-opponent team last season, Mike Glitz might have been on it. Not because he starred against the Railsplitters for another Public League school. Because he starred when Lincoln's football players beat the basketball players - yes, in basketball - shortly after the season. "We had guys who could hardly move," Glitz said. "One of them was about 6-6, 280 pounds. We were mostly out there for fun, but we were trying to win, too. We played well together.

Darrel Lewis was lifting weights, building up his muscles, adding definition to his lithe frame. What was good for the Lincoln junior guard's physique, however, wasn't good for his jump shot. "Darrel's the type of kid who, once he gets committed to something, it's hard to stop him," Lincoln coach Robert Byars said. "But he realized that it was affecting his game. " At Byars' behest, Lewis cut down on his preseason training regimen. The jump shot - off in preseason warm-ups - came back in time for the Coatesville High graduate to set Lincoln's all-time scoring record at the F&M Apple Tipoff Tournament at Shenandoah University (Va.)

Her team has played only two league games, but already Washington High field hockey coach Dottie Walton has seen enough to predict that the Eagles again will be in the thick of the Public League title race. After being outplayed for most of its league-opening 1-1 tie with visiting Northeast on Sept. 27, Washington regrouped for a big match last week. The Eagles never trailed in taking a 2-1 win at Lincoln on Friday. Ayami Honda picked up assists on goals by fellow senior Angel Prinos and junior Robin Selbst, returning veterans who have been counted on to provide leadership on the inexperienced Washington squad.