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Coach defends slap and bunt philosophy
By Damn Fowler
Senior Reporter
Everyone’s a critic.
Nebraska softball coach Ron Wolforth
knows that, which is why the Comhuskers’
fourth-year coach does not let outsiders influ
ence the way he runs his team.
Y/olfbrth said he has received criticism for
his offensive philosophy, which includes a lot
of slap hitting and bunting, instead of the
traditional method of stepping into the batter’s
box and swinging away.
Wolforth said he and his coaching staff
believe in the system, which utilizes the Hunk
ers’ team speed.
‘T truly believe in it and you may not see it
early but I think it is sound and we’re going to
be a very good softball team,” he said.
“There’s always going to be critics and if the
kids believe in the system we're going to do
well.”
He said a lot of the problems with the
philosophy in the past have not been the system
itself, but with players not believing in it. That
results in poor execution, Wolforth said.
And execution is the key, Wolforth said.
“The problem is always execution,” he
said. “It doesn't matter what our philosophy is
if our execution isn’t there. We’re getting bet
ter and better at that.”
Nebraska is getting better because this
year’s entire roster - tor the first time - in
cludes players recruited by Wolforth.
But, only one player - senior Jill Rishel -
has more than one year of experience.
“This year, I think our kids believe in the
system,” Wolforth, said. "In our freshmen I
see many, many good things and that is No. 1*•
”1 think what I realize is that we only have
one person that has only one year experience
with us and I think that means we have a lot of
things to get accomplished.
Nebraska had a successful fall campaign, ~
finishing with a 10-4 record, which includes
winning the eight-team Husker Fall Classic by
posting wins over rivals Kansas and Creighton.
Wolforth said Nebraska fell short of its goal
of winning 12 games, but "overall it was a
good fall.
Also, he said, a goal was to hit .260 as a
team.
Nebraska ended the season hitting .272, and
was successful on 24 of 29 base stealing at
tempts.
Rishel, who played in seven games after
breaking her hand, hit .550, including two
triples.
Lori Cook hit .405 and teammate Misti
Guenther hit .310. Guenther's totals include
two home runs, four triples, two doubles and 14
RBls.
Michelle Cuddeford finished with * .310
batting average, including four doubles, and
drove in nine runs. Amy Mllman, who led the
Big Eight.in steals last spring with 20, was
successful on all eight of her stolen base at
tempts* %
4,I look at it as a whole and it was a very
positive fall," Wolforth said.
Last fall, Nebraska ended with a 9-3 record,
hitting .226 and compiling nine stolen bases.
The Huskers came back in the spring to post a
32-28 record and hit .233. Nebraska set a
single-season record of 86 stolen bases.
Wolforth said the goal for next spring is to
win 45 games.
"I see a lot of things we’re going to have to
improve upon if we are going to reach our
goal,’’ he said.
Nebraska can continue to practice until the
end of this month, and then will not resume
training until the first day of the spring semes
ter.
The practices, which will include two in
trasquad games a week, are important,
Wolforth said.
"They’re very, very crucial because now
we get to spend time working on our system,"
he said.
The Huskers also will spend time working
on game situations like double steals and pick
off plays.
Wolforth said he tried to keep it simple
during the fall by sticking with the basics.
"Now comes a month of pure learning," he
said. "Now we get to expand."
Pettit dissatisfied with win over Kansas State
By Darran Fowler
Senior Reporter
Sometimes you don't always get
everything you want.
And Nebraska volleyball coach
Terry Pettit d idn ’ t get all he wanted in
Tuesday night’s Big Eight Confer
ence match with Kansas State.
Fifth-ranked Nebraska remained
unbeaten by beating the Wildcats 16
14,15-6and 15-7 before 1,327 fans at
the Nil Coliseum.
One of the things Pettit wanted
going into the match was for the
Coznnuskers tocut back on their serv
ice errors. /
‘The team knows It -
didn’t play very
well.’
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¥
Nebraska, which imped its record
to 11-0. committed 16 service errors
in the maNfc, the Huskers highest
thr ne total this season.
ver, the Huskers had eight
service aces.
We wanted to reduce our service
errors and we came out and had a ton
of service errors,” Pettit said. “I
don’t think it was one of our stronger
efforts. We’ve been mentally con sis
ten^all year and tonight we weren’t
“The team knows it didn’t play
very well.”
All 10 players saw action, but
Pettit said he also wanted to give
freshmen Stephanie Thater, Valerie
Vermeulen and Debbie Brand more
playing time.
All three players were in the Husk
ers’ lineup late in the second game,
but only Thater saw playing time in
the third game.
Pettit said he had to stick with
most of the starting lineup in the third
game because of the team’s inconsis
tency.
Nebraska never trailed in the
match, but squandered a 10-2 lead in
the first game when Kansas State
rallied and aed the score at 14. '
In the third game, the Wildcats
pulled within two at 9-7, until Cris
Hall served , for six consecutive
points, including three aces to end the
match.
Pettit said he was glad that Thaler,
who had seven kills in the match, six
in the third game, got considerable
playing time.
“Obviously, she’* a real strong
player,” he said, “but I’m disap
pointed that Valerie Vermeulen and
Debbie Brand didn’t get to play a lot
more.” '
Thaler replaced senior Carla
Baker in the second game and senior
Virginia Stahr in the third.
“I'm feeling a lot more comfort
able than 1 was (earlier in the sea
son),” Thater said. “Coach Pettit
william uauar/uany rmoraaKan
a
Crls Hall sets to dig a slam against Kansas State.
told met had a lot of fundamentals to
learn. He stated that I need to work
real hard because I’m playing behind
two seniors, and I don’t regret it be
cause I’ve learned so much from
them.”
Thaler said Stahr has been helpful
in her maturity, and that a couple
times during the match she looked
over to Stahr for guidance.
Nebraska had 56 kills in the match
for a .440 hitting percentage. Baker
had 10 kills and hit .714.
Stahr and sophomore Janet Kruse
each had nine kills. Stahr hit .692 and
Kruse .438. Hall totaled eight kills,
hitting 357, and freshman Eileen
Shannon had 11 kills, hitting .231.
“About the only thing we did well
was we had some people that hit
pietty well,” Peuit said.
He credited Kansas State for some
of the Huskers’ problems.
“I think that Kansas State came
out and did a nice job.” he said. “I
think they played closer to their po
tential than we did to ours.”
Injuries lead to freshmen playing time
By Chuck Green
Senior Reporter
After four gairies and numerous
injuries, Nebraska’s football team
!
7.
I.
0.
ESESsSse.
has shown unexpected quickness mid
has developed depth, Comhuskcr
coach Tom Osborne said Tuesday.
- Osbome told members of the
media at his weekly press luncheon
that before the season started, he was
not sure how much speed the Huskers
had, particularly on defense.
But the emergence of players like
' linebacker Mike Pctko and defensive
tackles Kenny Walker and Pat
Engelbert have given Osbome more
confidence.
. "I’d have more confidence if we
had some more depth," Osbome
said. "But there have been some
players that have really come through
For us.*'
Osbome said the same holds true
offensively. The injuries to starting
offensive linemen Doug Glaser and
John Roschal have a good aspect,
Osbome said.
„ * ‘We’ve developed some depth on
the offensive Hne," he said. "The
injuries, in a sense, have served us
well."
Osbome said he has been pleased
with the performance of younger
| players who have assumed leadership
responsibilities due to the injuries.
Two players in particular.
Osborne said, are freshmen outside
linebackers Travis Hill and Pavid
White. Both players have played
considerably throughout Nebraska’s
non-conference season, backing up
starters Jeff Mills and Mike Croel. ,
"‘They add a lot of depth at outside
linebacker that we didn l know we'd
have going into the Season," Osborne
said.
However, Nebraska’s injury prob
lems continue to increase.
Placekicker Chris Drennan has been
slowed by an injured foot, which he*
suffered during practice, and proba
bly will not play Saturday against
Kansas State, Osborne said.
With die high number of injuries
this season, Husker coaches have
depended heavily on several fresh
men. In addition to Hill and White,
freshmen William Washington and
Will Shields have recorded playing
time at tight end and left guard, re
spectively, and freshman punter
Mark Stigge has handled all the punt
ihg duties for Nebraska this season.
Osborne said he doesn't remem
ber the last time the Hosiers used so
many freshmen so often. He ssid that
even though he'd rather not rely on
freshmen as heavily as he has this
season, it will benefit the program m
future years. . ;7.
%
‘The Refrigerator’ is fat;
hot dog diet would help
Chicago Bears middle guard
William “The Refrigerator”
Perry has problems, or so nis coach
says. '
Perry, that mountain of a man
who endorsed everything from ft|r
coats to home appliances, is back
in Chicago coach Mike Ditka’s
dog hpuse, this time because he
weighs a mete 340 pounds. That's
. 340 estimated pounds, as rumor
ha* it Uttt there is no scale heavy
enough to weigh him.
Never mindtihat Perry is a great
athlete who can stuff a football
over a goal post's crossbar , or that
he is an exceptional force against
the run.
Perry is too fat, DMmmya; .
Before this season begai\, Chi
cago took a new approach toward
Perry’s age-old weight problem.
The Bears already had tried blast
□Perry with an avalanche of
ic insults from Ditka, but that
lo an onslaught of endorse
ments from producers who could
not resist a fat man who looked like
a baby-faced kid when he smiled.
Chicago also tried letting Perry
diet on own, and all that was
worth was a good laugh. A laugh,
that is, unless you were Ditka, who
went to the ultimate extreme and
sent Perry to a weight 106s clinic.
That strategy produced mild
results, as Perry trimmed down
from a whopping 375 pounds to his
present weight
But still, Ditka is disgusted.
He's ready to give up, having tried
everything.
- Everything, that is, except k
new weight plan which is widely
endorsed by one sportswriter who
once went overboard and hah
i
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