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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (May 3, 1990)
1 ^ ^ u.i—fcawiiiinii I will II Softball coach: Rejection could motivate team By Darran Fowler Surf Reporter_ After having his team snubbed at the All-Big Eight ballot box, Nebraska softball coach Ron Wolforth knows he has a motivational tool for this weekend's conference tournament. Nebraska finished 8-2 in the con ference this season, which earned the Comhuskers a No. 2 seed in the Big Eight tournament behind Kansas, which finished 9-1. The double-elimi nation tournament in Oklahoma City starts today and continues through Sunday. Tuesday’s release of this year’s All-Big Eight first-team, which is assembled by coaches, docs not in clude any Huskers. Five are named honorable mention. The selections were made before Nebraska played four games against Iowa State and Oklahoma State dur ing the weekend, although Nebraska and Oklahoma State had met twice before. Wolforth was not happy with the Huskerless team. “I thought that was really weak,” he said Tuesday. But Wolforth hopes his team will use the announcement as incentive to push harder at the tournament. ‘Til use any type of motivator I can. I hope it works. ‘‘In a way, I’m kind of glad be cause that just may motivate them a little bit.” Nebraska has been motivated for rome lime, winning nine consecutive games including a recent sweep of preseason conference favorite Okla homa State, the No. 3 seed. The Huskcrs, who geta first-round bye, and the Cowgirls, who arc on a six-game losing skid, arc in the same half of the bracket and likely will meet in the second round. “My prediction between Oklahoma State and Nebraska: That winner will be in the championship game,” Wolforth said. If the Cowgirls beat Iowa State in the first round, he said, “they’ll be right back on track for us. I don’t sec them faltering.” Wolforth still considers Oklahoma State the favorite with Nebraska and Kansas in a tight race for second. He said Nebraska has a “slight” edge over the Jayhawks because two good pitchers arc better than one. He said Nebraska’s tandem of Stephanie Skcgas, 21 -boverall and 5 0 in the Big Eight, and Marie Bowie, 10-11 and 3-2, offer the advantage over Kansas’ two-time all-conference pitcher Roanna Brazier. “Our theory is that we have to finish in the top two (to make the NCAA tournament),” Wolforth said. “If we don’t finish in the lop two, we don’thaveany chance. Period. That’s the way it is.” Bui there’s more. Because Wolforth thinks three Big Eight teams going to the NCAAs is unlikely, Oklahoma State needs to fair better than Kansas in the tournament. “This is one weekend that we’ll be rooting for Oklahoma Stale when we’re not playing them,” he said. “We usually root for Kansas.” With the tournament champion getting the automatic nod into NCAA postseason play, 31-17 Nebraska stands a better chance at getting an at-large contender if it loses to Oklahoma State in the finals. Oklahoma State’s 34-9 record almost assures them of an at-large bid if it doesn’t win the tournament. Fin ishing second to the Cowgirls, Wolforth said, a Husker at-large bid would be a “lock.” A runner-up Finish to Kan sas, he said, means Oklahoma State is the at-large team. Confused? Wolforth offered a solution. “I say, once you get to the cham pionship game, why not win it?” he said. “Then there’s no discussion. You’re in.” Nebraska gets revenge in Creighton shut-out By Paul Domeier Senior Reporter Doug Tcgtmeier pitched the Ne braska baseball team to a unanimous decision in round four of their 1990 battle with Creighton, 12-0, Wednes day at Buck Beltzer Field. Tcgtmeier and reliever Dave Ma tranga shut out the Bluejays on four hits. Tegtmeier, 5-2, pitched 7 2/3 innings, striking out a career-high six batters. Nebraska didn’t score until the third, either. Right Fielder Shawn Buchanan, whose two-out, three-run home run in the seventh blew the game open, said Tcgtmeier provided something the Comhuskers needed. “We’ve been having pretty bad first innings,’’ he said. “Doug showed a lot of character out there. We need a little stability, and that’s what he showed us.” Tcgtmeier started the game with a ground out, strikeout, walk and strike out. No Blucjay reached base until the fourth inning. Nebraska’s Kevin Jordan hit a two run homer, his 11th, over the score board in the third to give Nebraska the lead. Buchanan said the Huskers had the momentum after Tuesday’s 16-12 loss to Creighton, which in cluded a Nebraska comeback from a 15-2 deficit. Tuesday’s game also featured a ninth-inning brawl. Nebraska’s Scan McKenna and Creighton’s Eric Ken nedy were suspended for Wednes day’s game. Nebraska coach John Sanders said player reaction to the fight probably varied, but Buchanan, one of the Huskers offensive co-captains, gave credit to the battle. ‘ ‘That helped us by getting us riled a little,’’ Buchanan said. ‘‘That may have changed the whole season for us. “We’re going good, and it all started yesterday.” The Huskers scored three more runs in the sixth inning. Brian McAm and Jordan led off with singles, and with two outs, Bill Vosik doubled over the center fielder’s head, driving in two runs. John Ofstun followed with a single, scoring Vosik. In the seventh, Eddie Anderson walked with one out. McAm bunted for a single, and the catcher’s wild throw went into the right field comer and Anderson scored. Bobby Ben jamin walked one out later, and Buchanan followed with his three run blast. The Huskers scored three more limes in the eighth with two outs. Anderson singled, McAm walked, Jordan singled and went to second on an error and Benjamin singled. Jor dan went thrcc-for-five with three runs and three RBI, and McAm scored four runs for the Huskers, 36-21. Creighton’s best sconng threat came in the eighth. With two outs, Dax Jones tripled over Anderson’s head in center field, the only time a Blucjay reached third base. Sanders immedi ately summoned Malranga, who struck out Dave Hoover to end the inning. Matranga retired Creighton in the ninth on two fly balls and a pick-off at first base. Buchanan said Nebraska was swing ing at good pitches throughout the night. In the team’s last three games, the Huskers have scored 14, 12 and 12 runs. Nebraska finished its season series against Creighton 1-3. The Huskers will play Kansas State in doublchcad ers Friday and Saturday in the fight to make the Big Eight tournament. Sanders said Tegtmeier probably will come back and start the first game Saturday on two day’s rest. Jordan said three straight double figure scoring games will help the team. ‘ ‘We’re pretty confident as a team,’ he said. “Now we have to carry it over into the weekend.’’ Point guards Liz Brown 5-5 Junior Oklahoma St. Angie Alexander 5-11 Sophomore Oklahoma Guards Njadira Hazim 5-8 Junior Kansas St. Diana Miller 5-10 Junior Kansas St. Forwards Lisa Sandbothe 6-1 Junior Missouri Kelly Hubert 6-1 Junior Nebraska Lynne Lorenzen 6*2 Junior Iowa St. Centers Danielle Shareef 5-9 Sophomore Kansas Debbie Johnson 6-5 Junior Colorado Karen Jennings 6-2 Freshman Nebraska Head coach: Angela Beck Assistants: Theresa Becker; Debra McClurg Beck picks NU players for Big Eight All-Stars By Jeff Apel Senior Editor Two Nebraska athletes are among 10 players Comhusker women’s basketball coach Angela Beck has chosen to comprise this year’s Big Eight Select Team. Beck said Wednesday that she chose Nebraska forward Kelly Hubert and center Karen Jennings for the team, which will travel to Grand Prix Prague, Czechoslova kia, to play five games. The Big Eight players will leave June 14, and will spend the next 10 days facing national teams from Czecho slovakia, Yugoslavia and the So viet Union, as well as two other opponents who have not been de termined. In addition to Hubert and Jen nings, the other players who will make tip the squad include guards Liz Brown ot Oklahoma State, Angie Alexander of Oklahoma and Nadira Hazim and Diana Miller of Kansas State. Forwards Lisa Sand oothe of Missouri and Lynne Lorcn zen of Iowa State also will make the trip, as will centers Danielle Sharccf of Kansas and Debbie Johnson of Colorado. Beck said her main concern with the group is trying to develop team chemistry. She said team chemis try takes years to develop, not days. The Big Eight All-Stars will have three days to develop any type of chemistry, as they will workout in Lincoln beginning June 10. Beck said three days of prac tice means the team will have to employ a basic game plan against the more experienced national teams. “We re going to stay very, very basic," Beck said. "We want to be a good passing team, and we want to keep the tempo high and post up a little bit." Beck said the players know all about each other even though they usually aren’t teammates. "Most of them are upperclass men," she said, "so they’re famil iar with each other." NU coach signs guard/forward to letter of intent By Jeff Apel Senior Editor__ Nebraska women’s basketball coach Angela Beck took a chance, and came up a big winner on Wednesday. Beck said she signed LaTonya Thomas, a 5-foot-11 guard/small forward from Allen County Com munity College in lola, Kan., to a national letter of intent. She said Thomas is an impact player, as the Detroit native was listed as the top ranked big guard prospect by the widely acclaimed B.C. Scouting Service. Beck said Thomas is not as strong” academically as some of Nebraska’s players, as she was forced to attend junior college because she did not graduate from M.L. King High School in Detroit. She said Thomas earned her gen eral equivalence degree at Allen County C.C., and is set to earn her junior college degree this summer. Beck said she is confident that Thomas will succeed academically at Nebraska. Beck said she expects Thomas to step into Nebraska’s lineup next season and provide immediate help for the Comhuskcrs. Thomas pro vided a lot of help at Allen County C.C.,as she averaged 27 points, 17 rebounds and 7 assists per game. Beck said Thomas is a great player. “She’s got range, she’s a three point shooter and she can jump out of the gym,’ Beck said. “She’s one of the top-three junior college players in America.” Beck said Thomas chose Ne braska over Auburn, Texas and Texas A&M because the sopho more recruit wanted to remain in the Midwest. She said the Huskcr coaching staff was confident that it could sign Thomas. Beck said she plans on signing one more player, who likely will be a point guard, later this month. Change-up helps pitcher’s game improve By John Adkisson Staff Report* , Doug Tegtmeier’s change-up helped him change from the worst to the best in less than two weeks while heating Creighton on Wednesday night. I pitched the best game I evei played,” he said. “Every once in a while, you hope a night like tonight comes along.” T cgtmeicr, a junior from Beatrice, pitched 7 2/3 innings of scoreless hall. He held the Blucjays to only three hits in the game, while striking out six. Dave Malranga pitched the final 1 1/3 to preserve the shutout. Tegtmcicr, now 5-2 with a 5.99 ERA, said changing speeds on his pitches allowed him to keep Creighton baffled. “Thai’s something I haven’t done well for a long time. It was really working for me tonight,” he said. Nebraska coach John Sanders also was impressed by Tegtmeier’s per formance. “Obviously, he pitched well,” Sanders said. “He was able to use all of his pilches at any lime.” TegUneier’s victory came less than two weeks after what he called “the worst game of my life.” That game came against Oklahoma State, when Tegtmcicr gave up eight runs in the first inning and retired only one batter. ”1 just hope that the Oklahoma State game was a once in a lifetime experience,” Tcgtmeicr said. “I’ve just tried to put that behind me and work for the future.” Tcgtmeicr said Sanders forced him lo vary his speeds and pilches more. “At first, I didn’t want to do that, but I finally listened to him,’’ Tegtmeier said. The shutout came on the heels of a 16-12 loss lo Creighton on Tuesday, a game which saw Creighton shell Nebraska pitching by scoring 12 runs in the first four innings. Sanders said Tcgtmeier’s game is one the young Nebraska pitching staff can draw on. ‘ ‘Right now, Doug has provided a stable performance,’’ Sanders said. “Now we hope ihe pitching staff will be able to build on that perform ance.” Sanders said Tegtmeier will most likely start the third game of Ne braska’s four-game series against Kansas State over the weekend. Tegtmeier said Wednesday’s win will provide a boost going into the Kansas State series. “The way we were playing to night, the hitting, the pitching, no body could’ve beat us,” Tegtmeier said.
