T , Daily - Page
Nebraskan 15
Thursday, April 25,1991
Husker women save
home winning streak
By John Adkisson
Staff Reporter
For the Nebraska softball team,
there’s no place like home for a two
out victory in the bottom of the last
inning.
The Comhuskers, within an out of
breaking a two-year home winning
streak, got a dramatic seventh-inning
grand slam from Ann Halsne to cap a
2-1, 4-1 doubleheader sweep over
Creighton on Wednesday at the Ne
braska Softball Complex.
Nebraska has an 11-game home
winning streak, last losing to Texas
A&Mon April 30, 1989.
“Maybe I should put a dome over
the field so we can play more at
home,” said Nebraska coach Ron
Wolforth, whose team improved to
17-14 with the sweep.
“I really think this park is perfect
for our team,” Wolforth said. “The
infield is perfect, and the fences are
reachable.”
But in the second game for Ne
braska, nobody reached the fences
until Halsne’s game-winning blast.
The Huskers were shutdown for most
of the game by Creighton’s Dedeann
Pendleton, who allowed only two hits
through the first six innings.
Nebraska got another good outing
from senior pitcher Stephanie Skegas,
who raised her record to 10-4.
Wolforth said the excitement of
the win rnay provide a boost for his
team, which plays Drake tonight and
four games against Kansas and Okla
homa this weekend.
“This has got to send a message to
our team,” he said. “Hopefully, we’re
starling to peak at the right time.”
Nebraska entered the fourth in
ning of the first game trailing 1-0.
Michelle Cuddeford doubled, Halsnc
bunted her to third and Shae Sloan
singled to tie the game.
No one scored again until the 1 Olh
inning. With the tiebrcak rules, Ne
braska started the bottom of that in
ning with Amy Killman starting off
the inning at second base.
Misti Guenther was intentionally
walked. Killman stole third and Kris
Vucurevic also got an intentional walk.
After Cuddeford popped out, Halsnc
hit a sacrifice fly to win the game.
Marie Bowie won her third straight
game, improving to 7-8 for the Husk
ers.
See CREIGHTON on 16
Michelle Paulmen/Daily Nebraskan
Nebraska’s Michelle Cuddeford loses the ball as Creighton’s Marcy Hirner dashes back to first
during the women’s softball game Wednesday.
5/x Home runs in two games
NIJ pounds Panthers
From Staff Reports
The Nebraska baseball team blasted North
ern Iowa with six home runs in a doubleheader
sweep Wednesday in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
The Comhuskers used i
three homers to drive in j
seven runs in an 8-3 vie-;
tory in the first game and i
hit three more to win the i
second 10-2.
Shawn Buchanan
started the power surge .
with a three-run home run, j
his fifth of the season, in i
the third inningof the first_
game. Bill Vosik followed Rh<»m
with a double and Eddie
Anderson drove in Vosik with a triple.
The rest of the Nebraska runs in the game
came on homers. Vosik hita two-run shot in the
fifth and Gary Tackett hit a two-run homer in
the sixth.
Todd Mosscr won for the Huskcrs, allowing
seven hits and striking out four bailers, raising
his record to 2-0 in the seven-inning contest.
The Huskers got back into the power game
early in the nightcap with a two-run home run
from Tim Seaton.
Then Nebraska scored three runs without
having to put the ball over the fence. In the fifth
inning, Anderson was hit by a pilch. Jeff Rhein
followed with a single.
Buchanan bunted to move Anderson and
Rhein over, but the Panthers misplayed the ball
and all runners were safe to load the bases.
Jeff Slych followed with a single to drive in
Anderson and Rhein. Scan McKenna singled to
score Buchanan.
The power returned in the sixth. Anderson
singled and Rhein hit his team-leading seventh
home run. Malcolm Jordan ended the scoring
with, of course, a solo home run, the only
Husker homer of the night with no one on, to
close out the scoring.
Josh Bullock got the complete-game vic
tory in the nine-inning second game to raise his
record to 4-3. Bullock allowed eight hits and
struck out 10, one short of his career high.
Nebraska, 30-15, will play at Kansas State
in a crucial four-game scries starting Friday.
Men's tennis team craving
sweetness in sour season
By Jeff Singer
Staff Reporter
The Nebraska men’s tennis team will try
to end a sour season on a sweet note at the
Big Eight tournament today and tomorrow
in Oklahoma City, Okla., Coach Kerry
McDermott said.
The Comhuskers ended their Big Eight
regular season on a two-match losing streak,
including an 8-1 upset at Colorado on Satur
day.
“I’ve never been more disappointed in
my 11 years at Nebraska than I was last
weekend,” McDermott said. “Hopefully, a
good finish at the tournament will take the
sting out of this whole year."
McDermott said the tourney is now more
individually oriented for the Huskers.
“We’re going to try to win as many
individual singles and doubles titles as wc
can,” McDermott said. “If wc can win enough
titles, hopefully we can get a third-place
finish.”
Nebraska, which finished 3-3 in the Big
Eight and 10-6 overall, will try to be the
spoiler against the top conference teams.
“Right now, we’re looking through a
window watching the better BigEightteams
play,” McDermott said. “We could make
the difference whether or not a team wins
the tourney.”
McDermott said he is looking for No. 3
singles player Scott Randolph and No. 6
player Anthony Kotatac to excel. Both play
ers should receive lop four seeds.
Another player anticipated to do well at
the tourney is Matthias Mueller, who plays
No. 1 singles for the Huskers.
If Mueller reaches the tourney finals, he
is expected to be one of four singles players
from the Midwest Region to advance to the
NCAA championships in Athens, Ga.
Nebraska enters the conference champi
onships in fifth-place with 27 points, 15
behind Big Eight leader Oklahoma State,
but only one behind fourth-place Colorado.
McDermott said he is hoping this season
will be looked at as a success with a.suoof
Nebraska finish at the tournament. ».
“We’ve had our share of ups and downs,
with more downs than I expected,” McDer
mott said. “I’m hoping our year can \>c
salvaged with a few individual titles.”
Student athletes lead double, disciplined lives
Apparently some stereotypes arc still ac
ceptable.
Students who pride themselves at being
offended by Andrew Dice Clay think it is
amusing to make cracks about college athletes
being muscle-bound morons.
Even at the University of Ncbraska-Lin
coln, which leads the nation in the total number
of academic All-Americans, athletes are con
sidered to be riding the coattails of their physi
cal abilities through an “education.”
That is because the Nebraska athletic de
partment ends when the time runs out on the
clock for most people. The fans go home,
watch the highlights, read the paper and wail
for the next game.
Their overall commitment to sports may
last six hours a week.
Student-athletes, however, have to split time
between sports and school all week long.
They wake up in the morning with half of
their day dedicated to classes, team meetings
and practice.
“It would be ideal if we could be 100 percent
both (student and athlete),” Nebraska volley
ball player and GTE Academic All-American
of the Year Janet Kruse said. “During the
season it’s tough just keeping up with the
athletic part.”
It is not impossible for athletes to succeed as
f Chris
Hopfensperger
students, but it requires budgeting time and
self-discipline.
“There are enough hours in the day,” Ne
braska football coach Tom Osborne said. “But
you can’t waste a lot of time.”
“Wasting time” for athletes is what most
other college students think of as “having a
life.” Going to a movie, a party or on a date has
to be considered a luxury that cuts into study
time.
“Athletes are people,” Osborne said. “They’re
just like everybody else.
“But some of the standards athletes arc held
to are higher than the standards others are held
to.”
Student-athletes, like every other group of
students on this campus, come from all back
grounds.
Some of them are rich, some of them arc
poor. Some of them are smart, some aren’t.
Athletes shouldn’t be held to standards any
higher than other students are held to, because
this entire university, not only the football
team, would be a lot smaller if having a high IQ
was an entrance requirement.
But people don’t want to hear about the
academic side of college athletics unless it is
bad news.
Low graduation rales from football and
basketball programs is front-page news, but
last weekend’s Honors Reception for GTE
Academic All-Americans would barely earn a
short story in most papers.
Last year, everyone heard about it when
quarterback Mickey Joseph got a speeding
ticket, but linebacker Pat Tyrancc’s accom
plishments off the field this season have gone
virtually unnoticed.
In fact, the only reason most people know
Tyranee was admitted to Harvard Medical School
is the NFL draft. Being accepted to one of the
most prestigious universities in the nation merited
a paragraph in the stories about Nebraska’s
potential pros.
Tyrance was also honored with a Toyota
Leadership Award, was named a National
Football Foundation and Hall of Fame Scholar
Athlete, received an NCAA Post-Graduate
Scholarship and was named to the NCAA
Today’s Top Six.
But being selected by the Denver Broncos in
the eighth round of the NFL draft garnered all
the publicity, w hile being selected the Woody
Hayes National Scholar-Athlete of the Year
was completely ignored.
Last Sunday was the day in the limelight lor
the academic side of the Nebraska athletic
department. Thirteen Cornhuskcr ath letes were
honored for putting up impressive numbers on
the field as well as in the classroom.
Standing in the background was the staff of
the academic support staff. In fact, Nebraska’s
Athletic Academic Counseling Unit received
College Athletic Management Magazine’s first
award for academic excellence /or academic
support.
The program, which NBC broadcaster Dick
Enbcrg called a model “for the rest of the
country to look at,” helps student-athletes with
academic, tutorial and “life after sports” serv
ices.
It is not, however, a bunch of guys behind
the scenes pulling academic strings and doing
the football team’s homework.
“It’s very difficult to do the homework, not
only academically, but athletically,” athletic
and career counselor Keith Zimmer said. “The
average person doesn’t realize all the things
these students have to deal with.”
Hopfensperger Is a Junior news-editorial mayor and
a Daily Nebraskan sports senior reporter.