Nsfeis Sports
Key players inju inspri
Only two healthy
quarterbacks left
By Jeff Singer
Senior Reporter__
- The good news for the Nebraska
football team on Saturday wftis that the
Comhusker offense was finally able
to execute consistently.
The bad news was that the Huskers
lost two key performers in the pro
cess.
Quarterback Ben Rutz and I-back
Marvin Sims both suffered apparent
serious Knee injuries in tne second
scrimmage of the spring season, which
will probably keep both players out of
action for the remainder of the spring
and possibly the fall.
Rutz, a redshirt freshman from
Oklahoma City, was expected to chal
lenge Tommie Frazier tor the starling
quarterback spot in the fall.
With the early departure of Derek
Brown to the National Football
League, Sims was considered a seri
ous contender to back up Heisman
Trophy candidate Calvin Jones at I
back.
Nebraska coach Tom Osborne said
it was tough to lose key players like
Rutz and Sims during spring prac
-44
I might have been a
little behind execution
wise, but as time goes
on, hopefully that will
get better.
—Jones
NUI-back
--ft -
ML
“The initial news isn’t very good,”
Osborne said. “We’re really sorry to
see that because we had them going
along pretty good.”
George Sullivan, Nebraska’s head
athletic trainer, said the early progno
sis for recovery of the two players*
anterior cruciate ligaments was not
too optimistic.
“If they tore it and need surgery, it
will be a good six to eight months,”
Sullivan said.
Rutz, who had completed seven of
nine passes for 102 yards before his
injury, including a 38-yard touchdown
pass to tight end Gerald Armstrong,
wasn’t the only Husker quarterback
hurting on Saturday.
Brook Berringer saw limited ac
tion as he was hampered by both
elbow and groin injuries, and Tony
Veland sat out the scrimmage with an
' * Itacl UcKee/DN
Nebraska’s Cody Dusenberry gets ready to release a pitch against Oklahoma State Sunday. Nebraska lost 4-0 and was
swept in the weekend series.
Cowgirls control four-game series
By Jeff Griesch
Staff^Reportm
The Oklahoma State softball
team came into its scries with Ne
braska as the best team in the Big
Eight, and before leaving Lincoln,
the Cowgirls had proven why.
The Cowgirls swept the four
game series with the Huskcrs to
improve their record to 35-6 on the
season. The Huskcrs fell to 9-12.
In the first game of Sunday’s
doubleheader, Linda Sodano
smashed a two-run homer to lead
Oklahoma State to a 3-1 win over
the Huskers.
Sodano, a senior first baseman,
also homcrcd in the first game on
Saturday and now owns the only
home runs off Nebraska pitchers
this season.
Nebraska jumped out to an early
lead against Oklahoma State in
game one on Sunday off starting
pitcher Chrissy Oliver.
Kris Vucurcvic singled with two
outs and stole second, and Shae
Sloan followed with an RBI single
to center to give Nebraska its first
lead of the series.
Oklahoma State threatened in
each inning, but Jody Splichal was
able to work her way out of trouble
until the fifth inning when the Cow
girls’ K.K. McCoy scored to lie the
game 1-1.
Nebraska rallied in the sixth with
back-to-back singles by Vucurevic
and Sloan, but relief pitcher Melanie
Roche struck out the side to end the
inning. A ■ n
Nebraska coach Rhonda RevelIc
said the Huskers’ inability to score
with two on and no outs was a
crucial point in the game.
“We needed someone to step up
and change the complexion or the
game, but we just didn’t get it,”
Revellc said.
After Sodano’s homer in Okla
homa State’s half of the seventh,
Roche set Nebraska down in order
to seal the win.
Jody Spiichai took the pitching
loss for Nebraska, but Rcvcilc said
that she was pleased Splichal’s
pitching.
“I was proud of Jody and happy
with our pitching; Jody battled all
day,” Revellc said. “It’s tough to
set thumped in the head and come
back and Tight the next day.”
Spiichai also lost in game one
Saturday, allowing eight runs on
11 hits in five innings inOklahoma
State’s 8-1 win.
Chrissy Oliver carried a perfect
game into the sixth inning against
the Huskers in game two on Satur
day, until Saundra Brown singled
with one out.
The Cowgirls won 6-1, with
Cody Dusenberry taking the loss
for the Huskers. ,
In Sunday’s second game, the
Cowgirls got all the runs they
needed in the third inning.
Kendra Hanes led off with a
walk and McCoy followed with a
single. April Austin then grounded
sharply to Huskcr third baseman
Tobin Echo-Hawk, who did not
make a throw after looking Hanes
back to third base.
With the bases loaded, Sodaho
flied out deep to center, scoring
Hanes. Cleanup hitter Sandra
Burkey followed with an RBI single
to give Oklahoma State a 2-0 lead.
The Cowgirls added two more
runs in the fifth inning, and Roche
shut down the Huskers to pick up
the complete game shutout and her
third win of the series.
OSU ace at best against Comhuskers
By Jeff Griesch
Staff Reporter
Melanie Roche stalks around
the pitching circle with a confident
smile on her face. With the ball in
her hand, she leaves no doubt who
is in control of the game.
And this weekend, Roche won
three games against Nebraska and
showed why sne is one of the best
pitchers in the country.
Roche, a senior All-American
from Claymore, New South Wales,
pitched 14 innings for Oklahoma
Slate, allowing only six hits and no
runs while striking out 19
Comhusker baiters.
What makes Roche even more
efTective than her intimidating pres
ence is her ability to reach back for
something extra when she is in
trouble.
In 145 2/3 iimnings this year,
Roche has allowed only eight
earned runs and 53 hits while re
cording 218 strikeouts.
Nebraska coach Rhonda Revel le
said Roche's presence on the Held
intimidated the huskers and stifled
them the entire scries.
“You can almost see it on her
face that‘You’re not going to score
on me,”’ Revellc said. “She was
working just masterfully today."
Roche said that she felt good
throughout the scries, and she
thoughtherpiiching was better now
than earlier in the year.
“At the beginning of the the
season, it took me a while to get
going, but now I guess that I’m in
sync or in some kind of a groove,"
Roche said.
Although Roche overpowered
the Huskers, she said Nebraska was
a tough team to pitch against
“Nebraska is a really challeng
ing ballclub,” Roche said. “They
are all good hiuers, and you can
never just sit back and relax when
you’re pitching to them.”
Roche credits her pitching suc
cess to the confidence she has on
the mound and the patience she has
in the Cowgirls’ offense.
“I know that the offense will
come eventually; you just have to
be patient and not let it affect you,”
she said.
ankle sprain, leaving Nebraska with
two healthy quarterbacks after Satur
day: Frazier and freshman walk-on
Matt Turman.
While Frazier completed 10 of 20
passes for 114 yards and one touch
down to accompany his 50 yards rush
ing on nine carries, Turman also played
well.
The 5-foot-11 Wahoo native, who
switched from wingback to quarter
back before spring practices, com
pleted six of 11 passes for 94 yards,
highlighted by scoring strikes of 36
yards to Riley Washington and 39
yards to Brendan Holbein.
See HUSKERS on 10
Huskers
blow past
weekend
competition
Margin of victory
surprises coach
By Susie Arth
Sen/or Reporter
The Comhusker track teams used
the good weekend weather to out
shine their opponents at a quadrangu
lar Saturday at Ed Weir Track.
Comhusker coach Gary Pepin said
he was pleased with the performances
he saw this weekend.
* “We had a really good meet over
all,” he said. “Both the men and the
women did a real good job.”
The women, who scored 92points,
soundly defeated Colorado State and
Minnesota, who scored 45 and 43
points respectively.
The men, who scored 105.5 points,
also defeated Minnesota, Colorado
State and South Dakota by large mar
gins.
Minnesota was second with 44.5
points.
Pepin said he was surprised that
Nebraska won the meet by such a
large amount.
“We didn’t try to win the meet by
a large amount of points or strategi
cally place our athletes,” he said. “But
we still won by a fairly large margin.”
Pepin said he was pleased with
several individual efforts on both the
mat’s and women’s squads.
The men’s effort was led by Robert
Thomas, who set a school record in
the long jump, and Willie Hibler’s
race in the 400-meter hurdles, Pepin
said.
Travis Gram, who finished first in
the 100-meter dash, also turned in a
solid performance, Pepin said.
On the women’s side, Pepin said
he was pleased with the sprinters and
the distance runners.
Pepin said the only mistakes he
saw Saturday were sloppy passes of
the baton by both the men and women.
“Those are the kind of disappoint
ments that you kind of expect,” he
said. “1 would say we had very, very,
very few unexpected mistakes.”
Pepin said he hoped his team would
continue to improve because the com
petition would get much suffer next
weekend.
The Huskers will send split squads
to Lawrence, Kan., for the Kansas
Relays and to Walnut, Calif, for the
Mount SAC Relays.
“We’re going to have some really
tough competition,” he said. “If we
hope to do well, we’re really going to
have to up our level of competition.”