Sports
Pride fells softball team, topples ranking
By Trevor Parks
Staff Reporter
Nebraska softball coach Rhonda
Revelle said her team had finally
returned to the level they were at
when the season started.
The Comhuskers started the
year 8-0 and earned a No. 8 rank
ing in the first regular season soft
ball poll of the year.
Unfortunately the ranking went
to their heads.
Nebraska lost five of eight and
nine of 17 games, before finishing
third last weekend at the Cellular
One Capital Classic at Sacramento,
Calif.
Revelle said her team had put
the shock of the early season rank
ing behind them.
“We had a lot of things thrown
at us early and I don’t think we
handled them well,” Revelle said.
“In the last two weeks I feel we’re
at the level and focus we need to
be.”
Revelle said the Huskers were
regrouping at the right time. Ne
braska begins Big Eight play this
weekend against rival Oklahoma
State.
The No. 13 and 20-10 Huskers
play host to No. 18 and 17-11
Cowgirls with doubleheaders Sat
urday and Sunday at the Nebraska
Softball Complex.
Revelle said her team was anx
ious to start Big Eight play.
“After the Tournament on Sun
day, Amy Offenbacker said, ‘Let’s
See SOFTBALL on 10
—- ScottBruhn/DN
Freshman shortstop Ali Viola hits in a batting cage at the Schulte Field House during practice Wednesday afternoon. The
Comhusker softball team has a four-game senes against Oklahome State this weekend in Lincoln.
Huskers’ hot bats swing heavily against MU
their team batting average to .322. Last season,
Oklahoma State led the Big Eight, hitting .320
as a team, and Oklahoma hit .319 en route to
the national championship.
Nebraska’shot hitting was a dramatic turn
around from the Huskers’ first 13 games, when
they averaged fewer than six runs per game
and hit just .289 as a team.
Nebraska coach John Sanders said the big
gest reason for the increased production was a
change in the batting order.
Sanders moved Darin Petersen from his
ninth spot in the lineup to the second spot.
Since the change, Petersen has improved his
batting average 49 points from .244 to .293.
“Darin is doing a really good job of setting
up the three, four and five hole hitters, so they
their team batting average to .322. Last season,
Oklahoma State led the Big Eight, hitting .320
as a team, and Oklahoma hit .319 en route to
the national championship.
Nebraska’s hot hitting was a dramatic turn
around from the Huskers’ first 13 games, when
they averaged fewer than six runs per game
and hit just .289 as a team.
Nebraska coach John Sanders said the big
gest reason for the increased production was a
change in the batting order.
Sanders moved Darin Petersen from his
ninth spot in the lineup to the second spot.
Since the change, Petersen has improved his
batting average 49 points from .244 to .293.
“Darin is doing a really good job of setting
up the three, four and five hole hitters, so they
can drive in runs,” Sanders said.
More game experience and at-bats, better
pitch selection and confidence have also con
tributed to the Huskers’ hitting spree, Sanders
said.
And no one is more confident than Darin
Erstad.
The preseason All-American is living up to
his billing as the top college player in the
country.
Erstad raised his batting average 115 points
from .380 to .495 during the road trip. The
junior from Jamestown, N.D., went 26 for 41
(.634) with three home runs, a triple, five
doubles and 22 RBI during the 9-game stretch.
“I am not doing anything any different than
I was doing before,” Erstad said. “I am just
relaxing and having fun at the plate, and I think
that is what everybody else is doing too.”
Mel Motley ran his hitting streak to 18
games. Scott Wulfing raised his average from
.149 to .247. Jed Dalton improved his average
from .302 to .323. Alvie Shepherd increased
his average from .288 to .307 and drove in 15
runs. Matt Meyer’s average went from .262 to
.299.
“Hitting is contagious, and everybody from
top to bottom in the lineup is hitting the ball
very hard,” Erstad said.
The Huskers continued to produce in the
first game against the Tigers, scoring nine runs
on 12 hits.
See HUSKERS on 10
Replacements give baseball a good name: Dedication
Major league baseball’s season
is scheduled to open Sunday night,
but no one knows who will be on
the field.
Will it be the replacement
players?
Will it be the real players?
Or will it be no one?
Whether it is Seattle’s Ken
Griffey Jr. who suits up or 39-year
old Philadelphia replacement
shortstop Todd Cruz, I won’t mind.
But if no one suits up, I will be
upset.
At least put somebody on the
field besides the grounds crew.
The regular players probably
won’t start the season on time, but
it would be good to see them on the
field.
If the strike settled today, the
season wouldn’t start until May.
And contrary to popular belief,
playing with replacements would
be better than starting the season a
month late.
The replacements have played
together for more than a month and
are starting to show some big
league moves.
Although nobody knows their
names, at times you can’t tell the
major-leaguers from the replace
ments.
Over spring break, I watched
three replacement spring training
games, and I was surprised.
These guys are actually pretty
good.
It wasn’t all bloopers like you
see on television.
They turned exciting double
plays that even major-leaguers
could have trouble turning.
Sure they had trouble with pop
ups. The pitchers weren’t accurate,
and the home runs weren’t jumping
out of the ball park. But these guys
impressed me.
They played hard and enjoyed
the chance to bask in the spotlight
they had never seen before.
Guys like Cleveland replace
ment leftfielder Joe Mikalik are
giving everything they have for a
chance.
Mikalik chased a shot to deep
left-center field at Chain Of Lakes
Stadium in Winter Haven, Fla., a
step too far and slammed into die
Trevor Parks
wall.
As his body crashed into the
fence, the sound echoed around the
stadium like when fellow replace
ment player Rodney McCray ran
through a wall in a minor-league
game a couple of years ago.
Mikalik missed the ball, but I
and everyone else appreciated the
effort.
But I’m sure some people feel
that some major-league outfielder
would have caught the ball.
But there is no one, not even
Griffey, who could have made the
catch.
It wasn’t the greatest baseball I
had ever seen, but the hard work
showed it wasn’t the worst.
Of course, some fans don’t, and
won’t ever, agree.
Attendance is at all-time lows at
all spring-training sights in Florida
and Arizona.
Detroit averaged more than
6,000 fans a game last year but
only had 1,790 last week for a
game against Texas.
A normal game with Cecil
Felder, Will Clark and Jose
Canseco would have packed the
house.
The Toronto-Cleveland game
was sold out last year in Winter
Haven, Fla., but in this year’s 14-5
Blue Jay win only 1,400 showed
up.
The Blue Jays will have to play
their regular-season replacement
home games in Dunedin, Fla.,
instead of the SkyDome because of
Ontario’s labor laws.
And Florida fans have shown
little interest in Florida’s first
American League team.
Only 1,000 total tickets have
been sold for the Jays’ first six
home-away-from-home games.
One team that has sold out
opening day is the Colorado
Rockies.
But most of those fans are
heading to Denver to see Coors
Field’s grand opening instead of
watching a new set of Rockies take
the field.
Fans haven’t embraced the
replacements, but I like them.
I can live with buying a program
to learn the unfamiliar faces that go
along with the unfamiliar names.
I can live with slow and inaccu
rate pitchers.
I can live with dropped, routine
fly balls.
It was just good to see baseball
again, no matter who was playing.
I had bad feelings toward
baseball, but not anymore.
Watching the replacements
made me long for baseball again.
These guys are doing something I
always wanted to do.
I lost that loving feeling — but
it’s coming back.
Parks Is a Junior news-editorial mqjor
and a Dally Nebraskan sports reporter and
columnist