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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 18, 1995)
Sports Tuesday, April 18,1995 Page 10 Oymnasts confident for NCAAs By Trevor Parks Staff Reporter Not everyone on the Nebraska women’s gym nastics team will be entering uncharted waters at the NCAA Championships in Athens, Ga. Three Comhusker seniors—Nicole Duval, Martha Jenkins and Jennifer Hawkinson — have been to the NCAA meet. But this year they will be going with the rest of their teammates. This is the first time the Nebraska team has gone; since 1990. Hawkinson is the most recent qualifier for the NCAA Championships, participating last year. Last year, Hawkinson competed with the Michigan team, and she said the experience this year would be better by having her teammates with her. “The individual is going last in the routine, while the team is doing their team things, so it’s hard,” Hawkinson said. Jenkins and Duval each qualified for the NCAAs in 1992, and each had the same feel ings as Hawkinson. Jenkins said her experience wasn ’ t that great. “Going as an individual isn’t fun,” Jenkins said. “It’s great to see the team finally get there.” See GYM on 11 NU’s Dillavou to transfer to Duluth school By Jeff Griesch Senior Reporter Chris Dillavou is leaving the Nebraska women’s basketball team and returning to her home state to play for Minnesota-Duluth. l he 3-toot-11 sophomore forward from Rose Creek, Minn., said she signed her letter of intent to play for the NCAA Division II school last Wednesday. Dillavou, who averaged 1.8 points and 1.1 rebounds while playing 10.2 minutes per game, will have two years of eligibility left. uiliavou I decided it was time tor me to make a change because I want to play,” Dillavou said. “I know I’ll have a good chance there.” See DILLAVOU on 11 c??lro. aP*tch toward a Wyoming batter during Monday’s game. Castro scattered three nits dunng eight shutout innings on the mound. By Todd walkennorst Staff Reporter Nebraska’s first four batters all scored against Wyoming Monday. But after that the bats went cold as Ne braska defeated Wyoming 4-0 in front of a crowd of 128 at a chilly Buck Beltzer Sta dium. The shutout was the second for the Husk ers this season. Previously, Nebraska shut out the University of Nebraska-Keamey in the season opener 9-0. Junior Gus Castro pitched eight innings of shutout ball and had a no-hitter through 5 2/3 innings before giving up a hit to Cowboy left fielder Jeremy Schied. He only allowed three Wyoming hits. Junior Alvie Shepherd worked one inning in relief to preserve the Husker shutout. The Huskers raised their record to 25-14 as Castro improved to 3-2. The Cowboys dropped to 11-23. Cold weather and lack of hits led to the game ended the game in one hour and 52 minutes. The Huskers rocked Cowboy starter Bryant Fick for four runs on three hits and three walks in 1/3 of an inning. Wyoming reliever Gordan Williams came in and only gave up one hit for the remainder of the game. Husker third baseman Jed Dalton led off the game with a single, and Fick walked both Darin Petersen and Darin Erstad to load the bases. Mel Motley singled to score two runs, Todd Sears singled to score Erstad and Shepherd’s sacrifice fly brought Motley home. Nebraska coach John Sanders said he was pleased that his team was able to take advan tage of opportunities early in the game. “It’s a kind of a day with the wind and the cold when it’s tough to play,” Sanders said. The Huskers will return to Big Eight conference play after winning seven of their last eight games against non-conference “We have a chance to make some noise with some home games. ” ■ JOHN SANDERS Nebraska baseball coach teams. Nebraska will travel to Iowa State on Wednesday and play host to the Cyclones beginning Friday night at 8:30 pjn. at Buck Beltzer Stadium. Sanders said that with many home confer ence games remaining, the Huskers had a chance to make a move toward the end of the season. “We have a good opportunity with more games at home,” he said. “We have a chance tomake some noise with some home games.” Softball games take on new meaning for NU outfielder Bob Offenbacker spent last Friday night at home and appreci ated life while his daughter, Amy, was away playing softball. But this wasn ’t any normal ; Friday night for the Offenbackers. i The date was ApriH4, and it I marked the one-year anniversary of j a day both he and Amy would rather forget. On April 14,1994,42-year-old { Bob Offenbacker stood at the NU I Softball Complex during a rain ] delay as Amy was playing for the Nebraska softball team. Then Bob suffered a heart attack during that fourth-inning play stoppage against Missouri-Kansas City. “I remember falling over,” Bob | said. “Then I told Amy to keep playing ball before I went in the ! ambulance and not worry about me. I The next thing 1 remember, I woke i up the next morning after having i six-vessel bypass surgery.” Before the heart attack, Bob was enjoying the thing he loved most in life, watching one of his daughters play softball. Amy went 3 for 6 with 2 RBIs in a doubleheader sweep, but that wasn’t important that day. Amy’s focus turned to her father and whether he would recover. Bob’s focus turned to Amy and when she would return to playing softball. Amy missed four games, and she heard about it from her dad. “I got after her about it,” Bob - said. “I wondered why she was not with the team, and I gave her the dickens in the hospital.” Amy finished the season out, and that seemed to help her dad until he suffered another heart attack May 26. Then a new obstacle entered the lives of the Offenbackers. On June 11, Bob got the news that he was going to undergo a heart transplant after he heard that a heart was available from someone in West Trevor Parks Virginia. This time both Bob and Amy agreed it was good for her to leave the softball diamond again. She and her sister were playing softball in Kansas City, Mo., and came home immediately to be with their dad as he prepared to undergo the transplant. Bob had one final thing to overcome. He wanted to return to where he suffered his heart attack and put that first memory behind him. “It was quite an experience to come back,” Bob said. “It took two or three trips to go back to where it happened. “The first time back all sorts of stuff went through my mind, and then the memories of it hit me and it was a weird situation.” That memory still lingers on for Amy, who goes by the NU Softball Complex every day. “There’s not a day that goes by when I don’t think about what happened to him and where it happened,” Amy said. “As many times as I’m out there, I don’t think there’s one time I don’t walk over by that foul-line fence and think about it.” Now, according to Amy, a year later her dad is almost as healthy as she is. And things couldn’t be better. The Comhuskers, 31 -15, are having one of their best seasons in years, and that is the best medicine for Bob. He is used to seeing Amy in Nebraska Class A State Champion ships, and now he is seeing her trying for a Big Eight Champion ship. This weekend Bob will be there when Amy and Nebraska take on Iowa State. He has been a fixture at Amy’s softball games for the last 10 years, but now his appearance is something special. Every time Amy steps on the field, she knows she is not playing for herself. “Each time I play, it feels like I’m playing for him.” Amy Offenbacker spent Friday playing softball at Northern Iowa, and Bob Offenbacker wondered how she was doing. And Bob and Amy wouldn’t want it any other way. Parks Is a junior news-editorial major and a Dally Nebraskan staff reporter and sports columnist