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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 29, 1996)
Softball team looks for fresh, new start By Mike Kluck Staff Reporter Trying to prevent a difficult spring break road trip from turning into a season-long stumbling block will be the goal of the Ne braska softball team as it opens Big 12 competition Satur day. The No. 17 Cornhuskcrs, 22 11, finished a 10 day, 18-game spring break trip to Cali _ fornia with a 10-8 Hevene record. They will face 13-11 Missouri at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., Saturday and at noon on Sunday at the Nebraska Softball Complex. Big 12 softball play begins this spring, one season before the rest of the new conference’s sports begin com peting next August. “We stubbed our toe, and now we need to put our steel-toe boots on,” Nebraska coach Rhonda Revelle said. “Every team will have snags along the way. We just had a week-long snag in our season, and are hoping right now it doesn’t turn into a month-long snag.” Revelle said the Huskcrs’ lack of consistency in California disappointed her. Nebraska spl i t a doubleheader with Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo—winning the first game 114 but losing the sec ond one 6-5—and then compiled a 4 4 record in the AT&T Capital Classic Tournament in Sacramento, Calif. During some games, Revelle said, the Huskers played outstanding soft ball, including a 3-1 win against No. 23 Utah and an 8-0 victory over Harvard. But this past week, the Huskers have been working on improving their consistency on an individual basis. “The way you work to improve consistency is each individual needs to take their own consistency very per sonal from emotional to mental to physical,” Rcvelle said. “Right now we have a group that is collectively going back to the drawing board, and each one is finding out what they need to shore up on.” One thing that will help the Huskers improve their consistency is playing at home, Revclle said. After having played their first 3 3 games on the road, the Huskers return for a 10-game homestand. The beginning of Big 12 competi tion will help the Huskers stay focused because of a new three-game series format, Rcvelle said. In past seasons, the Huskers played conference opponents four times in a series, but with the start of the Big 12, teams will play only three games in a series. Rcvelle said the three-game series would provide more competition than four-game sets because there would be no series splits. And with only one game on the second day of a series, she said, teams will have to play with a “winner take all attitude.” “We’re all just looking at this as we’re at the midway point of our sea son,” Revellc said. “Right now we’re not quite up to the way I hoped we would be, but I also reserve final judgment for the end of the season. I would rather finish strong than falter at the end.” osu Continued from Page 10 enced Cowboy lineup. MacKay, the only player to have started in all 27 Cowboy games, is baiting .372, second on the team. He also ranks sixth in the Big Eight with nine stolen bases. “We return Tripp MacKay at sec ond base, who was really one of the better players in the Big Eight last year,” Ward said. “He’s hitting for average, and he’s very disciplined. He’s really given us leadership. Rusty McNamara is much the same way. They’ve really provided the right kind of step-up attitude.” After a 3-for-6 performance March 23 against Washington, junior Wyley Stcelmon raised his average to .361, which ranks third on the team. Stcelmon ’ s nine home runs in 26 games rank third in the Big Eight. Steclmon and junior Ryan Fulmer, along with MacKay and McNamara, arc the heart and soul of the club, Ward said. “They have served as leaders for the remaining 25 players around here because everyone else is relatively new,” Ward said. “Those guys set the tone from the beginning of the fall. And as soon as the season started, every one of them stepped out there and really played well.” Although Ward said that he hadn’t done any scouting of Nebraska, he did know that Husker coach John Sanders always managed to field a competitive team. “All we can do is watch their scores,” Ward said. “We are familiar with guys like (Todd) Sears, (Mel) Motley and (Matt) Meyer because they all had pretty good years a year ago. But we have not seen his people pitch.” Junior Patrick Driscoll and fresh man Seth Williams are expected to start the first two games for the Husk ers. Junior Steve Fish should pitch on Sunday. The Cowboys are expected to start their top three starters this weekend against Nebraska. nanfc 1 st Annual Interfraternity Pina Eating Contest Locations Alpha Tau Omega 1433 R *lf bad weather Inside Pappa John's •Powerade provided for ail who participate and spectate* Enloy . $5.99 _[_Large Pickup Special Weather hampers golfers By Mike Kluck Senior Reporter Nebraska men’s golf coach Larry Romjue already knows a lot about his team this spring. He does not know, however, how his Cornhuskers can per form in decent weather. Since Feb. 25 Nebraska has participated in four tournaments, Romjue said, but none of them have been played in nice weather. Nebraska finished seventh in the Crown Colony Invitational Feb. 25-26, third in the Fripp Island Invite March 8-10 and third at the Waterwood Invita tional March 18-19. On Monday and Tuesday, the Huskers placed third in the Southwest Missouri State Invi tational in Springfield, Mo., but the tournament was cut short because of 25-degree tempera tures. “It would be nice to compete in a tournament where our play ers didn’t have to wear four or five layers of clothes,” Romjue said. “It’sdifficult toplay in that kind of weather, but our kids have played pretty well.” Romjue said he hoped the Huskers would be able to focus on the competition instead of worry about the weather at the Tanglewood Invitational in Dal las on Saturday and Sunday. The tournament includes Southwestern Conference pow ers Southern Methodist and Texas Christian along with Big Ten leaders Minnesota and Northwestern. Romj ue said the Huskers also must work this weekend on find ing one player to consistently pace the team. In the first four tournaments this year, Nebraska has had four different players lead the team in scoring. “We would like to have a guy who could win the tournament,” Romjue said. “Right now we have five guys whoare real close, which is what you need for a solid team. “But we need a person con tending to win the tournament individually, which will help us more as a team.” Junior Jacques Paiemcnt was the latest Husker leader, finish ing in a tic for third place in the SMSU Invitational with a 54 hole score of 155. Junior Trent Morrison finished in a tie for eighth with a 157. Green Wave salvage third place in NIT Sports Wrap up NEW YORK (AP) — Jerald Honeycutt scored 18 points and LaVcldro Simmons added 17 points, leading Tulane past Alabama 87-76 in the consolation game of the National Invitation Tournament on Thursday night. The Green Wave, 22-10, never trailed and held off three runs by the 19-13 Crimson Tide, who got no closer than four points down the stretch, the last time at 71-67. The two teams met earlier in the season. In that game, the Crimson Tide overcame a 16-point second-halfdcfi cit to pull out an 80-79 victory. This time, the Crimson Tide trailed 67-55 with 10:59 to play. Alabama scored eight straight points to get within four, but Tulane closed the game by making six of seven free throws in the final 1:30 to seal the win. Eric Washington led Alabama with a career-high 35 points, making 11 of 19 shots, including 5 of 8 from 3-point range. The junior guard averaged 26 points in five games in the NIT. Roy Rogers added 15 points and eight rebounds for the Crimson Tide, who failed to win 20 games in a season for only the second time in the 1990s and finished winless in five games on neutral courts. Patrick Lewis added 14 points for the Green Wave and Chris Cameron had 12. Tulane lost in the semifinals to tournament champion Nebraska on Tuesday, while Alabama was beaten by St. Joseph’s in overtime. NTT Continued from Page 10 The Hawks cut the lead to 55-51 on a Townsend 18-foot jumper and had a chance to get closer as Nebraska missed three straight shots. But St. Joseph’s missed three straight opportunities and Strickland iced the game at the free-throw line with four free throws. Moore added the final point with 15 seconds left in the game. St. Joe’s battled back from a 41 -28 deficit in the second half to tie the game at 47 when Johnson slammed home a Townsend miss. “We never melted when St. Joe’s made their run,” Nee said. “We just * _ ** Women’s golf The Nebraska women’s golf team finished in sixth place Thursday at the Rainbow Wahine Golf Tournament in Honolulu. The Cornhuskers, who shot a three day total of940, played consistent golf throughout the entire tournament, shooting a 314 in the third round after firing a 314 Tuesday and a 312 Wednesday. Arizona, which had two of the top three individual finishers, won the tour nament easily with a team score of 887. Brigham Young finished a dis tant second with a 913, followed by Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Georgia and Nebraska. Individually for Nebraska, Heidi Stark led the way with a 231. Rachelle Tachashot a233, followed by Michelle Patterson (237), Maureen Regan (240), Molly Mullin (245) and Gretchen Doerr (246). Football Five Cornhusker football players have been nominated for the 1996 Nebraska lifier-of-the-year award. Jared Tomi eh and Ryan Terwi 11 iger, both seniors in the fall, arc the defen sive nominees. Junior t ight end Vershan Jackson and junior offensive linemen Freddy Pollack and Jon Zatcchka arc the other three players up for the award. The award recognizes the player who has made the most improvement in strength and conditioning over the past year. Coach Tom Osborne will present the award on Saturday, March 30, during a closed scrimmage at Me morial Stadium. The Cornhuskcrs will hold their third practice of the spring today and a scrimmage Saturday. — Gregg Madsen never surrendered the lead, and I thought our seniors showed a lot of heart.” A Nebraska run at the end of the first half keyed that big second half lead. Leading 30-26, Nebraska scored four points in a 15-second span. Lue hit a driving layup and Terrance Badgett dunked after taking a pass from Luc with only four seconds left in the first half. “We put up four points in 15 sec onds and that helped us, putting us up by eight going into hal ftime,” Lue said. “We were feeling pretty comfortable with that lead.” Giant Boulder 520 H Now Only $224" All ’96 GIANT Bicycles on Sale, Accessories Too! 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