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.
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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.”
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