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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 12, 1997)
Weather concerns coaches Five ranked baseball teams enter first year of league play. By David Wilson Staff Reporter Nearly all of the baseball coaches in the Big 12 Conference agree a later start to hie season would be a major benefit to the league. Spring road trips mean missed classes for athletes, NU Coach John Sand ers said, and a later start will generate more revenue from ticket sales for the northern schools who have trouble at tracting crowds for cold February games. Take Nebraska for instance. The Comhuskcrs defeated Wayne State 6-5 on a 50-degree day Feb. 1 at Buck Beltzer Field in the First game played by a Big 12 school. The game, which was scheduled to take advan tage of a rare warm day, drew a crowd of 250 people. Two days later, the field was cov ered by four inches of snow. Now the Huskers’ game Feb. 18 against the University of Nebraska at Kearney is questionable. But weather is some thing that the southern schools rarely have to deal with, Iowa State Coach Lyle Smith said. “I don’t know if they know what ice is like in Texas,” Smith said. “It affects your practices and your indi vidual preparations.” Beginning this year, the round robin play of the Big 12 conference will bring the southern schools to the north early in the season. Since prac ticing outside in January can be diffi cult for northern teams, Kansas State Coach Mike Clark said it’s important to have as much game experience as possible before the conference play begins. “We’ve always tried to play early here in Manhattan,” Clark said. “You try to get six or seven games in under your belt before conference play.” At Iowa State, that’s not always possible, Smith said. “Looking at our schedule for next year,” Smith said, “we’re supposed to play our first Big 12 series against Oklahoma the first week of March in Ames. Unless we equip our grounds crew with flame throwers and hand grenades, we’re not going to get that in.” But the difference in weather is not the only problem of the new confer ence. Of the 11 teams that have base ball programs, only six make the con ference tournament at the end of the regular season. Five Big 12 teams—Texas A&M, Oklahoma State, Missouri, Texas and Texas Tech—begin the season ranked in the top 25. After finishing 42-21 last season and earning a trip to the College World Series, Oklahoma State enters the sea son under new coach Tom Holliday. Holliday replaces Gary Ward who re tired after 19 years as the Cowboy coach. “I feel relaxed and comfortable with this situation,” Holliday said. “I’m just a different guy in the same uniform.” Texas A&M Coach Mark Johnson said he is unsure if the Aggies are worthy of their No. 18 ranking. Texas A&M finished 37-21 last season. “We have a lot of unanswered ques tions,” Johnson said. “I like high rankings, and I like that challenge, but you wouldn’t get me to stand up and say we’re the eighth best team in the nation.” - liiiiiiMWiFw r —I___HT Matt Miller/DN CATCHER JENNY SMITH throws the ball at softball practice Tuesday. NU opens the season Thursday. Tbumey doesn’t scare NU By Mike Kluck Senior Reporter ♦ The idea of opening the season in a tournament with 12 ranked teams — seven of which are in the top 10 — doesn’t frighten Ne braska Softball Coach Rhonda Revelle. Add to the mix the fact that Revelle takes a team to the Coca Cola Classic in Tempe, Ariz., made up of more newcomers (nine) than returnees (seven) and only a few outside practices. But she is not grabbing for a package of Alka-Seltzer. Instead, Revelle is packing her suntan lo tion for the Comhuskers’ season opener Thursday in Tempe. Revelle said she is looking for ward to the tournament so a young NU team can learn where it stands right away. “Our focus is to take one game at a time and find out what we are all about,” Revelle said. “Our team views this as a win-win situation. If we don’t do as well, then we ab solutely know what we have to work on because we are going to be playing against the best.” If Nebraska—who won the Big 12 Fall Classic — does well, she said, it will strengthen the idea that they are on track to become a good team this season. NU opens the tournament with Illinois State on Thursday and then plays national powers Florida State, Fresno State and Arizona on Fri day. Saturday the Huskers face Cal State Fullerton and Utah. Revelle said the Coca-Cola Classic also gives the Huskers a good idea if they are headed in the right direction toward reaching their ultimate goal of making the College World Series. Nebraska hasn’t been to the CWS since 1988. The past two seasons, NU has advanced to NCAA Regional s be fore being knocked out. Also last season, the Huskers won 42 games and finished second in the first Big 12 Tournament. If Nebraska is to return to the NCAA Regionals and possibly the College World Series, Revelle said the Huskers are going to need steady pitching throughout the sea son — starting with this weekend. “Our pitching has to be consis tent,” Revelle said. “What I mean by consistent is that each member of our pitching staff, whatever their individual strengths are, needs to be ablf to go out and pitch.” Kevene said ner pncning corps, which includes two new arms, is the best she’s had in her five years at Nebraska. Junior Angela Blackwood and senior Melanie Raimondi are joined by freshman Jenny Voss and junior college transfer Christie McCoy. Blackwood finished last season with a team-best 2.31 eamed-run average while Voss had an 0.83 ERA and pitched four shutouts during the fall season. Voss, a Fast Pitch World All American who threw 16 no hitters at Ankeny (Iowa) High School, should come in and make an im mediate impact for the Huskers, Revelle said. Along with Voss, freshman Jen nifer Lizama should also see con siderable playing time batting in the lead-off spot. In the fall, Lizama hit .423 and led the Huskers with Nebraska Softball Roster Pos Name Yr. B/T iMm—■■ IF 5 Cindy Roethemeyer Fr. R/R .mm C 7 Jenny Smith Jr. R/R - mwL P/DP12 Christie McCoy Jr. R/R ■"liHiiiiiPi- - siiiii P 14 Jenny Voss Fr. R/R shmp; : mm OF 18 Sarah Sinclair Sr. L/R UT 20 Jamie Funkhouser Jr. R/R UT 23 Jessica Robbins Fr. R/R " Sr. R/R P 25 Melanie Raimondi Sr. R/R 18 runs scored, 23 hits, eight sto len bases and a .712 slugging per centage. She also had two triples and three home runs. The stability and leadership for the Huskers should remain with junior shortstop Ali Viola. Viola, who was a second and first-team All-American her first two seasons is trying to become the first Husker to earn All-America honors three consecutive years. “Ali just needs to be Ali,” Revelle said. “She needs to stay within herself and play her game. Ali has taken a real leadership role for us, which is really going to help the team.” The Huskers open their home season April 3 with a double header against Creighton. Oxford fights to make lineup OXFORD from page 10 get back to full strength, Oxford said. Nebraska Coach Dan Kendig agreed. “I think Misty got off to a slow start this year and realized that she was going to have to work her butt off to get back,” he said. Oxford said she began to regain her intensity in practice after the first two meets. Her results have been impres sive since. In the Huskers’ Feb. 1 home opener against Oklahoma, Oxford dazzled the crowd at the Bob Devaney Sports Center with a 9.95 score on the vault. Her score broke the old school record of 9.925 set by Martha Jenkins in 1995. Setting the record was a dream come true. “To get the 9.995, 1 don’t know how to explain it,” she said. “It’s just a dream that I’ve had for a long time. Being the best I can be and getting that record — it proves that coming in every day is actually paying off.” At Southeast Missouri State Jan. 27, Oxford tied Nebraska senior Shelly Bartlett and Nicole Duval for the school record on the beam with a 9.9. Assistant Coach Rob Drass said the beam is where Oxford has improved the most this year. “She attacks beam now,” Drass said. “She doesn’t go up to just do well. She goes up to nail it.” Against Oklahoma, Oxford fin ished third on the floor exercise with a career-best 9.8. She won the vault against Iowa State, Southern Utah and the Sooners. Oxford said her high-scoring per formances were a product of the ex perience she gained her freshman sea son and some improved confidence. Last season’s Big Eight newcomei of the year, Oxford scored a career high 38.975 in the all-around at the NCAA Midwest Regional in Salt Lak< City. But Oxford said confidence hasn’ diminished her uneven bars routine s< far this season. “That’s one of the major prob lems,” Oxford said. “It’s not that I’rr not capable, I’m just not as confident.’ Another factor keeping Oxford of] the bars has been the Huskers’ depth Don’t rule her out just yet, Oxford warns. “I think I’ll make it,” Oxford said, “It’s just going to take a lot of work. My routine is there. I just have a few problem areas. “As long as I keep working each day and improving, I think it will be back.” KSUhas new attitude with wins By Vince IKAdamo Staff Reporter MANHATTAN, Kan. — The mood in the Kansas State locker room Monday night after beating Nebraska 61-53 resembled that of a third grade class get ting ready to go on a field trip. The Wildcats were giddy fol lowing their sec ond straight win after suffering through a 10 game losing skid Asbury — and who could blame them. With Monday’s win, the Cats (9 12 overall and 2-9 in the Big 12 Con ference) won twice as many games in a three-day span than they had won in the previous 40. But seven of those 10 defeats were decided by 10 points or less and four were by less than six points. KSU had not won since Dec. 23 when the Wildcats escaped with a 69 63 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff. On Dec. 29, Kansas State lost by 41 points at Xavier starting its losing woes. The streak ended Saturday when KSU edged Oklahoma 57-64 at Bramlage Coliseum. A victory over the Sooners was the first-ever Big 12 win for the Wildcats, who had lost their first nine league games. The last time KSU had won con secutive games was when it knocked off Coppin State and Bethune Cookman in early December. “Obviously we can’t undo the first nine (conference) games,” Asbury said. “I want my kids to feel like they’ve accomplished something. But no way should we sprain our wrists patting ourselves on the back.” KSU still has games remaining at No. 1 Kansas and 15th-ranked Colo rado. Home contests with ninth ranked Iowa State, Baylor and Mis souri are also left. KSU players said many of their losses were because of poor execution down the stretch and not a lack of ef fort. Both aspects have not been a problem the last two games. “We were able to maintain our composure enough to make plays at the end,” Asbury said. “I think we have a lot more confidence than we had a week ago. We were smarter de fensively.” Wildcat forward Mark Young proved to be restless in crunch time against NU. In the first half, Young did not score and grabbed two re bounds. 4 a__ • a_*_*__I ruiu ujw liuuiiuMiuu, lit stuitu 14 points and hauled in six rebounds —three on the offensive glass. Young punctuated the scoring with a resound ing dunk at the buzzer. He scored six points in the final 3:53 when the game was deadlocked at 50. “When he puts his mind to it,” Asbury said. “Mark can go to the of fensive glass like nobody’s business.” Young, a 6-foot-6 junior from Ba r ton Rouge, La., said while it’s nice to ” be on the winning end, the Cats still ; have a long road ahead of them, e “We just wanted to come out in the second half and make the big plays,” ’t Young said. “Wejusthaye to play hard 0 and keep getting better as the season goes on. “Now we have to come back and 1 practice and get ready for the next game.” F Kansas State guard Ayome May - has been a bright light amid the team’s 1 struggles. May scored 13 points Mon day, the 16th time he has reached • double figures this season. “We just have to stay together and 1 keep playing hard,” May said. “Ev erybody has more confidence. For a 1 while we were just hoping. Now we ; believe.”