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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 24, 1999)
Sports NU’s Fuente seals victory with late single By Josh Camenzind Staff writer The seventh inning has not been kind to the Nebraska softball team late ly Things changed for the better Tuesday night as the Huskers beat Creighton 6-5 on a Jamie Fuente single into centerfield in front of 258 specta tors at the Husker Softball Complex. Fuente’s hit scored Jennifer Lizama, who led off the inning with a bloop single to center. Lizama stole second and a Jill Baker single advanced her to third. The Bluejays chose to intentionally walk Ellen Middleton, who already had Nebraska 6 Creighton5 a four RBIs and a homer, which brought up Fuente. Fuente was not sur prised by CU’s decision to walk her teammate. “I kind of knew they were going to walk her because she had hit a homer and I had struck out twice,” said Fuente. “You get a little burning inside and get a little mad; I just knew I was going to hit it.” Jenny Voss picked up the win for NU in relief for starting pitcher Leigh Ann Walker who lasted 2 2/3 innings. Voss improved her record to 7-3 while striking out six. Nebraska was playing its first home game of the season after 22 straight road games. Head Coach Rhonda Revelle stressed the importance of home-field advantage after the game. “It really did affect us and we don’t get to feel that very often,” said Revelle. “I thought we had a pretty good crowd for it being a little bit nippy.” The Husker faithful got to see a home run by Lizama that was one of the longest ever hit in the history of the complex. Lizama led off the bottom of the fifth with a towering shot that car ried over the left field scoreboard. The home run forced Creighton Head Coach Brent Vignes to bring in reliever Shelli Mellegaard for starter Renee Woods. “I told Lizama it had flames com ing off of it,” Revelle said. “I don’t think there has ever been a ball hit that hard here before.” Vignes was pleased with his team’s effort and the way it competed to come from two down to tie the game. The Bluejays were also Without top hitter and base-stealer Heidi Geier, along with Emily Townsend, who stayed in Omaha with strep throat. “I was very proud of our team,” Vignes said. “We can only control who is here, we cannot control who is not here or not healthy. They competed and there is no doubt about that.” NU plays Creighton again in Omaha next Tuesday at 7 p.m. Nebraska’s next game is Saturday in a «-— / way very proud of our team. We can only control who is here, we cannot control who is not here or not healthy. Rhonda Revelle NU softball coach QB decision, 1-back starter % still up in the air for spring By Adam Klinker Senior staff writer The new year is upon us, the year measured in Nebraska by the onset of spring football practice. And with a new year comes new questions, some early explanation and a few unanswered inquiries - after all, it’s only spring. But at NU, which is coming off a dis appointing 9-4 season, it’s never too early to start waiting ’til next year. And now it is next year, or at least 3 lA months removed from the Holiday Bowl. Specifically, five questions, among others, surface as especially interesting or lingering after last season. And just one practice into the spring, the answers won’t come easy, but a great deal can happen between March and September. So here they are: Is there a quarterback controversy and who will win the job? There’s not a controversy so far as the spring workouts are concerned, as Eric Crouch will be taking most of the snaps while Bobby Newcombe recovers from an injury. However, after Day 1, Crouch said he was eager to see counterpart Newcombe out on the practice field as soon as possible. Newcombe, however, was not suited up on Monday and will most likely see limited action until fall practice as he recovers from winter knee surgery. On the depth charts, Crouch and Newcombe are listed as the co-No. 1 quarterbacks, sparking the debate over who will be the signal-caller come Sept. 4 and the Comhusker season-opener at Iowa. Crouch said he’s just taking advantage of his own opportunities and health, but is hoping to see Newcombe competing for the job in the near future. “Whenever I get the opportunity to work with the No. 1 offense, it’s something I look forward to,” Crouch said. “I’m just going to take advantage of my opportunities whenever they arise. Hopefully I’ll get a lot of opportuni ties with the No. 1 team.” And with a year of experience for both quarterbacks, Crouch said that the team should benefit, regardless of who is taking the snaps. “Both of us this past year did well,” Crouch said. “Coming back and being experienced is going to defi nitely help us out. That’s key.” What is the status of a running game that was among the poorest the Huskers have ever had last season? Very fine, thank you, said NU Coach Frank Solich. After finishing sixth nationally last year in rushing offense at 253.8 yards per game, Solich said the Huskers will look to maintain the running tradition with the expe rience retained with returning I-backs Correll Buckhalter, DeAngelo Evans and Dan Alexander. Though Evans and Alexander were not practicing on the first day as both were recuperating from knee surgery, both are listed at No. 1 on the charts, in a three-way tie with Buckhalter, who was practicing on Monday. Newcomers DeAntae Grixby, Chris Butler, Alik Tillery and Dahrran Diedrick will also look to contribute as they compete against each other for a backup job in the spring. Coupling the new faces with the veterans gives the I back position some much-needed depth, remembering last year’s injury problem. , With the fall will also come freshman running backs Judd Davies, Josh Davis and Robin Miller, to further stock the ranks. However, NU must fill some holes at the fullback position as the Huskers have lost Joel Makovicka to grad uation, and Willie Miller is injured. So far this spring, Junior Ben Kingston is running as the No. 1 fullback. Still, Solich said, the rushing game should be hitting on all cylinders with enough work this spring. “We want to establish the running game. We’re defi nitely still going to be that kind of team,” Solich said. “We did some good things last year, but we need to get more consistent, we need to build.” Buckhalter agreed. “We were still sixth in the country in rushing last year,” he said. “But it wasn’t like people thought it was going to be, it wasn’t how the team would like it to be. We’re going to come in now with a more focused attitude and show people that Nebraska is going to be running again.” Another kicker named Brown? Yep. Josh Brown, along with Dan Hadenfeldt, will battle to fill the shoe of graduated place kicker and NU record-holder Kris Brown. The new Brown, a redshirt freshman from Foyil, Okla., will compete for the starting job with junior letter man Hadenfeldt, who will also be contending for the punting duties with the departure of Bill LaFleur. Mike Warren/DN