PAGE 6
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2014
SOFTBALL
Kansas to take on Wichita State in last non-conference game
Kansas softball (24-10) ends its eight-game road span with a game against in-state opponent Wichita State (18-11) today, with first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m. in Wichita. The Jayhawks lead the all-time series with the Shockers 69-17.
Kansas is coming off of a win against eighth ranked Kentucky going into the matchup. Another motivator for Kansas against the Shockers is that for the third straight week a Kansas player has been honored by the Big 12 conference. This week, freshman catcher Harli Ridling was named Big 12 Player of the Week for her efforts. She led the team with a .480 batting average on 12 hits, half of
Wichita State has won its last three games and five of their past seven. They also have recorded 34 stolen bases on 41 attempts. The Shockers' star slugger freshman utility Paige Luellen has a 411 batting average and has cranked out eight doubles, one triple and six home runs this season, along with 32 RBs and 22 runs scored.
which went for extra bases. She hit four home runs, two doubles and 11 RBs.
The matchup between Kansas and Wichita State is the last non-conference contest for the Jayhawks before opening conference play against Oklahoma State this weekend at home in Arrocha Ballpark.
— Amie Just
Jayhawks show good signs on the green
WOMEN'S GOLF
DANIEL HARMSEN
sports@kansan.com
This is the performance coach Erin O'Neill has been looking for out of her Kansas women's golf team all season.
On Tuesday afternoon, Kansas golf, led by Yupaporn Kawinpakorn and Anthurtta Boinraksasat, placed seventh out of 17 teams at Briar's Creek International in John Island, S.C.
Kawinpakorn led the jayhawks with her 15th placing, shooting 223 (+7) over three rounds, including an even 72 on her final round, while Boonraksasat followed closely behind in 18th with a 224 (+8).
At Briar's Creek, Kansas finished in 908 strokes (+39), which was just 15 strokes behind the winner Texas Tech. Texas Tech shot the three rounds in 888 strokes, 24 shots above par.
"I'm very pleased with how we played today," O'Neill said. "I think we are close to putting some really low scores together as a team."
O'Neill was delighted by the effort's the athletes gave her.
Those low scores included
final round of 294 (+6), which, according to a news release from KU Athletics, was a tie for the fourth lowest team score for the tournament.
Despite the encouraging signs from the athletes on Tuesday, O'Neill is always looking for things to build on. When asked about areas for improvement, O'Neill didn't hesitate to address the "little things."
"Overall we need to continue to improve our course management along with our putting. We had a few too many three-putts," O'Neill said.
Even on a course that spanned 6,120 yards, in the game of golf, it is often the small details like the chips and putts that make the biggest difference between bogeys and birdies. The Jayhawks will look to trim those three-putts down to two-putts on April 4-6, when they travel to Dallas for the SMU Invitational. Until then, it is time to hit the putting greens for practice.
Edited by Stella Liang
nine-point early deficit, and ensued the second round win with a third round loss to Stanford. The Cardinal ended Kansas' run to a national championship and delivered the Jayhawks their fourth loss of March.
NCAA FROM PAGE8
upset after all
Stanford was a 10 seed, but didn't have a single under-classman in its starting lineup. Some will say that a lower seed beating the number two seed was an upset. In all reality, the more experienced team won, which means it wasn't an
Kansas was 3-4 in March. Fans should have seen this coming.
In order for Kansas to have had a similar postseason experience as past championships, the Jayhawks needed to peak at the right time. The inexperienced Jayhawks peaked too early in the season and couldn't overcome the absence of Joel Embiid, therefore eliciting the inevitable early loss in the tournament.
— Edited by Cara Winkley
Pistorius expected to testify at his murder trial this week
INTERNATIONAL
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
PRETORIA, South Africa — Oscar Pistorius will probably testify at his trial later this week, a defense attorney said Tuesday after prosecutors rested their case against the double-amputee runner who is accused of murder in his girlfriend's death.
In a rare public comment, Pistorius said he was going through "a tough time" as the case advanced.
Oscar Pistorius and his aunt Lois Pistorius, right, hug after the prosecution closed its case in court in Pretoria, South Africa, Tuesday, March 25. Pistorius is charged with the Valentines Day 2013 shooting death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. The trial will resume Friday.
"We've got a lot ahead of us," he told reporters after the court adjourned.
Defense lawyer Brian Webber said Pistorius is "likely" to take the stand to open the defense case.
I don't think we have a choice. It's a question of when," Webber said of Pistorius' testimony, which legal experts describe as critical because the judge will have a chance to assess firsthand whether he is credible. The case will be decided by Judge Thokozile Masipa with help from two assessors. South African courts do not have a jury system.
After the prosecution rested, defense lawyer Barry Roux asked for time to consult some of the 107 state witnesses who had not testified against Pistorius, who admits shooting Reeva Steenkamp through the closed door of a toilet cubicle last year.
Masipa adjourned the trial until Friday so Roux could prepare his arguments that Pistorius killed the 29-year-old model by accident, thinking she was an intruder in his home.
Pistorius has sometimes reacted emotionally in the courtroom. He shed tears this week during testimony about text messages that he and Steenkamp exchanged in the weeks before her death on Feb. 14, 2013. In earlier testimony, he retched and vomited at a pathologist's description of Steenkamp's gunshot wounds. At other times, he has appeared calm, taking notes during testimony and conferring with his lawyers during breaks.
the 27-year-old Olympian once basked in global publicity stemming from his achievements on the track but became an almost silent, somewhat cryptic figure after Steenkamp's death, his account only outlined in legal statements that were carefully tailored by his high-powered legal team.
Earlier Tuesday, Roux sought to show that Pistorius had a loving relationship with his girlfriend, referring to telephone messages in which
they exchanged warm compliments and said they missed each other.
couple's mobile devices. Roux noted a Jan. 19 exchange in which Reeva sent Pistorius a photo of herself in a hoodie and making a kissing face and asked, "You like it?"
The testimony contrasted with several messages read in court a day earlier in which Pistorius and Steenkamp argued, part of the prosecution's
"I love it," Pistorius said, according to the message.
"I don't think we have a choice (to testify). It's a question of when."
BRIAN WEBBER
Oscar Pistorius' defense lawyer
Roux was also granted permission to show video broadcast by Sky News that showed Pistorius and Steenkamp kissing in a convenience store.
"So warm," Steenkamp responded.
effort to demonstrate that the athlete killed his girlfriend after an intense disagreement. In those messages, Steenkamp told the runner that she was sometimes scared by his behavior, which included jealous outbursts in front of other people.
Roux noted that the tense messages amounted to a tiny fraction of the roughly 1,700 texts that police Capt. Francois Moller, a cellphone expert, extracted from the
Chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel questioned the relevance of the store video, saying he could ask for a courtroom viewing of another video, also broadcast by Sky News, which shows Pistorius at a gun range, firing a shotgun
and using a pistol to shoot a watermelon, which bursts on impact.
Nel also said many messages of affection between the couple were brief, in contrast to the texted arguments, which were far longer and dwelled on their relationship in greater depth.
Earlier, Moller said Steenkamp connected to the Internet on her cellphone hours before Pistorius killed her. She made the connection just before 9 p.m. on Feb. 13, 2013, and the connection lasted for more than 11 hours, possibly because social media programs were still open.
Moller's extraction of data also shed light on what appeared to be frantic calls made from one of Pistorius' cellphones after the killing. They included a call to the administrator of the housing estate where Pistorius lived at 3:19 a.m. on Feb. 14, a call a minute later to an ambulance service and a call a minute after that to the housing estate security.
T
+