TENNIS: The team wins its 12th straight. SEE PAGE 3B. Rowing: Team wins three races at the Knecht Cup. SEE PAGE 3B.
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SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WWW.KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
1B
MONDAY, APRIL 15, 2002
Chris Wristen
cwristen@kansan.com
Inspired play before alumni sparks victory
On the schedule, it may have looked like just another game for the Kansas softball team, but Saturday's game against Texas Tech was truly something special.
Forget the fact that Kansas entered the weekend with 14 more wins than the Red Raiders. Records didn't matter. Forget that a Big 12 Conference victory was at stake. That was the least of the Jayhawks' concerns.
There was a particular group of spectators in the crowd that they had to impress — the 1992 team alumni.
The '92 squad was the last Kansas softball team to qualify for the College World Series. The legends were back in town for their induction into the Kansas Athletics Hall of Fame and had high expectations when they paid a visit to their young protégés.
The past and present teams met at a banquet Friday night, and the alumni squad shared memories from its storybook season of a decade ago, when it posted a 45-10 record. You'd better believe the current Jayhawks were taking some good notes, coach Tracy Bunge said.
"A bunch of the kids came away from last night's banquet talking about how much fun that they had just listening to all of the old stories and how much they wanted to come out and play today, not only for themselves, but to kind of look good in front of this group." Bunge said. "That was important to them."
The blue outfield wall could have turned into the cornfield from Field of Dreams, because it seemed like the '92 team returned from the past and took the field one more time — or perhaps that's just because the current Jayhawks played so well.
They must have listened well because on Saturday Jayhawk Field seemed to get a facelift. Four additional sets of bleachers were added down the first base line for fans and all were filled. The freshly cut grass seemed to glow a little bit greener.
"I'm sure there was a whole lot of comparing between them and us," senior co-captain Shelly Musser said. "I'm sure that was in the back of everybody's minds a little bit."
Pitchers Serena Settlemier and Kirsten Milhoan fired blazing strikes on their way to throwing a two-hitter. Defensively, Kansas' gloves were like nets. Offensively, the Jayhawks seemed to be swinging with a 2 x 4 because they hit everything.
Shelly Musser sent the fourth pitch of the game flying over the right field fence for a leadoff home run. Every starter reached base in the second inning alone when the team added six more runs. The Jayhawks ran the base paths vigorously and collected seven stolen bases. Lindsey Weinstein and Christi Musser both stole home on the same play in the fourth inning because of a wild pitch.
It was just that kind of a day for Kansas.
Kansas junior Kevin Wheeler hit home runs in the second and ninth innings, now leading the Jayhawks with seven. Kansas lost 5-2 in the tenth inning. CHRISTINA NEFF/KANSAN
"Very fun, good weather, lots of fans," Shelly Musser described it.
Certainly, but it was much more than that. The day, the victory and the tribute to the '92 team—this one was something special.
"They were inspired today, not only for a Big 12 game, but also by that group," Bunge reiterated. "I know that they were very touched that so many of them came back to campus and had a great time."
And the current Jayhawks gave them a fitting tribute, winning the game 9-0.
Wristen is a Leawood senior in journalism.
Kansas wins one, loses two
By Ryan Wood Kansan sportswriter
CHRISTINA NEFF/KANSAN
Coach Bobby Randall summed up the weekend series against Texas Tech in three strong words.
"A missed opportunity."
"A missed opportunity. After pounding its way to a 14-3 victory Friday night, the Kansas baseball team was unable to win the three-game set, losing both Saturday and yesterday by 5-2 scores.
5-2 scores.
The Jahawks (16-17 overall, 3-12 Big 12 Conference play) have yet to win a three-game conference series this season. And not surprisingly, they sit in the cellar of the Big 12 standings.
certain of the Big League "It would've been great to win two out of three," Randall said. "We need to start winning two out of three in some of these."
Tech outfielder Jon Slack led off yesterday's game with a towering opposite-field home run off senior Jake Wright. The Jayhawks answered in the bottom of the first by an RBI groundout from sophomore outfielder Ryan Baty, but they were otherwise held in check by four Red Raider pitchers.
With the benefit of sloppy defense in the sixth inning, Texas Tech (27-16, 10-11) tallied three more runs, taking a lead it wouldn't relinquish. Kansas scored one in the sixth on a Tech error, but never came closer.
"Whenever you make errors, they usually come back to haunt you," said junior first baseman Casey Spanish. "I knew it would cost it."
Spanish. Haven't it would have been Offensively, the Jayhawks could only muster five hits, two of them coming from Spanish.
"We're just not handling RBI situations very well at all," Randall said. "We're not making hard contact in those situations."
solid effort from senior Dan Olson, who pitched seven innings, allowing no runs and just three hits.
Saturday's performance also lacked the needed offensive punch. Kansas was unable to capitalize on a
"We played the first seven innings real well," Randall said, "but the last three innings we didn't play well, either with the bat, the glove or on the mound."
Junior designated hitter Kevin Wheeler's home run in the bottom of the second was the only scoring by
either team through seven innings of play
Freshman pitcher Chris Jones relieved a fatigued Olson to start the eighth but struggled to find the strike zone. He ended up walking three and hitting a batter.
SEE BASEBALL ON PAGE 8B
CHRISTINA NEFF/KANSAN
Kansas centerfielder Leah Tabb slides into third base as Texas Tech's Andrea Joachims tags her out. Kansas beat Texas Tech Saturday 9 to 0 and Sunday 1 to 0.
Softball team blanks Red Raiders twice
By Ali Brox Kansan sportswriter
Even with half its pitching staff available because of injuries, the Kansas softball team earned two shut-out victories against Texas Tech during the weekend.
The Jayhawks (28-17 overall, 5-6 Big 12 Conference) needed only five innings Saturday to defeat the Red Raiders 9-0 by the mercy rule. Yesterday, Kansas got a two-hitter from junior pitcher Kirsten Milhoan and manufactured a run in the bottom of the seventh for a 1-0 victory.
"In order for us to not be among
the bottom four seeds in the conference, we had to win both of these," coach Tracy Bunge said. "They were very important."
Saturday, the Jayhawks had an extra incentive as Athletics Director Al Bohl presented the 1992 College World Series team a team photo and thus officially inducted the squad into the Kansas Athletics Hall of Fame. The team members then all threw out ceremonial first pitches.
pictures.
"It was fun to have them there," senior centerfielder Shelly Musser said. "I'm sure there was a lot of
SEE SOFTBALL ON PAGE 99
Track team faces national field
By Matt Norton
Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas track and field team travels to Fayetteville, Ark., for the John McDonnell Invitational tomorrow, hoping to build momentum for the end of the season.
The meet is the second of four April meets in which the Jayhawks will face outstanding competition. Coach Stanley Redwine said the athletes were beginning to emerge from a difficult period of training in order to perform at their best.
The meet at Arkansas is sand-wicked between the the traditional relay circuit of Texas, Kansas and Drake, some of the best meets in the country.
Redwine said after the end of the indoor season, the team went back to doing workouts designed to enhance its strength and endurance, similar to what it had
done in the fall and early winter.
Now that the outdoor season is underway, the emphasis has been shifted to speed and technique.
"This is a point where we need to start being race sharp, and the more races we have, the more race fitness we'll have," he said.
The team trained hard during the month of January but weren't racing as fast as they would have liked. Then starting with the Iowa State meet at the beginning of February, many of the athletes' performances improved.
Redwine told the team before practice yesterday that he saw similarities with how the team developed indoors.
He said he anticipated a similar improvement starting this week.
"There was a period that was a huge training phase, where we were doing more volume, and it's tough to be sharpest and run your fastest when you're doing that," Redwine
said. "As we started to do more quality during indoors, we were successful with that."
Senior Jennie Wonder is one of several Jayhawks on the cusp of taking her running to another level.
Jennie Wonder
This weekend, Wonder is running the 100 and 400-meter hurdles and a leg on the 4x100 meter relay.
Wonder said she was trying to run faster than 60 seconds in the 400 hurdles for a long time, and has narrowly missed on several occasions.
A trip to the NCAA Championships is also with reach for Wonder.
She ran 60.42 seconds last week at Texas, and needs to run 59.2 seconds to provisionally qualify for the
SEE TRACK ON PAGE 4B
Football team gets acquainted during practice
By Brent Wasko
Kansan sportswriter
Kansas football practices this spring can be summarized in one word transition.
The players are getting to know the 13 new coaches, the coaches are getting to know the players, the team's 24 recruits are getting to know the veterans and everyone is getting to know the Jayhawks' new playbook.
After two weeks of intense practice, several of the players said they were starting to feel comfortable with the team's new offensive, defensive and special teams systems. But the process has been difficult.
"We're learning more with each day," senior strong safety Jake Letourneau said. "We're going to have to help each other a lot this spring. Nothing has come that easy."
SEE FOOTBALL ON PAGE 4B
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