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Thursday, November 5. 1987 / University Daily Kansan
Sports
Student hopes his game will be a hit in intramurals
By PHIL WILKE
Special to the Kansan
A new player steps into the batter's box. The pitcher looks in and loops a slow curve that drops in for strike one. The batter rearranges his stance. The pitcher winds and throws the ball. The batter connects and sends a drive that hits the wall and drops into the fielder's grasp for the fourth out.
Fourth out? This isn't baseball, it's Screwball, an indoor baseball game developed by Tom Girard.
Girard, Belleville graduate student, invented the game of Screwball several years ago while a student at Southwestern College in Winfield. He is now developing it into an intramural sport as part of his master's thesis in education.
Girard is also president of Indoor Activity Unlimited Inc. the company that owns the facility.
A KU recreational services intramural league of nine teams has been
formed. There are league games two nights a week on a specially marked raquetball court in Robinson Center. The game is set up along the lines of baseball, with several noticeable exceptions.
Three players take the field for each team. Games are seven innings long, two balls is a walk, two strikes is an out and each team gets four outs per inning. Teams change pitchers every inning so each player will pitch at least two innings a game.
The walls of the court are marked with boxes that represent doubles, triples and home runs. When a ball hits one of these boxes then hits the floor without being caught, it counts as a hit. A net is set up behind home base and covered an amateur umpire. Girard oversees and scores the games.
The ball is slightly smaller than a regulation baseball but is made of polyurethane foam. It is also has large indentations that help produce
exaggerated curves when pitched.
Todd Gross, Goddard graduate student, has gained a reputation as the Dwight Gooden of the league for his pitching.
"You throw as hard as you would with a regular ball," Gross said, "but the distance takes some getting used to." The pitcher stands 32 feet away from the batter. A major-league pitcher stands 60 feet, six inches from the plate.
Gross, who plays semi-professional baseball during the summer for the Maupintour Travelers, likes the idea of keeping his skills sharp during the off-season.
"It's fun to get inside when no organized outside activities are available." he said.
Gross, like many of the league's more experienced pitchers, has started pitching submarine style, and the Royals reliever Dan Quisenberry.
"I've been striking a lot of people
out," he said. "I've got a good curveball."
Though mastering the art of pitching is not easy, hitting might be even harder, said Steve Sneath, Great Bend senior. Since there are no seams on the ball, it is tough to pick up its rotation, he said. The batter must watch the pitcher's follow-through, Sneath said, to get a sense of the what pitch he is throwing.
KU is the first school to play Screwball as an intramural sport, Girard said, although several other schools have expressed an interest in the game. Girard said he received an enthusiastic response when the game was presented to a state conference of intramural sports officials in September. The University of Missouri at Kansas City has already purchased some equipment.
Rick Cameron, coordinator of special events for KU recreational services, runs the intramural league. He said he was excited about the
response the game has enioved.
Another aspect of starting up a new game has been the refinement of the rules as new situations arose, he said.
"Things came up during the course of play that we didn't expect," he said.
Cameron said he looked forward to having Screwball as an intramural sport again in the spring. Trophy leagues could be established if the interest was there, he said.
Girard said he was proud to have developed the game in Kansas.
"Most things seem to be invented on the coasts and migrate to the Midwest. This product is Kansas born and bred." he said.
Girard said he looked forward to the day when Screwball was played in local, regional and national tournaments. But until then, its one, two strikes you're out at the old Screwball game.
Vietnam vet who lost legs finishes race
NEW YORK — Bob Wieland, who lost his legs in Vietnam, broke his own record for the New York City Marathon yesterday, completing the course in just over 81 hours as a throng of spectators cheered "Go, Bob, go!"
"It was a beautiful finish," declared the 41-year-old Wieland shortly after he crossed the line at Tavern on the Green in Central Park about 2.47 p.m. "Truly a special day in my life."
Wieland, of Arcadia, Calif., surpassed his record set last year of 98 hours, 48 minutes and 17 seconds. He started the 26-mile, 385-yard course at 5:10 a.m. Sunday but took time out for occasional naps and spent Monday night in a hotel.
Austard Seed Student Fellowship You're invited to a Christ-centered Bible study seeking real answers for life's difficult questions. Join in a time of Holy Spirit-led worship and prayer with people that care. Thursdays at 7:00 p.m. International Room, Kansas Union For more information: 841-6668
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In 1985, a controversial novel portrayed the wild, excessive lives of the kids in Beverly Hills.
On Friday, November 6th, brace yourself for the motion picture.
ANDREW McCARTHY JAMI GERTZ ROBERT DOWNEY,JR.
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