Inside Sports THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN Kansas' football game against Oklahoma State is five days away. The team held a "Get Ready" rally yesterday. Sports See Page 2B Monday August 31,1998 Section: B Page 1 Professional Baseball Mark McGwire has helped carry Major League Baseball back from the dead. SEE PAGE 3B College Football Nebraska, USC and Colorado State opened the season with wins. Read about the first weekend's action. SEE PAGE 6B WWW.KANSAN.COM/SPORTS Contact the Kansan Sports Desk: (785) 864-4810 Sports Fax: (785) 864-0391 Football rally kicks off Kansas seas Offensive tackle Michael Lies signs a souvenir football for Lawrence residents Hanna Momberg and Lauren Miller. Lies was one of the football players that took part in the Get Ready football rally. Photo by Christina Neff/KANSAN By Jodi M. Smith Kansas sportswriter For probably the first time since he arrived here, football coach Terry Allen was talking, but nobody, not even his players, was listening. Or rather, nobody was hearing. O'Raffner, nobody was near fig. During last night's Kansas football Get Ready Rally at Memorial Stadium, technical difficulties with the sound system caused Allen to repeat words, phrases and even entire speeches. But that was a minor setback at the event, which drew about 7,000 people. With the football team seated in front of the makeshift stage, Allen, Athletics Director Bob Frederick and Chancellor Robert Hemenway addressed the crowd. "This will be the last time you will see them on their butts the rest of the season," Hemenway said. "They'll be standing tall from here on out." After Allen introduced the team captains — safety Michael Allen, linebacker Pat Brown, offensive lineman Justin Glasgow and quarterback Zac Wegner — the freshman football players ended the rally by belting out a hearty rendition of the KU fight song. Parents, children, Lawrence residents and KU students were in attendance for the event that officially kicks off the 1996 football sea See PEP RALLY on page 2B Running for women Lynette Woodard, former Kansas forward, grins. She participated in "Run/Walk with the Jayhawks," which celebrated 30 years of Kansas women's athletics. Photo by April Leason/KANSAN Senior's return to mound vital to team's success By Chris Hopkins Kansan sportswriter The Kansas softball team has set its roster and is preparing for the first game of the fall season. Games played in the fall count against the number of games the team is allowed to play but do not show up on the team's record. Of 11 walk-ons who tried out for the team, head coach Tracy Bunge kept four: Erin Garvey, Olathe junior, Allison Arvey, Chicago freshman, Ashley Ballestrele, Topeka sophomore and Dawn Lenard, Franktown, Colo., junior. Bunge has 19 players on the roster, which is the most she has ever had. Only 18 are allowed to travel with the team to away games. Bunge said that part of the reason for the large team is to be better prepared for injuries. "We've had depth problems the last two years," Bunge said. years. Bungee The depth problem reached a peak last season when Sarah Workman, the best pitcher on the 1996-1997 team, injured her throwing arm in January and was unable to play the entire spring season. Both of the tournament losses came on last inning home runs. The injury forced Bunge to use a rotation of Jessica Kowal, Christy McPhail, who was originally recruited to play outfield and often-injured Courtney Wilson, who has since left the team for personal reasons. sons: The Jayhawks struggled to earn the sixth and final guaranteed position in the Big-12 tournament. They left the tournament after three games, losing to Texas A&M, beating Baylor, and losing to Oklahoma State. Although Texas A&M and Oklahoma State both played in the College World Series, that was little consolation for Bunge. Bunge. "Without Sarah, we still had the potential and the talent to make the (NCAA) tournament," said Bunge. the team finished with a final record of 28-34, a drop from their 1997 season record of 38-23. The team went 11-0 during the fall of 1997, when Workman was still pitching. The biggest step towards that goal will be Workman's recovery. She has a muscle tear in her biceps. Her injury was so rare that none of the six physicians Workman This year, Bunge has to replace six starters and walk-on Abbie Berg, who decided to spend more time on academics. "The returning players are very determined to make it this year," said Bunge. visited had ever heard of a similar case, said Carol Jarosky, team trainer. Rather than tearing across the grain, like almost all muscle tears. Workman's injury was along the grain. The blood flow to this area is minimal, making it difficult to heal. Doctors analyzed Workman's lifestyle, asking whether her KU-record 311.2 innings pitched in 1996-1997 had an effect and whether she was compensating for her vegetarianism with enough protein supplements. Workman said a cause for the injury had yet to be found. "Your guess is as good as mine," she said. Workman can now throw 100 pitches a day with some wrist snaps. Both Workman and the team expect her to return in time for a tournament in Kansas City the first weekend of October. Bunge said she hoped Workman would pitch one or two innings. Because Workman sat out last season, the team will have four pitchers with experience. Kowal was selected as the team's most-improved player last season, and McPhail also got some work on the mound. With the addition of Melanie DeWinter, a Phoenix junior transfer from Glendale Community College, McPhail might be able to spend more time in the field. The team also will be aided by the addition of Lea Tab, who broke the national high school record for home runs in a season last year, hitting 23 in 35 games. Jo Evans, Texas A&M head coach, is expecting a challenge from the Jayhawks this season. "I think Tracy's done a great job with the team—they've taken some real strides forward," Evans said. Junior goalie Jennifer Fecke makes a save while sophomore defenders Ashley Gorham, left, and Kylie Watts protect the goal's corners. The women's soccer team scrimaged yesterday at Super Target Field. Photo by Dan Elavsky/KANSAN Soccer team scores exhibition win By Brad Hallier Kansan sportswriter The Kansas women's soccer team played a pair of exhibition matches this weekend. this weekend The Jayhawks traveled to Springfield, Mo., Saturday and defeated Drury College 2-0. Katie Lents, sophomore midfielder, put the Jayhawks in front in the first half on a shot from about 18 yards away from the goal mouth. Lindsay Kennedy, freshman midfielder, put the Jayhawks up 2-0 with a shot in the second half. Coach Dan Magner said that despite Drury's counter-attacking style, he was pleased with the Jayhawks' play. He still found places the Jayhawks could improve before Friday's regular-season opener against Florida International in Miami. "I think yesterday was a tremendous learning experience," he said. "I feel we are moving the ball well. wil result in a goal. Yesterday, the Jayhawks played a shortened intra-squad match on condensed Super Target Field. Magner shorted the field and the halves because of the heat and fatigued players. defending well but we are lacking that final, decisive movement that will result in a goal." Meghann Haven, scophomore midfielder, put the Crimson team up 1-0 after a give-and-go between Johanna Larsson, junior forward, and Melissa Downing, junior midfielder. When the final whistle blew, the score remained tied 1-1. After a pass from Downing, Haven's shot slipped inside the far post past the outstretched arms of Blue goalkeeper Katie Garrity. Magner said that yesterday was a good scrimmage image the plav- Danielle DeGuerrre, freshman midfielder, scored the equalizing goal for the Blue side minutes later. The first half ended tied 1-1. ers' fatigue. . "The movement of the ball the whole weekend was excellent," he said. "The players moving off the ball is significantly better than last year. That shows the players are willing to work hard for each other." other. The team will continue to practice and prepare for this weekend's matches in Florida. Magner said that the focus for the week would be to practice finishing the ball, since this was what the team seemed to have trouble with against Drury. "For the weekend in Florida, we need to work on our passing and runs into the attack," he said. "We had many chances to score against Drury, so we will work on finding the scoring touch this week." Another player has quit the soccer team. Jenny Wallace, Overland Park sophomore, told coach Dan Magner yesterday that she had decided to leave the team. .