THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN SPORTS THURSDAY. APRIL 6, 2006 WWW.KANSAN.COM BASEBALL PAGE 1B Battle for the best ends in a tie BY ALISSA BAUER abauer@kansan.com KANSAN STAFF WRITER WICHITA — The Jayhawks (20-12, 4-5) walked off the field after the final out was called in the 4-0 Shocker victory, hailed by screaming Wichita State (23-9, 2-4) fans. "The best team in the state," they velled, "Who's the best?" Various shouts met the defeated Jayhawks in reference to sophomore outfielder John Allman's claim last week of his team being the best club in Kansas. Allman was not at all interested in their remarks. "We just came out here to play today." Allman said. "I wasn't worried about what was going on in the stands." Allman and the Jayhawks wouldn't have time to worry about the fans. The focus shifted to Wichita State freshman third baseman Conor Gillaspie. Just a week ago, Gillaspie was the only Shocker to collect multiple hits. Wednesday night, he carried his team in an even bigger way. In the bottom of the second, left fielder Tyler Hill took one for the team when he was hit by a pitch, followed by Gillaspie hitting a two-run shot to left field over the head of sophomore left fielder John Allman. Gillaspie 2. Kansas 0. "He had a great game," Allman said. "He really came out to play tonight. He killed us." After a short rest, Gillaspie struck again. With two down in the bottom of the fourth, Gillaspie sent one over the head of newly returned Matt Batt in center field. The senior co-captain had no option but to watch Gillaspie's long fly ball sail into the grassy knoll lining the outfield wall. Gillaspie 3. Kansas 0. "That guy's a stud," Baty said. "What'd he have? Three of their six hits?" He's a good player. They're a Kansas, ranked No. 24 by Baseball America, remained quiet. Despite racking up 15 hits at Hoglund Ballpark a week ago, the Jayhawks tallied just five hits on Wednesday night. good team." Not that the Shockers pounded the ball on their end, either. Halfway through the game, Wichita State had three hits to Kansas' two. By the final out, each had collected only three more. Price gave the credit to Shocker starter Kris Johnson (3-0). The winning pitcher allowed one hit in his four scoreless innings of work. Junior right-hander Brendan McNamara (0-1) took the loss for Kansas. He gave up both round trips to Gillaspie. Wichita State players congratulate Wichita freshman third baseman Conor Gillaspie after his second home run of the game Wednesday in Wichita. Gillaspie had a homerun in both the second and the fourth inning of the game as the Shockers defeated the Jayhawks 4-0. "I thought Johnson was the key to the ballgame tonight." Price said. "He was really good early in the game and kind of set the tone for them to use their bullpen properly." Anna Faltermeyer/KANSAN SEE TIE ON PAGE 4B SOCCER Magen True/KANSAN Emily Strinden, sophme midfielder competes for a ball against Tyler Owens of the 15-under KC Legends Wednesday afternoon. This is one of several exhibition games the KU women's soccer team will be playing this spring. 'Hawks still undefeated Gault scores only goal MARK DENT mdent@kansan.com Junior Holly Gault showed that she could follow up one of the best outings of her career with an equally impressive performance Wednesday night. Gault, who scored five goals and dished out two assists in Kansas' previous game, scored the Jayhawks' only goal with about two minutes left in the second half, tying the Kansas City Legends U-15 Boys Team 1-1. With the tie, the Jayhawks moved to 1-0-2 in the spring season. Kansas' lone goal started on a defensive stop of the Legends, who had controlled the ball for most of the second half. The Jayhawks kicked the ball down field before the Legends could regroup on defense. As the ball traveled in the air, Gault charged toward the Legends' keeper, who misplayed the ball as it curved slightly in front of him. The goal by Gault was the lone offensive highlight for Kansas throughout the match. The Legends continually attacked the Kansas defense, but the Jayhawks played physically, knocking several Legends players to the ground and keeping them from scoring. The defense was anchored by freshman goalkeeper Julie Hanley, who played the entire game. The keeper barely touched the ball before Gault brushed by him and knocked it into the open net, tying the game. SEE UNDEFEATED ON PAGE 3B DANCING NACHOS The season recapped verbatim When the season ends, basketball reporters don't disappear — they just start creating best-of lists. These quotes have all been collected during the past year of covering Kansas coach Bonnie Henrickson and the women's basketball team. Hopefully you'll have as much fun reading them as I did writing them down. Henrickson, on senior forward Crystal Kemp's sitting on the bench with foul trouble against Northeastern: "They just struggled to guard her one-on-one. They guarded her well when she was sitting next to me." After the Jayhawks made only 8-of-32 shots in the first half against Iowa State: "We couldn't throw it into the ocean sitting in a tugboat. And there's not an ocean near Ames, Iowa. I promise you that." On freshman guard/forward Sophronia Sallard, who struggled in early-fall conditioning drills: "She's a good player when she's breathing." Henrickson, after the team shot better from the three-point line than the free-throw line against Birmingham-Southern: Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly, on whether the team had fun playing together when coming back from a huge halftime deficit against the Jayhawks: "Maybe we should back it up to "I don't know if you have fun when you're down 19 points." On freshman guard Ivana Catic's defense against Birmingham-Southern: "I yelled at her on the sideline, 'You couldn't guard me right now." the three-point line and shoot it from there." After losing in Manhattan, responding to whether she was concerned the team hadn't won a road game all season: "Yes. (laughs) That's the easiest question I've had since I got the job." - On wearing red uniforms for the first time in Manhattan: "Blue hasn't been worth a darn, so I thought we'd try red. I don't know, we'll wear pink next time." Illustration by wes benson - On Kemp getting two consecutive fouls against Northeastern: "I said 'be honest with me, because if you're not going to make a good decision I'll take you out and I'll set you down for a bit.' No, no, I got it', she said. Yeah, right." SEE PHILLIPS ON PAGE 3B SOFTBALL Kansas wins close games in doubleheader BY MARK DENT mdent@kansan.com KANSAN SPORTWRITER Kassie Humphreys found out that the best way to get something done was to get it done herself. The junior pitcher backed up a solid pitching appearance on the mound by producing the game-winning run at the plate against Arkansas in Wednesday night's 1-0 victory in the second game of a doubleheader. 1 Kansas lost two days ago despite a no-hitter from Humphreys. She ensured the Jayhawks would not lose again on Wednesday. "Kassie's been throwing the heck out of the ball lately." Kansas coach Tracy Bunge said. "She really helped herself out today, too." It was the top of the seventh inning when Humphreys helped herself out. Senior shortstop Destiny Frankenstein, had two of the Jayhawks' three hits for the game, led off the inning with a single and advanced to second on freshman third baseman Val Chapple's sacrifice bunt. Freshman outfielder Stevie Crisosto struck out, and then Humphreys stepped up to the plate. Humphreys hit a sharp grounder to the shortstop who overthrew the ball to first base. SEE DOUBLEHEADER ON PAGE 5