UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, February 12, 1997
3B
Softball season gets swinging
Jayhawks head to Texas to play in spring tourney
By Matt Woodruff
Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas softball team has many of the same players as last season, but as it showed last fall, it is not the same team.
With the new coaching staff, head coach Tracy Bunge and assistant coaches Marla Looper and Carla Marchetti, came an aggressive style and a new atmosphere. The coaches want the team to win and to have fun doing it.
"If at the end of the season we can look back and see that these girls are having fun on the field again, then our year was a success." Bunze said.
The team will carry 16 girls on the roster, a number that Bunge said was just about right. There is only one senior,
second baseman Heather Richins, but the coaches feel there is plenty of leadership on the team.
"I think we have a good deal," Looper said. "We have a large junior class with a lot of experience."
That junior class consists of outfielders Sara Holland, Julie True, and Jennifer Funkhouser, shortstop Michelle Hubler, catcher Kristina Johnson and third baseman Sarah McCann.
Possessing a rare combination of speed and power, Holland was the team's driving force during the last spring season, hitting .372 with 21 doubles (a Kansas single-season record), six home runs and four steals.
"She had a great season last year and I only see her getting better," Bunge said. "Sara brings so much to the field for us and I'm excited to have her at the top of the lineup."
Johnson led the team in RBI with 31, ranking her second in the KU record books for single-season RBI by a sophomore. Hubler also will return to add consistency and punch to the middle of
"I'm very happy with our starting nine," Bunge said. "I think this is a solid offense that will score a lot of runs."
the lineup.
The Jayhawks will also have an experienced defense with Hubler and Richins up the middle and Sarah McCann at third. True has been a standout defensively, with a .937 fielding percentage and eight assists last season.
"She does a tremendous job defensively in center field and has a powerful arm in the outfield." Bunge said.
The pitching staff will be made up of sophomores Courtney Wilson and Sarah Workman and freshmen Heather Hibben and Christy McPhall.
The team will have its first test of the season this weekend when it travels to Arlington, Texas to compete in the UTA Intercollegiate tournament.
"We're looking forward to it," Looper said. "It will be good to face someone other than ourselves. They've worked hard in the off-season, worked hard in the preseason, and it's time for us to face an opponent and show what we've got."
Softball Statistics
Batting
Heather Richins 2B Br Sr. .278 0 23 1 Sara Holland OF Jr. .372 6 24 4 Michelle Hubler SS Jr. .326 3 25 4 Kristina Johnson C Jr. .304 2 31 4 Sarah McCann 3B Jr. .257 0 10 2 Julie True OF Jr. .194 0 7 5 Jennifer Funkhouser OF Jr. .174 0 13 2 Biting
| | ERA IP BB SO |
| :--- | :--- |
| Courtney Wilson So. | 3.57 15 8 2 |
| Sarah Workman So. | 2.13 190 4 7 |
Katie Malone
Christy McPhail
Joy Peters
Shannon Stanwix
Hometown Position Class
Topeka OF Fr.
Clay Center C So.
Huntington
Beach, Calif. P Fr.
Dodge City OF Fr.
Overbrook P/OF Fr.
Decataur, 1B/3B Jr.
Lawrence 1B Fr.
Player excels in academics and baseball
Clean-up hitter has dreams of later attending medical school
By Harley Ratliff
Kansan sportswriter
Last night Josh Dimmnick took a test. Tomorrow he will spend the morning in class and the afternoon at baseball practice. This weekend he will be hitting cleanup for the Jayhawks as they open their season in Las Vegas.
To say Dimmck's schedule is full might be an understatement.
Although he must balance academics and baseball, Dimmick has more than excelled.
While he has put up good numbers on the diamond during his first two years at Kansas, it has been what Dimmick has done in the classroom that has earned him national accolades.
Since arriving in Lawrence, Dimick has accumulated a long and impressive list of academic awards
As a freshman, he was named Academic All-Big Eight. Dimmick continued to earn honors last season. After his sophomore campaign, he was named to the first team Phillips 66 Academic All-Big Eight, Academic All-District VII, and the first team GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-American. He was also the recipient of the University of Kansas' Sallie Mae Student Athlete Award.
He currently is majoring in genetics and has a 3.86 grade point average. Dimnick said that by keeping up in the classroom, he would have something to fall back on if he doesn't make a career out of baseball.
"I try to work hard at both school and baseball equally."
"I've got a full workload," Dim-
- Josh Dimmick Clean-up hitter
mick said. "But I would like to have an opportunity to go to med school after I'm through with baseball."
Even though Dimmick remains diligent about his schooling, his father would like to see him follow through with his dream of making it in professional baseball.
"Josh is very serious about his baseball. Right now that's plan A," Gregg Dimmick said. "A lot of parents would be concerned if their child left school, they wouldn't come back. We don't have that concern with Josh. He has a unique inner-motivation."
"I try to work hard at both school and baseball equally," Josh Dimmick said. "I don't get to go out as much as some people, but I live a fairly normal life, considering all that is going on."
Even though Dimmick puts in
plenty of time in the classroom, he is no slouch on the baseball field.
With the first baseball game of the year on Friday against the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Dimmick will be one of the key veterans who head coach Bobby Randall will be counting on.
"Josh is a player that his teammates trust and look to for leadership," Randall said. "He has a great work ethic and made big improvements from last season."
Having a player with Dimmick's academic qualities at such a demanding position is reassuring, Randall said.
"There is a terrific transference between academic ability and athletic mental acuity." Randall said. "He is going to be our Jacque Vaughn. He will help to quarterback this team."
Men, women golfers prove that change is good
The Associated Press
Mark O'Meara was playing well and there was no reason to switch golf balls. He did it anyway and has had no regrets.
"Change is sometimes a word that people are scared of," O'Meara said about his switch last year from a wound ball to Top-Flite's three-piece Strata.
"I look at change as a possible opportunity," O'Meara said.
He has made the best of that opportunity, winning three times since making the change.
was third the next time out.
The first tournament O'Meara played with the Strata was the MCI at Hilton Head last April. He shot 30 on the first nine he played and ended up finishing second. The next week he won at Greensboro and
The Strata with its soft core, thin elastic inner layer and soft Z-balata cover promises added distance on full shots and better feel and spin control around the green.
"Payne Stewart mentioned to me that I might want to try it," O'Meara said yesterday from his home in Orlando. "I started experimenting with the Z-balata. Spalding came to me to say we have this new product we've been testing for four to five years."
"The first thing I noticed is that the solid ball putted better," O'Meara said. "It was less likely to go out of round. I just liked the way it rolled on the greens better."
More than 30 players are now playing the Strata on tour and it is the only ball besides Titleist with a PGA Tour victory this year.
ALL HAIL IRWIN: Hale Irwin, already a two-time winner on the Senior Tour this year and a six-time winner since turning 50 in June of 1954, said his biggest disappointment last year was not winning after capturing the PGA Senior Championship in April.
"It has always been my intention to win golf tournaments," Irwin said in a conference call yesterday.
Irwin, who won 20 times on the regular tour including three U.S. Opens, said comparing his success there and on the Senior tour is like comparing two different eras of your life.
since Sam Snead in 1973. The PGA Seniors, which was first played in 1937, is the oldest of the senior events.
"I love the daytime," Irwin said.
"But I love the night, too."
Irwin will try April 17-20 to be the first person to successfully defend the PGA Seniors Championship
"The senior tour has been a dream come true for many of us," Irwin said. "To be able to extend your career is great."
Irwin pointed out one other advantage of the Senior tour.
"We don't have to worry about Tiger Woods coming over and playing the seniors yet, so the guys feel like they have an opportunity," he said.
THE SUN NEVER SETS ON THE LPGA: The LPGA is on the second leg of an ambitious swing that will take the women halfway around the world and back. After playing in Florida last week, they are in Los Angeles this week then Hawaii followed by Australia.
The first LPGA event ever held in Australia — the Alpine Australian Ladies Masters Feb. 27 through March 2 — has the strongest women's field ever in the country.
A total of 75 members of the LPGA Tour will make the trip, including Laura Davies, Karrie Webb, Kelly Robbins, Meg Mallon, Betsy King
and Val Skinner.
Tournament organizers were disappointed, however, at some of the big names missing from the field.
Among those not making the trip are Annika Sorenstam, Liselotte Neumann, Helen Alfredsson, Dottie Pepper, Michelle McGann and Emilie Klein.
"I am a little disappointed," said Australian LPGA chief Don Johnson, who would like to see the event—the only one open to members of all the main women's tours and boasting the richest prize money outside the majors—develop into a form of world championship.
He believed late notice of the event's new LPGA Tour status — it could only be announced last November because of the wait for a government go-ahead for its tobacco company sponsorship — had kept some leading players away.
DIVOTS: English auto racing star Nigel Mansell is returning to competition — as a golfer. The former world motor racing champion in the 72-hole Strokesaver La Manga Masters amateur event in Spain this week against a field that includes
Gary Wolstenholme — who defeated Tiger Woods in the Walker Cup. Mansell is a 2 handicap. ... Get your Tiger Woods fix from The Golf Channel this week. It has the Australian Masters from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. ET today and tomorrow and 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday. ... The Doral-Ryder Open March 7 through 10 will mark the return to competitive golf for Greg Norman, who has missed most of the last three months nursing a sore back and retooling his game under the eye of David Leadbetter. Nick Faldo, Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, Fred Couples and Jesper Parnevik are among the others in the first Grade-A field of the year.
Don't be surprised if Tiger Woods pops up also. ... Jumbo Ozaki will play in his 11th U.S. Open this year and for the 10th time it will be on a special exemption granted by the USGA. .. While the Japanese ownership is denying it, the Los Angeles Times says that Pebble Beach is up for sale and that an American development group is interested.
The most famous U.S. course open to the public was sold to Japanese tycoon Minoru Isutani in 1980 by a consortium headed by oilman Marvin Davis.
He has been found liable for the death of two human beings by a jury and a ton of evidence.
Is that the kind of person the NFL wants to represent its organization?
O. J. Simpson should be removed from the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
is that the kind of person the NPL wants to recognize as one of its elite,
Athletes should be honorable
one of the best among this great group of athletes who have played in the NFL?
Roberto Alomar — spit on an ampire.
serious than being found liable for eliminating two humans?
COLUMNIST
Nick Van Exel — pushed a referee into the scorer's table.
Steve Howe — repeated drug problems.
Pete Rose will not be allowed in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame because he allegedly gambled on baseball Allegedly.
The argument can be made that what Pete Rose did, if he did it, may have affected the game itself. His tampering with baseball, if he did it, is detrimental to baseball.
Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry — repeated drug problems, now rehabilitated.
Please respond to the following scenarios and indicate whether or not the person should be allowed in the Hall of Fame of his or her sport. Evaluate the incident, not the player's ability.
Is allegedly gambling more
The question is, where does one draw the line?
Pete Rose — allegedly gambled on baseball.
Dennis Rodman — record number of suspensions and fines, repeated lack of cooperation.
O. J. Simpson — found liable for two deaths.
O. J. Simpson being found liable for the murder of two people is not directly detrimental to football.
Michael Jordan — known gambler,
not on basketball.
Kansan Classifieds Get the Results You want
But is the game more important than human life? Does it matter if athletes are good citizens?
Wilt Chamberlain — 20,000 women?
Isiah Rider — repeated run-ins with the law, including assault, drunk driving, public gambling.
Jack McDowell — flipped unhappy fans the bird.
There should be criteria ensuring that those inducted into the Halls of Fame are not only outstanding athletes, but also decent citizens.
Brett Favre — adducted to pain killers, rehabilitated.
Bobby Cox — beat his wife.
Please respond by e-mailing sports@kansas.com. If you have suggestions for others who should be kept on or kicked out of a Hall of Fame, please make note of them.
Lawrence Philips — assaulted his girlfriend while in college.
Mike Tyson — convicted of rape, served time in jail
The main question is whether off-the-field conduct should be taken into account when determining whether a person is inducted into the Hall of Fame for his or her sport. If so, where is the line drawn?
- It wa, as loud as it ever has been Sunday at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa. It still was no where near the volume of Allen Field House.
- Tonight's game will be the first easy one for the Jayhawks in a while. Kansas 88, Oklahoma State 67.
Other notes:
Lunch • Dinner • Late Night
1601 W. 23rd Southern Hills Center • Lawrence
DINE-IN AVAILABLE • WE ACCEPT CHECKS
Patronize Your Kansan Advertisers