| OCR Text |
Show Womens softball shapes up A gigantic turnaround from a 1 season to a year as a ligitmate contender for the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference championship is what Coach Joy Peterson is looking for from the SUSC womens softball team. The season will kick off with scrimmage games with Dixie College, Mesa Communitiy, Central Arizona and Glendale Community. The regular season begins March 20 at Fort Lewis. We can be a serious title threat, Peterson said. In fact I would look for Southern Utah, Mesa College, and New Mexico Highlands University to be the teams most likely to be fighting it out for the championship. Peterson may be looking even beyond RMAC honors. We will be hosting the conference tounament this year. If perchance we should win the conference tournament, we would host the district playoffs, and if we should win those, the would also be held here. The postseason schedule could be very good to us. Petersons optimism stems from the existence of better pitching, more playing experience and more game savvy this season. She will be assuming n absence. coahing duties after a It may be midseason before we really start playing our best. There are lots of things still to put together, Peterson said. We have plenty of positions still to firm up, but we have some good athletes intending to play. Well be all right. The number one spot of pitcher will probably be four-seaso- held down by freshman Jennifer Smith, while at least three other players will vie for the other regular starting role. Smith, a member of the Canadian junior nation team, throws several pitchies effectively, and is said to have excellent control. As a bonus, she can also play first base, and she is a good hitter with lots of enthusiasm for the game, Peterson said. Two people who had considerable experience behind the plate will share the duty as catcher. Senior Chris Razmic and sophomore Sue Lavender, both from Las Vegas are both considered good catchers and could be in line for playing time at other positions when not catching. Chris has a good sense for the ball, and Sue is improving rapidly with experience, Peterson pointed out. Peterson feels that first base, while not weak, is questionable. Smith will probably handle this position when not pitching. If she is on the mound look for Kelly Even, a junior from Cedar City, or Pam Olsen, a sophomore from Helper, to take over. Peterson feels that third base will be a strong position, and both second base and shortstop will depend on how quickly new people start to produce. A lack of experience in the middle of the infield may hurt some early in the year. The outfield should be adequate, hitting will be good, speed average. Gymnasts to compete in NA1A SUSC gymnasts have earned the right to compete in the NAIA national meet March at Millidgeville, Ga. for the fourth consecutive 0 year. Each year the 16 teams with the best average team scores are invited to the national meet. Ratings last week had the Thunderbirds ranked 13th. One more rating will be released before the national meet, but SUSC has good enough scores to guarantee as spot in nationals. The teams average score is 119.44. Their best of the season came in the recent Rocky Moutain Athletic Conference championships, a 124.65. "The competition gets tougher each year, SUSC Coach Kathryn Berg said. We have had to make progress in our program here in order to keep up. Two other RMAC schools will be competing in Georgia. Conference champion Southern Colorado and Adams State College will also represent the RMAC. SUSC is not expected to place anyone in the top six nationally in the all around, but the Thunderbirds do have some gymnasts capable of placing high in the specialties, according to Berg. Brenda Shaw is expected to do very well on the uneven parallel bars. She is a junior from West Valley City and SUSCs highest scorer in the all around. Karen Smith, a junior from West Jordan, and Yolanda Montoya, a junior from Flagstaff, Az finishers in the floor exercise. are possible top-si- x Jennifer Walke, a freshman from Sandy, could be a surprise in the vault, bars, or floor exercise. Intramural ski meet draws crowd Intramural skiing had a meet at Brian Head last week. There was a good turnout, said Mike Stoedter, the administrator for intramural skiing. Over 50 people showed up. In the mens adavanced competition, It was pretty close, said Stoedter. Mick Smith placed first with a time of 29.112, Richard Keller took second at 29.491 and Kerry Crofts came in third at 29.540. Kenny Hicks took first in mens intermediate at 32.425. Karl Hugh came in second at 32.902 with Steve Johnson placing third at 32.904. For the womens advanced first place went to Gretchen Bear with a time of 34.252. Leah Jones came in second place at 36.587 and Kelly Leavitt took third at 40.184. In the womens intermediate competition with a time of 37.286 Debbie Gatza placed first. Mary Matril came in second at 38.951 and Kathy Best placed third at 43.315. Stoedter said there was a misunderstanding over free skiing, for which he said he would like to apologize to those who attended the event. The free skiing was on the racing course, but campus members had to pay for additional skiing. First place winners received Friday, said Stoedter, there will be a crosscountry skiing race. The course will cover approximately one mile and is open to any campus members who are interested in participating. Those who would like to join in the ents, faculty or staff members, said Stoedter, should meet at the PE Building at 2 p.m. Friday. fun-stud- Errors marked a 0 baseball loss to open the California swing for the Thunderbirds Thursday, but Larry Wilsons charges came back for a 4 win Friday. In the opener, UC San Diego made the most of their nine as errors hits and five senior righthander Darren Garrick was touched for the 9-- 5-- nine hits, including first baseman Todd Wartmans bases-loade- d triple in the fourth a and single in the inning eighth to drive in the winning run. SUSC was slated to meet Point Loma in a doubleheader Saturday before returning home to host the BYU Cougars for two doubleheaders Friday and loss. Saturday. Later this month (Mar. Fridays victory snapped a e winning streak for the the Thunderbirds take part in in the Doubletree University of San Diego as southpaw Pat Moriarty went the Phoenix, joining teams from Grand Canyon College, Linfield distance on the mound, 11 strikeouts and College, Western State, notching Colorado State and Eastern holding the hosts to five hits. The Thunderbirds racked up Washington. 16-2- five-gam- al |
