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Show The Thurukrbird Monday March 25, 1985 Page 13 oris Outdoors Hj softball team takes third in Dixie T-Bi- rd The Southern Utah State softball team finished in a tie for third place with BYU in the Dixie College Invitational Tournament last week. The Birds won three of eight games against good competition to raise their overall record to an even This tournament was an excellent experience for us, said Thunderbird coach Joy Peterson. The Birds started out the tournament very slowly, losing four of their first five games. Peterson attributed the losses to the many errors they commited. We probably averaged four errors a game in the tournament, Peterson said. But thats what happens when the players are still young and inexperienced. Its still the beginning of the season. Peterson also mentioned the inconsistent hitting as a 7-- loss to problem. In Fridays the Stars, SUSC collected just one hit. Later, in a 0 loss to had only two BYU, the base hits. The 'Birds showed that they could smack the ball the next day with a 28-- 3 smashing of swatted a CNCC. Every base hit before the game was called after five innings. Having some momentum left over from the drubbing earlier in the day, the Thunderbirds defeated Belco Jennifer Smith took this game into her own hands by gathering five hits. Smith doubled with the bases loaded to drive in three. With SUSC in the semi-finaof the 12 team single elimination tournament Saturday, the Birds suffered a close 1 loss to Snow College to put them out of contention for the title. Snow scored all three runs on errors. 6-- 4-- ls 3-- Tami Sinclair keeps a close eye on the ball during last weeks action. Sinclair batted scored four runs during St aurdays game with CNCC in St. George. Baseball team ready for home stand The Southern Utah State baseball team is primed e home stand beginning today and ready for a at 1 p.m. against the University of Utah. Were very excited about playing the University of Utah, said Bill Groves, SUSC coach. Its developed into quite a rivalry over the last three or four years. Groves served as an assistant coach at Utah under head coach Lonnie Keeter and thinks the Utes will be a force in the WAC this season. nine-gam- I think they will do very well this year, Groves said. They could give BYU a run for their money in the WAC this year, but we have good players too. Its going to be a great series. According to Groves, the key to winning the series with Utah will be the pitching. If our pitching is consistent throughout the series, well come out on top, said Groves. Besides pitching, one of the keys to winning this week is the much improved hitting. The team batting average (which was in the low .200s two weeks ago) has raised up to an impresive 312. Were coming on now, said Groves. The team is excited to get outside into the warm weather. The The key to the Utah confrontation, according to Bird skipper Bill Groves, will be pitching. players can look good in the gym, but you cant tell anything until youre out on the field. Were probably the' best gym team in the nation, he added jokingly. Utah, an experienced team, will face a squad with only three returning players, but Groves says he isnt worried about that. Were still learning, growing, and developing, but the players are learning how to win. We teach our players to win every inning both offensively and defensively. This is an important aspect of our team, Groves says. The Birds play a doubleheader against Utah today at 1 p.m. and Tuesday at noon. .They will then travel to Las Vegas Wednesday-.t- o d Nebraska. play Friday and Saturday the Thunderbirds come back home for a pair of 1 p.m. twinbills against the Mesa Mavericks. We have some tough games ahead, Groves said. Its not every day you get to play a team the caliber of Nebraska. Mesa is also a good team. We did well against them in Pheonix and we need these games to get a good seed come tournament time in April. 18th-ranke- Tom Garvin does a little sliding into the plate of his own as Brian Cassidy heads toward first base during last weeks practice. 4-a- Hunt sisters named Kodak All-Distri- ct Southern Utah State Colleges Annette Turley and Darla Hunt are two of five collegiate basketball Womens players named to the Kodak Basketball Team for Area Two NAIA colleges. Area Two includes Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah. The Womens Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) selects team members. Turley and Hunt are sisters (Turley is married) who led the Thunderbirds statistically all season. Hunt was the teams top scorer with an average of 15.0 points. Turley averaged 12.1 points and a school record setting 6.1 assists. We had a successful season (16-- 9 before three forfeits) this year, and a great deal of the credit should go to the Hunt sisters, Boyd Adams, SUSC womens basketball coach says. They are good athletes with good, coachable attitudes. The five athletes were chosen for this honor through a selection process that involves all womens basketball coaches at colleges and universities that are WBCA members and involved at the NAIA level, Phyllis Holmes, selection chairwoman and head womens basketball coach at Greenville College, Greenville, 111., said. Other Area Two team members are Anne Cooper and Michelle Neely, St. Marys College, and Becky Miller of Biola University. Nine such teams were selected at the NAIA level, representing the various regions in the country. selection is the first step in the process Basketball to pick the 1985 Kodak Teams. While all 45 women named to the nine teams in this division are eligable for nomination to their divisions team, the top vote getters are considered the leading candidates. THe 1985 lower division team will be announced Wednesday, and the Divison I teams will be announced one day later during the NCAA Womens Basketball Championships. ct ct |