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Show I Lady Bird softballers end year with two wins It was a great day for a ball game, said Coach Joy Peterson. Despite the fact that the Lady Birds had not practiced Friday, as Peterson was on a recruiting trip, a situation she said hurt the clubs performance, SUSC kept coming back and scoring runs. In the first game, SUSC beat up the northern girls pitching and scored five times in the bottom of the sixth. Michelle Stewart led off with a looper that dropped field hole. Stewart, who had four into the right-centstolen bases on the day, stole second and third on consecutive pitches. Heather Hobbs walked and stole second, putting two runners in scoring position. Diane Cobey sacrificed to left, scoring Stewart and moving BY BRENT RICHEY With all the hype and the hoopla of last weeks Western Royale and gymnastic exhibition, the Lady Bird softballers kind of got lost in the shuffle. Their final two games of the season, a double header with BYU, originally scheduled for Friday, were changed to Saturday. But the Lady Birds showed that it really didnt matter which day they played. SUSC had five-ru- n innings in both games of the twin bill and fought off a BYU rally in the seventh inning of the nightcap as they won 1 and 10-finishing the 1989 season at er 16-2- 0. 6-- SOUTHERN UTAH STATE COLLEGE, CEDAR CITY Hobbs to third. Hobbs later scored on a passed ball. With one out, Trina Packard walked and Joni Reynolds singled up the middle. Denise Sproul stepped up and doubled to left after Cindy Ropelato made the second out. Packard scored on Sprouls double. Leading Leslie Varoz displayed her power at the plate as she hit the top of the left field fence for a double that scored two more. We hit well and ran well, said Peterson, and Im happy by the way they finished the season. We peaked at the right time. Peterson jerked most of her starters for the nightcap, 4-- 1, THE THUNDERBIRD MONDAY, (CONTINUED ON PAGE MAY 8, 1989 PAGE 11) 10 World gymnasts thrill audience BY BRENT RICHEY The grand finale of the Western Royale held in Cedar City last week took place in the Centrum Friday night as 54 of the greatest Soviet and American gymnasts showcased their talents as part of the 1989 USAUSSR Gymnastics Friendship Tour. Though scores were not kept, several of the gymnasts routines, thrilling the crowd put together with the moves and tricks that earned them Olympic near-perfe- L. .- -i A. s The Soviet redhead, as shes known, is Elena Shevchenko. The 1 gymnast has been a senior team member since 1986 and uas a competitor m the 1988 Olympic Games. In the 1988 Soviet Nationals, she finished third in the honors. Vladimir Artemov, the 1988 Olympic medal winner, performed the champion and four-gol- d high bars and the parallel bars with precision, and completed a one-arswing on the high bars, but faltered on the dismount. SUSC Gymnastic Coach Brent Hardcastle was on hand along with eight women he hopes to recruit for next years squad. I really thought theyd be watering down the routines, he said. But they just went for everything. Thats a real tribute to Cedar City. Competing in her first year on the U.S. National team, Sandy Woolsey hit a triple twist in her floor routine but was less successful on the uneven bars which she broke twice. Receiving the most applause during the introductions was BYUs Scott Burr who was nursing an injured calf. But it did not slow his rings routine until the dismount where he stumbled. Elena Shevchenko and Svetlana Baitova performed together on the uneven bars a feat not seen in competitive gymnastics. Besides the normal routines put together by the athletes, Paul Hunt, owner of a gymnastics academy in Murray, Utah, provided comic relief by spoofing several events in his leotard as the fictitious Paulette Huntesquieu. Before his, or her, uneven bars performance, he chalked up to the elbow and landed on his back on the dismount. 1988 Olympian Charles Lakes mixed audience appeal with the height that has made him famous in his floor exercise and high bar routine, an event that scored him a 9.95 at the Seoul Olympics. Weve traveled all over, and Ive never been more overwhelmed, said Lakes. This was my first rodeo, my first ballet. I have been on the edge of my seat. A retired Scott Johnson, a competitor in the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games, explained why he is still competing at 28. I love the gymnastics. As long as they keep asking me, Ill do it. At 28, Johnson was the oldest competitor and is the owner of 22 medals in his years of competing at the U.S. Olympic Festival more than any other athlete. He performed the parallel bars and rings. |