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Show Sports & Outdoors SOUTHERN UTAH STATE COLLEGE CITY THE THUNDERBIRD MONDAY, APRIL 9, 1990 PAGE 10 Softball loses two in OT BY BRENT RICHEY Extra innings is one facet of the game that the Southern Utah State softball team had not faced until last weekend. The Lady Thunderbirds were in California to compete in a tournament hosted by Cal State Hayward that began Friday. Finishing with a 3 mark in the tourney, SU is now 22-The Lady Birds return to the Cedar City diamond tomorrow to face UNLV in a double header that begins at 1 p.m. In the California series SUSC kicked things off with a 1 victory over the host Hayward club the first of three games that went extra innings. In womens softball, a game that is tied after seven innings of play is considered overtime. If the contest is still knotted headed into the tenth inning, then the International Rule takes effect. Designed to shorten the game, the International Rule allows a team to begin the inning with a runner on second base offering an easier chance to score the tie breaker. In the tournament, however, the extra innings rule went into effect with the eighth inning. Saturday SUSC played three games, losing the first to Chapman College in eight innings. Genie Turley (10-5- ) in the defeat. Lome Muir (10-2- ) then hurled a pitched a three-hitte- r but lack of offense by SUSC helped Sonoma win The final game of the day was a 1 win over UC Davis. SUSC lost its final game of the tournament on Sunday, falling 1 in eight to Portland State. rule hurt her club. If you Coach Joy Peterson said the havent experienced the rule, you have to start thinking about what youre going to do, she said. Were really not very fast, and were not very deep, both of which are important factors in extra innings. Peterson said her teams play against UC Davis was its best performance all season. We all played together; we were all involved, we all contributed, and we werent afraid to swing the bat. When SU faces UNLV tomorrow, Peterson said the pitching will be tougher. UNLV is one of the toughest teams well play this season. Theyre very competitive, and I hope were ready for them. 2-- 2-- two-hitt- 2-- 4-- 2-- The SUSC women's softball team finished 2-- 3 in a weekend tournament, playing three Golfers face final tourney The competition will not get any easier for the SUSC golf team when it closes its spring season at the Grand Canyon Invitational beginning today. The tournament will be played at the Wigwam Golf and Country Club in Litchfield Park, Am., with 36 holes scheduled today and the final 18 to be played tomorrow. Teams entered in the two-da- y tournament include several national title contenders, according to Tom Kingsford, SUSC golf coach. The tournament field includes nine teams which have finished above the Thunderbirds in meets this year, including University of Texas-Sa- n Antonio, which won the St. Marys (Texas) Spring Invitational two weeks ago, and Texas Lutheran, which was runnerup in the rugged Sugar Tree Invitational later that same week. Also entered are Boise State and Washington State, which finished e at SUSCs season opener this spring in Boise, Idaho. It goes without saying that well need to play much nearer our potential than we did two weeks ago on our Texas trip if we expect to finish up in the pack, said Kingsford We are capable of better 54-ho- 20-tea- two-thre- than what we showed in those two tournaments. SUSC finished last in the Sugar Tree and seventh among nine teams at the St. Marys tourney. Freshman Jason Mitchell led SUSC individual scoring at both meets. He fired a 165 at St. Marys and a 245 for 54 holes at the Sugar Tree. Those scores pushed him past Ken Thornock for the best average on the SUSC squad. Mitchell averages 81.25; Thornock is right behind at 81.38. m 36-ho- in extra innings Trainer has to be concerned SU's Ben Davidson says its the trainers job to be concerned for athletes If you ask him which kind of tape is the best, hell tell you Johnson &c Johnson, and he ought to know. Its his trademark; its his job. The tools of his trade are scissors and tape, salts and bandages, composure and a big heart. Ben Davidson is SUSCs athletic trainer, a job he became involved with in high school because It seemed enjoyable. Davidson has been a trainer at the collegiate level for 16 years, at SUSC since 1979, and may be the most trusted man m Thunderbird athletics. The athlete has to have a tremendous amount of trust in you, he says. That is something that you earn. It isnt a given because youre in charge. Davidsons duties run the gamut e e from taping to doctoring. If an athlete is seriously injured during a game, he is responsible for the athletes care until the paramedics arrive. When an injury occurs, we make the evaluation of what has happened, trying to determine how serious it is, and we deal with the rehabilitation later on, explains Davidson. But a good deal of his time is spent in the care and prevention of injuries. pre-gam- post-gam- As a trainer, you have to be concerned, he says, but you have to have a certain point of detachment so you can do your job. You cant lose you composure taking care of the individual. You have to accept that the injury has occurred, so now lets take care of it. Detachment is the area Davidson says he has the most difficulty with. My least favorite aspect of the job is when a good athlete cant participate, and the more serious the injury, the harder it is to accept. It becomes similar to someone m your family getting hurt, he says. Born m Dublin, Texas, Davidson was raised in Moab, Utah. In high school he volunteered to tape for the football team because he wanted to be involved. In 1972 he graduated from SUSC and went on to Indiana State where he received a masters degree. In 1970 he passed the National Athletic Trainers Association, Inc., test which licensed him to be a trainer. Since then he has lived with the rewards and the hardships of what started as something to keep him busy. The thing thats so satisfying is (CONTINUED ON PAGE 11) |