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Texas A8cM
The Battalion Sports
February 24, 1983 i/Page 9
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Double trouble
Stoll, McDonald ready for run at softball title
by Frank L. Christlieb
Battalion Staff
I When Lori Stoll and Shan
McDonald wind up, the Aggie
Koftball team starts ticking.
Just like a pair of dependable,
hself-winding watches, these two
Jathletes have withstood the test
!|of time. Sure, they’ll take a lick
ing every so often, but it’s never
poo much to take them out of
t ommission.
The Texas A&M softball
■earn has ticked loud and long
■with Stoll and McDonald, both
Senior pitchers in their final sea
son with the Aggies.
During the past three and a
lalf years, these two pitchers
land their Aggie teammates have
j shared the heartbreaking losses,
.the close-but-no-cigar games
[land the emotional victories. Af
ter leading Texas A&M to the
■Association for Intercollegiate
’Athletics for Women national ti
tle last spring, Stoll and McDo
nald say they’re not finished yet.
a But after the national title,
dial's left? Try the NCAA
championship, toward which
Toach Bob Brock’s Aggies will
begin working when the spring
on opens Tuesday. Texas
A&M, which now has a home
yield on campus in the intramu
ral complex near Olsen Field,
Will host the U niversity of Evans
ville in a double-header that
afternoon at 3.
Stoll, who has compiled a
Jareer record of 137-18 at Texas
A&M, looks at the NCAA crown
as the Aggies’ main goal this
season.
I “I’d say I have more desire to
win the NCAA championship,
Because we didn’t face some of
the teams last year in the
AIAW,” she said. “I’d say it’ll be
j as tough in the NCAA as in the
! AIAW. A lot of teams have
j changed, but I’m sure it’s going
I
to be tough.”
The Aggies, who lost five
seniors from last year’s 84-9
squad, finished the 1982 fall sea
son with a 32-3 record. This
year’s team, Stoll says, has the
necessary ingredients to keep
moving toward another title.
“I’d say that the people we lost
had more experience, knowing
when to do what,” the Chili-
cothe, Mo., native said. “That’s
what our freshmen will have to
learn. They have the talent, but
they have a lot to learn about
what to do and when to do it. A
lot of the freshmen have played
at nationals with their summer
teams, so it’s not completely new
to them.”
McDonald, who has spent her
life in Scarborough, Ontario,
has a 116-19 record with the
Aggies and was named 1982
player of the year. She said she
anticipates a tougher season as a
result of the team’s jump from
the AIAW into the NCAA.
“I think it’ll be a lot tougher,”
McDonald said. “The schedule
is heavier, but since we’re not in
a conference, the schedule isn’t a
warmup for nationals. It’s a
route to nationals, and if we
don’t do well in that, we can’t say
anything about the ‘next game.’
I think that to win the national
championship, we may have to
get tougher.”
Stoll, who holds seven Texas
A&M pitching records, began
her softball career at the age of 9
in Missouri. Now, after 13 years
of playing, the left-hander
throws at speeds up to 70 mph
during the Aggies’ games.
“I still need a lot of develop
ment,” Stoll said. “My fastball
has been about it, so I’ve been
trying to work on a rise pitch and
a drop. My drop has been all
right, but it still needs a lot of
work.”
Although it seems that com
petition between the two pitch
ers would be fierce, Stoll said
that’s not the case.
“I wouldn’t say there’s any
competition,” she said. “We
work together well, because
she’s right-handed and I’m left-
handed. If Coach Brock ever
takes one of us out, it’s such a
completely different look that
we show the other team.”
But with a two-pitcher rota
tion, what gives Stoll the stamina
to pitch day after day and main
tain her control and speed?
“I like to win,” she said with a
laugh. “I just go out and throw.
Sure, I get psyched up, but that’s
not a big part of it. Last year at
nationals, we had to win because
we’d gotten so close the last two
years and hadn’t won it. Last
year, I really wanted to win bad.”
The pressure in the 1982
double-elimination national
tournament built up right away,
as the Aggies lost to U.S. Inter
national University in the open
er. But instead of folding, Texas
A&M won seven straight games
and defeated Oklahoma State in
the final, as Stoll won her 34th
game of the season.
Stoll has encountered situa
tions in which her strength and
determination played key roles.
For instance, during her sopho
more year Stoll pitched in a 29-
inning game here against
UCLA, only to lose by a score of
2-1.
“1 can pitch,” she said, “as
long as it takes to win. In the
29-inning game against UCLA,
I was tired mentally, but not so
much physically. My arm just
doesn’t seem to get tired that
easily.
“Mentally, that game was one
of the hardest I’ve ever played.
There were so many innings ...
where they’d get runners in
scoring position and I’d get real
hyped up about it. I’d get them
out and it’d be a relief for that
inning. But then they’d come
right back and do it again. At
nationals, there was pressure in
every game, because we had to
win them all after losing that
first one.”
With the Aggies involved in
several tournaments each sea
son, Stoll and McDonald face
days when one or both of them
must pitch twice in the same day.
But Stoll said that doesn’t hinder
her pitching performance.
“Soreness has been a problem
before,” she said. “If I lay off
pitching for two or three days
and pitch a game, I get a sore
arm. But during games, I can
keep pitching. During the sum
mer I’ve had to pitch six games
in the same day.
“It’s hard for me tojust throw
pitches to a catcher in practice.
It’s hard to get motivated to do
that. I’d rather just play games
all the time.”
As for the Aggies, Stoll said,
the defense has been the most
consistent aspect of the team.
“I’d say our defense would be
strongest point,” Stoll said. “We
usually hold the other teams
long enough until our offense
can give us a run. I feel good
about the defense every time I
go out. They seem to always get
to the ball, wherever it’s hit.
“If we score the run early in a
game, it eases the pressure
some, because you know that
you have a one-run leeway. But
when you get to the seventh in
ning and it’s 0-0, then the press
ure starts getting worse.”
McDonald’s participation on
the Canadian National Team
during the past two years has
brought her a great deal of ex
perience. The squad, which
travels around the world to play,
placed fifth at the world cham
pionships the past summer in
Taiwan.
But the 5-foot-10-inch McDo
nald hasn’t been a pitcher dur
ing her entire career. If not for
her coach during eighth grade,
McDonald still might be playing
at first base or in the outfield.
“We needed a pitcher for the
school team, but they wouldn’t
let me pitch because I always had
speed but no control. T hey were
afraid that I was going to hurt
someone and they wanted it to
be fun.
“But then that summer, the
See PITCHERS page 11
Softball pitchers Shan!
McDonald, above, and
Lori Stoll, left, return this
spring to lead the Aggie
softball team, which won
the AIAW national title
the past season.
The Student Government
TRADITIONS COUNCIL
Commends and congratulates the spirit
displayed by all those who participated in
big emf
o
c
o
c
.... C
0
The Spirit of Aggieland is alive and well because you care
o»!
ERJ
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