Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 27, 1987)
Wednesday, May 27, 1987/The Battalion/Page 5 Sports I Andaya, Lady Aggies are national champs IjA&M roars back to beat UCLA twice to grab softball title '■'bn i I From Staff and Wire Reports OMAHA, Neb. — After three years of frustration, Shawn Andaya finally got what she deserved — a ’'geroi ' whicli for <| “Pped t; !'pN s ecnn! fulfil nltional championship for her and the Texas A&M softball team. Ha&M, 54-8, shook off a second- place rut in the Softball College World Series as Andaya pitched two victories over UCLA with a near perfect performance here last Sun- d |y- ■Andaya, a senior from Lodi, Bilif., pitched a perfect game for a Qn 1-0 victory in Sunday’s f irst game, in ' ’ which the Lady Aggies needed a win to force a second game for the N^j championship. "4 vHTexas A&M finished second on its two trips to the series, losing to \m fCal State-Fullerton last year and to UCLA in 1984. ■ Andaya was the losing pitcher 5 jiboth times in the championship ■me. kased: was sf $ befoi If UCLA thought they’d have a better chance against a different pitcher in the second game, it was wrong. Andaya was back on the mound, this time allowing only two hits as Texas A&M posted a 4-1 victory for the national title. Andaya drove in half of the runs in the second game. “What an effort by Shawn,” Texas A&M Coach Bob Brock said. “What can you say? I’m just glad she got it all before her career was over.” Brock said he mentioned the team’s second-place finishes before the games on Sunday. “I told the girls that I didn’t know if they had thought about it,” he said, “hut I was awfully tired of be ing No. 2.” Andaya, 36-6, was also tired, but for a different reason. She pitched all six of A&M’s games in this year’s tournament. “I was tired, but I wanted it so bad,” she said. “You just have to get past the point of thinking about it.” Andaya pitched 48 innings in four days, allowing 23 hits and just one earned run. She struck out 49. She went the distance in both games Sunday despite pulling the quadricep muscle in her left leg beat ing out a bunt for a single in the sixth inning of the first game. “Shawn throws a lot from her heart,” Brock said. “She’s so men tally tough. “You could go over right now and you might be able to get her to pitch a third game for you.” A&M was beaten by UCLA 1-0 in the first meeting between the two teams in the Series last Saturday, but the Lady Aggies rallied back with a 4-0 win over Nebraska to stay alive and face the Bruins again. Overall, the Lady Aggies finished with a 5-1 Series record. They blanked Central Michigan 3-0 in the first round of the series, and then squeaked past long-time rival Cal State Fullerton 2-1 in a 13-inning contest that was scoreless until the 11th inning when A&M’s Zina Ochoa scored on a single by Carrie Heightley. The win avenged last year’s two 3- 0 losses to the Titans in the World Series. Other stars for the Lady Aggies included freshman Julie Smith, who had a field day against Nebraska, getting four hits in as many times at bat to set a Series record. Smith also scored two runs, which is another re cord. “Julie Smith ignited us all year,” Brock said, “and she was at her best (against Nebraska).” Aggies’ bid for Series cut short by Cowboys Ags’ Livingstone evolves from fence-slugger into record-shattering SWC third baseman ms w -1411 nsolei msvM owns tefirs a jli The have ooiniei pniw ■of® 1 ’ :rs are | center hun s 11 ion. Deirn* don fli -it sti ned ;esfli®‘ preset ■AUSTIN (AP) — The chain-link fence surrounding the backyard of Bill Livingstone’s home in Dallas had seen better days. His son used it so often as his personal batting cage that the warped fence stood, barely, as testimony to Scott Livingstone’s hitting prowess. a 7-year-old, Scott would toss the ball into the air and swing for the fences. ■Since their son graduated from Lake Highlands High School, the Livingstones have moved to a new home. With a brick wall in back. ■Scott Livingstone demonstrated this year that he’s learned his lessons every bit as well as his father. He overcame a disappointing sopho more season at Texas A&M in 1986 to hit .430 this year. ■He was named the Southwest Conference Player of the Year in an annual poll of players by the Austin Amei ican-Statesman. ■Livingstone’s .430 average puts him third in the A&M record book aid within striking distance of Mike McClure’s .443 average set in 1965. ■The Aggie junior led the SWC this season in home runs with 18 and tied for the league lead in runs bat ted in with an Aggie-record 71. He ranked fifth in triples, sixth in hits and seventh in doubles. “I’ve been coaching 18 years and had a lot of All-Americans,” A&M’s Mark Johnson said, “but Scott ranks right up there with them. He’s not someone who’s just had a lucky year.” On March 7, in the 21st game of the season, Livingstone was caught between third and home on an aborted squeeze play and fell and separated his right shoulder. He missed 10 games. When Livingstone returned to the A&M lineup, it was first as desig nated hitter, until he was able to throw again from third base. In his first full series as DH, he had two hits in 1 I at bats as Arkansas swept A&M in College Station. That’s been about the extent of any slump this season. His average climbed above .400 after the eighth game of the year and has stayed above it ever since. He had only eight hitless games all year, never more than two in a row. Livingstone went into the SWC post season tournament with a 12-game hitting streak and RBIs in 13 straight games. He has hit better against left- handed pitchers (.448) than against righthanded pitchers (.421), an un common statistic for a left-handed hitter. Livingstone labels himself an “un predictable” hitter who never uses the same approach twice. His team mates claim his wrists are so quick he’ll hit one pitch out of the catcher’s mitt and the next way in front of the plate. “The uniqueness about Scott is he has a very quiet swing,” Johnson said. “He doesn’t use a lot of body movement or have a big windup. He just drives through the ball with his hands.” Livingstone still has a certificate for leading a youth league with a .604 average. He was such an excep tional athlete — his body fat has been measured at 5.3 percent — that he also played quarterback in high school. In baseball, he pitched and played three other positions. Out of high school, he was a sixth- round choice of Toronto, but he SMILE FOR YOUR FAMILY’S GENERAL DENTAL CARE $ 29 00 CLEANING, EXAM & X-RAYS ★Call For Appointment, Reg. $44 Less Cash Discount $15 • Dental Insurance Accepted • Emergency Walk Ins Welcome Evening Appointments Available • Nitrous Oxide Available i0r eaii| • Complete Family Dental Care On Shuttle Bus Route (Anderson Bus) ^(Anderson Bus) arePlusN^rti MEDICAL/DENTAL CENTER 696-9578 Dan Lawson, D.D.S., 17 \ 2 S W ‘ Parkway M-F 10 a.m.-8 p.m. (across from Kroger Center) Sat. 9 a.m.-l p.m. flit^ . inad' ail' 1 r flatio" ii# 2 2^ ■gestj u'liip poi" t, ! tst^ I on ■i< e tr/ v;inc f arn c£ |111 niif" 11 ;ift ,,l(: • dai'f in"" 11 x Jit" 1 ' 1 ' at . >' 1 T ..u" 9 OUT OF 10 PUPPIES PREFER THE BATTALION IT-/ U O r) 9\f2. went to college instead, feeling he needed the time to develop into a complete player. When he hit .33 1 with a school-re cord 21 doubles as an A&M fresh man, he began to wonder what all the fuss over college pitching was about. He learned the next year when his batting average dropped to .302. He threw a helmet or two in disgust and was even benched one game after failing to run out a pop fly against TCUl “1 didn’t feel like I played like 1 could have,” Livingstone said. “Coming off my freshman year, I thought, ‘No problem.’ Then I got a slap in the face my sophomore year.” Before the 1986 season he was projected as the eighth pick in the first round of the June draft. When the New York Yankees chose him in the 26th round, he knew it was time to roll up his sleeves. “What’s disappointing to him isn’t always disappointing to everybody else,” Johnson said. “When he hits .320, he doesn’t think it’s a good year. He expects to do well. He has a high confidence level, and when he doesn’t do it, it drives him up a wall.” From Staff and Wire Reports STARKVILLE, Miss. — The Texas A&M baseball team came ever-so-close to a coveted berth in the NCAA College World Series. But Oklahoma State’s Pat Hope pitched to two batters in the bottom of the ninth inning to halt an A&M rally and give the Cowboys an 1 1-9 win Monday in the championship game of the Mideast Regional. Hope’s appearance on the mound came less than 24 hours after he had pitched a complete game against the Aggies Sunday night, leading the Cowboys to a 7- 4 win and sending the tourna ment into a game 1 1 showdown. Throughout the tournament, A&M, definitely the surprise team of the Regional, looked unstoppable. The Aggies opened the Regional last Thursday with a 13-3 shellacking of Purdue, and then followed that with a 7-4 past ing of the host team Mississippi State, a team that shut-out A&M twice during the regular season. The Aggies then faced OSU three straight times, winning the first contest by a score of 4-1. Af ter that, the Cowboys took control and swept the Aggies. Hope entered Monday’s game with one on and the tying run at the plate, and after giving up a single to Don Wren, forced Ever Magallanes to pop up, giving the Cowboys the win and a berth in next week's World Series at' Omaha, Neb. In both the seventh and eighth innings Monday, the Aggies loaded the bases, but a strong Ok lahoma State defense didn’t allow anyone to score. “I’m pleased our guys kept fighting. They could have given up, but we hit the ball hard and that’s all you can ask,” A&M Coach Mark Johnson said. “When you hit the ball, some times it goes and sometimes it doesn’t. Oklahoma State put the ball in play, and ydu have to give them a lot of credit.” » Texas A&M took the lead briefly in the bottom of the in ning as the Aggies scored three runs during a two-out rally. Scott Livingstone and John Byington both reached on sin gles, then Chuck Knoblauch sin gled home Livingstone, and Byington scored on a double by Terry Taylor. In the second inning, the Cow boys scored four runs, chasing Texas A&M starter Darryl Fry, 8- 5, from the mound. Benny Castillo started the in ning with a double, Ray Ortiz reached with a single, and a single by Adam Smith scored Castillo. Anthony Blackmun walked to load the bases and a single by Ventura drove home Ortiz and Smith. Oklahoma State added three runs in the third inning, a single run in the sixth on a home run by Monty Fariss, and rounded out the scoring with a pair of runs in the seventh. With the bases loaded in the fifth, Texas A&M’s Livingstone hit into a double play that scored Maury Martin and left Wren at third base. Byington then hit a two-run homer to left field. Brazos County United Way to sponsor Junior Olympics Registration for the Brazos County Linked Way’s Junior Olym pics will be held June 1-2 at Oak- wood Middle School in College Sta tion. The Olympics will he held June 3- 4 at the A&M Consolidated High School track. Registration times are from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., and 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. both days. Fees are $20 per child and $40 per family. A copy of a birlh certificate is needed at registration. The Olympics will be held in two phases: one for children between the ages of 8-13, and , one for children between the ages of 14-17. Additional information can be ob tained from Director James Giese at 696-7292 or 693-0544. WENDY’S BRINGS BACK OLD FASHIONED PRICES WITH OLD FASHIONED QUALITY, SERVICE 8c VALUE We're Listening To You, Bryan/College Station.... So, We've Rolled Bach Our Prices! 1/4 Pound Single Hamburger 99* 1/2 Pound Double Hamburger $1.89 French Fries 59* Chili 79* Frosty 69* Drinks Small 45* Medium 55* Large 65* Coffee 25*