Thursday, February 11, 1988/The Battalion/Page 13
Sports
ational champs training early
ig softball team still strong after loss of seniors
• b
———<jwe'
IS
P, rt one of a two-part series
By Hal. L. Hammons
Assistant Sports Editor '
t’s only early February, but
y’re already out there — running,
^|ng, firing each other up for
Icoming season.
tv face high expectations from
coach, their fans, and them-
ves. They will enter the 1988 cam-
J ranked fourth in the nation,
afs about three places too low
these competitors,
id think they were football
■t even a casual glance reveals
young women play a sport
i little less brutal,
make up the Texas A&M
team. And the similarity be
ll them and their football coun
ts breaks down in more ways
ender.
softball team plays before a
I 1 dozen fans instead of 72,()()().
dies play in a corner of the
thy Intramural Complex, not
ulti-tiered stadium. It costs $1
them instead of $ 15 or $20.
Afci the Aggie softball team won
piional championship last year,
act, softball is the only sport in
A&M has won an undisputed
al championship. Ever. And
:done it three times,
ftball Cpach Bob Brock thinks
am is even stronger than last
team in many respects.
Tle’re going to have a better hit-
|eam, and we weren’t bad last
I Brock says. “We probably
■ even more speed than last
I
led, hitting and pitching were
lam’s biggest assets last year,
lelloss of All-America pitcher
awn Andaya makes the Aggies’
jjuhd play the focus of interest.
■lien you lose an All-America
thei.a lot of people think you’re
Ingdown the tubes,” Brock says,
ver, he says the other return-
trter — Julie Carpenter —
be able to shoulder the bur-
ell.
“1 think Julie Carpenter is one of
the best pitchers in the country —
one of the three or four best in the
NCAA," Brock says.
The second pitcher slot will be
filled by freshman Catherine Sted-
man, a shortstop from the Pan-
American team. Brock says Stedman
hasn’t pitched for a couple of years,
but she is adjusting well and will add
a lot of offensive punch to the
lineup.
Brock says, “There weren’t a lot of
pitchers out there (to recruit), so we
took a chance on Catherine Sted
man.
“What we have here is another Liz
Mizera. This girl already has a repu
tation as a hitter — she earned that
on the Pan Am team.”
Combined with the original Mi
zera, the Aggies’ power-hitting
shortstop, A&M promises to have a
fourth- and fifth-hitter tandem that
will be one of the best in the nation.
Andaya’s absence is not the only
hole that needs filling. Another All-
American, third baseman Judy
Trussed, is also gone.
Her position will be filled by an
other freshman — Rhonda Halbert.
“She’s an impact player,” Brock
says. “She’s going to do a good job.”
Last year’s starting first baseman,
Kelli Biggs, decided not to return to
the team this year, but Brock thinks
converted catcher Karen Robertson
will do well at the position.
The catching chores will be left to
junior Carrie Heightley.
Brock says, “(Heightley) was prob
ably the best catcher in the nation
last year, and what we decided to do
was put her in the outfield and move
her around. What we were doing
was saving her legs for the big
games. If you’ll remember, at the
last of the season, in all the big
games she was behind the plate.”
Andaya and Trussed haven’t left
A&M. Both are still in school work
ing on their degrees, and both are
working with Brock as “student coa
ches.”
“They’re going to give me that
winning attitude,” Brock says. “They
have that respect from the players,
from A&M, and from their coach.
9
Photo by Gary Bean
A&M catcher Carrie Heightley gets ready to throw during a practice
session Wednesday at Penberthy Intramural Complex.
“Eventually I hope one of them
stays here (as an assistant coach), if
not both.”
The success of last year’s team
leaves a problem this year — what to
do next.
Brock says, “There’s not but one
place for A&M to go, and that’s to
stay right where we are. We can’t go
up. We don’t want to go down —
that’s no good.
“I think there has to be more in
centive for a lot of people to play us.
I’ve convinced the players not to
worry about rankings. We’ve got
enough to worry about right now.
“Everybody’s going to be up for
us. But then, they were up for us last
year.”
Brock says he knows what every
one’s hopes and expectations are for
this team, and he thinks the Aggies
have a good chance of fulfilling ad of
them.
Sherrill: A&M recruits
will fill key positions
By Anthony Wilson
Sports Writer
Unlike A&M’s past two football
recruiting classes, the Aggies did
not attract big-name high school
talent this year. Instead, A&M
went after and got players who
could fid key spots in the near fu
ture, Head Coach Jackie Sherrill
said.
“We went after definite needs,”
Sherrill said Wednesday af
ternoon at a press conference at
Cain Had.
“We had a very unique situa
tion because we only went after
players we felt who could play for
us or enhance us and help us win
two more games and go to the
next level.”
Three junior college transfers
and 22 high school seniors signed
national letters of intent with
A&M Wednesday, national sign
ing day.
In October, the A&M coaches
decided to sign one receiver,
quarterback, tight end and run
ning back, four defensive backs,
five linebackers and twelve line
men, Sheri'id said.
A&M’s biggest blue chip re
cruit was Robert Wilson, a 6-foot-
1, 235-pound running back from
Houston Worthing.
Wilson was rated among the
top 50 players in the nation and
was ranked the second-best run
ning back in the state.
However, Sherrill was high on
several other signees, including
tight end Michael Jones and line
backers Anthony Williams, Trey
Logan and Trent Lewis.
“We felt very comfortable with
Mike Jones,” Sherrill said. “He’s
the type of player who can get us
back to the (Rod) Bernstine-type
player. The kind of athlete he is
reminds you of Bernstine. But
he’s a little bigger than Bernstine.
I think he’ll have an opportunity
to play.”
Williams, 6 - f o o t - 2 , 225
pounds, was heavily recruited by
Texas and Oklahoma to play
middle linebacker. Logan was the
District 5-5A Defensive Player of
the Year as a junior and senior at
Denton High School. Lewis, a 6-
foot-3, 230 pounder from Hunt
sville, is also one of the state’s top
linebacker prospects.
“I thought it was important for
us to bring in some linebackers
because of us losing five out of six
next year,” Sherrill said. “All
these guys can run. They fit the
mold of all the guys who we play
at linebacker — guys who are
good-sized and physical.”
The Aggies felt a need in the
defensive backfield with the
losses of seniors Chet Brooks and
Kip Corrington. A&M signed
four defensive backs, all of whom
have 4.5 speed and should be able
to cover in A&M’s style of play,
Sherrill said.
Sherrill said the recruiting pe
riod in the spring is almost as cru
cial as the regular season in the
fall.
“Recruiting is like shaving,” he
said. “You miss a day and you
look like a bum. You’ve got to do
it every day.
“We have two seasons. There’s
one you play on the field from
September through January 1.
The other is national signing day.
What you do is get all the alumni
and former students kind of
pumped up and excited. The
only problem is you get them too
excited and they want to know
why you’re not winning.”
A&M’s 1988 class won’t be
ranked in the top 10 in the coun
try as its 1986 and 1987 classes
were. But, Sherrill said that
doesn’t worry him.
“I don’t mind people saying we
didn’t have the best recruiting
year as long as we win bn Satur
days,” he said.
Sherrill pointed out that the
Notre Dame team the Aggies beat
in the Cotton Bowl had 17 high
school All-Americans on its
squad. He also noted that several
of A&M’s players were not con
sidered hot prospects.
JAMES TAYLOR
NEVER DIE YOUNG
including: #•# (
Never Die Young/Sweet Potato Pie ^
tBone/Baby Boom Baby/Runaway Boy
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
TUN,MEL OF LOVE
Including:
Brilliant Disguise/One Step Up _!<;
Tougher Than The Rest/TUnnel Of Love
TERENCE TRENT
D’ARBY W
INTRODUCING THE
HARDLLNE ACCORDING TO
TERENCE TRENT D’ARBY
including:
If You Let Me Stay/Wishing Well
Dance Little Sister/Sign Your Name
PINK FLOYD
A MOMENTARY LAPSE
OF REASON [m\
including: I
Learning To Fly/The Dogs Of War
One Sllp/Sorrow/On The uirning Away
GEORGE MICHAEL
FAITH m]
Including: L-ISJ
Falth/I Want Your Sex/Hard Day
One More Tty/Father Figure
)80 tool j
le
enaltt i|
tided '"I
; kedtlie|
r peop/j
I'ery dj
ct A
Michael
Bolton
Hunger
MUSIC EXPRESS & C.B.S
STORE WIDE SALE
MERLE HAGGARD
WILLIE NELSON
SEASHORES OF OLD MEXICO
including-
Without You On My Side
When Times Were Good
If I Could Only Fly
Why Do I Have To Choose/Silver Wings
i
ALL ALBUMS
j 1P
librinb
iW ;
hleies'i
has re ,;
d m
el
istra< f 1
in)i s |
ndrwj
hyld
st iff
iin| 1
i did
are/ 1 ?
>a'-d
it W
{0\
look'
i
ible- • |
eyi^
[0«
ji*
MICHAEL JACKSON
BAD
including:
I Just Can't Stop Loving You/Bad
The Way You Make Me Feel/Llberian Girl
Smooth Criminal/Man In The Mirror
Dirty Diana
OUR SUGGESTED
LIST PRICE
BRANFORD MARSALIS
RENAISSANCE
including: LJSJ
Just One Of Those Things/The Peacocks
Love Stone/Citadel
The Wrath (Structured Burnout)
$2.00 OFF
THURS & FRI
ONLY
ALLC.D.’S
fr~
($14.99 & UP)
THURS & FRI
ONLY
Open 10-Midnight
725-B University Drive
Behind Skaggs & McDonalds
846-1741