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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 12, 1988)
Friday, February 12, 1988/The Battalion/Page 11 Rowing J u ! lc * s ' 5oi lstant Q s %,the.J rted S e 'ierate II CAA-champion A&M softball team ade up of ‘average’ Aggie students By Hal. L. Hammons Assistant Sports Editor Club, IVf i;| d get-wis t : () rk on <. _ e may Part two of a two-part series 3Ut wo ue as niiitii^^. ■ I. ^rne Heightley is a completely al Texas A&M student. Bie’s a Recreation and Parks ma- ) n ™ me ffijjwith travel and tourism em- ’ l ‘ le AlUfigsis. She’s taking 15 hours worth if classes. She hates studying for Bi. She even goes to the Dixie Kken. Ill in all, a totally average girl. Ex- ffjtinone aspect. ™ rrie Heightley is a softball [er. She is a three-year veteran of h Bob Brock’s brand of ball at 1. And she is one of 11 or 12 1 students — all softball players what we ; ays. "Since J se. we lce«| a bad yejtj sometliii imewehaiti it to remit] y budget lips andi just an |fornrier players — who can call pselves national champions in a jity sport. devotes about two hours ev- fternoon to a sport she will have ve up after next year. Actually, isajcatcher she has to work with the tinentfur.phers for an extra hour every day. ch sprint I it’s not all that exciting, t in Feb' j Take Thursday for example. She s up with the team on the hh floor of the Read Building workouts. (It’s too cold for out- k practice.) Ihe and 1 1 other women jog nd a basketball court for five utes. Then they stretch for 10 sprint for five more. Then she s up with Zina Ochoa and Re- Blaha for ground-ball drills, e fields 25 grounders from Re- and throws to Zina. Then she es 25. Then she hits 25. Then Felds 25.... fWhy? phat’s what I like to do,” Carrie lains. “I like the game, I like the Ipetition, I like being ori the in. I’ve done really bad in classes be- luseofthat. You’ve just got to want |o it. You find time to do what [want to do.” makes the committment )ld anyoiK chance to ;e from l : at to given! Photo by Gary Bean A&M’s Carrie Heightley gets ready for practice Thursday afternoon as Coach Bob Brock stands in the background. Brock has called the A&M junior “probably the best catcher in the nation.” » me, saic a labv l'l nc * negative, like something she jildmgfriuld avoid if her mind would allow , ta j rs | ( ber. Something she has to psych her- ke again.' I anager of tore, whe red on le when ie Octolx disc all ok self up for, or else her other wants and needs will override her love for the game. “It’s a habit,” she says. “It’s a habit to come out and play every single day. You feel horrible, but you come out here. It’s a chore to put in two to two-and-a-half hours per day.” But the chore is necessary to achieve the desired results come gametime — Gospel According to Brock. s Thursday Brock made it clear once again to the team that warm-up time is not relaxation time. Fun with the team ends when work starts, and it begins again immediately af terward. And practice is work — make no mistake. There’s a lot of chatter be tween the players, but it’s all in the off burf' Angeles caused b r( jhoneeip circuiis'K for se« Pacific ft 1 tUifi: This Vdentines Message Comes Straight Fromlhe Heart. We cordially invite you and your Valentine to celebrate this Sunday at El Chico. But save room for dessert. Because with eveiy double order of fajitas, a generous piece of our special Mexican Apple Pie is yours free. But only after we sizzle it in Mexican brandy and butter, and top it off with a scoop of ice cream. With a deal this sweet, we hope you’ll make plans to come celebrate Valentine’s Day with us. In fact, you might say we have our hearts set on it. -EL CHICO: t SINC t 1 9 3 9 V 3109 S. Texas Ave. Next to Manor East Mall inter good February 14. 1988 pnly. area of encouragement. The focus is making the practice as close as possi ble to the real thing. “When you’re into it in practice, you know you’ll be into it in the game,” Carrie says. And she’s con vinced that four months of the one without any of the other will make the team stronger when it comes time to perform. Everybody — Brock, Carrie, and the rest of the players and coaches — agrees these people eat, sleep, live and party as one. The unity of the players makes the softball experience more fun for Carrie. “I like it because we’re a team,” she says. “You don’t get that very of ten. Most of us are friends. We run around together.” She even lives with her battery partner, pitcher Julie Carpenter. That’s how close the game is to her. But it can’t last forever. Even tually her eligibility will run out and Carrie will bejust another student. But completion of eligibility doesn’t mean an exhaustion of inter est. Both of the seniors from last year’s team — Shawn Andaya and Judy Trussell — have returned to the team this year as student assis tants to Brock. Carrie has some interest in coach ing — her summer in Australia will be as a player-coach — but she says she doesn’t think her career lies there. So it remains that she’s spending hours and hours every day in what most people would consider a “dead end” pursuit. But everyone has to have their hobbies. Carrie’s happen to be in the enter tainment business: she makes her fans happy. She says it is a little discouraging that there aren’t as many softball fans as there are fans of “bigger” varsity sports. But she doesn’t resent that, and in a way she understands that that is the way it always will be. “Men’s athletics is such a big deal,” she says. “There’s professional foot ball, professional basketball, ... I know personally I’d rather go watch Aggie baseball team opens season today Opening day is finally here for the sixth-ranked Texas A&M baseball team as it plays a single game with Lubbock Christian to day at 3, and a doubleheader at 1 Saturday afternoon against the Chaparrals. All the action takes place at Ol sen Field. Today’s game begins an eight- game homestand for the Aggies. A&M will play a doubleheader against Southwest Texas State Tuesday Feb. 16, and a three- game series with the University of New Orleans next weekend. A&M finished 44-22-1 last year and missed the College World Se ries by one game, losing 11-9 to eventual national runner-up Ok lahoma State in the Mideast Re gional in Starkville, Miss. The Chaparrals were 44-29 last year and finished third in the Na tional Association of Intercolle giate Athletics playoffs last year. They are off to an 0-2 start after losing a doubleheader to Baylor Wednesday. A&M’s Sean Snedeker will take the mound in today’s game, while Nick Felix and Randy Pryor will handle the pitching chores in the doubleheader Saturday. Men’s, women’s swim teams to wrap up dual meet season The Texas A&M men’s and wom en’s swimming teams will face their final dual meets of the season when they take on Texas and Louisiana State here this weekend at the P.L. Downs Natatorium. The Aggies swim against Texas today, with the men’s 1000-meter freestyle race beginning at 5 p.m., and all other events beginning at 6. The teams will face LSU Saturday at 1 p.m. The UT women’s team comes into the match ranked No. 2 nationally, a ranking that’s likely to improve after the team knocked off top-ranked Stanford 90-50 last weekend, and the Lady Longhorns have won 18 consecutive matches dating back to February 1986. A&M Coach Mel Nash said he hopes his teams will be up to the challenge. “Both teams are nationally ran ked,” he said. “This will help us tune up for the conference meets, and we should start seeing some faster times.” Basketball teams face Bears Saturday in G. Rollie White Ji. Mgr See Softball page 14 Both Texas A&M basketball teams will return to action Saturday when they play Baylor at G. Rollie White Coliseum. The A&M women’s team will take the floor first in a 2 p.m. game, and the men’s team will play at 7:30 p.m. The Lady Aggies, 10-9 overall and 4-5 in the Southwest Confer ence, lost to Creighton 75-71 last Wednesday in Omaha, Neb. Coach Shelby Metcalfs men’s team is 13-10 and 5-4 in the SWC after a 94-71 loss to Southern Methodist in Dallas. Women’s coach Lynn Hickey said Saturday’s game is a must-win situa tion for A&M. “This is a ‘have-to’ win for us,” she said. “If we’re going to have the op portunity to play in the conference tournament, we have to take this game.” 9®? Sometimes good looks can improve your grades. Svf/V «.»»*<*>*«#»*•' s* Uvsanw s4,i t) f >**$*■.. L. .v.x : •&< n.c vasv ****« tttfrtKWi Vjv to **'>*£$8 Aivv. Tv.c- ttxrsv'.* v> ravU- ■ ft**; rVHt'vJyjjr ’«»&*<■' ^ CC-.NATa.V'V VMS*#* « -riK x W *x «*•<>... mt '•*5555.3- St? x ^ AC,Ual -P-sin 8theIBM . r sonal System/2 Model 25 Collegiate fe St Way to illustrate your point is with an illustration, includes g f Pfe * sonal System/2 Model 25 Collegiate (which thinL q - sottware )> you can show your professors what you really nK. oimply call up the notes from your document file, then msert the graphics you’ve created. 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