Sports i
Friday, March 1,1991
The Battalion
Sports Editor Alan Lehmann 845-2688
4ggies attempt to clear cobwebs against Louisiana Tech
KEVIN IVY/The Battalion
Second baseman Sittichoke
Huckuntod throws out an
SHSU batter.
By Steve O'Brien
The Battalion
After a roller-coaster ride this past
we^k, the A&M baseball team gets a
chance to smooth things out against
Louisiana Tech this weekend at Ol
sen Field.
A&M lost two of three games
against top-ranked Louisiana State
last weekend beat Sam Houston
State 4-2 Monday. The Aggies begin
a three-game series against the Bull
dogs with a 3:00 game today.
The Aggies are ranked No. 13 by
Baseball America with an 11-4 re
cord while the Bulldogs are un
ranked at 4-5.
Junior right-hander Ronnie Allen
will start for the Aggies, and Richard
Hunter will take the mound for
Tech.
Allen carries a 2-0 record into the
game with a team-leading 1.29 ERA.
Hunter boasts a 1-2 record with a
2.76 ERA.
The teams square-off in a Satur
day twinbill, starting at 1 p.m.
The Bulldogs’ Mark Harris will
start in the first game and senior
Andy Overholser draws the start for
Saturday’s second game.
Harris 0-1 with a 1.30 ERA and
Overholser is 2-0 with 3.38 ERA.
Probable Aggie starters for the
doubleheader are Jason Hutchins
and Kelly Wunsch.
A&M leads the series 21-6, but
Tech won two of three last year in
Ruston.
In the Aggies’ victory Monday,
former second baseman Trey Witte
started his first game of the year. Al
though he got no decision, A&M
won 4-2 behind the hitting of Sitti
choke Huckuntod. The senior sec
ond baseman smacked an RBI triple
to give the Aggies a 3-2 lead.
Designated hitter David Rollen,
centerfielder Brian Thomas and Ja
son Marshall also provided RBI.
Wunsch, a freshman lefthander,
overcame a weekend battering by
LSU, going three innings to pick up
the win.
A&M leftfielder Mike Hickey
leads the team with three home runs
and 16 RBIs.
Wunsch went into Monday’s game
to relieve Witte in the fifth and sixth
innings. Wunsch picked up the win,
improving his record to 2-1.
Relief pitcher Steve Hughes en
tered the game in the top of the sev
enth and went on to close the game,
grabing his first save of the season.
The Aggies head for Beaumont
Tuesday to take on Lamar in a 1
p.m. doubleheader at Vincent-Beck
Stadium.
HUY THANH NGUYEN/The Battalion
Aggie freshman Kelly Wunsch prepares to deliver a pitch against
Sam Houston State Monday. Wunsch pitched two innings in
relief and earned the win as A&M triumphed 4-2.
/99J Texas A&M Softball Preview
Matured Ags ready for challenge
By Douglas Pils
The Battalion
Return 11 players from last
year's NCAA regional softball
team, one returnee from the 1988
NCAA fifth-place finisher, start off
the season 7-0 on the road and most
coaches would be talking national
championship.
However, turn that around and
six of those from last year’s team
are sophomores, the addition from
the 1988 team is playing for the
first time in two years and the team
stands ready to play 20 games over
the next 10 days. Looking at it from
that perspective, it’s easy to under
stand Bob Brock’s cautious opti
mism.
Brock, the head coach of the
ninth-ranked Lady Aggie softball
team, believes his tearrt’is headed in
the direction of post-season play
this year, but he’s going to wait until
after those 10 days to pass any fur
ther judgement.
“If we really play well and do a
nice job we might could be off to
the best start we’ve ever had,”
Brock said. “If we take these games
one game at a time and just get
through these two weeks, then we
might be 27-0. Realistically, I don’t
know if we can do that, but the pos
sibility exists.”
Those 20 games will be held at
the Lady Aggie Softball Complex
adjacent to Olsen Field, and 17 of
those are part of the Aggie I and II
Invitationals. Aggie I starts today
with A&M playing at 10 a.m.
against Northeast Louisiana, noon
against Penn State and a 4 p.m.
matchup with Sam Houston State.
Aggie II starts next Friday.
Games against 17th-ranked Mis
souri Saturclay at 6 p.m. and the big
one with fourth-ranked Cal-State
Fullerton should be good indicators
of the team’s progress.
Tough games nke these are noth
ing new for Brock, as his teams
have consistently matched up with
with the nation’s best. Ever since his
first year as the A&M coach in
1982, Brock has had nothing but
success.
The Aggies won 84 games
against only 9 losses for an incredi
ble 90 percent winning percentage.
The team won the last AIAW na
tional championship that year and
came back in 1983 to win the
NCAA national championship with
a 41-11 record. The only year A&M
didn’t make it to the regional play
offs was in 1989 after a 31-27 sea
son.
Another national title, two sec
ond-place finishes and 314 wins
later, Brock said this year’s team
holds some similarities to some of
See Preview/Page 9
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/■:
Young guns down batters
McFalls bursts into shortstop spot
KEVIN IVY/The Battalion
Coach Bob Brock is back for
his 10th year at the A&M
helm. Over that period, he
has led the Lady Aggies to
three national championships
and a 439-139 record.
By James Bruce
The Battalion
If pitching is an art, then Missi
Young is an artist.
Young already has painted some
victories for the Texas A&M
softball team this year, compiling
four wins without a loss. The team
hopes this artist can create enough
E itching masterpieces to put them
ack on top of the NCAA softball
world.
Last season, Young showed her
artistic value on the mound, com-
E iling a record of 26 wins and 11
isses with an earned-run average
of 0.61. These accomplishments
earned her first-team all-region
honors in her freshman season.
Young, a sophomore from Santa
Fe, has always been a pitcher and is
uneasy at any other position.
“Wnen I’m not pitching, I feel
uncomfortable with the game,”
Young said. “Position players are
often waiting for the game to come
to them, but as a pitcher I feel in
See Young/Page 8
KEVIN IVY/The Battalion
Missi Young led the A&M with
22 wins and 272 strikeouts
last season.
By Chris Whitley
The Battalion
Jennifer McFalls never thought
she’d make it to Texas A&M.
“I guess it was kind of a dream
come true,” the freshman sensation
of the Lady Aggies said about com
ing here.
‘Tve always liked this school. I al
ways wanted to come here. I didn’t
think I would end up here, but
that’s what happened.”
Now McFalls is the starting short
stop for one of the nation’s top col
lege softball teams in her first year
on the A&M squad.
“Jennifer, as a freshman, has
done a super job,” head softball
coach Bob Brock said. “She’s very
tough mentally.
“She’s producing for us immedi
ately, batting in the number three
position, and she’s doing some
great things defensively.”
For McFalls, College Station is a
long way from the local softball
league fields in Grand Prairie, her
hometown.
“It was a big adjustment all
around,” McFalls said. “As far as
softball goes, it was different be
cause we didn’t have it in high
school, so it wasn’t like we had to
practice every day.
“ I found out how dedicated I
was to it.”
McFalls started playing softball at
the tender age of 8 in the Grand
Prairie Girls League. In the ten
years she played in that league and
in nearby Irving, her teams took
home numerous titles.
Also, she has played in the na
tional championship tournament
four times. Last year, her team
went to California for the nationals
and finished seventh out of 60 com
petitors.
In the years McFalls has played,
she almost always has been the
shortstop, but said she would have
changed to play at A&M.
“I wasn’t sure that I would defi
nitely play shortstop when I was re
cruited,” McFalls said, “but I was
willing to give it a shot if the coach
would give me the chance.”
Brock did, and McFalls im
pressed him enough to beat out vet
eran Rhonda Halbert for the spot.
Halbert moved t6 third, and now
the pair form a solid tandem.
"Having Jennifer and Rhonda
on the left side is really going to
help us out this year,” Brock said.
Excelling in athletics has always
been a strongsuit for McFalls. At
South Grand Prairie High School,
she was on the volleyball, soccer,
and basketball teams while playing
KEVIN IVY/The Battalion
Freshman shortstop Jennifer McFalls is the only A&M
freshman on the squad.
softball in the summer. There, she
was voted Most Athletic of her class.
In fact, she was recruited in ev
ery sport she played, but she had
her mind made up to play softball
and to play it at A&M.
“I remember one time after a
basketball game, my coach said,
‘Jennifer, there’s somebody here
who wants to talk to you, but I al
ready told him that he’s going to
have to talk you out of A&M first,’ ”
McFalls said.
She chose softball because she
felt it was her better sport despite
all of her accolades in others.
She attributes her athleticism to
her family, who is also her main
source of support.
“I’ve been brought up in a very
athletic family,” she said. “They
were all big in sports.”
On Tuesday, when the Aggies
went on the road to take on Texas-
Arlington, it was a chance for
McFalls to play near her hometown.
“It was nice to get to go home to
play in front of my family and
friends,” she said. “They probably
drew a big crowd just because our
big family came to watch me play.”
As for the rest of the team,
McFalls is pleased with the talented
staff.
“There’s plenty of room for im
provement,” she said, “but we play
well as a team. Everyone has confi
dence in each other.
“I can tell that, even as a fresh
man.”
McFalls is ready to show the na
tion that she deserves to play with
the best, now that she is where she
wants to be.
A&M third baseman Rhonda Halbert is back in school with much more determination.
Halbert fights back into school, lineup
By Alan Lehmann
The Battalion
Rhonda Halbert has the eligibility of a junior, but
the wisdom of a graduate.
The junior third baseman from Yukon, Oklahoma
has taken an unusual route to the hot corner at Aggie
Field, but has learned a vaulable lesson.
Failing grades forced her to withdraw from Texas
A&M in 1988. She said that it hurt her to quit the
softball team, but poor grades were her own fault.
“When I came to A&M, I came to play softball, not
to get an education,” she said. “I hardly ever cracked
a book.“
Halbert returned to Oklahoma and enrolled in a
local junior college. She dedicated herself to studying
and got her first job.
“I was working in a hospital back home,” she said.
“It was nice to have my own money, but it motivated
me to get back to school.”
Halbert was also motivated to improve her grades.
“Having to leave (A&M) made me realize how im
portant an education is,” she said. “I didn’t miss
softball as much as I thought I would.”
She completed the hours that she needed and
transferred back to A&M last fall. But it was not easy
and Halbert said she often had doubts.
“At times, I felt like giving up,” she said. “It just
seemed too hard.
“But once I started making good grades, they were
easier to keep making.”
And she has continued to succeed. Halbert earned
a 2.75 GPR in the fall, and said her classes are going
well this semester.
For A&M softball coach Bob Brock, that is music to
his ears.
“Rhonda is a super athlete and a great person,”
Brock said. “Her coming back to the team was a very
pleasant suprise.”
He said that Halbert’s academic problems, and her
subsequent successes have become a positive factor on
the team.
“She is a great influence on the team,” Brock said.
“Rhonda is someone for the girls to look up to and
learn from.”
Halbert can also teach the team something about
courage. As a third baseman, she plays about forty
feet from the plate, a terribly short distance to field
the rocket shots she is somethimes confronted with.
“I don’t think about it,” she said, shrugging her
shoulders. “If I get hit, I get hit.”
Halbert is no slouch at the plate, either. An ideal
lead-off hitter, she has a .400 batting average and
.412 on-base percentage through five games this sea
son.
The year and a half layoff apparently has not af
fected Halbert’s skill.
“She has just gotten better,” Brock said. “Rhonda is
not yet where she should be physically, but she will
get better over the next couple of weeks.”
But no matter how the softball team fares, Halbert
knows what is important.
“When I see athletes with the attitude that ‘I don’t
need to study. I’ll always have my talent to fall back
on,’ I just want to go up to them and shake them,” she
said, “because that’s how I used to feel, and I found
out the hard way.”