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The Battalion
'Page 7
Wednesday • February 19, 1997
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1th just a week of play
under its belt, the Texas
A&M Softball Team has
Krecord of2-4, but says there is a
t of room for improvement.
Going into the season, the Lady
gies were tied for 27th with the
diversity of Missouri in the 1997
SA Today/NFCA Preseason
laches’ Top 25 Poll. However, fi-
scores show the A&M team is
legislative rotiRving a little trouble overcoming
:h as Sen. Judith® opponents in late innings.
3, say the timing*
n to requiringicl Coming Out of the Gate
ibaccobillwoil On Feb. 11, the Lady Aggies
t vending madnfeplit a doubleheader with South-
essibletominon west Texas State University,
t the distributionlwhich put their record at 1 -1.
xipons redeemaSB The two-game series was the
nted tobacco proiffirst test the Lady Aggies faced with
it outdoor advt ftheir new head coach, Jo Evans,
■oducts excepta® In the first game, the LadyAg-
)r owned byapmes exploded, scoring 10 runs
franchise, while holding SWT to none. The
tolerance" bill win did not provide enough mo
m-driving alcoi|mentum to bring home a second
in for the Lady Aggies, who lost
jjhat game 2-0.
The split put the Aggies’ all-
me record against the Lady
cheats at 43-4, acting as a
ake-up call for the team.
Senior pitcher Lori Gioco
|aid the Lady Aggies learned
they should not take any team
for granted.
I “SWT is a team that we never
should lose to,” Gioco said. “We
/ killed them in the first game, but
| we had no fire in the second.
I ,LiiJWsissomethingweneedtore-
layiH work on.”
y The Tournament from Hell
re that,” Elsa A- * Last weekend, the Lady Aggies
trict attorney,leaded to the University of Texas-
>n, Ybarbocok dington for the Pepsi Cola Soft-
o a police labk iall Tournament, which was
e had fired a 6 c cheduled to begin Friday. Because
1 signed doom if rain delay, however, the tourna-
nent did not begin until Saturday,
unt for gaps oft It seems the extra day of re-
ig or activities^ axation helped the Lady Aggies,
is they blasted Centenary Col
ey Schneiderinf ege 11-3 in their first game,
ies were going; ? Junior pitcher Trina Solesbee
r officers invest? (pitched the entire seven innings
|or the Lady Aggies, giving up
but I didn’tmak ?only three hits and four walks.
In addition, fresliman starting
ns that his acij®econd baseman Angie Long hit
Itheshootingi he first team home run and
rith the slain o® ’rand slam home run of the sea-
Harris matched * on i n the sixth inning, which
arned her six RBIs.
ng a dF-calibet; Despite the win, the Lady Ag
ain CarrascoJ ^ es were unable build enough
that AldapeO Momentum to defeat their next
hree opponents.
In a tough game against the
iniversity of Minnesota, the Lady
^ kggies had the chance to tie in ex-
R DC ra innings, but fell short, 4-3.
The Lady Aggies then lost to
i Northeast Louisiana University,
iDerS 1-0, followed by a loss against
he University of Tennessee, 5-0.
The Lady Aggies have posted
inly 10 hits in their last three
James and allowed nine nans to be
cored off defensive errors. They
tnded the tournament with a
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a Qi Otip 3 Currendy, senior first baseman
ViyaTruelove leads the team with
a .450 batting average and three
doubles, while sophomore pitch-
r Kim Turner leads the team with
1.17 earned runs average.
Seniors lead young team into Big 12
Tardy Gioco has been on-time for Lady Ags
By Courtney Lyons
The Battalion
W hen newly appointed
Texas A&M Head Coach Jo
Evans began coaching the
A&M Softball Team this year, she was
told she would have to watch senior
pitcher Lori Gioco to make sure she
got up on time for tournaments.
At a recent tournament, the Lady
Aggies were supposed to be on the
buses at 7 a.m. but the team decid
ed to play a practical joke on Gioco.
“Someone who had the (hotel)
room before us set the clock ahead,
so we were an hour ahead,” Gioco
said. "We called everyone wonder
ing where they were, and woke
them all up. I was not happy, be
cause I really love my sleep.”
Gioco did not begin her sports
career on the softball field, but
rather on the soccer field. Luckily
for the Lady Aggies, Gioco did not
take well to soccer. So at the age of
nine, her father got Gioco involved
in softball, and she has stayed with
the sport ever since.
“I didn’t like it (soccer) at all,”
Gioco said. “I cried at every game.”
After playing softball for two years,
Gioco began to pitch.
“I was always tall for my age,”
Gioco said. “And at that age, any
one who can get a strike over the
plate gets to pitch.”
Gioco started her college ca
reer at West Valley College in
Saratoga, Calif. When the soft-
spoken senior was deciding
which college to transfer to, she
narrowed her choices to Texas
A&M or Gal-State Lullerton. Gio
co said when she visited the A&M
campus, she realized Aggieland
Rogge Heflin, The Battalion
Senior pitcher Lori Gioco collected the Lady Aggies' first win of the
season against Southwest Texas Feb. 11.
was where she wanted to be.
“I wanted to go to a good
school to get a great education,”
Gioco said. “Texas A&M’s stan?
dards were high.”
Education was not the only
thing about A&M that appealed to
Gioco. She saw a strong support
for the athletic programs from the
students, a student interest in ath
letics at Kyle Lield and the Aggie
traditions, which ultimately
helped her make the decision to
attend A&M.
“Everyone was so spirited, so
into athletics, and so into tradi
tions,” Gioco said. “The traditions
really blew me away. I fell in love
with them.”
This season, Gioco has fared well
for the Lady Aggies. She collected
the first win in the team’s first game
against Southwest Texas.
Evans said Gioco is a great
team player.
“She may look very intense and
composed on the mound, but there
is not a mean bone in her body,”
Evans said.
Evans said Gioco is a power
pitcher and has mastered a large
number of pitches for her arsenal.
However, over Christmas, Gio
co hyper-extended her knee and
both Gioco and the coaches
feared she might miss part of the
season. But Gioco battled back
from the injury in time for the be
ginning of the season.
Although Gioco is calm and re
laxed, the majority of the time she
does tend to get nervous during
what she calls “first appearances”.
“Sometimes I will get nervous for
the first home game, or against a re
ally strong team,” Gioco said.
Pitching is a game of nerves,
and so far Gioco has been able to
compete in a solid mental state.
However, she did get rattled re
cently against the University of
Tennessee at the UTA Pepsi Cola
Tournament Sunday. She said the
experience will eventually help
her improve.
“They were hitting my outside
curve ball, so we tried pitching in
side,” Gioco said. After one in
ning they (Tenne'ssee) figured out
how to hit that pitch, too. It is
frustrating when you are throw
ing good pitches and the other
team just keeps hitting everything
you throw at them.”
Despite the tough season the
Lady Aggies have experienced so
far, Gioco feels the team is improv
ing, and she is glad to be a part of it.
“We will start to have better
games,” Gioco said. “I am excited to
see us improve.”
Hayden knew she would
play for the Lady Aggies
By Lara L. Zuehlke
The Battalion
S enior left fielder Heather Hay
den knew from the beginning
that she wanted to play for the
Texas A&M Softball Team.
“My dad brought me to watch
the Lady Aggie softball team,”
Hayden said. “After watching
Shawn Andaya play, I told my dad
in the car ride home that I wanted
to be a Lady Aggie.”
Although Hayden knew she
wanted to be an Aggie, she did not
like softball at first.
“I first slatted playing in California
when I was 7 years old,” Hayden said.
“I hated it after the first year, but my
mom made me stick with it.”
When Hayden came to A&M, she
joined forces with her mentor, An
daya, who was an assistant coach at
A&M for four years.
After pitching for Klein High
School, Hayden was moved to the
outfield during her freshman year
at A&M.
Senior center fielder Gina Perez
said Hayden made the change with
out many problems.
“We both moved to the outfield
at the same time,” Perez said. “We
were both learning new things, and
I think she adjusted well.”
Hayden’s statistics reflect her
success. She has* started all six
games this season
and is fielding 100
percent. She ended
last year with a
.926 fielding aver
age and a .289 bat
ting average.
A&M Head Coach
Jo Evans said Hayden
is a balancing factor
on the team and sets
a good example for
her teammates.
“She’s one of
those people that’s
“She’s one of
those people that
really stable and
steady, and you
can count on her.”
Jo Evans
A&M head coach
really stable and steady, and you
can count on her,” Evans said.
“She leads by example by the way
she handles herself in the class
room and in her other activities.”
Hayden keeps a busy schedule.
Aside from playing softball, she is a
member of Zeta Tau Alpha sorority
and a GTE Scholar Athlete.
Perez said Hayden sets a high
standard for others to follow.
“Heather represents herself
well, therefore she represents the
team well,” Perez said. “She’s able
to separate her time between the
sorority and softball, and she al-
Amy Dunlap, The Battalion
Senior Heather Hayden has one
goal — to advance to the NCAAs.
ways keeps her grades up. She’s
well-rounded, and I think you have
to look up to a person like that.”
Hayden said joining Zeta has not
taken away from softball, which is
her top priority.
“They (her sisters) are extremely
excited that I play softball for A&M,
and they come out to watch the
games,” Hayden said. “They know,
though, that soft
ball comes first, so I
will sometimes
miss things with
Zeta. It really hasn’t
been a problem at
all because they are
very supportive.”
It is her last year
at A&M and the
NCAA Champi
onships are weigh
ing heavily on
Hayden’s mind.
“Twice since
I’ve been here, we’ve made it to the
regionals,” Hayden said. “It would
be nice for my senior year to end
up in the NCAA Championships.”
Evans said she hopes Hayden
will continue developing into a
leader this season.
“As a senior, I would like for her
to be more vocal and more as
sertive,” Hayden said. “She’s got
great speed, but offensively we
would like for her to get more con
sistent at the plate.”
See Hayden, Page 10
Softball looks to get back on track against UTSA
By Nicki Smith
The Battalion
The Texas A&M Softball Team
will not have time to unpack its bags
before trying to redeem itself after a
1-3 performance in the Pepsi Cola
Softball Tournament at the Univer
sity of Texas-Arlington last weekend.
With an overall record of 2-4, the
Lady Aggies will play a doublehead
er today, beginning at 1 p.m. against
the University of Texas-San Antonio
at the Roadrunner Softball Field.
Head Coach Jo Evans said UTSA
is an aggressive team the Lady Ag
gies cannot take lightly.
“They hit the ball very well and
have a good coach,” Evans said. “They
are a scrappy group of girls who ap
proach every game as if they can win
it. They definitely want to beat us.”
Currently, the Lady Roadrunners
have a record of 5-5 after starting
the season with a two-game sweep
of Incarnate Word University.
However, UTSA competed in the
Hawaii Classic Softball Tournament
in Honolulu last
weekend and went 3-
5, splitting games
against Long Beach
State University, the
University of Califor-
nia-Santa Clara and
Loyola Marymount
University.
A&M is 11-3
against the Lady
Roadrunners and
swept them in two
games last year.
Freshman second
“If we win these
games we will get
a better fell about
the possibibty of
a great season.”
Jo Evans
A&M head coach
ly not that aware of their strengths
and weaknesses. If we keep sticking
behind each other and focus on play
ing strong through seven innings,
then we should have
no problems.”
Neither of the
teams are national
ly ranked, but
Evans said the dou
bleheader will be a
tough battle be
tween the two
Texas teams.
“It seems most
of the schools from
Texas are really out
to get the Aggies,”
Evans said. “With
baseman Angie Long said aside
from their record, the Lady Aggies
do not know much about UTSA.
“Ail we know is we are going in as
opponents,” Long said. “We are real-
that in mind, we need to put the
ball in play and get our offense go
ing early in the game.”
Junior Trina Solesbee will pitch
for the Lady Aggies, while junior
Marianne McGuire, senior Mya
Truelove, sophomore Kami Tucker,
freshmen Jamie Smith and Angie
Long will round out the infield.
In the outfield, projected starters
are senior Gina Perez at center field,
senior Heather Hayden at left field
and juniorTanya Klecker at right field.
Evans said today’s games will
serve as a step toward A&M’s goal of
becoming a cohesive unit.
“We are trying to use these games
to get the team chemistry going and
to regroup from our games this
weekend,” Evans said. “If we win
these games, we will get a better feel
about the possibility of a great sea
son. This is the time for us to work
out some Jdnks and get people com
fortable with their positions.”
This weekend will be the first time
the Lady Aggies will play at home, as
they prepare to host the Aggie Mini
Invitational Softball Tournament at
the Lady Aggie Softball Complex.
Rogge Heflin, The Battaijon
Sophomore Kami Tucker practices
fielding at third base.
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