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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 18, 1997)
h ' March is' re fee?!) wwri w The Battalion P O RTS Page 7 Tuesday • March 18, 1997 ia^ i i>o*iy utce 13^ ^HcT of Tesuiu iwycAt ggies By Chris Ferrell The Battalion After an Oklahoma State series hich left them with their heads inging, the Texas A&M Baseball :am will look to get back on the inning track against the Lamar niversity Cardinals. For the third straight weekend, &M was unable to come up with a ctory in the series’ decisive game. "It’s been discouraging,” Head oach Mark Johnson said. “I don’t link going in [to the season] we felt ce we were a team that could sweep, nt win series, especially at home. "The question now is how strong urresolve can be.” A&M led Oklahoma State 5-3 in the th inning when freshman starter asey Possum had to be relieved. As as been the Aggie’s Achilles’ heel all :ason, the bullpen was unable to old the lead as A&M fell, 11-7. The Aggies will use the Lamar ame to evaluate the bullpen. John- on hopes to get a good look at ome relief pitchers in an attempt ofindsome dependable arms and will evaluate bullpen against Lamar a closer. Junior right-hander Jamie Smitli, who was supposed to be the closer this year, has not recovered from exploratory surgery he under went during the off-season. Junior Robert Keens remains the leading candidate for the job. Keens picked up a save earlier in the year and looked to have the job locked up before a couple of rough outings. “Keens has been the best,” John son said. “You like to have a pitcher who can come in and strike guys out, especially if you have a situa tion with a runner on third and you need to get outs.” Johnson also would like to get freshman Steve Scarborough, an other candidate for the closer spot, some innings against Lamar. The Aggies also have experi mented with Possum coming in as the closer. He picked up his second save of the year Friday night. How ever, the test may have hit a snag on Sunday, when he had a less than Fossum-like performance. “It was interesting to talk to him after the game,” Johnson said. “He concurred that he was n’t as sharp. We don’t want to put Casey out there when he’s not 100 percent.” If freshman Chris Fulbright’s arm is ready after a brief outing Sunday, he will get the start. Ful- bright threw nine pitches, allow ing an earned run and walking one batter. Senior John Codrington also will see some action against the Cardinals. Lamar will counter with fresh man Brian Sanches, who is 2-1 on the season with a 5.19 ERA. He will be making his fifth start of the year. The Aggie pitching staff will look to get healthy against a Car dinal team which is batting .293. Junior outfielder Bryan Droptini has been the main man in the Lamar lineup with a team high .397 average and five home runs. Junior infielder Aaron Dean has also been a force for the Cardinals, batting .375 with 22 RBIs. Johnson said the easiestway for the Aggies to get healthy is with a victory. “Right now our best remedy is to win and play well,” Johnson said. Ryan Rogers, The Battalion A&M sophomore Steve Leonard dives back to first base in the third inning against Baylor University March 1. atn Freshman, senior help Lady Aggies start off '97 season Tim Moog, The Battalion Long's personality help her adjust to freshman season By Lara L. Zuehlke The Battalion M any freshmen enter col lege timid and unsure of themselves, but Angie Long does not fit that mold. Long, a freshman second baseman on the Texas A&M Softball Team, has jumped in the middle of things on the Lady Aggie squad. A&M Head Coach Jo Evans said Long’s upbeat personality and as sertiveness set her apart from oth er freshmen. “I know her teammates respect her for her ability and the way she came in as a freshman,” Evans said. ‘‘She wasn’t timid and a lot of times freshmen are intimidated and kind of sit back. Angie came in and was willing to have an opinion, which a lot of freshmen won’t do.” However, Long said her transi tion to college ball was not as easy as she expected, but the team’s support eased the change. "It was hard in the beginning, especially not knowing anyone,” Long said. “Once we (the team) started getting to know each other, it became a lot easier. Now it’s kind of like a family, because I feel so comfortable with these girls. They are really supportive of me and what I do when I am on the field.” Although the transition from high school to college was chal lenging, Long faced a more difficult change. Chronic shoulder prob lems forced her to switch from playing shortstop to second base. Evans said the position change was hard for Long, but she has re sponded well. “Angie gets frustrated at times, be cause it’s new for her and playing sec ond base was really a challenge for her,” Evans said. “She’s had a rough go, but she’s done a really nice job.” Sophomore third baseman Kami Tucker said Long has stepped in and made an immedi ate effect on the Lady Aggie team. “She came right in and was an impact player and made a differ ence from the beginning,” Tucker said. “She’s very aggressive and goes out there and takes control of the situation.” See Long, Page 9 Senior McGuire splits time behind the plate with friend Schmaltz By Jeremy Furtick The Battalion I f there is one thing that drives people to heated relationships it is competition — especially competition in sports. Add this competition to teammates who play the same position on the Lady Aggie Softball Team and came to college in the same year, and there is probably a battle brewing. Junior catchers Marianne McGuire and Amy Schmaltz are liv ing this scenario, except they are not rivals — they are best friends. McGuire came to A&M in the fall of 1994 from Weatherford, Texas, where she starred in high school athletics. She participated in soft- ball, basketball and track and left her mark on each team for which she played. McGuire earned first-team all district accolades after both her ju nior and senior seasons in softball, but she did more for her teams than just put up good stats. Her leader ship and motivation earned her the softball team’s hustle award and the fighting heart award in basketball. McGuire said choosing a college was not a difficult decision, but she did entertain other offers. Okla homa, Oklahoma State and New Mexico State were among the pro grams recruiting McGuire during her senior year. “I wanted to go wherever my op portunities led me,” she said. “I’d al ways liked A&M, and they had a great softball program, but I had to wait on them to call me first.” After the Aggies made McGuire an offer to play, the de cision was easy. It was during her freshman year that McGuire first met Schmaltz, who would become her friend and competition on the team. “We have a unique relation ship,” Schmaltz said. “We root for each other, but we also compete and want ourselves to do well.” McGuire spent most of her freshman year watching and learn ing along with Schmaltz, appearing only in 14 games. She was having trouble making the change from a high school star to a competent col legiate competitor. “In high school and summer league 1 was always one of the best players,” McGuire said. “But at A&M I’m not the best. That was a hard thing for me to accept but I’ve learned a lot from it.” Last season, the two catchers split playing time with each other, starting every other game, but Schmaltz said neither of the friends wanted to do that again. “We expressed to Coach (Jo) Evans that we didn’t like the pla toon system from last year,” Schmaltz said. “It was hard to stay on our toes when we knew what days we would be playing.” Consequently, this season has seen McGuire compete at other positions so Evans can keep her in the lineup. “She’s a great all-around athlete,” Schmaltz said. “She’s shown this year that she can play other positions. She adds a lot of depth to our team.” And just as in high school, McGuire’s performance on the field is not her only attribute. Schmaltz describes her as one of the team leaders with a tremendous amount of character. “When you're on the field and need a spark, she’s always there to get you up,” Schmaltz said. McGuire, who serves as the team’s co-captain, said her main role is to be a leader. “The team looks to me for a pos itive attitude,” McGuire said. “I try to provide character for the team, make them laugh when they need to, and pick people up when they’re down.” McGuire said her college experi ence will teach her more than what she learns in her classes. ‘T’ve learned that softball is not about the game, it’s about the people, about myself and over coming obstacles.” Dave House, The Battalion Instead of splitting time behind the plate with Amy Schmaltz, senior Marianne McGuire has competed for other positions on the team. UT Longhorns facing fewer critics, more familiar foe: Sweet success 1g- How the men’s Sweet 16 teams have fared in the NCAA tournament: Final Four School Last year’s finish appearances Arizona Regional semifinals, lost to Kansas 2 California First round, lost to Iowa St. Clemson First round, lost to Georgia Iowa State Second round, lost to Utah 1 Kansas Kentucky Louisville Minnesota North Carolina Providence St. Joseph’s Stanford UCLA Utah Tenn.-Chatt. Texas Regional finals, lost to Syracuse National Champions 11 Regional semifinals, lost to Wake Forest Not selected Second round, lost to Texas Tech Not selected Not selected Second round, lost to Massachusetts First round, lost to Princeton Regional semifinals, lost to Kentucky Not selected Second round, lost to Wake Forest 7 0 1 2| 2 liiir 1 15 3 0 2 AP/Ed De Gasero AUSTIN (AP) — After squeaking out a win over little-known Coppin State, Texas faces a more familiar foe Friday night. Advancing to the East Regional semifinals of the NCAA tournament, the Longhorns (18-11) will play Louisville. The Cardinals (25-8) dropped Texas in over time earlier this season when the Longhorns blew a 15-point second-half lead. . But so what? It’s got to be easier than facing crowd fa vorite Coppin State, a school so small it had to borrow a band, so suddenly popular it got a standing ovation from 17,000 spectators and so tough the Longhorns needed to intercept an inbounds pass with four seconds left to save an 82-81 win. It’s the sweet 16, where Texas hasn’t been since 1990, when the Longhorns reached the final eight. And it’s sweet revenge against critics who said a 16-11 record and early departure from the Big 12 tournament had raised questions about the Long horns' NCAA worthiness. “Are we still on the bubble?” a vindicated coach Tom Penders asked after the Longhorns rolled over Wisconsin, 71-58, in the opening round. Texas’ defense to the criticism was that it did what the NCAA wanted — scheduled “Just getting in the tour nament was the thing. Everyone had a com mon goal to get to the Final Four.” Reggie Freeman Texas guard tough opponents. But they didn’t play well at season’s end, losing by 23 points to Colorado in the last regular season game and then los ing to Missouri in its first conference tourna ment game after a bye. They need no defense now. “Just getting in the tournament was the thing. Everyone had a common goal to get to the Final Four. Forget about the season,” said guard Reg gie Freeman. Freeman did his part with 31 points against Wisconsin and 22 more against Coppin State. Now comes Louisville, again. The Cardinals’ win over No. 3 seed New Mex ico allowed coach Denny Crum to pass Indi ana’s Bob Knight for third place on the NCAA tournament coaching victories list. Louisville won 85-78 in overtime on Jan. 19 in Austin after Eric Johnson tied it with a contro versial 3-pointer at the end of regulation. “It was after the buzzer,” Penders said. “It was a heartbreaker.” But so what? “The only thing I know is that we are the third team from our conference to make it to the Sweet 16, which speaks a lot for our team and pro gram,” Penders said.
