Sports
The Battalion
Living a dream
By Troy Miller
THE BATTALION
r
in
Te (as A&M men’s basketball head coach
ly jillispie described a dream of making
:V a power in the Big 12 at the press
j|rence announcing his hire on March
Reed Arena.
ice then, Gillispie has been working
Jit making the dream come true just as he
at every other stop of his coaching career.
“1 's been hectic,” Gillispie said. “It’s been
knd furious, but that’s the way I like it.”
Bit to Gillispie, coaching basketball is a
ani unto itself.
love working,” he said. “I’ve never
considered being a basketball coach
■rk - it’s more like a dream.”
growing up in Graford, Texas, a town of
e less than 600 people and 90 miles
of Dallas near Possum Kingdom Lake,
ie said he always wanted to be a
. After graduating with a class of 20
^chool seniors, Gillispie went to near-
inger Junior College where he played
Mkers^aii and basketball.
ter two years at Ranger, Gillispie trav-
to Southwest Texas State University
his coaching career began,
ter serving as a graduate assistant at
for three years, Gillispie moved into
xas high school ranks, first coaching
leen High School. Eight years and four
Ischools later, Gillispsie took Killeen
n to the Texas Class 5A Final Four
his team lost in the semifinals.
1993-94, Gillispie served one season
istant coach and recruiting coordina-
South Plains Junior College before
Jg the same job for the next three sea-
lat Baylor University.
Jllispie’s high school coaching days
four years in the college ranks created
ties that University of Tulsa head
tt Bill Self, now head coach at the
[ersity of Kansas, wanted in an assistant
and recruiter when he took over at
before the 1997-98 season.
Coach Self) needed someone at Tulsa
mp,
See Gillispie on page 3B
PHOTO 11 LUSTRATION by John C. Livas • THE BATTALION
Texas A&M men’s basketball head coach Billy Gillispie is taking over as Aggie coach after two
seasons as head coach at the University of Texas-EI Paso.
iglassHi
’ostO:
ionisnci
—
Page IB • Thursday, April 15, 2004
A&M softball
blanks Baylor
By Troy Miller
THE BATTALION
The Texas A&M softball
team avenged its only loss of
the Big 12 conference season
Wednesday as it defeated No.
20 Baylor University, 2-0, at
the Aggie Softball Complex.
Senior pitcher Jessica
Kapchinski improved her
streak without allowing an
earned run to 48 innings as she
threw a four-hit complete
game shutout of the Bears (37-
10, 7-3 Big 12) to improve her
record to 11-5.
“You can’t pay attention to
the streak as you approach
every game as trying to keep
your team in the game,”
Kapchinski said. “The biggest
thing is our team is on a good
streak in the Big 12.”
The win marks the sixth
straight conference victory for
the Aggies (26-16, 8-1) since
losing to Baylor March 31 in
Waco, Texas.
“This win was huge,” said
A&M junior shortstop Adrian
Gregory. “We have a goal, and
that’s to win the Big 12
Championship. This is a big,
big win for us.”
Kapchinski held Baylor at
bay for most of the game until
the bottom of the sixth inning
when she hit Baylor sopho
more left fielder Kelly Osburn
with the Aggies leading 2-0.
Bear sophomore right fielder
Harmony Schwethelm fol
lowed with a single to left field.
A fielder’s choice and another
hit batter loaded the bases for
Baylor with only one out.
“The game was in our
hands at that time,” Gregory
said. “The pressure was on
them - it wasn’t on us.”
After the Aggies had a con
ference with head coach Jo
Evans in the pitcher’s circle,
Kapchinski struck out Baylor
clean-up hitter Dandle Arnold.
Kapchinski followed by getting
Baylor senior center fielder
Kelly Levesque to ground out to
Aggie senior second baseman
Sherah Atkins to end the inning
with the clean slate intact.
“Any young pitcher would’ve
been rattled in that situation,”
said Baylor head coach Glenn
Moore. “She got her composure
and faced the meat of our order.
That’s the one thing we’ve
lacked all year is big hits in situ
ations from our three, four and
five hitters. They’ll hit whenever
it’s not crucial. That scenario we
need to improve on.”
A&M capitalized on its
chances as it left only one run
ner on base in the game. The
Aggies started quickly out of
the gate as freshman center
fielder Sharonda McDonald led
off the bottom of the first inning
with a triple to right field.
A&M junior right fielder
Jana James walked two batters
later to put runners on the cor
ners with one out. After
Gregory struck out, Evans gave
James the green light to steal.
James got into a rundown
between first and second,
allowing McDonald to score
before being tagged out.
“(Baylor’s) got to make the
See Softball on page 3B
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