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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 20, 2015)
V NEWS The Battalion I 2.20.15 4 Tanner Garza —THE BATTALION Softball returns to Cali for another tourney W. BASKETBALL Aggies trounce Wildcats at Rupp By Andre Perrard The No. 15 Texas A&M women’s team needs every win it can earn as March approaches. Thursday night, the Aggie women helped their case for tournament seed ing with a resounding 81-69 victory over No. 11 Kentucky in Rupp Arena behind Courtney Williams’ 16 points and nine rebounds. Courtney Walker led in scoring with 19 points. Achiri Ade notched a double double with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Jordan Jones continued to share the basketball, scoring 10 points to go with eight assists. The Aggies trailed by eight points early on. However, a 12-2 run put them ahead 28-26 with 3:51 left in the half. After an 8-0 A&M run, the team roared into the break with a 38-31 ad vantage and an 11-0 run early in the sec ond half gave A&M a 54-36 lead. The team led by as much as 23 points. Good shooting helped the Aggies, as they shot 44 percent from the floor in the game. The Aggies dominated down low, outscoring the Wildcats 52-32 in the paint and out-rebounding them 49 to 37. The Aggies will return home and face the Florida Gators at 3 p.m. Sunday. By Milkyas Gashaw Who wouldn’t want a second trip back to California in under two weeks? The No. 23 Texas A&M softball team (7- 4) returns to the state, this time for the Mary Nutter Classic beginning Friday in Cathedral City. The classic is among the largest and most competitive Division 1 softball tournaments outside of the NCAA postseason. A total of 36 schools will be competing, such as last year’s College World Series participant No. 9 Ken tucky and the Aggies’ longtime foe, Texas. A&M finished 3-2 in its last trip to Cali fornia in the SoCal Collegiate Classic tourna ment. The Aggies will begin the tournament with a single game at noon Friday against BYU. Action will continue with a doubleheader Saturday against UCSB and Cal State Fuller ton. A&M will wrap it up Sunday with an other two-game day with an early 11 a.m. start against Syracuse and a game against Stanford at 1:30 p.m. In its last game against No. 2 Oregon, A&M suffered a 5-1 defeat. However, the Aggies trailed the Ducks by only one run going into the last inning. Senior Rachel Fox has started seven of the 11 games for the Aggies, leading the team in pitching with a 2.15 ERA. Freshman Tori Vidales has been playing lights out at the hot corner for the Aggies, leading the club in home runs, hits and KB Is with 4, 11 and 10, respectively. “She’s such a great player,” said A&M head coach Jo Evans. “She does such a great job and has great instincts. I love the way she competes at the plate. She comes every day to play and isn’t intimidated by anybody. She shouldn’t be, she’s too good for that. I’m really proud of the way the kid plays and every time she’s up, you know spmething good is going to hap pen. That’s who she is to our ball club. She’ll be doing great things for the next four years.” BASEBALL Unbeaten A&M gets Penn State AJ Minter By Andre Perrard It’s been 17 innings since a run was tallied on the visitor’s side of the Olsen Field scoreboard. The Aggies, mean while, have put up 47 runs in just four games. Texas A&M returns to Olsen Field Friday night in the first of three home games taking place this weekend against Penn State. The No. 17 Aggies (4-0) boast a 7-1 all-time series record against Penn State, the first Big Ten opponent to come to Blue Bell Park since Michigan State in 2012. Penn State (0-3) is coming into the game after being swept by Elon last weekend. Starting outfielder Ryan Richter leads the Nittany Lions offensively, with a batting average of .417, a home run and two RBIs. He also legged out two doubles in the opening weekend. Jim Haley also chips in with the bat, batting .400 on the year with six RBIs. As far as the offense is con cerned for A&M, the bats will look to stay hot against Penn State. Ronnie Gideon is batting .421 with two home runs and 11 RBIs for the Aggies. Mitchell Nau has one of the hottest bats in the league, batting .583 with three doubles and six RBI. Friday night, junior AJ Mint- er will be on the mound for the Aggies. In his last appearance, Minter pitched for five innings, and allowed two unearned runs while striking out seven batters. Penn State will send out Nick Hedge. Junior Grayson Long will make his second start Satur day for the Aggies. Long comes into the game as the Ag gies’ active leader in wins (10), in nings pitched (139) and strikeouts (98). The Nittany Lions will send freshman Nick Distasio to the mound. Sunday, A&M will start soph omore Matt Kent against Penn State freshman Taylor Lehman. If the Aggies sweep again this weekend, they will be 7-0 for the first time since 2006. A&M and Penn State will begin their series at 6:35 p.m. Friday. First pitch Saturday is at 2:05 p.m., while Sunday’s game will begin at 1:05 p.m. No. 2 Sooners to visit men's tennis By Alex Scott The Texas A&M men’s and wom en’s tennis team continue their seasons this weekend as Oklahoma visits College Station. The No. 12 men (2-1) play at 6 p.m. Friday and enter the contest rid ing a two-match win streak. The most recent win for the men came when the Aggies upset No. 5 Ohio State. Senior Jeremy Efferding led the Aggies, winning his singles match in straight sets as well as partner ing with senior Jordan Szabo to knock off their doubles opponents. A&M’s schedule only gets tougher, however, as No. 2 Oklahoma comes into College Station with an unblem ished 10-0 record. The Sooners are riding high after winning their first national indoor championship Monday, besting the top-ranked USC Trojans in a rematch of last season’s NCAA Championship. The No. 18 women’s team will play host to Abilene Christian at noon Sat urday, hoping to build off its previous win over UT-Arlington last Thursday, which evened up the win-loss column at 2-2. Abilene Christian (3-0) will enter its match against the Aggies with an Cody Franklin —THE BATTALION Jeremy Efferding undefeated record. In their wins, the Wildcats have outscored their oppo nents 16-3. On Sunday, the men will face Tul sa at noon and Incarnate Word at 4 p.m. SEC play begins next week for the women, starting at Tennessee at 3 p.m. Friday. VIEWS Speak your mind — civilly, of course Jennifer Reiley (g)jreiley1 ivil discourse is conversation intended M to enhance understanding. It’s meant to give a well-rounded look at an is sue. And when civil discourse is pushed aside in favor of personal gain or prejudice, the consequences can be severe. In Washington D.C., several factors have lowered the amount of civil discourse in government. Gridlock in the Congress and animosity between legislators and the president is a more public example of this struggle. Tom DeFrank, contributing editor at the National Journal in Washington D.C., has covered national politics for more than 40 years. He visited A&M Thursday to share his experience and thoughts, and in the case of civil discourse, the view was bleak. He faulted both parties, saying that Democrats and Republicans alike are only focused on getting re-elected and have given up on working toward building relationships with other legislators outside of the office. “Bipartisanship” has become a dirty word. With the loss of collaboration, conversation has begun to collapse from the inside out in D.C. Texas is not exempt from this fallout. A few weeks ago, on Texas Muslim Capitol Reagan Brunsvold —THE BATTALION Day in Austin, a group of demonstrators outside the Capitol had their conversa tion interrupted by a woman who began to preach about God. She didn’t want to hear about Muslims or their religion; in her eyes they were wrong and she was right. Inside the building, state Rep. Molly White told her staff that anyone entering her office had to pledge their allegiance to America. Seriously, I’m not making this up. Gov. Greg Abbott had to release a statement reminding people that everyone has a voice in civil discourse and must be respected. So why is there a problem if there’s no civil discourse? Without it, there is no shar ing of ideas. If everyone ignored those that disagreed with them, we’d all walk around silent. Disagreeing with someone simply because they stand on the opposite side of an issue is close-minded, and in the end, dangerous. Without discourse, there is no development of ideas. Aggies should be concerned about the decrease in conversation on issues. With the 84th Texas Legislature in session, A&M must continue to address issues that have polarized groups for years. We work toward diversity. Diversity means more opinions, mindsets and back grounds. There will be conflict because we see things differently. However, we have to remember to debate civilly because, in the end, we are all people who deserve respect. The debate over concealed carry on cam pus that has rolled over from last semester when Student Senate passed the Personal Carry Act is not going to go away anytime soon. At least seven bills filed for the 84th Legislature deal specifically with gun laws in the state. Soon certain bills will begin to reach the floor for votes. There will be arguments, there will be discussion, but there does not have to be hatred. Whether you’re pro-gun or anti-gun, remember that in the argument you are fighting an issue, not a person. Someone dis agreeing with you in a discussion gives you no right to attack them personally, whether it be verbal or physical. Gov. Abbott recog nizes the goodness that can come out of civil discourse, and so should we. Civil discourse is healthy in a democratic society because everyone has a right to have his or her voice heard. That has to mean everyone — not just the person with the loudest voice. Do not let your own biases deafen you to the words of others, no matter their background or their own personal life. Instead, put on the metaphorical blindfold and focus on the issue at hand.
