1992_03 Insight March 1992

              	
	
In brief...
Softball
Bulldog shortstop Kim
Maher earned MVP honors at
die Roadrunner Invitational
which waa held March 5
throughMarch7.Maherbatted
391 w*h 11 RBI and two home
runs-.
Terry Carpenter, PSU soft-
baD pitcher, recently surpassed
Melame Parrent (1985-88, 59
shutouts) to lead die
it looks like the
likes playing in
neutral territory. This season
they are 8 up and none down
when neither team has a home
crowd.
Basketball
As the BoBdogs basketball
team ends its last season in the
Wg West, PSU won three conference crvamptauhips, the last
ml984,ml4appearancesmthe
PSU senior Wfl Hooker ends
points 0739), steals
(182), three-point shots (262),
three-point attempts (677) and
free-tmowperoentage(327-391.
Track
became the first Bulldog to earn
AD-America honors in the mile
hinc with a ten til place time
0f4:13.TtormaIly, the top eight
icrs earn AU-America honors, but seven of the top eight
I fttJstacra woeforcjgnq s Other
FSU All-Americans include
triple-jumper Reggie Jackson
and shot putter Roshawn
James.
Tanya Dooley earned Indoor
AB-Arnerdan honors in the 400
meters. She finished seventh
overanwithatimeof54i)l.'
Season within a season
By Tim Haddock
StaffWriter
Daffodils begin to bloom
along the campus walkways
Nests full of robins in trees outside the dormitories sing songs that
wake students in die morning.
The smell of hot dogs roasting on
an open grill fill die air around
Bieden Field.
Sunflower seed husks Utter the
dug out steps. And a lone voice
echoes through a crowd, "Play ball."
Along with the birds and flowers, baseball season also arrives with
the corruTiencernent of spring.
For Fresno State, the Pepsi/
Johnny Quik Classic- preludes the
Bulldog's baseball season.
Fresno State hosts the tournament that brings some of the best
college baseball teams in the country, such as No. 22 Northridge State
and No. 26 Creighton, to compete
for a week at Bieden Field.
Eight teams altogether participated in the two-division tournament
On opening day, March 11, the
Creighton Blue Jays took on the
Wyoming Cowboys in the third
game of die tournament.
Before the game, some of the
Cowboys found time to toss a football around.
Fresno State pitchers Bobby
Kazmirski and Chris Given walked
in the stands and talked with some
of the members of the sparse crowd
that attended the late afternoon
matinee.
The day was perfect for a home
run feast. The red banners atop the
stadium ridge flapped in the wind
and pointed toward the center field
fence.
The early rrorningrains left clear
skies and about a 65 degree temperature for the afternoon.
But the Blue Jays and the Cowboys had different ideas. Aside for
Creighton's Bill Hahn, who hit two
two-run home runs in the game,
neither team could muster more
than a single.
In fact, both teams combined for
five stolen bases and the pitchers
were engaged in a 2-1 duel until the
bottom of the eighth.
Creighton Alan Benes pitched
for 72 innings, striking out eight
while only allowing five hits and
one run.
Wyoming's Jason Kummerfcldt
struckout fivebefore Hahn knocked
him out of the game. With two out
and one on in the bottom eighth,
Hahn hit hissecond home run of the
night, a towering shot over the left
field fence.
"We've been playing real good,"
FSU pitcher Raul Gonzalez said.
"Everybody in the tournament has
been playing real good."
The Bulldogs played host to the
Washington State Cougars in the
final game of opening day.
The two teams followed
Creighton's and Wyoming's lead.
Washington State's Todd Spring
and Fresno State's Jim Patterson
matched each other for seven innings, with the Cougars clinging to
a 1-0 lead.
"This is our tournament, we want
to win," PSU pitcher Todd Fuller
said.
In the bottom of the seventh, the
Bulldogs put four runs on theboard
to take the lead. Kyle Kawabata
replaces Springsbeforetteinningis
over.
"Even the games we play now
count toward play-off berths,"
Kazmirski said as he spit a sunflower seed husk onto the playing
field.
The Cougars Beau Campbell tattooed the score board in left field
with a line drive and brought
Washington State to within two
"We had a bad tournament last
year," FSU outfielder Robert Marsh
said. This year we want to win."
Gary McNamara answered
Campbell with a home run of his
own to increase the Bulldog lead 5-
2 in the bottom of the eighth.
Washington State's Roy Miller gives his best effort during the Pepsi/Johnny Quik Classic.
'This tournament is a good way dogs climbed back to within two the inning.
for us to adjust," Kazmirski said, runs with one out "In die first game (versus Washoe should easily be able to roll "We're on best win-streak of the ington State) we came from such a
right into league play." season," Marsh said. high, to such a low and back to the
Patterson walked the first batter Johnson stepped up to the plate ultimate high; we've been riding
he faced in the top of the ninth and and had a chance to redeem him- that wave ever since," Marsh said,
was replaced by the catcher, Todd self. Washington State's side-arm This last weekend welcomed the
Johnson. Campbell tagged Johnson reliever Doug Allen took over for first dayof spring. It also welcomed
for a three-run homer over the left the Cougars and served up a slider Fresno State's first baseball touma-
field wall and the Cougars added that breaks at Johnson chest. John- ment of the season,
three more to end the top of the sonput Allen's pitch in the left field Along with baseball season
parking lot and gave the Bulldogs comes diving catches in the right-
another chance to win the game. center field gap, pitchers slipping
The would-be goat became the on the mound during warm-up
hero of the game. And all this hap- tosses, rally caps and snappy one-
ninth with an 8-5 lead.
"We want to win every game*
Fuller said. "We're not really tense
about it, but we want to
After consecutive doubles in the    pened in the same inning,
bottom of the ninth by Terrance
Frazier and Brant Brown, the Bull-
liners from the crowd. For baseball
Weekend
Results
Baseball—Pepsi/Johnny Quik Classic
March 16 Fresno State 9, Washington State 8
March 17 Fresno State 15, Nebraska 2
March 18 Fresno State 9, New Mexico 4
March 19 Creighton 10, Fresno State 9
March 20 Fresno State 13, Creighton 3
March 21 Northridge State 10, Fresno State 5
The 22nd ranked Northridge State Matadors were the eventual
champions of the 1992 Pepsi/Johnny Quik Classic. Fresno State is
currently 19-11 overall, 2-1 in Big West games.
Golf—Rolex/Golf Digest Invitational
The Fresno State golf team finished in sixth
place.
Softball
March 18     Fresno State 2, San Jose State 0 *
Fresno State 2, San Jose State 1
March 19     Fresno State 8, Massachusetts 2
Fresno State 6, Massachusetts 2
The softball team is currently ranked fourth in the nation, with
a 25-4 overall record, 11-1 in the Big West
Men's Tennis
March 21 Fresno State 6, Pacific 0
March 22 Fresno State 5, Texas-El Paso 1
The men's tennis team b currently 7-6 overall, 1-2 in the Big West.
Women's Tennis—San Diego Tournament
South Florida 5, Fresno State 2
Fresno State 5, Brown 1
Fresno State 6, New Mexico 0
The women's tennis team is currendy 13-7 overall, 4-2 in the Big
West They finished fifth in die tournament
Sports
Calendar
Baseball
March 27 vs. UC irvine at 7 p.m.
March 28 vs. UC Irvine at 7 p.m.
March 29 vs. UC Irvine at 1 p.m.
March 31 vs. Loyola Marymount at 7p.m.
April 3 at Cal State Fullerton at 7 p.m.
April 4 at Cal State Fullerton at 7 p.m.
April 5 at Cal State Fullerton at 1 p.m.
Golf
March 26-27 at Hammond Bell/UCSB Invitational
Softball i
March 25-29 at Pony Invitational. Times to be
announced
March 31 vs. Pacific at 2 p.m.
Apro, 4 vs. Cal State Fullerton at 1 p.m.
April 5 vs. UC Santa Barbara at 1 p.m.
Men's Tennis
March 26-29 at UC Irvine Marriot Invitaional
all day
April 4-^Raisin Bowl Bowl Tennis Classic all
day
Women's Tennis
March 26 vs. San Jose State at 1:30 p.m.
March 28 vs. Harvard University at noon
March 29 at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo at noon
April 3 at Cal State Fullerton at 1:30 p.m.
April 4 at UC Santa Barbara at noon
Men's and Women's Track and Field
March 28 at Stanford Relays all day
April 3-4 Fresno Relays all day
vs. denotes bomb games
McNamara would eventually    fans, spring wouldn't be the same
double in the winning run later In " "without It"
Women athletes
deserve equal
media coverage
Perspective
By Tim Haddock
StaffWriter	
What do Bonnie Blair, Cathy
Turner, Kristi Yamaguchi
and Donna Weinbrecht all have in
common? They are the only US.
gold medalist of the 1992 winter
Olympic games.
All are women, and they brought
home five gold medals. In fact, of
the 11 medals the United States won
at the Olympics in Albertville,
Prance, nine were won by women.
Kathryn Reith, communications
director of the Women's Sports
Foundation, said, as reported in
Sports Dlustrated, there weren't a
lot of media stories about the US.
worrttnduring the Olympics.
Women athletics, on the whole,
doesn't receive the media coverage
it deserves.
Title IX, the legislation that went
into effect in 1972 to help diminate
the sex discrimination in college
athletics, has helped in highlighting
women's athletics. Thirty-three
percent of college athletes are
women today, compared toll percent 25 years ago
Men and women collegiate athletes across the nation compete for
national championships in basketball, swimming, track and field
events, soccer and various other
sports. But sail, die media tends to
grant more coverage to the men.
For example, CBS iscovering the
entire NCAA men's basketball
tournament to decide the national
champion, but are only covering
the championship game for the
Granted, men's basketball is
probably more marketable than
women's basketball, but they still
deserve equal coverage.
To branch out a bit further, pro-
fessional sports should start considering the possibilty of recruiting
women athletes. A friend of mine,
NikkiSmith, whoplayssoftballata
college in Los Angeles, said one of
her biggest complaints about playing softball is that there is no future
for softball players after college.
Collegiate baseball players have
the option to pursue a professional
career, but women would never be
considered to play professional
baseball by today's standards—
and Smith can hit a 90 mile per hour
fastball.
Another argument in favor of
women softball players is that good
pitchers have a natural rise to their
fastballs. The last major leaguer
who could throw a rising fastball
was New YorkMet DwightGooden.
And I say was because he hasn't
done it since 1987—-^""       \
However, most women don't
have the ability to hit home runs at
the major league level. (But when
was the last time Ozzie Smith hit a
home run.)
Considering that Major League
Baseball lost its television contract
with CBS last season, it might be
worth their while to pursue the Idea
of starting an exhibition softball
league for women.
With escalating baseball salaries,
baseball owners may need to have
to find a way to lure more fans into
thestands. An early pre-game soft-
ball contest might be the thing.
Whaf s the worst that could happen. Hell, the Yankees might even
find a third baseman who can hit.
And maybe Florence Crifnthjoyner
can hi t lead off for the Angels.
Women have made great strides
in politics, business and other professional avenues. The time has
come to let them pursue professional athletic careers which aren't
limited to golf, tennis and bowling.
I