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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 26, 1978)
softball Ducks’ Knox boasts versatility in both her offense and defense By CHRISTY BODE Of the Emerald Oregon softball coach Becky Sisley believes that a good player must be versatile. Shortstop Kim Knox fits that bill perfectly. “You: can’t just be a strong hitter, you must have good offensive and de fensive skills,” said Sisley. “Kim has good game sense. She is an excellent shortstop and has ex tremely quick fielding.” Knox who has a current bat ting average of .304, can attribute her consistency to eight years of summer league experience in her hometown of Lake Oswego. She became interested in soft ball as a sixth grader. At that time her sister coached her grade school team. “It was exciting to be on a winning team,” Knox admit ted. She joined the Lake Oswego Lakettes at the right time — when the team was young — and con tinued to win. Knox remembers playing against people like Shawna Baxter and Vicki Lesh, who both are Duck team mem bers, when she was a Lakette. Knox describes the transition of going from summer league to col lege competition as a learning ex perience. “In college ball, you practice five days a week. But in summer league you never practice, you play two games a week and the coach tries to get you out of slumps,” she said. Team unity is one more learning experience of concern to Knox. "There is a tendency for players to perform on an individual basis lather than forming a cohesive unit,” she stated. “The important aspect in softball," she added, "is learning to work together.” Another experience the Duck shortstop has encountered con cerns the different coaching strategies of Lakette coach Irv Hefford and Sisley, the Duck coach. Knox explained it is a mat ter of learning to adapt on her part. Presently, Knox is having diffi culty adapting to her new position — pitcher. Sisley started training her to pitch last year as a fresh man. “We’re working on the consis tency part of her pitching and also on varying the pitches,” Sisley said. Knox said although pitching is her main concern, “It is a new as pect that is fun.” i Ptioto Courtesy of S.I.D. Kim Knox got most of her softball training in Lake Oswego, and now she's putting it to use for the women’s softball team. “I’m less sure of myself in pitch ing since there is more responsi bility than in playing shortstop,” she confessed. “Sometimes I get psyched out.” In softball, playing an aggres sive game could end up in suffer ing broken bones and pulled mus cles. However, Knox has re mained relatively injury free ex cept for bruises from sliding. “To slide correctly, there are lots of techniques and you’ve got to get your confidence up,” she said. Knox related that during sum mer league competition, teams from Utah and Washington sport knickers. Whether they are fash ionable or not is another question, but they would surely serve more protection against painful bruises and skin burns. If she is pitching or playing shortstop, Kim Knox works hard to be good, and she is good. She will certainly be worth watching at the upcoming home games to be held at Amazon Field April 26, May 3 and 8. VW’S MERCEDES BMW’S DATSUN TOYOTA GU ENTER SCHOENER Bus Ph 342-2912 2025 Franklin Blvd Eugene. Ore 97403 Home Ph 746-1207 d mvmm mi * y yaw xw tre u* w ^ i i i im M.jj u.1 -rnTriTiYnTf EMU Food Service Cafeteria 11:00 a.m.—1:30 p.m. Mon.-Fri. Assortment of complete meals Desserts Salads Juices HOMEMADE ^atS,shes HI LI & SOUPS Luncheon Specials Sandwiches Soups Chili “miiJLiJLEl **************** *****«********•.******* WWWtf WliWtfMtf WWW Prices effective thru 5-1-78 «A DRUG STOR1S 2 CONVENIENT LOCATIONS FftAN-KMN BLVD. — 185 E 18TH ‘WILSON’ • CHAMPIONSHIP • PRO 100 TENNIS BALLS YOUR CHOICE Three Tennis Balls Gold lr“ EVEREADY V” ALKALINE ■ BATTERIES 1 • pk of 2 ‘O’ size ■ • pk of 2 ‘C’ size 15 YOUR CHOICE (pk of 4 ‘AA’ size 1.99) Red EVEREADY TRANSISTOR BATTERIES • pk of 2 9 volt • pk of 2 AA’ size YOUR CHOICE
