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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 5, 2000)
Scoreboard Seattle forces decisive Game 5 against Jazz SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Gary Payton and the Seattle Super Sonics are returning to the Delta Center, looking nothing like the team that limped away more than a week ago. The series against the Utah Jazz comes down to Friday night’s decisive Game 5 in Salt Lake City. The series started out easily for the Jazz, who got 50 points from Karl Malone in Game 1 and dominated in Game 2 for a 2-0 lead. Reporters in both cities declared the Sonics as good as dead. “that’s why I don’t listen to people in the media. You don’t know what’s going to happen,” Payton said after his first playoff triple-double sealed a 104-93 victory in Game 4 on Wednesday in Seattle. The Jazz went flat on the road, and the Sonics seized the momentum. Lakers hope to avoid shocking upset LOS ANGELES (AP) — Cassius Clay shocked the world when he knocked out heavyweight champion Sonny Liston in 1964. Joe Namath backed up his guarantee that the New York Jets would upset the Balti more Colts in the 1969 Super Bowl, and later that year, the New York Mets stunned the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series. Should the Sacramento Kings beat the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center on Friday night to win their best of-five first-round playoff se ries, it would have to rank right up there as one of the biggest upsets in sports histo ry — certainly the biggest shocker ever in the NBA play offs. “Of course it would, of course,” Lakers star Kobe Bryant said. Holyfield, Ruiz try to sell title fight LAS VEGAS (AP) —Evander Holyfield and John Ruiz did their best Thursday to sell their June 10 bout as a legiti mate heavyweight title fight. Just to be sure the point was made, promoter Don King did his best to help. “I guarantee you this fight will be a better world champi onship fight than Lewis and Grant,” King said. “That fight was a farce.” A federal court order strip ping Lewis for defending his title against Grant instead of Ruiz, the WBA’s top con tender, means the heavy weight title is fractured once again. Best Bet NBA Playoffs: Kings vs. Lakers 7:30 p.m., TNT Sports Friday May 5,2000 Volume 101, Issue 146 Kmenikl Kevin Caiame Emerald Freshman Andrea Vidlund made the transition from a power pitcher to a finesse pitcher this season. ■ Emotion is the fuel that powers up-and coming freshman Andrea Vidlund’s pitches and could propel her to superstardom By Matt O’Neill Oregon Daily Emerald With a quick snatch of her glove and slumping of her shoulders, it’s easy to tell that she is upset with the call. She puts her hands on her hips, kicks at the dirt and stares a hole through the umpire. And then, in the next sec ond, she takes a deep breath and composes herself before quickly firing another laser past the opposing hitter. “I’m real intense out there and I want to win,” freshman pitcher Andrea Vidlund said. “In order to win you have to be focused 100 percent.” That intensity garnered Vid lund some pretty high acco lades in high school. As Northern California Play er of the Year and second-team All-America at Orangevale High School, she was accus tomed to getting the majority of the close calls. But Vidlund also knew that she was coming into the best conference in collegiate soft ball, and that she was going to have to step up her game to contribute to the No. 16 Ducks (33-22 overall, 5-10 Pacific-10 Conference). “I had no idea that it was go ing to be as intense as it is,” the Sacramento native said. “I did Turn to Vidlund, page 14A SOFTBALL On Tap What: Softball Who: No. 10 Stanford vs. No. 16 Ducks When: 2 p.m. Where: Howe Field UO heads to momentous Stanford meet The Oregon women part ways again this weekend, hoping to keep improving at Stanford, UC Irvineand Mt. Hood By Mirjam Swanson Oregon Daily Emerald These Oregon women are really starting to believe in themselves. Over the course of the past two weekends, the youthful Ducks — 33 of the 52 athletes on the squad are underclassmen — came through with three new Pacific-10 Conference Champi onship qualifying marks and at least six person al bests. Now they’re getting greedy. Expecting more of themselves, because they say so. “Everybody knows what they’re capable of and that we need to step up,’’ said redshirt freshman hurdler Lucretia Larkin, who’s put ting together a speedy come back season, PR-ing last week end with a Pac-10-quality mark — 14.29 seconds — less than a month after making her first appearance of the season at the Mt. SAC Relays. “All the sprinters are stepping up, the jumpers are step ping up. Everybody is peaking and it’s perfect timing because there’s only a couple meets and then the Pac-lOs.” Oregon athletes get a taste of Pac-10 Champi onship-like competition today at the Cardinal Invitational at Stanford. And Saturday at the Steve Scott Invitational at UC-Irvine. Turn to Women, page 12A ■The Oregon men, still without their star runner Steve Fein, head south as individuals continue their quests for high marks to qualify for NCAAs By Scott Pesznecker Oregon Daily Emerald Stanford? Again? While the Oregon men’s track and field sea son may be winding down, competition is not. The Ducks compete in Palo Alto, Calif., today at the Cardinal Invitational, facing mighty Stan ford for the second time at Angell Field. “I always like going down to Stanford,” middle-dis tance runner Ross Krempley said. “If you beat someone from Stanford down there, it feels good.” Only one more meet re mains after this weekend. The final meet, the Oregon Twilight on May 13, is usually the best meet of the year for Oregon athletes to garner high-level marks. The Pacific-10 Conference Championships take place at Hayward Field starting with com bination events on May 13 and 14, followed by everything else on May 20 and 21. But nobody likes to wait until the last minute Turn to Men, page 11A m always excited to compete fora crowd. Nat Johnson senior n
