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