Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 6, 2001)
Softball begins with bang ■The Oregon softball team opens its season with four wins By Adam Jude Oregon Daily Emerald The 20th-ranked Oregon softball team split a pair of games Sunday in San Marcos, Texas to finish its opening week end with a 4-2 record. Junior Connie McMurren (2-0) pitched eight in nings, gave up two runs and recorded five strikeouts as the Ducks defeated host school Southwest Texas State 3-2. Senior infielder Triawn Custer SOFTBAU hit her second home run of the weekend in the win. Baylor’s three runs in the top of the first inning set the tone in the second game Sunday, as the MCMURREN Ducks and pitcher Lisa Wangler (1-1) fell 6-2. Sophomore Alyssa Laux was 2-for-4 at the plate, while junior third-baseman Holly Ray scored the two runs. “We are right where we expected to be at this point in the season,” head coach Rick Gamez said. “I’m happy with our pitching and our defense and I liked the fact that we were able to score runs when we had two outs.” Saturday was a career day for Wangler, a transfer from Mesa Com munity College in Arizona. The sophomore’s first Division 1 victory was a six-inning shutout. She was also 5-for-7 in two games at the lead-off spot. The Ducks defeated Texas A&M Corpus Christi 11-3, and Baylor 4-0 on Saturday. They split a double header Friday against A&M (5-0 win) and SWT (3-2 loss). As part of their six scheduled tournaments to open the 2001 cam paign, the Ducks will travel to Tempe, Ariz. Feb. 9 to participate in the Fiesta Bowl Softball Tourna ment. Peter Hockaday’s Weekly Online Sports Poll So Emerald readers, “What are YOU doing?” Obviously, you were doing some laugh ing at that Budweiser commercial on Jan. 28, as it was voted as your favorite Super Bowl commercial in last week's weekly sports poll. It easily beat out the five other nominees, with the run ning of the squirrels commercialand the Bob Dole Pepsi spot fi nish i ng i n second and third, respectively. This week, we look beyond the televi sion and into the film industry. In light of Sports lllustrated’s recent piece on sports movies, we want to know what your favorite sports movie is. To vote, go to www.dailyemeraid. com and dick on the sports section. And, without further ado, here are this week’s nominees. Rocky, Hoosiers, The Natural, Chari ots of Fire, Field of Dreams and Bull Durham. Now we know there are many more, so we also have an “Oth er” category for those films not men tioned. Famous Pebble Beach tree dies By Anne M. Peterson The Associated Press PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — A lit tle piece of golf tradition has died. The majestic pine on the 18th hole at Pebble Beach has suc cumbed to pitch canker disease, which can claimti tree in less than six months. The 80-foot tree long has served as a visual landmark and obstacle for golfers playing the 535-yard par 5 hole. It has forced players to aim through a gap, the tree on one side and the cliffs overlooking the Pacif ic Ocean on the other. It still stands, in front of the green and to the right of the hole, but its death is causing a dangerous situa tion. Branches have been cut from the canopy, about 70 feet up, but more could fall, threatening golfers. The tree, sadly, must come down. “Mother nature gave us a beauti ful tree there,” said Fuzzy Zoeller, who has played Pebble Beach enough to know. “It’s a shame.” The loss of the tree causes prob lems for the folks at Pebble Beach. The 18th hole is one of the most storied in golf. The pine, although not as famous as the course’s Lone Cy press, is nonetheless featured in pho tographs, posters and other memora bilia celebrating the seaside hole. Simply removing it would change the hole too much, course officials have decided. So they’re looking at plans to replace it. Among the options is moving a similar-sized pine, located about 50 feet away, or planting a couple cy press trees on the spot. Either way, it’s a logistical night mare. Because the hole is bordered on one side by the Pacific Ocean and on the other by the Pebble Beach Lodge and various guest rooms, the tree can’t simply be chopped down and hauled off. The operation will involve a 30 foot hole, a crane and possibly rail road tracks to transport a new tree, or trees, and get the old one out. “It’s hard to replace such a signa ture obstacle,” summed up R.J. Harper of Pebble Beach Company Operations. With heavy hearts, OSU returns to court STILLWATER, Okla.—Oklahoma State s basketball team played a game Monday night, giving the players and coaches a chance to fo cus — for a while, at least — on something other than the loss of 10 friends. Welcomed by a boisterous crowd, the Cowboys returned to the court to play Missouri in their first game since a Jan. 27 plane crash in Col orado that killed two players and eight other members of the school’s traveling party. Many in the crowd, along with the coaches from both schools, wore orange ribbons in memory of the victims. The main lobby of the arena remained filled with flowers and handwritten messages to the vic tims. The students, most of them in place 90 minutes before tipoff, gave each of the Oklahoma State players a standing ovation as they filed out, a few at a time, for the pregame shootaround. Fredrik Jonzen, the first out, applauded back at them with upraised arms. The players received a standing ovation from the nearly full Gal lagher-Iba Arena as they trotted to the dressing room shortly before the game. Then, moments later, the are na fell silent for 30 seconds to honor the victims. Four minutes before gametime, the arena rocked with noise once again as the team came onto the floor. Coach Eddie Sutton followed moments later, trailed by nearly a dozen television cameras. “Remembering our fallen 10, we’ll prove once again this is the rowdiest arena in the country,” pub lic address announcer Larry Reece bellowed prior to introducing the starting lineups. As usual, each Cowboy was greeted with a roar. The game program was dedicat ed to the victims and the cover fea tured a picture of each. The lineup sheets provided to media listed the names of players Dan Lawson and Nate Fleming, with a ribbon along side each. The OSU uniforms included a black square on the chest with the number 10 and a ribbon inside. Oklahoma State (13-4,4-2 Big 12) has been able to hold only a handful of practices since the crash. The Cowboys’ first organized workout came last Tuesday, and the next day they gathered with thousands of others for a public memorial service inside Gallagher-Iba Arena. Since then, there have been fu nerals to attend just about every day. The latest was Monday morning, when sports information employee Will Hancock was remembered at a service attended by Sutton and his staff, as well as coaches from across the university. “We’ve talked to our team a lot,” said Sean Sutton, Eddie’s son and the team’s associate head coach. “What’s happened is a terrible tragedy and everybody’s sorry. I think our guys realize that they’ve got to go forward with their lives. “I think one of the best ways for that to happen is to get back in a rou tine — going to class every day, studying, going on the practice court and practicing, and playing games." Monday’s game was the start of a busy week for the Cowboys, one that will require them to focus as best they can on the task at hand. Af ter playing Missouri (14-6,5-2), they travel to Nebraska on Wednesday and visit Kansas on Saturday. “I think we do need to get back and start playing games,” Jonzen had said last week. “I think it’s go ing to help all of us get through this.” Eddie Sutton said the first prac tice after the crash was as good as any this year. He said he expected his players, despite the difficulty of the past week, will play well in their return. “This group of guys has proven to me that they will dedicate them selves to Dan Lawson and Nate Fleming,” he said. The Associated Press Thursday | feb. 8th noon -1 pm metolius room [emu main floor] learn successful fundraising tips project/event development identifying potential funding sources writing successful request letters fundraising within the UO fundraising in the business coummunity introduction to grants limited to 20 students* call today to reserve your space 346-4000 refreshments will be served *only one representative per student organization please sponsored by the student activities resource office [saro]
