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]