b________
WEÓNEsdAy, ApRÍL 17, 2002
TI he CI ac I camas P rínt
Just can’t beat ’em
DAISY BAIN
A & E Editor
Thursday, Apri 18
@ CHEMEKETA
Wallace Marine Park, Salem
3:30pm
Satuday/Sunday
Apri20/21
© CROSSOVER
TOURNAMENT
Wallace Marine Park, Salem
TBA
Tuesday, ApriL23
S. PUGET SOUND
2pm
SALENA DE LA CRUZ/ Clackamas Print
Nikki Staley, previous player of the week, prepares to field a
ground ball from her third base position. Staley is batting .380
with 11 runs scored and five doubles this season. According to
Flskum, In the game against LCC, her and the rest of the team
played great defense and produced an error free game, although
It was their third loss at home.
The softball team took on
Lower Columbia Community
College again last Friday, los
ing for the third time on home
ground.
Ksandra Sims of Lower Co
lumbia pitched a great game.
“She’s a great pitcher,” said
Coach Paul Fiskum. “We have
to give her credit.” According
to the latest Northwest Ath
letic Association of Community
Colleges softball statistics,
Sims has thrown six wins, no
losses and allowed an average
of only 0.55 runs per nine in
nings pitched.
“She throws hard,” said
Fiskum about Sims. The Cou
gars struck out 13 times.
“That’s hard to take.”
“We didn’t hit the ball at all,”
said Fiskum, accounting for the
2-0 loss. “We would .swing
hard and miss, but I am not dis
couraged at all. The bats are
going to come around,” he
said.
Fiskum refuses to only con
centrate on the loss. “We had
a great pitching performance
by Miranda Gillaspie,” said
Fiskum. She allowed five hits,
two of which were bunts in
seven innings.
“We also played great defen
sively,” said Fiskum. “With no
outs, there was a runner on first
and third base, they hit a fly
ball to right field. (Lindsay)
VanBramer caught it and threw
the ball home for the out. It
was a very, very nice play.”
“We haven’t had very many
errors at all” in 11 league
games, said Fiskum. “Defense
is the key to our game.” Fiskum
hopes to give LCC a loss the
next time they come to
Clackamas. The Cougars are 0-
3 with Lower Columbia and 8-3
for the season.
The women played a double
header against Southwestern
Oregon Community College on
Tuesday; results were unavail
able at press time. They will
compete with them again in
Coos Bay on Saturday, April 20.
Softball player of the week
Miranda Gillaspie
Saturday, ApnL20
© SW OREGON
lpm
Gillaspie plays first base and pitcher for the Cougars. She has thrown a total of four wins and three
losses so far this season. All four wins were shutouts.
"She threw an outstanding ball game against the team who is in the number one standing in the
NWAACC conference," said Fiskum.
According to the 2002 NWAACC softball statistics she has only allowed an average of 1.34 earned
runs per nine innings pitched, putting her in the ninth position in the conference.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT
Tuesday, April 23
MT. HOOD
lpm
Waking up from the nightmare of the NBA
Saturday, Aprl27
LANE
lpm
Tuesday, APril 30
@ MT. HOOD
lpm
INTERNET PHOTO
From the
Bleachers
Nick Barron
StaffWriler
Tonight the last chapter will be
gin on the National Basketball
Association’s regular season. The
Trail Blazers play host to the Hous
ton Rockets at the Rose Garden
this evening, meaning that the
nightmare is nearly concluded.
With the final buzzer of tonight’s
game, the NBA playoffs loom just
around the comer, slated to begin
this weekend. Once those playoffs
begin, I am forced to endure only
two more months of lackadaisical
basketball. Just ten more weeks of
being inundated with sleep-induc
ing highlights on SportsCenter,
and I anf safe from the over-hyped
world of the NBA until October.
When the NBA regular season
begins, the leaves are changing
color and the pigskin is flying
throughout National Football
League cities across the nation,
giving me another option to the
pathetic product that NBA com
missioner David Stern trots out
onto the court. But once the Super
Bowl concludes, I have to choose
between the National Hockey
League and the NBA for my major
sports entertainment. Usually, I
spoon-feed myself a little bit of both
sports, but next year I think I’ll fol
low curling.
I understand why Oregonians
love the NBA. For one, the games
get them out of the rain and give
them something to do in the middle
of the winter. And I don’t hpld it
against people in the Northwest
who pledge allegiance to the Trail
Blazers.
Of course, my favorite sport,
baseball, comes under criticism for
being slow and boring. Perhaps the
games aren’t as active as those in
the NBA, but there is more to base
ball than meets the eye. In order to
truly love baseball and enjoy
watching an entire game, one has
to use the brain to understand what
components go into every pitch
and every swing.
...in the NBA, we don't
have to deal with make-
believe hatred between
participants, it is real
and right therefor our
little kids to enjoy.
But it seems that our country is
sliding further into an ignorant
abyss, and the NBA has benefited
from our stupidity. Of course it is
entertainment when millionaire
seven-foot grown men swing
punches at each other, or when
they toss a basketball into the
stands out of frustration. We watch
in anxious anticipation and feel se
cure in the fact that those players
who bring street violence onto the
court for the world to see will be
fined, and, coupled with the fact
that they score in the double dig
its for the home team, we deem it
OK.
That is what the World Wres
tling Federation is for, and that is
why their violence is fake and
scripted. But in the NBA, we don’t
have to deal with make-believe ha
tred between participants, it is real
and right there for our little kids to
enjoy. I can’t wait for the day my
child tells me that he wants to get
angry and curse like Allen Iverson,
all the while slinging fists like the
Tasmanian Devil.
So now I see the light at the end
of the tunnel. All I have to do is
deal with the NBA for a little longer.
Don’t worry about me, though, I
will make it; I do every year. I’m
just wondering how I will get to
sleep at night once I don’t have
NBA highlights on ESPN.
To reach Nick Barron e-mail
barronoru@hotmail.com