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sports MfliKaSaaiBiiagCjSro M |g|P. :v .4l^fS; "' : ... , fe? I_ l , ;^Ti:^^3^v,.A\,. . . Cool weather in the midlands forced USC baseball fans to bundle up Thursday night. /> Frofessiom needdrasti With basketball and hockey in the final stages of their respective seasons, the length of the playoff schedules for both sports amaze me. It is not unusual or unlikely that both sports will stretch into the beginning of June before Sportalk ftfdfe ' mm by Matt Ward championships are decided. In both the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League the playoff systems include a best of three game series, which is followed by three best of seven game series. It is probable a team which plays to the limit of all the playoff series will have to play a total of 24 games to win the championship. This is, of course, after playoffbound teams have either played an 82 regular season game schedule in i ii i ! iMBllwBI Dave Roback-THE GAMECOCK Here, :i-ypar-old Trey Poston looks on as the Gamecocks trounce Furman. %l playoffs c changes the NBA or an 80 game regular season schedule in the NHL, Consequently, the season drags on and on. Both sports have begun to extend themselves into late May and early June, where at one time both leagues would end by late April or at the very longest the beginning of May. THE ONLY reason both sports have allowed the playoffs to develop as they have is that the owners of the teams in basketball and hockey need to cover the huge expenses of running a professional team. Thic ic Q Ka/4 liroir * ^ -? Al >l?u ? U UUU YY?jr IV/ UC V 1'IUJ) Hie playoffs. Ideally, playoffs should be a reward to the teams who did well during the regular season and should not include most or all of the teams. Otherwise, what use has the regular season served? Also, by having all the teams come into the playoffs the caliber of play suffers. In the long run the fans who follow both sports are smart enough to realize they are not seeing the top performances oxpected in playoff competition. 11 is apparent the playoff idea as first conceived for basketball and hockey was good, but that idea has gotten out of hand. The playoffs as they are set up now are far too See SPORTALK, page 12 Lady Gamecoc wins state ch By GREG DAVIE Gamecock Staff Writer By the narrowest of margins, Carolina's women's Softball team was victorious in their quest fore a third consecutive state title. A 3-2 decision over Winthrop clinched the championship of the double-elimination tournament Saturday afternoon. The win gave USC the right to represent Region Two of the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) in the Softball World Series, May 21, in Omaha, Nebraska. Carolina had a 3-1 lead going into the top of the seventh inning, through the hitting of Lauren Hughes and Maureen Ahern, and the pitching of Karen Fappas. In Keeping with her game plan, Coach Molly Maguire inserted relief pitcher Fran Senn. Senn, a freshman from Brookland-Cayce High School in Cayce, managed to get two outs but had loaded the bases in the process. The next Eagle batter grounded to shortstop Sherry Messinger, who threw to Hughes at first to preserve the victory. "IT WAS a struggle the whole way," said Maguire, "but it was good for us. We finished the day with a pitching staff of two." Only Pappas and Senn remained from Maguire's staff. Earlier, Bonnie Vena had been ejected for l?': ^ v Wofford's first baseman reaches for the ball as a Gamecock baserunner crosses the bag safe n ? J i * tiulldogs breezt By I)ON ARMSTRONG Gamecock Staff Writer When the Carolina track team hit the road Friday night, they were hit right back-with a cold shoulder. Coach Charlie Strong said chilly temperatues, heavy winds and any one of a number of other factors may have brought out the worst in his team in their 94-60 dual meet loss at Georgia, but the presence of two "super" Bulldog sprinters certainly went a long way toward making the Gamecocks feel very unura1/>Ama VYVIWA1IV. Freshman Melvin I^atany kicked plenty of sand in Gamecock faces as he breezed to a 9.9 wind-aided time in the 100 meters. Unaided, that clocking would :k softball team lampionship throwing an illegal pitch, which involved her not keeping "at least one foot on the pitching rubber." Friday's second round gasme with Winthrop was as much, if not more, exciting than the championship game. Carolina headed into their last at bats trailing 7-5. The Lady Gamecocks pushed across two runs and had the bases loaded with two outs. Senn then put down a bunt. The ball went foul but rolled fair before it could be touched, and Dawn Eikmeier scored from third for the winning run. "That is the kind of thing we knew would be to our advantage," said Maguire, referring to the squeeze play. "Winthrop got a lead on us and tried to play conservative. We kept playing our aggressive offense, stealing and sacrificing, and we came from behind to win." A nv^nKt i kiv\ itt - 1 1 ' ' /\ur,i\r? /\i^u nuiiiir^ once again iea tne nitting, but were joined by center fielder Patti McClellan. McClellan "ripped up the pitching on the first day," according to Maguire. Ahern went 7-12, including six RBIs. Hughes batted 6-12, and McClellan went 6-13. "The teams we faced played better than we expected they would," Maguire said. "But that made our first place showing even more satisfying. We had to prove that we were the best team." There was no tournament team announced last year. Instead, an All-State team will be selected this week. 4-v I & l^p I ^r ^HM|j& I Jon McLeon-THE GAMfcCOCK by inches. Carolina beat the Terriors Friday night for their 27th win. ? by Gamecocks have tied a world record and Strong was duly impressed. "That 9.9 is probably the fastest wind-aided time in the nation this year and the wind really wasn't very far over the allowable level. He's really a class runner." The allowable wind speed is two meters per second and the measuring at the time of the 100 meters was 3.17 meters per second. Kill RrPoHintt I itnmt'n ? a ? x,vumg, ihhuiij s spccusier leainmaie, finished fourth last year in the Southeast Conference 100-meter championship as a freshman. He did his share to stun the Gamecocks as he crossed the 100meter finish line in stride with star Gamecock sprinter George Thomas and was clocked in an inSee TRACK, page 12