The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 25, 1997, Page 8, Image 8
Spirit in s
| SHAWN SINGLETON |
At the beginning of this semester,
I had no reason to attend any
Carolina baseball games. That is,
until my friend Jay woke me up on
a Saturday morning to go to one.
Now I have five reasons to attend
_ n l! l i__n t n
a baroima Daseoaii game?uay, *jreg,
David, John and Gary.
Along with yours truly, we form
a sextet that puts fear into the hearts
of opposing teams, fans, umpires,
and, on one occasion, our esteemed
governor. If you haven't figured out
who we are by now, we are the World
Famous Third Base Hecklers. Like
corn flakes, we are the original and
best.
There is no such thing as a boring
game at Sarge Frye Field; we just
won't allow it. Win or lose, we will
' s
always have something to say, and
if s never good.
Unlike other colleges' hecklers,
we use original material, and it
changes from game to game. Heckling
is a situational art, one that takes
Softball rallies
BRYAN JOHNSTON Sports Editor
It wasn't supposed to be a tough
doubleheader for the third-ranked
Lady Gamecock softball team, but
Georgia Southern wasn't about to
go down without a fight.
It took a run in the top of the
seventh inning to slip by Georgia
Southern in the nightcap of the
doubleheader to complete the sweep
Tuesday, 6-4 and 4-3.
South Carolina (53-3) jumped out
to an early 2-0 advantage in the first
fnrvmcr rcf fKo nnorvrn?T onmc nnH afvwori
runs in the third, fourth, fifth and
sixth to defeat GSU, 6-4.
The Lady Eagles fought back in
the sixth inning.
With USC leading 6-4 and GSU
having the bases loaded, Carolina
coach Joyce Compton brought in AilAmerican
Trinity Johnson to slam
the door shut The nation's ERA and
strikeout leader held the Lady Eagles
scoreless to earn her fourth save of
the year.
Senior Chanda Lee was 4-for-5
with three stolen bases and senior
Carrie Lyons went 3-for-4 in game
one.
Sophomore Nikki Beers (W 121)
struck out four in 5 2/3 innings to
pick up the win.
In game two, freshman Sondra
Hall drove in Lyons with a single to
left field in the seventh inning to
break a 3-3 tie and give the Lady
Gamecocks the 4-3 victory.
We n
Bills!
by not c.
a tn:
W ?
K H A K I S
cliool spir
great timing and savoir-faire so we
use the heckles that work the best
at the right time. Then, we use the
fake heckle, which is total silence.
After a bunch of noise during every
pitch, this can totally throw off a
pitcher.
At Wednesday's massacre of
Clemson, we exhausted all of our
known heckles and made new ones,
such as mooing at the Clemson
ballgirl and singing our version of
"Paradise City," where the grass is
green and the arms are -bleep.
Gov. Beasley called us "a disgrace
to this university." For those who
dent know, he is a Clemson graduate,
which makes him an automatic tool,
and that's good heckle material in
and of itself.
Mike McGee thinks the same
way, Dut men again, ne minKs mat
way about anyone who openly shows
support for the Gamecocks.
Magoo (McGee in Heckler lingo)
is the only politically correct athletic
director in the country. With his
henchmen, the speech police, he does
whatever possible to suppress school
spirit at the University of South
in seventh for
USC scored j
a run in the H
fourth and two EJHh
in the fifth to I
take a 3-0 lead, I
but GSU^^^H^^H
battled back in I
the bottom of P
the fifth, scoring I
three unearned I
runs on one hit I
two USC
errors to tie the
game at three, fl
Though pP?
giving up only
two GSU hits, |
junior pitcher
Sky Brown was I
relieved by 1
Johnson in the H
finish the game, pp
Johnson took
control of the
game, striking Senior Chanda Lee s
out five of the the first game Tuesdi
last six Lady breaking the school
Eagle batters Saturday, the No. 3
she faced to evep SEC championsl
improve her
record to 28-2.
Sophomore center fielder Kim
Pietro was 2-for-3 with two doubles
while Brown and Hall each had two
singles to lead the Lady Gamecocks.
Up next for the SEC-leading Lady
Gamecocks is two games against
Alabama and Auburn this weekend.
made
setter
clanging
Lng.?
iiaii
3RITT0NS
-/2818 Devine St.
771-2700
Mon-Fri 10-7 pm
Sat 10-6 pm
it being e
Carolina.
He lobbied the SEC for a rule that
makes the two rows directly behind
the opposing players' dugout for the
opposing fans to keep us hum sitting
there.
It obviously hasn't worked. You
see, he comes from the left coast,
where there are no real fans, and
everyone sits at a game quietly so
they don't offend anyone.
Now he wants to bring this
insanity here, but as long as the
Hecklers and other real fans are
around, this won't happen. This is
OUR GAME, and we cant let McGee
or those like him take it from us.
It's happening all over at the
professional level; this is our chance
to make sure it doesn't happen here.
Besides, if a player can't handle the
heckling at this level, how will he be
able to handle it on a pro level?
McGee would make a great
candidate for the Forrest Gump
"Stupid Is As Stupid Does" Award
for this week, but I think his idiocy
has been well-stated. Instead, I will
give the award to a group of guys
who, at this writing, have found 13
sweep of Geoi
" ^ jHEp^VSp lE
ilides safely into second against Ge
?y against Georgia Southern. USC L
record for most victories in a seas
Lady Gamecocks will capture the i
lip won by a women's team at South
USC takes on the Crimson Tide
Saturday at noon and the Lady Tigers
Sunday at 1 p.m.
Saturday will be a big day for the
Lady Gamecocks.
If Carolina beats 'Bama, it will
give them the inaugural SEC regularseason
softball championship and
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ways to lose ball games. And as
always, I come here to buiy stupidity,
not to praise it, as the movie suggests.
They may be the Chicago Cubs,
but they have played like the Bad
News Bears. While in the midst of
a record-setting losing streak to start
the season, the Cubs committed more
errors than they hit home runs.
They are atrocious in every facet
of the game, from pitching to hitting.
mi a 1 i 4 j i
i ney are euner last or near tne
bottom of the National League in
every major category except errors,
and they lead the league in that.
Dating back from the end of last
season, they are 4-30, which could
actually get you into the playoffs in
the American League, but not where
real baseball is played.
The Cubs' sad and sorry opening
performance has given Harry Caray
a new reason to get drunk by the
seventh-inning stretch. This gives
him a legitimate excuse for forgetting
half the words to "Take Me Out To
the Ballgame."
*gia Southern ^
a he
we
Sa
Fe
th
At
po
th
la
BRYAN JOHNSTON The Gamecock
orgia Sunday. Lee went 4-for-S in so
s now 53-3 and two wins away from Tr
on. Also, with a sweep of Alabama Pi
regular-season SEC title, the first- en
Carolina.
w<
the top-seed heading into the SEC o.(
Softball Tournament, to be held May in
9 through May 11 in Columbus, Ga. ga
Two wins will also give them 55 th
wins, the most-ever in USC softball W{
history. th
The current record is 54 wins, set ^h
by the 1992 squad. to
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BASEBALL continued from page 1
USC Athletics Director Mike MbGee
one was inspired to shout "He:
Mike! We gonna get a nev
smrphnarH^" hn'ntrintr Imiphfl fmn
the crowd.
Even with USC up by 24 run!
entering the ninth inning, Gamecod
Coach Ray Tanner admitted, "Witt
aluminum bats, I'm neve:
comfortable until the last out ii
made."
"Tm happy to win," Tanner said
"but 38-16, that's not a basebal
score. The pitchers are not tha
bad."
USC had the second-best scoring
offense in the country until th(
game, behind only Arkansas; th<
team is now the most-Droductivc
offense in the NCAA.
The win is the second by the
Gamecocks against Clemson this
season, evening the season series
at 2-2. South Carolina's record is
Carolina tracl
AFF REPORTS
Senior Dawn Ellerbe, who broke
sr own American record last
jekend in the hammer at the Mt.
c Relays, was named the Trackwire
male Track and Field Athlete of
e Week Thursday. The Trackwire
hlete of the Week is selected by a
ol of college coaches from around
e country.
Ellerbe tossed the hammer 210breaking
the record she shattered
st year at the NCAA Outdoor
lampionships by more than a foot.
"I had been a bit frustrated lately,
it it really came together for me
ohnson hor
AFF REPORTS
For the third time this year, USC
ftball senior Ail-American pitcher
inity Johnson was named the SEC
tcher of the Week for the week
ding April 20.
Johnson hurled a near-perfect
jek, posting a 3-0 record with a
)0 ERA while striking out 42 batters
19 innings. She also tossed a perfect
me, a no-hitter and a shutout in
ree-consecutive performances. It
is Johnson's third perfect game of
e season (fourth of her career) and
e two no-hitters brought her total
six on the year (ninth of her career).
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leads USC's
}f Clemson
now identical to Clemson (30-16).
South Carolina still holds second
i, place in the Eastern Division of the
/ Southeastern Conference with an
v 11-10 record, second to only
i Tennessee's 13-8.
3 IIAW4 ftOIMA
3 ncAi yainc
c The Gamecocks travel to play
1 Florida this weekend in a crucial
r SEC series. Florida entered the
3 season ranked third in the country,
bus has seen their stock fall rapidly
J of late. Their record is 10-11, one
t game behind USC, after last
weekend's three game sweep of
r Kentucky.
\ Tanner said, "Every game looms
, large. You go back to Monday,
? against Wofford, that was a big
game we had to win. In the Florida
? series, we've got to try to position
3 ourselves down there to stay in that
3 top 3. Every game's big and I guess
3 that's the way it should be."
l star honored
last weekend. I felt I had a good series
of throws. It's a nice feeling to receive
this type of recognition," Ellerbe said
"Lisa [Misipeka, Ellerbe's teammate]
and I go head to head in every meet
She beat me the week before so there
was added incentive. I don't think
either of us is finished yet."
Ellerbe's toss puts her at No. 1
in the NCAA, with Misipeka a close
second at 204-4. Misipeka is the only
person to defeat Ellerbe in the last
three years in the hammer. Even
more impressive, the duo has thrown
over 200 feet in two different meets,
a first on American soil
Lored by SEC
On the year, Johnson is 28-2 with
a 0.23 ERA. She has struck out 313
batters in 185 1/3 innings of work.
She leads the nation in strikeouts
per seven innings (11.8) and her ERA
stands second-best in the country.
Johnson leads the SEC in six of 10
categories and is no lower than sixth
in the other four.
Softball ranked No. 3
The USC softball team (53-3,211
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