The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, June 02, 1999, Page Page 9, Image 9
KIM PIETRO
Softball senior Kim Pietro
was named to the Louisville
Slugger All-America first
team. Pietro led the Lady
Gamecocks in batting with a
419 average
' o
[Wednesday, June 2,1999
Wooden
bats are
-I "t
needed
CHARLIE WALLACE
From the editor's desk
21-14,38-16,25-4,26-5.
At first glance, these four sets of
scores look like an average Saturday
college football scoreboard, but they're
not The last two scores involve South
Carolina teams that played just a
few days ago in the NCAA Baseball
Tburnament.
Imagine picking up the morning
paper and reading that Southern
California beat Arizona State 21-14,
or that Carolina beat Clemson 38i
n 4.1. c
io, wiiiui was me case a iew yeais
back.
One would think, "Football in
June?"
Of course not.
Two teams playing football in the
summer is about as ridiculous as two
teams scoring a combined 35 runs
in a single baseball game. Oddly
enough, it happened last summer in
a contest that was far from ordinary.
The final score of the 1998 College
World Series championship game
was 21-14, as Southern Cal.
overpowered Arizona State in a game
that broke all kinds of CWS records.
In the aftermath of this fiasco,
MP A A fnpH lfc hoef fr* ntwtn cirlor
UIL X 1 vyx JO. A wivu ilAJ WVkJV W IV/WliUlUV/l
the murdering of the great American
pastime by its lifelong enemy: the
aluminum bat.
After months of bickering in the
off-season, the NCAA came up with
a decision that would basically take
speed off a ball hit with an aluminum
bat.
The exact measurement formula
that the NCAA used to decipher how
to scale down the power of the bats
is more confusing than the procedures
used for USC's sorority rush.
Tn fart it's sn iHintir that, a week
into this year's NCAA tournament,
scores have remained the same, and
averages haven't declined at all.
The NCAA is once again involved
in heated discussions about what to
WALLACE continued on page 11
s
Track
to NO
Track Roundup
Special to The Gamecock
Carolina brought home two men's
and five women's titles in 1999,
including the 4x400 meter relay.
Hot off winning the SEC title, the
USC women's team will send nine
women to the NCAA Outdoor Track
\\i~i?
cuiu x idu vyiJxxLupiuiiamjja yvcuiicouay
through Saturday in Boise, Idaho.
The Gamecock men will send eight
participants, including Terrence
Trammel! and Brad Snyder, who are
both No. 1 in the nation in their
respective events.
Hie men were 11th last year, while
the women finished seventh.
Indoors this year, the men were
fourth, while the women finished 18th.
The USC women's team won the
SEC Outdoor Track and Field
Championship May 15, with the men
finishing sixth.
On the men's side, Brad Snyder
won his eighth SEC title, winning the
shot put Tferrence Trammell shattered
the SEC record to win the 110 m eter
hurdles.
Ellakisha Williamson won both
the 100 meter and 400 meter hurdles
Men's go
Special to The Gameca
Sophomore Kyle Thompson and tl
men's golf team will travi
Wednesday to Minneapolis, Minn.
'PORTS
The Gamecock
and fie
iA chai
and ran a leg of the school record 4x400
meter relay team. Mikki Barber won
her second consecutive SEC title in
the 400 meter and ran the anchor leg
of the relay.
Erin Narzinski won her second |
heptathlon in three years, and senior
Michelle Foumier won South Carolina's
fourth straight, hammer title
"We will be looking to finish in the
top 10 this year. We finished 11th last
year, and improving this year is our
main goal. We would like to finish as
high as we did indoors this year fourth,"
head coach Curtis Fiye said.
"We would like to bring home
everybody as an All-American. If
everyone comes back as an AllAmerican
and a personal best, we will
be quite happy with where we finish."
"Stanford and Arkansas can score
as much as 70 points. Auburn and
SMU look to have the most points
available. Southern Cal., Florida,
Tbxas, Clemson and South Carolina
- those teams are in the top 10.
Track is a sport where you either
got it or you don't. You have got to
TRACK continued on page 11 E
If travels
~1 AaII Dnnnilim R
uvii nvuiiuup ^
Special to The Gamecock
"t
The llth-ranked USC men's l;
golf team, fresh off an impressive f,
second-place showing at the NCAA cl
East Regional, head today through i<
Saturday to Chasta, Minn., to
participate in the 1999 NCAA Men's ir
Golf Championships at the a
Hazeltine National Golf Club, n
The Gamecocks come into this w
I year's event on somewhat of a roll, 1
having finished in the top three in
all but one of their eight p
fmirnjamon+c in cnrinor \xrVnlo m
!VV/VU J.1U1UV11VU U1 bllV/ TT 1U1V J \
racing past top-ranked Georgia E
and No. 3 Clemson in regional n
action to finish nine strokes behind w
rati
Georgia Tech in the team a
j?| competition. a
ck Carolina heads to the NCAA's cl
ie for the 10th time in school history
el and the fourth time in as many n
seasons under head coach Puggy tl
SCH
Men':
onship
in Mini
Tmr"b
- iiav.n
pionsh
Saturck
Id hea
npion:
- "i i
Z$y-:L'*$xm- wW
JK%, v .. v
Bp ' jjpppflKi^
rin Narzinski leads the women's tr*
to Minn
lackmon. dn
The Gamecocks have been in ^
he show" eight times in the last ^
2 years, and the best finish ever
or a USC team in the
lampionsnips is eigntn Dy tne i l
988 team in Thousand Oaks, Calif na
Last year, the Gamecocks were
1 the top eight the first three days ^'
nd seventh entering the final 111
)und, but finished in 11th place, Ej
rithin five strokes of tying the
988 team for best finish ever.
Of the five players who
articipated for Carolina in last to
ear's event, three (Kyle Thompson, re
Iric Ecker, Mark Catalano) are p,
laking a return trip to the NCAAjs
rhile two (Ecker and Catalano) m
re playing for the third time in bs
s manv vears in the v,r
tiampionships. ^
Also last year, the Gamecocks
lade the cut for the first time since at
le NCAA went to the "cut" format, w
EDULE
5 golf at the NCAA champis
from Wednesday to Saturday
neapolis, Minnesota.
; and field at the NCAA chamips
from Wednesday to
ty in Boise, Idaho.
Page 9
ded
ships
sl ^
Ashton June Photo Editor
ick team into the NCAA's.
eaDolis
A
opping the bottom 15 teams after
e opening two rounds of the
ornament.
Gamecock sophomore Kyle
rnmpson, quite possibly the
ition's hottest golfer dining the
ist six months, made an
tprecedented move in the NCAA
ist Regionals in Barrington, R.I.
Down, six strokes to Georgia
eh's Matt Kuchar with 18 holes
play, Thompson tied the course
oord held by PGA tour star Brad
ixon with an eight-under 63,
eluding a six-under 30 on the
ick side, and captured medalist
mors by one stroke over Kuchar.
lompson finished the tournament
five-under 208 to post his second
in of the spring.