NO-NO, OH NO

It may not officially count as a no-hitter for softball’s Sarah Christensen, but no one can take away the performance of Christensen and reliever Ashley Tocha in the Fighting Scots’ 2-0 win over Eureka last week.

Christensen and Tocha kept the Red Devils hitless, facing just four batters over the minimum for the seven inning game. Because Christensen did not pitch the entire game, the no-no goes down in history as a shared no-hitter for the two senior hurlers. Only two true no-hitters have been recorded in the 35-year history of Scots softball – Polly Youngquist no-hit Illinois Wesleyan in 1989, and Julie Puckett turned the trick against Cornell in 1996.

“It was kind of deceiving,” said John Goddard of the no-hitter. “The first inning they (Eureka) had two runners on. We only scored two runs in the game, so it felt like we were in trouble the entire game.”

It sure looked like the Scots were in trouble against the winless Devils as the Scots went down in order in the first two innings. The third proved to be the inning for the Scots, scoring the only runs Christensen and Tocha would need – but it could have been more.

Lauren Bergstresser’s fielder’s choice scored Colleen Zumpf and Brooke Twohill followed Zumpf across the plate on a throwing error. Another fielder’s choice and a hit batsman brought Chelsea Merritt to the plate with two out and a chance to blow the game open. Merritt’s fly to deep center ended the inning, but set the stage for the Scots fourth win of the year.

Christensen  induced the next five batters to pop up on the infield and added a strikeout for good measure. She left the game with eight Ks in five innings and didn’t allow a batter past first after the first inning. Tocha got off to a shaky start in the sixth when the leadoff batter reached on an error and was sacrificed to second. The crafty veteran then got two groundouts to end the inning. Tocha notched her first save, setting the Devils down in order in the seventh, striking out the last two batters.

“We got excellent pitching in that game,” praised Goddard of his pitchers who didn’t allow a ball out of the infield. “It was kind of a hidden no-hitter. I don’t think many people realized it until after the game because it was such a close game. We’re not hitting well right now. We’re hitting the ball hard, but right at people. Overall, we didn’t play as well as we can, but we still won a close game and that’s good to win when you’re not at your best.”

Game 1 may have been close, but Game 2 was even closer and resulted in a 5-4 extra inning loss for the Scots.

Starter Amanda Murdock allowed just one run and one hit over her five innings of work as the Scots jumped out to a 4-1 lead after two innings.

Trailing 1-0 heading into the bottom of the second, the Scots put together three straight hits as Maggie Dort, Haley Lyons and Val Stier each delivered hits. After Erin Fitzpatrick popped up to the pitcher, Brooke Twohill shot a two-strike pitch into the right center gap to score Dort and Lyons, giving the Scots a 2-1 lead. Bergstresser’s base hit plated Stier and Twohill to complete the Scots’ scoring.

“We hit the ball hard, but couldn’t get the key hit when we needed it late in the game,” reported Goddard.

Leading 4-1 in the seventh, two Scots’ errors in the inning allowed Eureka to tie the game at 4. The Red Devils then plated the winning run in the eighth and shut the Scots down in order in the bottom of the inning to pick up their first win.

The game might have been even closer heading into the seventh if not for a spectacular grab by Twohill the inning before.

Tomi Tapper, Eureka’s slugging first baseman, shot a sure extra base line drive into the gap in right center, but Twohill got a tremendous jump on the laser beam and made a backhanded catch going to her right, with her back away from the infield to snuff out a sure hit.

“That was the best catch I’ve seen in my six years here,” proclaimed Goddard. “She’s a very good defensive outfielder and gets a great jump on everything. She’s got decent speed, but she’s not the fastest outfielder we have. She gets the best jump on a ball of anybody I’ve ever seen and took the right angle to track it down.”

Monmouth tracked down a pair of wins last night. The Scots handled MacMurray in Jacksonville, Ill., sweeping the Highlanders 5-4 and 7-4. Monmouth’s second two-game win streak of the season moves them to 6-5 on the season. Other than the season-opening 11-10 win over SUNY-Oneonta, last night marks the first time the Scots have been over the .500 mark since April of 2004.

The Scots will get a good test today when they host 18th ranked and unbeaten Illinois Wesleyan. The Titans have thrown shutouts in four of their 10 games and have outscored their opponents nearly 7-2. While a pair of wins against a ranked team would be nice, the Scots understand the conference season doesn’t begin until April.

“We’re still putting the pieces together,” explained Goddard of his talented, but young team. “We’re hitting the ball hard, but hitting into some bad luck right now. Once we start finding the holes, we’ll be fine.”

If the Scots do find the holes they may be fine, but not well-rested. After IWU on Thursday, Monmouth travels to Cornell Sunday and to Springfield to take on Robert-Morris on Monday. Eight games in the span of six days should answer a lot of questions for Goddard’s team, including “Who needs sleep?”

A BREAKTHROUGH

Billed as perhaps the Scots’ “most talented freshman,” Chris Utterback certainly made a statement in last week’s 5-4 men’s tennis win over Wartburg.

The Scots were up 4-2 against the Knights and needed just one more win to take the match when Utterback, Kyle Korb and Sam Graf were simultaneously involved in third set tie-breakers. Korb and Graf looked like the Scots’ best hopes for a win. Both were 4-4 in singles competition at Nos. 1 and 2 singles while Utterback entered his match at 2-5.

“It came down to those final three matches,” said Chad Braun. “We just needed one of those guys to pull out a win and Chris, admittedly, has struggled a bit this season.”

The courts at the Quad Cities Tennis Club were divided, so Braun was in the section of the club where Korb and Graf were playing. Assistant coach Brian Jordan was with Utterback.

“Kyle and Sam were at 5-5, then fell to 8-5,” reported Braun. “When they both went to 8-5, I knew we were in big trouble.”

Utterback wasn’t fairing too well on the other side of the partition, either, falling behind 7-4. Then something extraordinary happened. The talented freshman rallied, winning the next six points and the match.

“I could see Chris come out of the court, but he didn’t do anything,” said Braun who then looked to Jordan for an indication of the outcome. “Big Red gave me the thumbs up and I knew we had pulled that one out.”

So, let’s see, the two guys Braun was coaching lost and the guy Jordan was assisting won. Does that mean Jordan outcoached Braun?

“Yeah, I guess so,” laughed Braun. “You can give Red that one. That was a huge win for Chris AND the team. He played a whale of a match and hung in there and got the win. Kyle and Sam didn’t know we had won the match when they finished, so they were both pretty down thinking we had lost.”

Earlier, Tyler Lampe and Ben Morrow had won their matches at Nos. 5 and 6 singles to add to the huge doubles wins by Lampe and Graf at No. 2 and Morrow and Utterback at No. 3.  Although Utterback’s singles win was magnified, it took all the team’s parts to squeak out the victory.

“Chris’ win clinched it,” said Braun. “Tyler was in a similar situation for us in earlier matches and he always points out, it took four other wins to get the team victory. It’s not a solo act. Chris, Tyler and Ben all scored two points for us in doubles and singles. It was a good team win and I feel good about how we’re playing right now.”

Lampe did his best last weekend to avoid any need for last-match heroics. Lampe ran his No. 5 singles string to six straight matches without a loss, although it took a three-set tie-breaker against Augustana to continue the run.

“I told him he’s ‘Mr. Automatic’,” said Braun. “His play has been very solid. I’m extremely pleased with how he’s playing. When I recruited Tyler, I felt like he could be a big time player for us. He’s handled the pressure situations quite well.”

Prior to the uplifting win against Wartburg, the Scots suffered a 6-3 loss to Augustana. Lampe and Graf picked up the doubles point at No. 2. In singles, Lampe at No. 5 and Korb at No. 1 picked up the Scots’ other two points – Korb winning a three-set tie-breaker.

“I feel good about how hard the guys played in that match,” said Braun. “Graf and Lampe were down 6-3 at one point and came back to win. Ben lost 7-6, 7-6 at No. 6. We were awfully close to playing Augie 5-4.”

This weekend, the Scots host conference teams Carroll and Beloit in non-conference matches. While the matches won’t count in the team standings, they will matter when it comes to the singles and doubles seeds for the Midwest Conference Tournament. The Scots still have almost a month before they play official conference matches, but Braun feels the team has everything in place for a conference title run.

“The win over Wartburg was the sign of a good team,” claimed Braun. “In some of our earlier wins, the top part of our lineup – Graf and (Eric) Brandhorst were coming up big for us. Last week we found a new way to win with the bottom of the lineup. That’s the sign of a good team. I feel good about the doubles combinations we have now. I like the way the pieces have come together.”

Now if the Scots can continue their success, they may be in store for a piece of the conference pie.

MAKING PROGRESS

If the last four games are any indication, Roger Sander’s baseball team may need to begin making travel plans.

In the Scots’ bid to make their 10^th straight trip to the Midwest Conference tournament, Sander is seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, and it’s not a train. The Scots have split their last two double-headers and their pitching question mark has turned into a solid line during that span.

“Robbie (Hinkle) wasn’t AS good as he was in Arizona, but Matt (Bourne) was REALLY good,” said Sander of his starting pitchers’ performances in a 5-0 loss and 10-7 win at Aurora last Saturday. “Robbie pitched well enough and Matt pitched like he did in Arizona. Matt had a nice game. We just didn’t stack the hits for him.”

In the classic case of baseball mimicking life (i.e., Life’s not fair), Bourne suffered the loss while Hinkle picked up the win.

Bourne kept the Spartans, ranked 26^th in the latest American Baseball Coaches Association poll, at bay through the first three innings, facing just one batter over the minimum. A leadoff error in the fourth set the stage for a two-run homer and before the inning was over, the Scots trailed 3-0.

“Matt pitched well,” said Sander. “We just didn’t get the timely hit. Both teams had nine hits. We didn’t put ours together at the right time and Aurora did.”

The bottom of the order made a difference in the twinbill. The bottom third of the Scots’ order went “o-fer” in the first game, but collected nearly half (7) of Monmouth’s 16 hits in the nightcap. The Scots were able to stack some of those 16 hits together in the second game and give Hinkle his first collegiate win.

It looked as if the Spartans were going to deny Hinkle his first victory, taking a 5-4 lead with a solo homer and an unearned run in the third, but the Scots answered to tie the game at 5-5 in the top of the fourth when Jake Virgo led off the inning with a single and then scored on Billy Herrin’s third hit of the game and fifth of the day.

Hinkle got more support in the sixth when the Scots rattled the bats again. Tom Shaver drilled an RBI double – his second of three hits in the game – scoring Willy Mason. With two outs, Chad Kamm launched a three-run homer and Hinkle had a cushion.

Aurora got a run back in the bottom of the inning, but Kevin Sashko answered in the seventh with a leadoff homer to get the Scots’ advantage back to four. Zach Myers closed out the game, working the final four innings to preserve the Scots’ win. 

“It was a case of every time we scored, they would score,” claimed Sander. “Terry (Davis) got us started in the first inning with a two-run homer. We just kept scoring and made the statement at the end that we were going to win this game. That was the key – that we were able to keep scoring with a lead.”

It wasn’t all about Monmouth’s offense in Game 2. Their defense turned two double plays in two of the last three innings. The first, a 3-6-1 twin killing in the seventh negated a two on, one out jam. The second, a traditional 4-6-3, in the eighth helped the Scots weather a two on, no out fix.

The split should give the Scots a boost as they open the MWC season this weekend at Grinnell. Unlike last season, when it took a four-team playoff after the regular season had ended to determine the South Division representatives for the league tournament, Sander is hoping the leaders will be clearly defined, but warns, this weekend is not a do-or-die situation.

“I think the division and the conference is well-balanced,” reported Sander. “I don’t think we’ll wind up with all four South teams at 6-6 like last year, but it’ll be tight. Our goal is to win three out of four with everybody. If we split, that’s OK. If we sweep, that’s even better. If we drop two, it’s not the end of the world. On the other hand, we don’t want to start the conference season 0-2.”

TWENTY-FOUR SCOTS NAMED ALL-ACADEMIC

Twenty-four student-athletes – technically 23 (Tanesha Hughes made the list twice) – were recently named to the Midwest Conference All-Academic team for the winter sports season.

In order to be named to the MWC’s All-Academic team, a student-athlete must have completed at least one year at the institution, carry a cumulative GPA of 3.2 and earn a varsity letter in that sport.

The following student-athletes are Monmouth’s 2008-09 winter sports representatives:

Men’s and Women’s Track & Field (10) –seniors Damon Bautista (Silvis, Ill./United Township), Tanesha Hughes (Peoria, Ill./Woodruff), and Chris Welty (Dixon, Ill./Newman Central Catholic); juniors Briana Flynn (Bettendorf, Iowa/Pleasant Valley), Gloria Lehr (Knoxville, Ill./Knoxville), Patrick Mundshenk (Deer Park, Ill./Lake Zurich) and Clay Staley (Hanna City, Ill./Illini Bluffs); and sophomores Maureen Dewan (Oak Forest, Ill./Oak Forest), Heather Hull (Cambridge, Ill./Cambridge) and Kyle Prout (Chillicothe, Ill./IVC).

Women’s Basketball (6) – seniors Melissa Gorski (Arlington Heights, Ill./Buffalo Grove) and Tanesha Hughes (Peoria, Ill./Woodruff); junior Lynsey Barnard (Pekin, Ill./Pekin); and sophomores Alison Andrews (Algonquin, Ill./Harry D. Jacobs), Justine Boone (Geneseo, Ill./Geneseo) and Kim Howard (Bloomingdale, Ill./Immaculate Conception).

Men’s and Women’s Swimming (5) – senior Kevin Satler (Marseilles, Ill./Glenbard South); juniors Jack Clifford (Rantoul, Ill./St. Thomas More), John Kaiser (Hanover Park, Ill./Glenbard North), Lauren Nelson (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein); and sophomore Stephen Whittle (Galesburg, Ill./Galesburg).

Men’s Basketball (3) – seniors Kyle Cook (London Mills, Ill./Spoon River Valley) and Kyle Weyeneth (Metamora, Ill./Metamora) and sophomore Alex Tanney (Lexington, Ill./Lexington).

CLEANING UP THEIR ACT

Football coach Steve Bell has issued a directive to his team – cleanup their act, or more accurately, clean up everyone’s residence.

The Monmouth College Football 1st Annual Community Cleanup Day is seen as a way for the football team to become involved in the community.

“We want our players to know that there is more to life than just football,” said Bell. “They need to learn what it means to give back to the community in which you live and work. It’s all part of becoming well-rounded – both as a player and a person. The lessons the players learn by helping others far outweigh the lessons learned on the field.”

Free of charge, the Scots football team will help residents within the Monmouth city limits with whatever spring cleaning projects they may have between 8 a.m. and noon on April 18. Residents will be required to supply the necessary tools and cleaning supplies and the Scots will supply the manpower. Team members will haul trash curbside for the usual garbage collection, but will not transport it to any waste collection site.

Bell urges the city residents to contact him via e-mail at sbell@monm.edu with “Cleanup Day” listed in the subject line, or call his office at 457-2175.

“We want to make this an annual event,” reported Bell.

Judging by the amount of trash generated during the city’s annual Cleanup/Fixup Week each year, Bell may get his wish for the event to continue for years to come.

AT LEAST HE CAN DUNK

During a recent open house, men’s basketball coach Mark Vershaw was seen scanning the men’s and women’s soccer information.

Does that mean Vershaw is considering trying his hand, er, foot at soccer.

“NO,” was his simple and definitive reply when that question was put to him by sports information director Dan Nolan.

Just the opposite, Vershaw has no desire to try soccer – again. He did that once while he played professional basketball in Finland during the 2001-02 season. His team used it as a team-building experience that also doubled as a conditioning workout. Unfortunately for Vershaw, indoor soccer wasn’t quite his element, well maybe it was his Kryptonite.

“I was voted ‘The Worst American Soccer Player – Ever,’” reported Vershaw.

At least he was the top dog, but did they try him at goal keeper? That seems like a good spot for a guy 6-feet-9 with a wingspan as wide as an aircraft carrier.

“They tried me at goalkeeper, but the speed and the angle of the shots were just too much,” laughed Vershaw. “I just couldn’t move quick enough, so they kicked me out of goal.”

OK, so the ‘keeper experiment didn’t work. Let’s try something simple, like kicking the ball.

“That didn’t work out too well, either,” claimed Vershaw. “They tried getting me to kick it with the side of my foot, but I kept ‘toeing’ it and when I didn’t miss the ball entirely and actually kicked it, it sailed over the goal.”

That’s not to say Vershaw didn’t have his moments, like his end-of-the-year hat trick.

What? This guy is so bad, they kicked him out of goal, named him the worst American player ever and his foot hitting the ball was like trying to touch mercury.

It might be a case for Ripley’s Believe It or Not, but yes, he DID score three goals in a game.

After somehow scoring his first two goals, Vershaw’s teammates used his height as an offensive weapon.

“It was a long, high pass,” explained Vershaw. “I had my back to the goal and tried to head it off the back of my head toward the goal and it went in. I really WAS trying to do that ‘head’ thing.”

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!

Although Vershaw finally learned how to score in soccer, he never did quite get the hang of speaking Finnish – that’s somewhat of a problem for a guy who looks Scandinavian with blonde hair and blue eyes.

“People would think I was from Finland and come up to me and start speaking in Finnish,” explained Vershaw. “The only phrase I learned was, ‘Sorry, I don’t speak Finnish, only English.’”

He may have wanted to learn one more phrase – “Sorry, I don’t play soccer, only basketball.”

WHAT YOU CAN LEARN BY LISTENNING

On the recently concluded spring break trip to Arizona, Scots softball coach John Goddard discovered something that wasn’t on his information sheet when he recruited Brittany Forney out of Hall High School.

Goddard was driving one of the team vans to the local ice cream shop in Tucson when he suddenly turned the radio down.

“What’s that?,” he asked as the sound of yodeling came from the back. “Who’s yodeling?”

“BRITTANY!,” was the response from the vanload of players.

Yes, Brittany Forney yodels – and quite well. That’s not exactly the type of information she included on her prospective sheet as a high school senior.

So how does a girl from Spring Valley, Ill., learn to yodel?

“My grandpa farms and would yodel to call in the cows,” explained Forney who began yodeling in fourth grade. “I was on the farm with him a lot and just kind of picked it up.”

Competing in the Illinois State Fair talent shows since she was in third grade, Forney has actually yodeled competitively. It’s not exactly a solo act, either.

“My older sister, Jennifer, yodels, too,” said Forney. “It makes it nice that the two of us can harmonize.”

In the world of “today’s music,” a talent for yodeling might not be something a college freshman would want to share with their peers, but Forney has no problem with it.

“My friends think it’s pretty cool,” said Forney. “They’re always asking me to yodel.”

Goddard was as much surprised by the yodeling as anyone.

“I had no idea she could yodel,” claimed Goddard.

Chances are, her teammates were surprised, too. No word if any cattle responded to the calls.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Thurs., Mar. 26
Softball – hosts Illinois Wesleyan (2), 3:00 pm
Women’s Tennis – hosts Eureka, 3:30 pm 

Fri., Mar. 27
Men’s Golf – at Knox Prairie Fire Classic, Noon 

Sat., Mar. 28
Men’s Tennis – hosts Carroll and Beloit, 10:00 am, 1:00 pm
Men’s Golf – at Knox Prairie Fire Classic, 9:00 am
Track – at Augustana Viking Olympics, Noon
Baseball – at Grinnell (2), 1:00 pm 

Sun., Mar. 29
Baseball – vs. Lawrence at Rockford (1), 1:00 pm
Softball – at Cornell (2), 1:00 pm 

Mon., Mar. 30
Softball – at Robert Morris-Springfield (2), 2:00 pm
Women’s Tennis – at Western Illinois University, 4:00 pm
Baseball – at Robert Morris-Springfield (1), 6:00 pm

 Wed., Apr. 1 (no foolin’, really)
Men’s Tennis – hosts St. Ambrose, 4:00 pm  

SCOTSIVATIONAL

“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do”. - John Wooden