Vol.
8, No. 32SUCCESS!
Don’t blame softball coach John Goddard if he wants to take nearly
two weeks off between games from now on.
After a 12 day layoff, the Scots saw their first action since March
14 in Arizona and posted a 10-2, 3-2 double header sweep of MacMurray.
"What a relief," said Goddard. "That first win is always the hardest.
The women came out confident tonight and were not going to be denied."
Sarah Christensen took the Game 1 win, striking out five, walking one
and scattering seven hits. The Scots scored in every inning and ended
the game via the mercy rule with a four run outburst in the bottom of
the fifth. Emily Willems set the tone early, getting her first of five
hits on the night to lead off the first inning. Kembra Bell drove in
Willems with a triple, serving notice the Scots were ready to hit.
"We continued to hit the ball hard," reported Goddard. "Tonight we
were finally able to find some gaps. Kristen Bickett is getting some
good at bats and drove in a couple of big runs tonight. It was nice to
see her hard work begin to pay off."
Monmouth banged out 23 hits in the double header and took advantage
of five Highlander errors in the opener to have their highest offensive
output of the season. The defense didn’t look too bad, either. The Scots
committed just one error on the night and made some key defensive plays
to strand 11 MacMurray base runners in Game 2.
Those 11 stranded runners were key for the Scots’ second win of the
season. After MacMurray took a 1-0 lead in the first, Val Stier picked
up two RBIs with her first of two hits in the game. Jill Hennenfent and
Ashley Parer had each singled before Stier provided the key blow in the
inning to put Monmouth up 2-0. The Highlanders clawed out a run in the
fifth to knot the score at 2-2. That’s when it got interesting.
Winning pitcher Amanda Murdock kicked into high gear, forcing the
Highlanders to strand four runners over the next three innings, setting
MacMurray down in order in the seventh. She struck out six while walking
two.
Despite the Scots’ hot bats, it was Parer’s legs that gave Monmouth
the win. The fleet-footed junior scored from third on a passed ball in
the bottom of the eighth to give the Scots the sweep. "We were able to
stay in the second game and finally wore MacMurray down," praised
Goddard. "Both our pitchers did a great job tonight. They were able to
keep our opposition from having that one big inning. That’s something we
weren’t able to do at the start of the year."
The Scots now have a chance to do something else – continue a win
streak.
OFF AND RUNNING
The track team has opened the outdoor season in much the same fashion
as they ended the indoor season. The Scots had one automatic qualifier
and four provisional performances at last weekend’s Rhodes Open held in
Memphis, Tenn.
"Overall, I was really pleased with our performances," said Roger
Haynes. "We were pretty solid coming off of some down training after the
conference meet. We were probably a little bit better than I expected.
It was well worth the trip to see some Division I and II schools, but
mostly to see some teams we know nothing about."
No team scores were kept in the meet that featured athletes from all
three NCAA divisions. The Scots’ biggest day came from junior thrower
Tanesha Hughes (Peoria, Ill./Woodruff). Hughes wasted no time in
punching her ticket to the NCAA outdoor championships in May. Her fourth
place discus throw of 152’9 bested the automatic qualifying mark by more
than six inches.
"We only had a week outdoors, but knew Tanesha had been throwing
well," said Haynes of Hughes’ early performance. "She really carried a
lot of learning over from a year ago. We think she’ll have a very
consistent year, so now we have to make sure she peaks at the right
time."
Monmouth’s pole vaulters again had a big day. Newly crowned indoor
national champion Jonny Henkins (Kewanee, Ill./Kewanee) and defending
outdoor champion Peter Sprecher (Canton, Ill./Canton) finished 1-2 with
provisional qualifying marks. Henkins cleared 16’1-1/4 and Sprecher
vaulted 15’5. Jessica White (Galesburg, Ill./Galesburg) took first for
the women with a provisional mark of 11’7-3/4. Hammer thrower Zach
Wilson (Lacon, Ill./Midland) placed second to Memphis’ Steffen Nerdal
with a provisional distance of 177’0.
Logan Hohl just missed a provisional time in the men’s 110-meter
hurdles. The freshman clocked a 14.96 to place third behind runners from
Ole Miss and Arkansas State. Clay Staley posted a personal-best 15:12.50
to place third in the 5,000-meters and Brad Begyn’s personal-best
15:33.12 was good for ninth. Adam Rodriguez took seventh in the 1,500
with a time of 4:09.38.
"Clay and Brad both ran quality races in the 5K,"praised Haynes.
"They both ran personal bests, so they had a good day."
Luke Reschke, Jacob Stott and Aaron Daverin tied for eighth in the
200-meters. The trio clocked a time of 22.2 in the event. Brad Gross
combined with Rodriguez, Stott and Reschke to record a 3:22.53 in the
4x400 relay, finishing fifth.
In the field events, freshman Brock McAnally cleared 13’11-1/4 to
take fourth in the pole vault. Sean Wells high jumped 6’2-3/4 for a
fifth place finish. Wilson took fifth in the shot put at 49’6-1/4 and
freshman Peyton Lumzy placed eighth with a throw of 45’9. Wilson and
Lumzy finished fourth and seventh, respectively, in the discus. Wilson
logged a personal-best 154’6 and Lumzy threw the discus 145’2. Dan
Higgins placed seventh in the javelin with a throw of 156’1.
On the women’s side, Shannon Turczyn ran to a second place finish in
the 100-meter hurdles, clocking a time of 14.58. Her time was less than
a half second behind the winner, Kasey McDaniel of Ole Miss. She also
took seventh in the 200-meters in 26.1. Lauren Firchau, Michelle Nutting,
Stephanie Steele and Claudia Gomez teamed to place eighth in the 4x100
relay with a time of 55.79. Turczyn was joined by Katey Vaccarello, Jae
Moore and Morgan Leffel to place third in the 4x400 relay, running a
time of 4:07.99. Mary Kate Beyer finished fourth in the 5,000-meters in
18:46.28.
The Scots placed 4-5-6 in the shot put. Hughes fourth-place mark of
41’10-1/2 was just 1.5 inches short of the provisional mark. Gloria Lehr
took fifth at 41’5 and Jenny Babos’ throw of 41’3-1/4 was good for
sixth.
In the hammer throw, Babos’ distance of 140’11 placed her third
behind throwers from Memphis and Ole Miss. Lehr was sixth with a
personal-best 124’1 and Hughes was seventh at 118’5.
Hughes’ automatic qualifying performance in the discus secured a
four-through-eight finish for the Scots in that event. Freshman Allison
Renfroe took fifth with a throw of 133’7, Babos was sixth at 127’10,
Lehr placed seventh with a mark of 123’6 and Samantha Bleyeart’s throw
of 109’10 was good for eighth.
Megan Clennon cleared 4’11-3/4 for a third place finish in the high
jump and her javelin throw of 109’11 placed her fourth. Leffel placed
sixth in the long jump with a mark of 16’4-1/4.
The Scots are off this weekend and will return to action April 5 at
the Wartburg Select Meet in Waverly, Iowa.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
At first blush, the men’s tennis team’s 8-1 loss to St. Ambrose last
Thursday looked like the Scots got hammered. First impressions can be
misleading.
"On paper, it looks bad," said coach Chad Braun. "We lost three super
tie-breakers in singles and two close ones at No. 1 and 2 doubles. It
easily could have been a 5-4 or 6-3 win for us."
Kyle Korb could easily be the poster-child for the team’s near win.
His last four matches have gone to tie-breakers. He’s been playing
well," praised Braun. "He’s got a great attitude and continuing to
battle. It’s only a matter of time before he starts winning those close
ones."
Playing at No. 1 singles, the junior’s latest three set match came
after a three week layoff. After dropping the first set 6-2 to St.
Ambrose, Korb turned the tables and won the second set 6-2, forcing the
tie-breaker. "He played a great second set and I had in my mind that if
Kyle could win the first couple of points in the tie-breaker, he would
win," said Braun. "I felt if Kyle could do that, he could get the St.
Ambrose kid on the ropes. As it turned out, Kyle started a little slow
and his opponent got on a roll."
Eric Brandhorst at No. 4 singles and No. 5 singles player Ben Morrow
also went to a third set tie-breaker before succumbing to the Bees.
Brandhorst dropped the first set 6-0, won the second 6-1 and then fell
in the third 10-6. Morrow expended a lot of energy in his three set
match. After dropping the first set 6-2, he held off his opponent 7-5 in
the second to force the tie-breaker before falling 10-4.
Sam Graf and Tony Castro, playing at No. 3 doubles, supplied the
Scots lone win against the Bees. The pair cruised to an 8-3 win. "They
played very well in that match," reported Braun. "It was a solid effort
and it paid off. Tony has been moved into the No. 6 singles spot and
gives us everything he’s got in both singles and doubles."
The Scots have yet to play outdoors, but Thursday’s match was as
close to an outside court as you could get. "We played on a true tennis
surface," said Braun. "It’s not quite as fast as our indoor surface, so
there was a little adjustment."
The Scots host Ripon and Lawrence Saturday in matches that do not
count in the conference standings, but will be used to seed the
conference singles and doubles tournaments. "We’re taking these matches
very seriously because it has implications in the individual seeds come
tournament time," said Braun. "They’re both tough opponents and we’ll
have to play our best."
Weatherman permitting, the Scots will see their first true outdoor
action Saturday. The matches are scheduled to begin at 9 and 1, but
Braun says the start could be pushed back one hour to allow for the
temperature to reach an allowable level.