Arizona Daily Wildcat — May 3, 2010 Sports

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monday, may , 

SPORTS dailywildcat.com

Nicole Dimtsios Sports Editor 520•626•2956 sports@wildcat.arizona.edu

Women end ASU’s nine-year streak UA track and field finish on top in dual ASU/NAU meet

By Galo Mejia ARIZONA DAILY WILDCAT It may have been a chilly night on Saturday at Drachman Stadium, but the track was on fire from the heated competition, as Arizona hosted a double dual meet against in-state rivals ASU and NAU. Arizona’s women’s team had not beaten ASU in nine years, but on Saturday, Arizona put an end to that, beating the Sun Devils 107-93 and NAU 129-56.

Junior LaTisha Holden set a new personal record of 13.34 in the women’s 100-meter hurdles and helped the women’s 4x100m set a personal record of 45.35.

“I finally got a PR, I got out of my stump. I’m finally back to where I need to be,” Holden said. “I’m going to run faster, but as of now, I feel good.”

Freshman Julie Labonte continued her streak in the women’s shot put by winning with a throw of 55 feet, 1/4 inches.

Labonte led the four-person sweep of the women’s shot put, with Alyssa Hasslen coming in second with 48 feet, 4 inches, Omotayo Talabi in third with a new personal best of 47 feet 1/4 inches and Kelsey Jessup taking fourth with 46 feet, 6 inches.

Hasslen and Labonte also took first and second, respectively, in the women’s discus.

The most suspenseful race of the day was the women’s 4x400-meter.

Christina Rodgers, Echos Blevins, Deanna Sullivan and Georganne Moline may have come in second to ASU, but they made ASU fight for the win. They ended up finishing five hundredths of a second behind ASU with a time of 3:36.52.

Moline had posted a personal record earlier in the women’s 400-meter hurdles with a time of 58.19.

“I felt amazing, I really prepared my body well for it,” Moline said.

Ernie Somoza/Arizona Daily Wildcat

Freshman jumper Tara Besancon lands her attempt during Saturday’s track meet against ASU and NAU at Drachman Stadium. The women Wildcats defeated both the Sun Devil and Lumberjack teams while the men fell to ASU.

“I’m really happy about my race, especially since I beat ASU.” Rogers also had an 800m race that she dominated earlier. She finished with a time of 2:08.54 and a 50-meter lead on her competitors.

“I thought I was running faster than I was, until I heard the split times,”Rodgers said.“I felt strong, but I have to get better at running when I’m not getting pressed.”

Some other top performers for the women’s team was Taylor Bush, who

won the women’s hammer throw with a throw of 180 feet 2 inches.

Asia Easley and Leigh Bernstein took first and second in the women’s javelin with throws of 153 feet, 8 inches and 144 feet, 1 inch, respectively.

Arizona ends weekend with run-rule loss on road Game Comparison Arizona Cal

Hits 10 3

Arizona Cal

Hits 7 7

Arizona Cal

Game 1: 5 innings Runs 8 0 Runs 4 2

Left on base 10 11

Game 3: 6 innings

Hits 3 10

Runs 0 8

Arizona errors — the most committed by the Wildcats since they made the same number on March 18, 2007, in an 11-0 loss to Oklahoma. Akamine (11-3), a freshman at the time, suffered her first collegiate loss in that game.

“We botched a run-down, which really cost us,” Candrea said. “We botched

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Brigette Del Ponte

Left on base 3 5

Game 2: 9 innings

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It was a tale of three games for the Arizona softball team as it took two games from California this weekend.

“I have no complaints about anything, except about the way we played (Sunday),”said head coach Mike Candrea.

Each game threw different curve balls at the No. 3 Wildcats, who easily took Game 1, navigated through a pitchers’ duel in the second meeting and were plagued by errors in the rubber match.

The Wildcats (408, 10-5 Pacific 10 Conference) runruled the No. 16 Golden Bears (3615, 6-9) in Game 1, defeated Cal 4-2 in nine innings in Game 2, and dropped Game 3 8-0 in six innings.

“Overall it was, I think, a good weekend,” Candrea said. “Not a great weekend, but we came out and played well Friday and Saturday.”

The weekend was scarred Sunday, as senior pitcher Sarah Akamine dropped her third game of the season behind f i v e

Left on base 6 5

Strkeouts 8 2 Strkeouts 11 7 Strkeouts 4 9

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a run-down which would have been the third out.”

The defense was noticeably absent in the third game of the series, as the errors contributed to six unearned runs. The 8-0 run-rule loss was only the second time Arizona has been mercied this season, the other loss coming on an 11-0 defeat at the hands of ASU in Tempe.

Arizona’s offense also sputtered in the third game, as the Wildcats only managed three hits off of Golden Bear pitcher, Valerie Arioto . Catcher Stacie Chambers knocked a single off of Arioto (18-7) and right fielder Karissa Buchanan had two singles.

“Offensively, we weren’t real good either,” Candrea said. “Off speed pitch, drop ball, just ate us up. Just did not make the adjustments that we needed to.”

Game 1 saw pitcher Kenzie Fowler fan eight and limit Cal to just three hits.

Fellow freshman Brigette Del Ponte lit up the scoreboard in the third inning when she jacked her fifth grand slam of the season.

The long ball would be the first for Del Ponte, who also went yard in the fifth inning with a three run shot to put the Wildcats up by the needed eight runs after five innings.

In Game 2, it was much closer between Cal and Arizona. Both teams had equal numbers of hits and near equal numbers of players left on base.

SOFTBALL, page B3

The men’s team had a little bit more of a challenge with ASU. They ended up losing to ASU 115-85 and beating NAU 115-86.

TRACK, page B3

New sense of urgency

UA takes two from Cal

By Nicole Dimtsios ARIZONA DAILY WILDCAT

Men fall to ASU, top Lumberjacks

Softball no longer riding painful loss to Washington

A

pril 9, 10 and 11 were Akamine, who lost her first supposedly the seasoncollegiate game in five innings. changing dates for the “Today was an ugly day,” said Arizona softball team. head coach Mike Candrea Sunday “I feel like we got some urgency,” after being run-ruled for only the sophomore Karissa Buchanan second time this season.“We did said in reference to a mid-April not play defense. We just did not Washington sweep support (Akamine) of her Wildcats. well offensively or “We got to put defensively.” a lot of pride in It was a wake-up what we work on.” call for sure.

So with an Do games like eight-game that show a team winning streak needs to refocus, after two COMMENTARY BY or is it simply a promising wins toss-out contest against the — something to Kevin Zimmerman California Golden forget about?

Assistant sports editor Bears Friday and Surely for Saturday, the future looked bright.

Arizona, it needs to be the former.

But then, an 8-0 loss in the Blowout losses can’t be overlooked. series finale — a game that saw the Does it need to be taken to heart Wildcats make five errors and give as much as the Washington series? up six unearned runs — brought the Not necessarily, but it needs team back to reality. to be used as a new reason for That’s today’s reality, and the motivation, a new reason to realize Washington sweep of Arizona is now that the Wildcats haven’t found a thing of the past, no matter how their identity yet. much the team talks about it.

During the eight-game winning There’s still an uphill climb and the streak, Arizona had the urgency Wildcats need a new fire lit under Buchanan said was needed. their chairs.

But when the Bears dropped eight The fire from the Washington runs on Arizona Sunday, and when series is smoldering. the Wildcats couldn’t muster more In Sunday’s series finale against the than three hits, that urgency appeared Bears, the Arizona defense didn’t show lost for the first time in a while. behind senior pitcher Sarah Akamine.

So what do they do?

California’s balls were put in play Get back at it. against Akamine, who isn’t known as “The next three weeks are going to a strike-out pitcher — see 10 hits by define who we are and how far we go,” the Bears’ bats—but to place blame Candrea said before the weekend. on the back-up pitcher is a cop-out.

But a loss doesn’t define how far The Wildcats checked out one the Wildcats go. game too early; it’s as simple as that.

How they treat the loss will be The last time a defense at what defines them.

Arizona follied so frequently came during an 11-0 loss to Oklahoma — Kevin Zimmerman is a in March of 2007. Pitching journalism junior. He can be reached that game was then-freshman at sports@wildcat.arizona.edu.

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• monday, may 3, 2010 • arizona daily wildcat

Baseball suffers disappointing weekend

By Michael Fitzsimmons Arizona Daily Wildcat

Arizona didn’t pack it in though, rallying to cut the Trojan lead to 6-5 in the seventh inning, thanks to run-scoring singles by freshman Joey Rickard and Bandy, who is currently playing with a fractured toe.

The comeback would fall short in a 7-5 loss, as USC’s bullpen kept the Wildcats at five until the final out.

Arizona missed its chance to move up in the Pac-10 standings, as it remains just mediocre in conference play.

The Wildcats will faced increased pressure down the stretch now, as they will have to prove to the NCAA selection committee that they are worthy of postseason play.

They will take on No. 2 ASU in Tempe on Tuesday in a onegame matchup, with the first pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

Bryce Bandilla

D rizona Haas/A

His USC counterpart, Andrew Tiggs, was more effective though, as he shut down Arizona for just three hits in 7 innings in the 6-0 win.

The Wildcats’ defense didn’t help Heyer or the bullpen either, committing three errors that resulted in three unearned runs.

Saturday’s game began with more promise for the Wildcats as they jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning, highlighted by freshman Cole Frenzel’s RBI single that scored sophomore Steve Selsky.

But USC responded quickly off sophomore Kyle Simon, scoring six unanswered runs over the next three innings.

Simon, also a Los Angeles native, wasn’t helped by his defense either.

A costly error by freshman shortstop Alex Mejia yielded four unearned runs in an otherwise solid 6 2/3 innings of work for Simon.

Rodney

Game 3: Score by inning 1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

Final

Arizona

0

0

0

0

0

3

0

6

0

9

USC

3

1

0

2

0

0

0

0

1

7

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The weekend proved to be a missed opportunity for the No. 19 Arizona baseball team, as it dropped two of three games to Pacific 10 Conference’s last place USC in Los Angeles.

The Wildcats (29-13, 9-9 Pac-10) had the chance to get back on the right track on the road after losing a series to No. 5 UCLA last weekend, but the Trojans’ pitching staff shut down the Arizona offense when it counted.

The wins proved to be USC’s first conference series this season.

Head coach Andy Lopez and players were adamant about not overlooking USC coming into the weekend, and Arizona was met with what was expected to be a hungry Trojan team.

After dropping the first two games in the series, it looked like the Wildcats were going to concede a sweep as they fell behind 6-0 on Sunday.

But Arizona showed some fight by rallying to steal a 9-7 win from the Trojans (19-24, 5-13).

Sophomore Bryce Bandilla

shone again on the mound in the late innings for the Wildcats, allowing his teammates to mount a comeback.

Bandilla struck out five in just 3 1/3 innings of work, with his only blemish coming on a solo home run in the ninth inning.

Trailing 6-3 in the top of the eighth inning, the Wildcats sent 10 hitters to the plate to take a 9-6 lead.

Junior Josh Garcia hit a clutch two-run single up the middle to tie the game and later scored to take the lead on a double by sophomore Jett Bandy, as Garcia caused a clean collision at home plate by sliding into USC’s catcher to knock the ball loose.

Freshman Kurt Heyer (6-1), a Southern California native, was hit with his first loss of the year on Friday night, despite allowing just two earned runs in 5 2/3 innings.

Super Saver wins Kentucky Derby with UA grad LOUISVILLE — Calvin Borel boldly predicted he’s going to win the Triple Crown after Super Saver sloshed to a 2-length victory in the Kentucky Derby.

Ever-cautious trainer and 1989 University of Arizona graduate Todd Pletcher sure likes the rail-hugging rider’s confidence.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a jockey come to the paddock more focused,” he said Sunday. “I would equate it to someone coming out for a heavyweight fight. He was so in the zone and pumped up. Didn’t have much to say, but you could just see the intensity on his face. He was revved up.”

So was Pletcher, who participated in the Race Track Inudstry Program at Arizona, after watching alone on television as Borel stole away in his customary spot along the rail and went on to win for the third time in four years Saturday.

“A lot of guys you look at and they’re closest to the fence, but they’re not on the rail,” Pletcher said. “When he gets there, he’s scraping paint.”

The win ended his 0 for 24 skid in the Derby.

“This is wonderful, but you kind of start thinking about moving forward and what the next plans are and how you’re

going to get there,” the trainer said after ducking out of a drenching rain with his perfectly coifed head of gray hair intact.

Heavy rain pelted the track for a second straight day, forcing Super Saver to stay inside his barn, where he walked in circles after coming out of the 1-mile race in good shape.

Pletcher plans to keep Super Saver at Churchill Downs for training before shipping him to Pimlico four days ahead of the May 15 Preakness.

“The colt is peaking right now at the right time,” Borel said after the race. “This colt might just get better.”

Last year, Borel won the Preakness

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aboard filly Rachel Alexandra, beating Mine That Bird, whom he rode to victory in the Derby. Borel returned to Mine That Bird for the Belmont, where they finished third as the 6-5 favorite.

“We’re going to win the Triple Crown this year,” he said.

There was no raucous post-Derby celebration for the button-down Pletcher, who shared his usual dinner with family and friends at his hotel.

He picked up the tab, just as he had the previous nine losing years.

“It’s not only for me, but just everybody in the barn. So many people help you get here,” he said.

“It’s rewarding to see how happy they are and your family.”

The New York-based Pletcher has 175 horses in training and employs 150 people around the country.

Several potential rivals await Super Saver in the 1 1/16-mile Preakness, which is limited to 14 starters.

One of them is seventh-place Dublin, trained by D. Wayne Lukas who was beaten by his former assistant.

“He told me to soak it all in, enjoy the moment,” Pletcher said.

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24 Wildcats set new personal records

TRACK continued from page B1

Brian MacArthur posted the first win of the night for Arizona in the men’s 3000m steeplechase with a time of 9:27.19.

The men’s 4x100-meter then followed suit with a time of 41.33.

On the relay team was junior Travis Cobb. This was his first home meet and only his second meet. “We had some good hand-offs, but today was only our second time running it (4x100m).� Cobb said. “We did good today, but I know we can do better.�

Cobb also ran the 100-meter and came in fourth with a time of 10.83.

Other top runners for the men were redshirt sophomore Abdi Hassan, who won the men’s 1500m

with a time of 3:48.47.

Freshman Jake Harris won the men’s 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.14, and his teammate, Chris McGovern, came in second with a time of 15.48.

Mohamud Ige won the men’s 3000-meter with a time of 8:34.54 At the end of the day, 24 Wildcats — 11 men and 13 women — had set new personal records. “It was a great meet for us,� said head coach Fred Harvey. “We had a tough time beating ASU on the men’s side, but the women showed that they’re much improved. We had a good opportunity to beat them (ASU) and the ladies really stepped up.�

Q& A

arizona daily wildcat • monday, may 3, 2010 •

Tarquin MacManus

By Alex Williams ARIZONA DAILY WILDCAT

After finishing in a disappointing ninth place at the Pacific 10 Conference Championships, the Arizona men’s golf team now waits on regional play announcements. The Arizona Daily Wildcat caught up with junior Tarquin MacManus to discuss his future and his thoughts on the year.

What do you think that you did best this year?

I’m not that happy about the way I performed throughout the year. I think I made a few pretty bad errors at time, but, as a whole, I think my putting was the best.

What do you think is something that you need to improve on?

Making the right decisions at the right times I tend to get aggressive, and that cost me a few times. I need to know when to hold back a little bit.

What do you think you improved most from the beginning of the year

Series starts strong, ends on sour note

SOFTBALL continued from page B1

Folwer (29-5) went the distance, mowing down 11 Cal players in nine innings.

Neither team plated a run until the eighth inning, when center fielder Lauren Schutzler drove in left fielder Brittany Lastrapes to put Arizona up one in the extra frame.

The Bears would answer in the bottom half of the inning, however, as Jace Williams hit a solo shot to once again tie the game.

The bottom of the ninth gave Arizona the advantage it would need to steal one from the Bears. A Cal error also helped the Wildcats plate three runs in the Arizona half of the inning.

Although Cal would rally for one run, it wouldn’t be enough to answer Arizona a second time.

The Wildcats stay on the road next weekend as they take on No. 18 Oregon in Eugene, Ore., for the final away series of Pac-10 play. “It’s time to move forward and get ready for next week. Oregon is

another road trip,� Candrea said. “It’s going to be tough but we’ve made this week and hopefully this will keep their attention throughout Tuesday and Wednesday to get ready for next week.�

Weekend Highs and Lows • Freshman Brigette Del Ponte hit her fifth grand slam of the season on Friday as Arizona recorded an 8-0 mercy-win over California. • Pitcher Kenzie Fowler added 19 strikeouts this weekend to bring her season total to 253. • Second baseman Kristen Arriola had three errors in Sunday’s Game 3 loss to the Golden Bears. Shortstop K’Lee Arredondo and Del Ponte also contributed to Arizona’s team total five errors. • The Game 3 loss ended the Wildcats’ eight-game winning streak.

However, Arizona still has a threeseries winning streak over Pacific-10 Conference opponents.

Rodney Haas/Arizona Daily Wildcat

Junior Tarquin MacManus lines up a shot during the National Invitational Tournament in Tucson on March 17. Macmanus and his teammates have regionals upcoming after a ninth-place finish in the Pacific 10 Conference tournament.

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to the end of the year?

Putting ‌ it definitely improved a lot but still has a ways to go.

What is one that that stands out to you about this year?

As a team, we showed that we have the capability to compete with anyone in the country ‌ it just comes down to us finishing. Memory-wise I won a tournament, so that’s a good memory, but, as a whole, there weren’t too many great ones.

What are your plans for summer, as far as golf goes?

I’m going home for a while, so I’ll work on my game there before coming back over here and playing three or four tournaments towards the end of summer.

What tour are you looking at for when you start professional play?

It’s still up in the air — I’m going to talk to coach and some family about it, but I’d like to do it over here (in the U.S.). It’s where the money’s at, and if I fine-tune my game, I feel like I can compete anywhere.

What is your summer workout program?

I’m just going to be doing some normal gym training and cardio ‌ I want to work on flexibility and just getting leaner.

What is one thing to focus on for NCAA Regional?

Just knowing when to be aggressive.

Being aggressive and conservative at the same time. I go into every tournament wanting and expecting to do well myself, but our main goal, as a team, is to finish high and make it to nationals.

What is it like not knowing if the season is over or not?

I’m pretty confident we’ll make it to regionals, I’m not too worried about that — it would be a big shock if we didn’t get in. We just have to go there and play well, and, if not, our season comes to an end.

Ready for leadership role as a senior?

Yeah, I feel like the last few years, I’ve played every event. I’ve always felt that I could lead the guys ‌ I didn’t really think about not being a senior affecting that at all, but I definitely feel like I’m ready for that role.

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• monday, may 3, 2010 • arizona daily wildcat

NBA PLAYOFF ROUNDUP

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Kobe rallies Lakers past Jazz in 2nd-round opener

LOS ANGELES — While the Los Angeles Lakers’ reserves haplessly gave away the lead early in the fourth quarter, the Utah Jazz celebrated every basket with increasing glee, spilling off their bench in anticipation of an upset.

Even the Hollywood crowd was tense, with many fans anxiously kneading or waving the giveaway white T-shirts they apparently were too cool to wear.

It was tough,” Kobe Bryant said.

“But when it got really tough for me, I just checked myself in.”

A few minutes after Bryant

checked in, the Jazz were checkmated in these familiar rivals’ second-round opener.

Bryant scored 11 of his 31 points in the final four minutes, and the Lakers blew a fourthquarter lead before rallying for a 104-99 victory Sunday.

Pau Gasol had 25 points and 12 rebounds while blocking five shots for the top-seeded Lakers, whose backups were nearly run off the court by the fired-up Jazz before Bryant seized control.

Last season’s NBA finals MVP coolly scored seven consecutive points to erase Utah’s four-point lead, followed by a dynamic slice through the lane for a layup with 22.6 seconds left. Los Angeles also

did it with defense, holding the Jazz to one field goal in the final 4:10.

“We put ourselves in a little bit of a hole and let them gain all the momentum,”Bryant said.

“At that point, you’ve just got to buckle down.”

Los Angeles will host Game 2 of the best-of-seven series Tuesday night. The clubs are meeting in the postseason for the third consecutive year after the Lakers ended Utah’s last two seasons, including a first-round victory in 2009.

Perhaps that familiarity was one reason the Lakers again had trouble getting too excited for this one — a mood matched by the home crowd.

Arizona Daily Wildcat and

ATLANTA — With more than three minutes to go, the Atlanta Hawks began pulling their starters. Al Horford flapped his hands, egging on the already raucous crowd. Joe Johnson clapped for the fans, then dropped his head in what looked more like relief than celebration.

The Hawks were moving on in the playoffs.

What a contrast from the last game in Atlanta.

After keeping their season alive with a gutty win in Milwaukee, the Hawks made sure the Bucks were in no position to duplicate their improbable Game 5 road win. Playoff rookie Jamal Crawfordscored 22 points, Horford put up a double-double and Atlanta pulled away for a 95-74 win Sunday that gave the Hawks a 4-3 triumph in the

Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times/MCT

Kobe Bryant drives through the Utah Jazz defense to score a basket in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

tougher-than-expected series.

Last Wednesday, the favored Hawks squandered a nine-point lead in the final four minutes, bickered among themselves in the closing seconds and left the court to boos from their own fans, down 3-2 in the series.

This time, nothing but cheers.

“We let ‘em down in Game 5,” Josh Smithsaid.“We enjoyed every minute of this.”

The Hawks can only hope they didn’t expend too much energy in the only first-round series to go the distance.

68-team tournament approved

dailywildcat.com

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS INDIANAPOLIS — The road to the Final Four will have a new look next season.

On Thursday, the NCAA’s board of directors approved expansion from 65 to 68 teams and endorsed a proposal to add three more openinground games to the schedule. The board also approved new rules governing concussions and may sanction schools that do not comply.

It’s only the second time in a quarter-century the NCAA has increased the number of teams competing for the men’s national championship.

Now it’s time to start mapping out the details, which could include putting at-large teams in the early games.

“The (men’s basketball) committee will have to study any variety of options and certainly the notion of looking at options involving the last at-large teams in would be one possible option,” NCAA vice president Greg Shaheen told The Associated Press.“We would expect the committee to examine all of the options.”

The decision was not a surprise.

NCAA officials recommended the 68-team field last week after the public loudly complained that going to 80 or 96 teams would water down the NCAA’s marquee event, and network executives insisted they did not need more tourney games to make a profit on the next television contract.

So the NCAA backed the most modest expansion, at least for now. The board gave unanimous consent to the 68-team field with

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Crawford, Horford lead Hawks past Bucks 95-74

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a caveat — it wants the “play-in” games to have more significance.

“Expanding to 68 teams gave us an opportunity to involve more teams in the championship, and in doing that, we were able to enhance the experience of the opening-round game,”Clemson president James Barker, the committee chairman, said in a statement.

The format must still be approved by the men’s basketball committee later this summer, and Shaheen is hoping it’s done by July. The NCAA went from 64 to 65 teams in 2001, after increasing from 48 to 64 teams in 1985.

More teams won’t be the only change fans see next March.

Thanks to the new 14-year, $10.8 billion television package with CBS and Turner Broadcasting, also announced last week, fans can choose which games they want to watch. It will be the first time every tourney game will be televised live nationally. One game will be carried by CBS, with others carried on TNT, TBS and truTV. It’s a smaller overhaul than fans expected after NCAA officials spoke extensively about the format for a 96-team field four weeks ago, but it hasn’t stopped the talk about additional expansion.

The new TV deal gives the NCAA sole authority to expand again, a possibility some observers believe will happen in the near future. Don’t bet on it.

“Field size of any event is something people like to debate, but it’s not something the committee is interested in taking on in the foreseeable future,” Shaheen said.

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2010 Conceptis Puzzles, Dist. by King Features Syndicate, Inc.

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By Dave Green

5/03

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• monday, may 3, 2010 • arizona daily wildcat